As Christians, I am convinced, we must cherish the assurance our Lord gave us; that He came to earth so we can have life in abundance (John 10:10). In an earthly sense, when we want to have anything in abundance, may it be in sports, art, music, or financial success, one needs to have discipline. This discipline leads us to develop strength in the area we think will bring happiness in our lives. We are all beings with a body and a soul. The abundant life that our Lord promises includes abundance in our physical life (body) and in our spiritual life (soul). We all can easily relate to the discipline required to achieve physical abundance. Fasting and prayer is one of the disciplines required to achieve spiritual abundance. Our Lord, just before He started His public ministry, fasted for forty days and forty nights. St. Augustine said we all must imitate whom we worship. Every time we enter the church, we cross ourselves with the Holy Water renewing our Baptismal promises. Mother Church has given us these forty days to renew those promises, repent for our sins and subject ourselves to a “spring camp” to develop spiritual strength. Our Lord fasted for forty days after His Baptism, though He was with no sin. He was obedient to the Scriptures (See Leviticus 16:31-34). God created our bodies with a pathway to get a “yearly reset” for those who can observe a fast from food that may lead to a healthy life. Scientific advances highlight the benefits of food-fasting. Fasting, however, takes many forms. Confessing our sins, making sacrifices that we are capable of, helping those is need will give us the strength that we need to pursue a life of abundance that our Lord has promised us. God in His Mercy has promised more than abundant life. He has promised power over evil forces when we fast and pray (See Mark 9:28-29).
The Church teaches that what our soul does, shapes our body. What our body does, shapes our soul. According to paragraph 364 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), our soul animates our body. We cannot live a life filled with anger, greed, hatred, envy and not influence our body. Similarly, we cannot go around committing acts of violence, gluttony, lust and not influence our soul. Our mother Church has always taught fasting to be a spiritual practice. The physical benefits, the smaller waistline, that we enjoy from fasting is a gift from God for performing this spiritual practice. This takes us closer to God. When I am hungry during fasting, I remember our Lord being hungry during the last three days of His earthly life. When my fallen nature screams at me to eat something, I plead for strength from our Lord. This naturally increases my prayer time.
The closeness that we achieve with God helps us to use reason to guide our decision making and not our feelings or emotions. We are equipped with better judgments. Better judgments lead us to abundant life. This spiritual abundance, which leads to material contentment, will bring true joy and peace in our lives. Sadly, this may bring “puffiness”. We may start looking down at people who do not fast. If pride knocks on our door, remember our Lord asked us to look normal when we fast and not to show off (see Matthew 6:17). St. John Chrysostom reminds us, “Christ did not say, ‘Come to me because I fasted …,’ but ‘because I am meek and humble of heart.’ ”.
