Fr. Michael Williams

A number of years ago I was involved in a parish mission in Preston with the Legion of Mary. The mission lasted a week. Each lunchtime everyone on the mission would gather in the Presbytery for lunch. At Friday lunch I heard the cook say that because it was Friday we would be fasting. I was expecting a sparse lunch, but to my amazement (and joy) a huge freshly cooked salmon was brought in with all the trimmings. I thought to myself if this is fasting I’m an Evertonian (which I’m not).

This episode reminded me of a painting in the Walker Art Gallery entitled ‘Friday’. In this painting there are a number of rotund monks feasting on every kind of fish delicacy. The painting is a caricature, but it is a reminder that we can deceive ourselves in our spiritual lives.

In Our Lord’s time religious fasting could also become a nonsense. Jesus was especially critical of those who fasted and deliberately wanted to be noticed. In St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells us of the Pharisee in the Temple who boasted of fasting twice a week (Luke 18:12). And Jesus warned His disciples that when they fasted they should do so quietly “so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father [in Heaven]”.

Jesus does not reject the notion of fasting, but He renews our understanding of it. He does reject fasting when it is done for the wrong reason. But Jesus certainly expected His disciples to fast at certain times. In today’s gospel Jesus tells His disciples, “The time will come for the Bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast”. Good Friday is the day when Jesus is taken away from His disciples. Then the disciples will fast. For us too, Good Friday is a day of fasting in the Church (as is Ash Wednesday). Good Friday is a day to make sacrifices in honour of the Supreme Sacrifice, that Jesus made with His life. Interestingly enough the Code of Canon Law states: ‘All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days’ (CCL 1250). Just as every Sunday in the year is a celebration of Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead, so every Friday of the year is a commemoration of Christ’s suffering and death, because it was a Friday when Jesus laid down His life for our sake.

As we approach the Season of Lent it is important to understand why we should practise some fasting. Firstly, the majority of the world’s population is forced to fast because they do not have enough food. By abstaining or fasting we can try to enter into solidarity with those for whom bread and water would be a luxury. To feel hungry could remind us of what most people in the world feel daily.

Secondly, fasting can also help us acquire the fruit of the Holy Spirit called, ‘self-control’. Fasting can purify us from only being consumers who satisfy every appetite we may have. Fasting reminds us that we are spiritual beings also, who are in a relationship with God, who is pure Spirit. Fasting enables us to make room for God in our lives. It can help us to realise that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3).