WHY FAST?

8th Sunday in the Ordinary Time
Mk 2:18-22

Fasting is a form of discipline. It tames us from our cravings. It teaches us the positive value of delaying gratification. It reminds us that we are not only what we take in but we are also what we give up.

Discipline is not always easy. It is not a matter of will power because even will power breaks. It is not achieved without giving up something for a higher purpose. When we have no higher purpose for the fasting we endure, our fasting is not a discipline at all.

Fasting is a form of penance. It atones for our sins. It throws us out of self-centeredness. It cultivates in us a sense of sin and its consequences.

Penance involves some difficulty. The graver the sin committed, the graver the penance required. The greater the penance is, the greater the difficulty it involves. Where there is no difficulty, there is no penance.

Fasting is a form of sacrifice. It is an offering. It is defined by what is given up. But it is validated by how the giving up is done.

Sacrifice always hurts. True sacrifice always hurts even more. And total sacrifice always hurts most.

Discipline, penance, and sacrifice – quite often, for most of us, are what we associate with fasting. Thus, fasting is often understood as a struggle, a commandment, and a burden. But fasting is definitely more than what we give up and how we give up. It should also tell why we give up.

Fasting is a form of communion. We fast to be more in commune with our Creator. We fast to be better configured to the suffering and glorified Christ. We fast to be closer with others, most especially with those for whom fasting is never an option but a daily lot.

Fasting for the sake of one’s self is not fasting at all. When our fasting isolates us from others, we need to question the truth about our fasting. When our fasting fails to teach us greater charity and deep solidarity with others, we have to question the value of our fasting. When our fasting divides rather than unites, we must question the sincerity of our fasting. For when our fasting is real, valuable, and sincere, communion with our Creator, with Jesus, and among us is not only possible but is inevitable as well.

Fast, but be sure that we always know why we fast. And where is best to know the reason for our fasting? The prophet Hosea in the First Reading today (Hos 2:16-17, 21-22) tells us where: in the wilderness.

Through the prophet Hosea, the Lord tells us that it is in the wilderness that He speaks to our heart. But what is the wilderness?

The wilderness is a place of silence. When it is silent, we can hear better. If we wish to hear the Lord speak to us, let us go into the wilderness with Him. Wilderness is silence.

The wilderness is a place of solitude. When we are alone, we can refocus our selves on the values we truly hold dear to our hearts. If we wish to re-orient our selves so as to keep our selves rooted in the Lord, let us meet Him in the wilderness. Wilderness is solitude.

The wilderness is a place of prayer. When we pray, we are in the Lord’s presence. If we wish to experience the Lord, let us give in to Him who allures us into the wilderness. Wilderness is prayer.

The wilderness is not so much a place we arrive at, as it is a condition we enter into. It is when we are silent, when we are most alone, but not necessarily lonely, and when we are absorbed in deep prayer.

The wilderness is not out there in some desert. It is right inside our hearts. It is not where no water runs. It is where rivers of living water flow. Wilderness is the silence that gives depth to our character, the solitude that tames our basic instincts, and the prayer that attunes us to God. And it is right there where we can honestly answer the $64 question of the day: Why fast?