First Sunday of Lent

First Reading:  Genesis 9:8-15

Responsporial:  Psalms25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9.

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22

Gospel: Mark 1:12-15

Journying Into the Desert for Lent: Fasting

Traditionally, Lent has incorporated three disciplines: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. The early Church practiced stational fasting (nothing to do with abstaining from a particular T.V. station). The word “stational” is rendered from the Latin phrase soluta iam statione ieiunnii which suggests fasting on a particular day which included Wednesday and Friday. In this context, the fasting was an abstaining from food and drink until the “9th hour” or roughly 3PM. In modern practice, Catholics who fast take only one meal for the day. Also associated with fasting is the concept of abstinence. Traditionally, for Catholics, abstinence means refraining from meat. During Lent, Friday is considered a day of fasting and abstinence, whereas all of Lent is considered a period of abstinence for Catholics between 18 and 59. With that said, fasting, like the other Lenten disciplines is not an end in itself. The end is drawing closer to Christ’s life in the Spirit. Fasting is a way to discipline our appetite which, in the United States, often dictates our actions. We thwart the appetite to enter into the suffering of Christ in those around the world where appetite is continually frustrated by a lack of food, sufficient wealth or both. If our stomachs rumble for a time, we take a very small part in the perpetual hunger of millions for whom the hunger never ends. In this sense, fasting can lead us to almsgiving to alleviate the hunger of others, and a deeper connection with God who suffers though the suffering of humanity in the poor. Most importantly, fasting should help us repent by altering our appetite-driven direction to one of a compassionate-driven direction.