Fasting is not dieting, or Why do we "give up" things?

(retread from 2011...)

This week we are learning about fasting, focusing on the fall of Adam and Eve juxtaposed against Christ being tempted in the desert. We will color pictures for our Bible Notebooks and engage in some  discussion based on two questions:

1) What is the same about these two stories? The temptation of the devil.

2) What is different in these two stories? Adam and Eve DISobey God; Jesus OBEYS God. Jesus' obedience "undoes" what Adam and Eve's disobedience did. Jesus faces the same tempter, but takes the victory for all humankind! Adam and Eve ate; Jesus refuses to be tempted by his stomach. Adam and Eve begin to doubt God's word ("You surely will not die; you will be like gods."); Jesus refuses to doubt the Father. Adam and Eve turn from God and follow the prompting of Satan; Jesus says, "Begone, Satan!"

And what made the difference? It seems Scripture is drawing a clear parallel here, and pointing out that praying and fasting for 40 days that gave Christ the strength to withstand the temptation. Fasting is the tool given to us by God to strengthen our own wills.

Isaac the Syrian said of fasting:

For fasting is the command set before our nature from the beginning to keep it from eating the fruit of the tree (Gn 2,17), and it is from this that what deceives us comes forth… This is also what the Saviour began with when he was revealed to the world in the Jordan. For after baptism the Spirit led him into the desert, where he fasted forty days and forty nights.
All who set out to follow him do the same: that is the foundation on which they set the beginning of their combat, since this weapon has been forged by God… And when the devil now sees this weapon in a man’s hand, that enemy and tyrant begins to be afraid. He thinks at once of the defeat inflicted on him by the Saviour in the desert, remembers what happened and his power is broken. He shrivels away at the sight of the weapon given us by the one who leads us into combat. What more powerful weapon is there that so revives our courage in the fight against the evil spirits?

Of course, our fasting must be accompanied by prayer, or it is only deprivation (which makes us resentful) or dieting (which can make us vain) !

Fasting is penance and self-denial, to be sure, but if it is not undertaken in a generous spirit of love, it will only backfire. We find it easier if we have something specific for which to offer our fasting, i.e. today we will fast for all those who are sick, for our pastor, for those who are suffering from war, for Grammy and Papa, for all those children who go to bed hungry, etc. Then, when we feel our hunger, we have something concrete to focus on and offer our hunger for, which takes the focus off of our desire to eat something. It is really not so much to ask to skip a snack or an episode of Magic School Bus to remind ourselves of our solidarity with those who are suffering so much more serious things. Even the 6year old can comprehend that, though we do not actually require anyone around here to fast beyond the demands of the Church. But we do try to remind them that this is a season of GIVING and GIVING UP.

Like Jesus.