Catholic Fasting 101
During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He gave His disciples the authority to cast out demons from those who were afflicted. This gave the disciples great joy and confidence in their newfound power.
In one circumstance, the disciples came back to Jesus when they were unable to drive out the demons from a young boy. When seeing the boy, Jesus realized the strength of this demon. The boy's Father begged our Lord to cast it out.
Mark 9:24
24 And when Jesus saw the multitude running together, he threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him; and enter not any more into him.
25 And crying out, and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as dead, so that many said: He is dead.
26 But Jesus taking him by the hand, lifted him up; and he arose.
Later, the disciples privately asked Jesus why they were not able to do what he did.
Jesus responded,
“ And he said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. ”
Here in scripture, Jesus clearly shows the power that prayer and fasting combined has when overcoming the forces of the evil one.
Other than during Lent, many of us don’t practice fasting in our everyday spiritual battle.
We may see a buzz on social media of a new diet craze, which is not always bad in itself…but we must look deeper.
Fasting, at its root, is a spiritual exercise. When we fast our body feels weak. We come face to face with our humanity and are humbled.
When we take away what our body wants, it quiets down. Our souls become stronger and prayer becomes more powerful. It is a transformative experience and a powerful spiritual weapon that helps order our flesh that tries to control us.
Our flesh itself is not bad, but left to reign free, we will destroy ourselves by drowning in our passions such as lust, drunkenness, sexual addictions, and more.
Fasting is a great way to practice self-control and progress in our spiritual lives.
Words from the Wise
St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest Catholic theologians to ever live said that we fast for three reasons.
“For we fast for three purposes: (1) to restrain the desires of the flesh; (2) to raise the mind to contemplate sublime things; (3) to make satisfaction for our sins. These are good and noble things, and so fasting is virtuous.”
St. Augustine, on the subject of fasting says,
“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.”
Quenching the fires of lust, is a very good reason to fast and can do much good in our generations battle against pornography addiction, and sexual promiscuity.
In his Lenten message in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI said,
“Fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person.”
In his apostolic constitution on penance, Painitemini, Pope Paul VI explains:
“This exercise of bodily mortification—far removed from any form of stoicism—does not imply a condemnation of the flesh which sons of God deign to assume. On the contrary, mortification aims at the “liberation” of man, who often finds himself, because of concupiscence, almost chained by his own senses. Through “corporal fasting” man regains strength and the “wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by intemperance is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence.”
How to Fast:
Below are some examples of how you can get started in fasting. To be clear, any and all fasting should not be so difficult or unhealthy that it renders you unable to live out your daily duties in your vocation. Fasting should not put you out completely, it is more so a challenge and difficulty that allows you to focus more on God than yourself.
No Meat on Friday
Until recently, it has always been a practice in the Catholic Church to abstain from meat on Friday. Although this has been relaxed, many Catholics still observe the Friday fast. Start here. No meat this Friday.
Raise the Bar
Let’s kick it up a notch and choose a day of the week. Wednesday is a good day, because it is tradition in the Church to be a fasting day. (Ash Wednesday).
Below are some different fasts you can try.
Eat nothing but bread and water for 24 hours.
Only eat dinner, skip breakfast and lunch. Water and drinks are fine.
Skip snacks in between meals. You don’t need that Cliff bar.
No sugary drinks, like soda, juices, gatorades.
Skip dessert
Offer it Up and Focus
Now that we have learned some ways we can fast, let’s take a look at how we can fast with a purpose.
There may be a certain sin, demonic force, or trouble in our lives or our loved one’s lives that we are dealing with. Commit to fasting for a certain amount of time. You could choose 1 week. 1 month, 90 days….choose what you think fits best.
Fast during this time from something and offer this up to God as penance and suffering so that He may use this for good.
As we saw, in Mark chapter 9, Jesus teaches us that some demons are only cast out through prayer and fasting. Use this time to focus more on your prayer life, get in front of the blessed sacrament, and offer up your fasting to our Lord. He will reward you.
