Ash Wednesday

 Joe1 2:12-18     2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2     Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

“When you fast,” says Jesus in today’s Gospel, do not make a show of it, do not “appear to be fasting.” Jesus instructs this in a passage about “righteous deeds” that also include prayer and almsgiving. Don’t be demonstrative about those either.

Among these deeds, fasting is the practice that comes first to mind as Lent begins. Religious fasting (restricting what we consume) and abstinence (foregoing something altogether) are common practices across history and around the world. I have, for example, known and admired observant Muslims who fast during the month of Ramadan, refraining from all food and drink between sunrise and sundown. Such discipline!  

The surprise for me in today’s Gospel is Jesus’s teaching to be quiet about our fasting. Thinking about it, how would anyone know that we are fasting? Well, in my lifelong Catholic experience, we tell one another, airing aloud our resolutions about what we’re “giving up for Lent.” The giving-up is usually about food and drink, but it could extend to other behaviors or things that we consume. We talk about how we are doing and we sometimes also admit to backsliding.

Yet the “what” is not as important as the “why.” The Catechism advises us that fasting and abstinence are penitential practices meant to lead us to an interior conversion of the heart. Our daily Lenten deprivations should lead us to reflect on where we want that conversion of heart to lead. “Why am I doing this?” is a question to turn over for 40 days. Even with no initial objective, perhaps start a fast of some sort and in time the Holy Spirit will lead you to know “why.”

One more thing. Most of us are fortunate to fast out of our excess. Yet there are people in the world who need to consume not less, but more. They, too, can be a “why” for our Lent. Because “when you give alms,” says Jesus, “your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Q: What would be a more meaningful way for me to fast this Lent? What can I do for others who have far less than I do?

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