Every once in a while I get asked about the sense of fasting before Mass. As part of my answer, and if the person’s Catholic, I encourage them to try it and to reflect prayerfully on their experience after the fact. Hopefully this leads to an appreciation of the practice precisely through practice. Intellectual justifications are well and good, as is the fact that the Church asks the discipline of those who are to receive Communion, but an experience that one has chosen for themselves speaks powerfully. Ideally, this even leads us way beyond a single instance of fasting and towards deeper questions: Do I really believe that “God alone suffices”? What kind of room am I making for God in my life? How much do I really want a relationship with God? And so on.

It reminds me of GM Hopkins’ correspondence with his agnostic friend, Robert Bridges. Bridges asked Hopkins how he could make sense of faith. Instead of furnishing a long, philosophical answer, Hopkins wrote back, “Give alms.”

Second, this is a double edge sword of an issue for me. Fasting, in any religion, is a brilliant way to focus your body away from consumerism in general. We do not need as much food as we think we do, and many people would be surprised with themselves if they simply cut down on what they ate. The idea of supersizing meals and overeating in general reflects most bad things about American culture. The amount of consumerism we partake in is dizzying, and sometimes we get so caught up in it that we miss the point (I recommend reading John Kavanaugh’s “Following Christ in a Consumer Society”. It really touches up on this stuff). Fasting, whether done for hours, days or weeks at a time, helps us step back into reality with God. I see that the basics draw us closer to God, and when we fast, we can see how many other human commodities distract us from our creator. It’s a brilliant point that you raise, Tony, but there is a down side as well. You see I live in Wisconsin, where brats and cheese surround me everywhere I turn. It makes fasting really difficult at times, but God wills it.

Which raises a question, how can people even start fasting when we live in a culture where food is available whenever you want it?

God bless.

I’m glad you found the topic helpful and learned something new (it makes me glad to do the blog to hear that from you). Service, as you say, is another great way of observing Lent. The “bottom line” of Lent is drawing closer to God, and both sacrifice and service can help us do that. In fact, the two aren’t really opposed since service will eventually require some sacrifice from us too…

Tony

I am, unfortunately, one of the people who have never heard about the pre-communion fast before. In my Christian Discipleship class, however, we have talked about ways that we can strengthen our love for God through humility. A couple of the points made on the topic of how to be more humble were an attitude of obedience to the law of God and a freedom to let go of everything that stands in the way of our love and service of God. I think fasting for just an hour before receiving the Eucharist would go along with these two points and help people realize how reverent we should be in receiving Communion.

You also make a good point when you said that the Eucharist fast deserves to be remembered because it extends the mass outward into our daily lives. During Lent, this would be a good point to consider as a sacrifice, but I think it may be more important that we live out Jesus’ message during Lent through service instead of giving up something. Service is also an act of humility, and it benefits the community, God, and everyone’s personal relationships with each other.

Thanks again for your attention and detail on this important topic of the Eucharist and fasting.

Alex

Certainly no need to apologize for joking to me… it’s actually necessary I think to keep such discussions from becoming too dour.

Once again, my apologies for joking about such a worthwhile subject. The fact is, I have suffered through periods of my life where I had only one meal a day. In other words, the choice/option to fast was not given to me; it was imposed. Every day I fast during Lent, I am extremely grateful for the OPPORTUNITY that God has given me to fast, and that this opportunity is available today/now, but can be taken away from me at any moment, as well as extremely aware of the fact that there are so many people in this world who do not have this luxury.

Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your concern. And as always, your prayers are most appreciated!! God bless you!

Hope Lent is off to a good start for you. I’ve been thinking about the point you raise about fasting, since a lack of food is not always a good thing for my demeanor either! Have you talked about the fasting with a confessor/spiritual director? I ask because from what you say, it sounds like it may not be bearing good fruit (and, as our Lord says, you shall judge the tree by its fruit). Fasting (beyond, of course, the minimum the Church asks of us) requires grace, and if God isn’t giving you this particular grace, he might be calling you to something else…

Obviously, I am not your confessor and am not in a position to resolve a question like this over the internet, but it’s a question to think about. If cutting back to fasting a day or two per week, or fasting from something other than food, or doing something else entirely, works better, that might be where God is drawing you. We have to be good evangelists, too, and if our joy dies out, it’s harder for people to see Christ at work in our lives.

Anyway, like I said, I’m just raising the question…

Tony

As far as the eucharistic fast, that to me is an absolute no-brainer. I don’t want to sound judgemental, but to me, anyone who truly believes in the real presence has no other option than to fast LONG before they feel worthy to receive the body of Christ.