In the Fast Lane
There is in Church history a personage known as John the Faster. In my Community, when we first heard of him, our immediate thought was, “Faster than what?” However, we soon learned that the sobriquet of “Faster” did not mean that he was a hierarchical Superman who moved “faster than a speeding bullet”, but that he was known for his asceticism, especially for his habit of fasting.
Fasting is a practice that is found in nearly every worldview and every religion. In the Catholic tradition, to fast means to limit oneself to one full meal a day and two other smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal. This applies to adults from 19 to 59 years of age. And no snacks between meals!
Most Catholics observe the fast days of the Church, which are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. However, we Carmelite Nuns, like the Trappestines and the Poor Clares and other monastic Orders, follow the custom of the monastic fast, which begins on September 14, the Feast of Exaltation of the Cross, and lasts until Easter Sunday. During that period of between six and seven months, depending on the date of Easter, every day is for us a fast day except Sundays and Solemnities and the three days following Christmas.
What is the reason for fasting? Fasting is certainly not the same as dieting! The aim of dieting can be to lose weight, to improve your physical condition, to acquire a healthier physique, or to attain some other similar goal. For us Carmelites, the reason of fasting goes much deeper. In the Church, fasting has always been linked with prayer and almsgiving. “Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer, almsgiving is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing.” (St. Peter Chrysologus)
These three practices unite three facets of being human. Prayer is a spiritual action, usually described as the raising of one’s heart and mind to God. Fasting is a physical practice. It focuses on our bodily reality. We are beings of spirit and flesh. We exist in time and space and at the same time we transcend them in our relationship with God. What we think matters. What we do also matters. Fasting reminds us that our body matters because it is through our body that our thoughts become a reality. As someone wrote, “Love is what you do.” I can love someone in my mind, but if I do not put that love into action, it is simply a phantasm, an intention in my imagination, that is all.
And this is why almsgiving must go with prayer and fasting: it expresses my relationship with other human beings. I am not pure spirit, nor am I just a body. And I do not exist in isolation. Prayer lifts up my mind. Fasting reminds me that my body must express my prayer. Generosity to my Sisters and to everyone I meet reminds me that I live in communion with every other human being. The three go together and together they make me more human, more a being in communion, more in accord with the reality of God.
We begin the Holy Fast this Thursday, September 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Please join us in prayer, in good works and in generosity that together we all may know and practice the merciful love of God.
Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.