From “Crisis” Magazine

The Good News About Fasting

Michelle Petersen

“I dread fasting—it’s miserable.” “It’s too easy and not even a sacrifice for me.” “Does my condition exempt me or not?” “How much is OK for each meal or snack?” “Well, it’s really just about self-denial, so I’ll just give it my best shot.”

Among Catholics, this wave of consternation is about to hit on the eve of Ash Wednesday. Each year, these questions pepper Catholic social media; and each year these Catholics suffer more than necessary because repetition of the rules cannot address the experiential side of their struggles. We give it our best guess and tough it out for the two required days, then feast during Eastertide, and soon our busy lives delay the search for deeper answers until Lent rolls around again. This year, let us prepare in body, mind, and spirit and seek grudging acceptance of a holistically life-giving relationship with the virtue of fasting.

Fasting has been a stumbling block to me personally in each of the above ways at different times in my life, and it has been a journey to find peace with fasting and even a love of fasting. In the messy process of learning, two key discoveries have been absolutely pivotal. My first breakthrough came when I learned from Catholic doctrine that fasting is a virtue, a habit: it is built into our very nature to adapt to fasting, so that it becomes easier with a bit of practice.

Even as I practiced fasting and enjoyed the increasing ease, I found that there was still a grating resistance and dread inside me that was not due just to pangs of hunger. If this is you, I urge you to ask yourself: Do you truly believe that fasting is good for you as a whole person—good for your body, good for your emotions and imagination, for your whole psychological state, as well as for your intellect and will in grace? Do you truly see it as a gift from God, your loving Father, who wants you to find not just the initial mortification but actual refreshment of body, mind, and soul as the fruit of this medicinal practice?

The second breakthrough for me came from the secular fasting movement, which enabled me to see an underlying misconception I had been harboring. As the secular movement discussed the health benefits of fasting and the healing mechanisms in the human body that fasting unlocks, I realized that I had been thinking of fasting as causing damage to the body, as a way of benefiting the soul at the cost of the body in a zero-sum manner: all penalty born by the body and all fruit enjoyed by the soul. While it is true that extended fasting can be damaging if done recklessly and that there are conditions in which it is not healthy to fast (for which the Church makes exemptions), it is erroneous to think of fasting as harmful, especially the carefully defined, limited fasts the Church requires.

In fact, the Church has always taught that fasting integrates body and soul by teaching the body to follow the guidance of the soul and that it is beneficial to the whole person. The data on the benefits of fasting helped me to approach the Church’s teaching with better understanding—without the post-enlightenment lens through which I saw the goods of body and soul pitted against one another—and to truly embrace fasting from food as an irreplaceable part of the spiritual life. Seeing the integral good of the virtue of fasting is really the answer to the stumbling blocks that so many of us encounter with fasting.

It can be hard to see in what sense fasting is good when it seems to be a natural evil: the deprivation of appropriate amounts of food. Similarly, it can seem wrong to say that human nature was designed to fast, since from the beginning it was not so. Nevertheless, both are true specifically in the conditions of a fallen world.

The state of original justice in which our first parents were created meant that the body was perfectly subject to the soul, so that it enjoyed health, secure life, and peace. The soul itself was ordered, the lower powers being perfectly subjected to the will and reason, both of which were perfectly subject to God in grace. This integration of the person, wounded by sin and its effects, paradoxically finds a remedy in the practice of fasting. While the state of Eden will never be restored, and perfect integration must wait for the resurrection of the body, we can truly make progress in health of body, mind, and spirit by the regular practice of fasting.

In his question on fasting in the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas observes that fasting is good because it is aimed at a threefold good: the curbing of concupiscence, the atonement for sin, and the raising of the mind to spiritual things. He quotes Augustine’s sermon on prayer and fasting: “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity.” Here we see a hint at the integrity of the person being restored: the soul is rendered receptive to God, the mind clear, the lower powers of the soul docile to the higher and the flesh to the soul. St. Thomas Aquinas observes that fasting is good because it is aimed at a threefold good: the curbing of concupiscence, the atonement for sin, and the raising of the mind to spiritual things.Tweet This

St. Thomas, in listing the ways in which fasting is natural to us, observes not only that we all naturally fast between meals but also that men willingly fast more “in order to avoid sickness, or in order to perform certain bodily works with greater ease,” implying that physical benefits were commonly acknowledged. Regarding the spiritual benefits, he goes so far as to say that the need for fasting in general is a precept of the natural law, a manifest remedy for all touched by sin, and that the laws of the Church merely add due times and manners to fasting.

St. Thomas Aquinas could not have known the mechanisms by which the body, in a fasting state, reverses the physical effects of decadent living, purifies itself from pollutants, and regulates neurotransmitters to ameliorate the psychological state, but he knew that this virtue works to reverse the effects of sin and of living in a sinful world, even providing benefit to the body.

My emphasis on the physical benefit is by no means to introduce a prosperity gospel that promises health. Rather, I wish to demonstrate that fasting is not about suffering as such or sacrificing the good of the body. It is about the proper ordering and union of both under God, submitting to God’s ordering instead of our own, which actually tends toward the flourishing of the whole person. Though we may be called at times to leave behind the temporal good of the body for the sake of the soul, God’s general design for fasting as a habit includes the good of mind, body, and spirit, which, post-enlightenment, is an important truth to rediscover.

The integral good of fasting from food also explains its primacy in the Church’s disciplines. Despite the great good of withdrawing from other comforts and pleasures, fasting from food is fundamental and irreplaceable because of its ability to order both body and soul. This is why even when fasting from food becomes easier, and giving up another created good would be more difficult for a particular individual, the fast from food still supports the proper ordering of body to soul and soul to God that brings clarity and strength to other forms of penance.

Bringing a positive, holistic understanding of fasting to others in a way that can transform it from stumbling block into stepping stone needs to happen primarily through culture—virtue is taught by experience. We need the steady example and reassurance of those around us to give us hope and confidence that fasting can be done, and done beautifully, as a regular part of life.

If you are struggling with fasting as a stumbling block, I encourage you to read what current fasting science has to offer on the subject, such as Fast Like a Girl by Mindy Pelz or The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung. You may find motivation, reconciliation to the idea, guidance on how it works with any health conditions you may have, and guidance to gently work up to Ash Wednesday. We can take what is true in secular fasting culture and use it to help us revive neglected traditions. I encourage you also to learn and practice with others in your family and parish, so that we can build a Catholic fasting culture and truly accompany one another on the path to Heaven.

10 Biblical Purposes for Fasting

 
 
Throughout the Bible we most often find God’s people turn to fasting as the natural, inevitable response to a grievous sacred moment in life, such as death, sin and tragedy. But other times a fast is not a spontaneous reaction and we have time to prepare to respond both physically and spiritually.

Fasting is not an end unto itself, but a means of focusing our minds and bodies for a spiritual reason. Whenever you fast, do so for a reason that is mentioned or modeled in the Bible. Here are ten primary purposes for fasting mentioned in Scripture:¹

1. To strengthen prayer (e.g., see Ezra 8:23)

Numerous incidents in the Old Testament connect fasting to prayer, especially intercessory prayer. Fasting does not change whether God hears our prayers, but it can change our praying. As Arthur Wallis says, “Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven.”²

2. To seek God’s guidance (e.g., see Judges 20:26)

As with prayer, fasting to seek God’s guidance isn’t done to change God but to make us more receptive to his guidance.

3. To express grief (e.g., see 1 Samuel 31:13)

Expressing grief is one of the primary reasons for fasting. Ever notice that when you’re moved to tears by grief you lose the urge to eat? When we grieve, our family and friends often have to plead with us to eat because our body’s appropriate response to grief is to fast. A prime example occurs in 2 Samuel 1:12, where David and his men are described as having “mourned and wept and fasted till evening” for their friends, their enemies and their nation.

4. To seek deliverance or protection (e.g., see 2 Chronicles 20:3 – 4)

Another common reason for fasting in the Old Testament was to seek deliverance from enemies or circumstances. In Scripture, this type of fast is generally carried out with other believers.

5. To express repentance and a return to God (e.g., see 1 Samuel 7:6)

This type of fasting helps us to express grief over our sins and shows our seriousness about returning to the path of godly obedience.

6. To humble oneself before God (e.g., see 1 Kings 21:27 – 29)

“Remember that fasting itself is not humility before God,” reminds Donald Whitney, “but should be an expression of humility.”³

7. To express concern for the work of God (e.g., see Nehemiah 1:3 – 4)

As with Nehemiah, fasting can be a tangible sign of our concern over a particular work God is doing.

8. To minister to the needs of others (e.g., see Isaiah 58:3 – 7)

We can use time we’d normally spend eating to fast and minister to others.

9. To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God (e.g., see Matthew 4:1 – 11)

Fasting can help us focus when we are struggling with particular temptations.

10. To express love and worship for God (e.g., see Luke 2:37)

Fasting can show, as John Piper says, that “what we hunger for most, we worship.”⁴

How should we equip ourselves when God calls us to “declare a holy fast”? Here are some things to consider as you prepare for fasting:

Pray and confess your sins
A necessary step before fasting is to humble yourself before God (see Psalm 35:13) and confess your sins (see 1 Samuel 7:6). Prayer should be our sustenance throughout the fast, but it is imperative we begin the fast with a contrite heart.

Turn to Scripture
Spend additional time meditating on God’s Word, before and during the fast.

Keep it secret
Fasting is unbiblical and even spiritually harmful when we do it to show off our spirituality (see Matthew 6:16 – 18) or when we focus more on our own fasting than on the clear needs of others (see Isaiah 58:1 – 11). Don’t boast about your fast; tell people you won’t be eating only if necessary. Fasting should not be done when imposed for false motives (see 1 Samuel 14:24-30).

Prepare your body
Fasting, especially for days or weeks, can have unexpected and even detrimental effects on your health. There is no scriptural warrant for harming yourself to undergo a fast. Be sure to consult a doctor before starting any fasting regimen to make sure you can fast in a healthy manner.

Fasting is an appropriate bodily reaction to the grievous state of our soul. If it is done correctly you can expect many results, including growing closer to God, feeling more solidarity with those who suffer, and increasing self-control.

For Reflection

Rather than wondering whether you should fast, ask why you would want to miss out on the Father’s reward.

From the NIV Bible Blog

Why Do Christians Fast?

WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS

Article by David Mathis

Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

 

At no place, in all his thirteen letters, does the apostle Paul command Christians to fast. Neither does Peter in his. Or John. Or any other book in the New Testament.

And yet, for two thousand years, Christians have fasted. One expression, among others, of healthy, vibrant Christians and churches has been the practice of fasting. However much it may seem to be a lost art today, fasting has endured, for two millennia, as a means of Christ’s ongoing grace for his church.

Why, then, if Christians, unlike Muslims, are not commanded to fast, do we still fast? First of all, Jesus’s teaching in the Gospels, particularly in Matthew, is plain enough. In addition to his own example (Matthew 4:2), and while not directly commanding his followers to fast, Jesus gave instructions for “when you fast,” not “if” (Matthew 6:16–17). More than that, in speaking about what his followers would do after his departure, he says, “then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15; also Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35). Again not a command, but a powerful promise from our Savior’s lips that we’d be foolish to ignore.

Early Christians Fasted

Beyond Jesus’s own words, we find a pattern of fasting as the early church grows and multiplies in the book of Acts. In one of the most pivotal junctures in the story, the leaders in Antioch “were worshiping the Lord and fasting” to seek God’s guidance at a key moment in their church life (Acts 13:2–3). While they were doing so, the Holy Spirit spoke to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). Then “after fasting (again) and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:3).

Then Acts 14 provides us with a pattern of prayer and fasting “in every church.” As Paul and Barnabas revisited the cities in which they had made new converts on their first missionary journey, they “appointed elders for them in every church” and “with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23).

 

Why God’s People Fast

Overall, the New Testament may have little to say about fasting, but what it does say is important. And in what it doesn’t say, it leans heavily on the Old Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures do not speak the final word on fasting, but they are vital in preparing us to hear the final word from Christ. I count more than 25 mentions of fasting in the Old Testament, but it might be most helpful to look at three groups of passages with one common thread.

 

Inward: To Express Repentance

The first, most common, and perhaps most fundamental type of fast expresses repentance. Think of it as “inward.” God’s people realise their sin — typically not small indiscretions or lapses in judgment, but deep and prolonged rebellion — and come seeking his forgiveness.

For instance, in 1 Samuel 7, God’s people become freshly aware of their past and present idolatries (and God’s hand of discipline). They want to return to the Lord and newly “direct [their] heart to the Lord and serve him only” (1 Samuel 7:3). They assemble, under Samuel’s leadership, fast as a demonstration of their repentance, and confess, “We have sinned against the Lord” (1 Samuel 7:6). Similarly, in 1 Kings 21, even though king Ahab “sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 21:25), he “humbled himself” with fasting when confronted by the prophet Elijah — and God was pleased to delay impending disaster, even for such an evil king (1 Kings 21:29).

In Nehemiah 9, God’s people “assembled with fasting and in sackcloth” to confess their sins and seek God’s forgiveness (Nehemiah 9:1–2). In Daniel 9, the prophet realizes the time for the end of the exile has come. Daniel records, “I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). He “prayed to the Lord my God and made confession” (Daniel 9:4) for the sins of God’s people, in hopes of restoration. So also, Joel 1:14 and 2:12 call for fasts of repentance, to return to God from sin — as in Nineveh when the people believe the message Jonah reluctantly delivers. “They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5).

Old Testament saints often expressed an “inward” heart of repentance to God not only in words but with the exclamation point of fasting. Such fasts did not earn his forgiveness but demonstrated the genuineness of their contrition.

 

Outward: To Grieve Hard Providences

But fasting not only expresses repentance. On many occasions, it gives voice to mourning, grieving, or lamenting difficult providences. The seam that holds together 1 and 2 Samuel is the death of Saul and the nation’s ensuing grief. First Samuel ends with a seven-day fast of mourning for Saul (1 Samuel 31:13; also 1 Chronicles 10:12). As 2 Samuel begins, and news reaches David and his men, “they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword” (2 Samuel 1:12). It was not an expression of personal sin, but of grief at the death of their king.

When news of Haman’s edict arrives in Esther 4, “there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes” (Esther 4:3). When David prays about his friends’ betrayal of him, he says they rejoice at his misfortune, even though he had “afflicted [him]self with fasting” and mourned when they were sick (Psalm 35:13–14). In Psalm 69, David says he “wept and humbled [his] soul with fasting” (Psalm 69:10), not because of his own sin, but because he was ill-treated. Similarly, Ezra “sat appalled” (Ezra 9:3–4), and fasted (Ezra 9:5), not at his own sin, but having learned “the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands” (Ezra 9:2).

Fasting gave voice to the pain and sorrow of sudden and severe “outward” circumstances and represented a heart of faith toward God in the midst of great tragedies.

 

Forward: To Seek God’s Favour

Finally, we find a kind of “forward” fast, not in response to sin within or grief without, but more proactive, in a sense, asking for God’s guidance or future favour. The first explicit mention of fasting in the Bible, coming at the sordid end of Judges, has this “forward” component. God’s people not only weep for the civil war unfolding among them but also inquire of the Lord for guidance (like Acts 13:2), whether or not to go out in battle against the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:26). We see such a “forward” orientation in 2 Chronicles 20:3: with a great multitude coming against his people, king Jehoshaphat sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast. He pled for God’s direction, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).

David also sought God’s rescue on his knees “weak through fasting” (Psalm 109:24) and appealed for healing for his sick newborn with a forward-looking fast (2 Samuel 12:16, 21–23). “Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?” (2 Samuel 12:22).

Fasting “forward” for God’s favour played a crucial role in the preservation and return of God’s people from exile. Before approaching the king to seek his favour, Esther sought God’s favour first, with a fast:

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

God answered and, through Esther, saved his people.

Even Darius, king over Israel’s exile in its final stages, sought Daniel’s deliverance from the lions (in an often overlooked part of the story) with fasting (Daniel 6:18). Before setting out from Babylon, Ezra proclaimed a fast “that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods” (Ezra 8:21, 23). Also for Nehemiah (like 2 Chronicles 20:3), fasting not only expressed grief and mourning (Nehemiah 1:4) but led to seeking God’s favor: “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today” (Nehemiah 1:11). He prayed, and fasted. Then, in faith, he approached the king.

Fasting often served as an intensifier alongside “forward” prayers for God’s guidance, traveling mercies, and special favor.

 

Common Thread: Godward

This is not all the Old Testament has to say about fasting (for instance, see the correctives of Isaiah 58:3–6; Jeremiah 14:12; and Zechariah 7:5; 8:19), but the three general categories hold: fasting expresses (inward) repentance, grieves (outward) tragedies, or seeks God’s (forward) favor. And a common thread holds all true fasting together. Fasting, like prayer, is always Godward.

Faithful fasting, whatever the conditions of its origin, is rooted in human lack and need — for God. We need his help, his favor, his guidance. We need his rescue and comfort in trouble. We need his forgiveness and grace because we have sinned. We need God. He, not human circumstances or activity, is the common denominator of fasting. Fasting expresses to God our pointedly felt need for God. We have daily needs, and unusual ones. We pray for daily bread, and in times of special need, we reach for the prayer-amplifier called fasting.

 

Christian Fasting Is Unique

Christians have one final and essential piece to add: the depth and clarity and surety we now have in Christ. As we express to God our special needs for him — whether in repentance, or in grief, or for his favour — we do so with granite under our feet. When our painful sense of lack tempts us to focus on what we do not have, fasting now reminds us of what we do. Already God has come for us. Already Christ has died and rose. Already we are his by faith. Already we have his Spirit in us, through us, and for us. Already our future is secure. Already we have a true home.

In fasting, we confess we are not home yet, and remember that we are not homeless. In fasting, we cry out to our Groom, and remember that we have his covenant promises. In fasting, we confess our lack, and remember that the one with every resource has pledged his help in his perfect timing.

“Christian fasting is unique among all the fasting in the world,” says John Piper. “It is unique in that it expresses more than longing for Christ or hunger for Christ’s presence. It is a hunger that is rooted in, based on, an already present, experienced reality of Christ in history and in our hearts.”

In Christ, fasting is not just a Godward expression of our need. It is not just an admission that we are not full. Fasting is a statement — in the very midst of our need — that we are not empty.