“Happy Second Sunday of Lent!“
By Fr. Isaiah Schick
Happy Second Sunday of Lent! Now that Lent is well underway, I thought it would be a good opportunity to dive a little deeper into the second of the three “pillars” of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There are several different types of fasting, but let’s start with the famous obligatory practices of Lent. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has this reminder on their website:
“Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards… If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the ‘paschal fast’ to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.”
In addition, they also provide a reflection by Rev. Daniel Merz on the meaning of fasting, which I think we often miss. He gives a list of seven reasons for fasting from the Christian tradition that I think are well summarized:
“1. From the beginning, God commanded some fasting, and sin entered into the world because Adam and Eve broke the fast.
2. For the Christian, fasting is ultimately about fasting from sin.
3. Fasting reveals our dependence on God and not the resources of this world.
4. Fasting is an ancient way of preparing for the Eucharist—the truest of foods.
5. Fasting is preparation for baptism (and all the sacraments)—for the reception of grace.
6. Fasting is a means of saving resources to give to the poor.
7. Fasting is a means of self-discipline, chastity, and the restraining of the appetites.”
So as we continue our various Lenten practices, including the forms of fasting that we are obliged to do and have taken up voluntarily, let us take the time to remember the “why” behind the “what” and to allow our fasting not to just be something “hard” but to bear fruits of faith, hope, and love for God and for our neighbor!