MEDITATION OF THE DAY
The Meaning of Fasting
In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly brings benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God. In the Apostolic Constitution Paenitemini of 1966, Saint Paul VI saw the need to present fasting within the call of every Christian to “no longer live for himself, but for him who loves him and gave himself for him….”
The faithful practice of fasting contributes, moreover, to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord. Saint Augustine, who knew all too well his own negative impulses, defining them as “twisted and tangled knottiness,” writes: “I will certainly impose privation, but it is so that he will forgive me, to be pleasing in his eyes, that I may enjoy his delightfulness.” Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by his saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God.
Pope Benedict XVI
His Holiness Benedict XVI reigned as pope from 2005 to 2013. [Message for Lent 2009. Used with permission of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. www.vatican.va.]
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