A Spirituality of Fasting
Fr. Jacob Maurer
Originally posted on 2/21/2010

Lent is one of those times of year that comes with mixed feelings for folks. You’ve got Mardi Gras (a sometimes dubious entrance into the season), fasting from food during Ash Wednesday and then weeks of sacrifice – usually fasting from some favorite food or activity – before reaching Holy Week and finally (!), Easter. It’s a mix of feast or famine that has people wondering what the big deal is about giving things up.

In considering the discipline of fasting, the Ignatian Exercises may shed some light on the ‘why’ of what we do. St. Ignatius wrote the ‘Spiritual Exercises’ with the goal of helping the average person more fully understand sin, Jesus’ life and ultimately, the depths of God’s love for each and every one of us. In order to do this, the Exercises focus on four ‘weeks’, or movements.

The first week revolves around considering the effects of sin, the second on the ministry of Christ, the third on the Passion of Jesus. For thirty days, the retreatant silently contemplates Scripture passages, prays and meets daily with a spiritual director. He honestly examines his own conscience in the light of how deadly sin truly is (1st week). He wonders at Word made flesh, and the life of our Savior. He is pained at the suffering of Christ as He died, newly aware of his own participation in Christ’s crucifixion.

It is the fourth week that reveals the meaning of the first three. This is because in the fourth week that the retreatant – with new understanding of his own sin and the greatness of God’s sacrifice for him – finally reflects joyfully on the Lord’s resurrection & the forgiveness offered to him and all.

It would be wonderful if we all could simply take Lent off and go on this thirty day retreat. And if you can, log off of your computer and run – don’t walk – to your nearest Jesuit retreat center! But the Church knows that we have to continue on with our day to day lives. Thus Lent – and the fasting that goes with.

As silence is to a retreat, fasting is one of the basic settings of Lent – your shared retreat with the universal Church. You are guided through meditations on Sundays as well as in the Lenten readings at daily Mass and your parish’s Friday devotions, usually the stations of the cross. Fasting sets the tone, separating us from the pleasures that often distract us, filling us when we should be turning to Christ. This suffering heightens our attention to Christ’s suffering, and in turn allows us to appreciate it all the more.


If you’ve ever been on a silent retreat, you know what its like to have that one person who just doesn’t want to stop talking. Perhaps you’ve been frustrated by them at first, but at the end, they’re to be pitied, because when its all said and done, they never really entered into the retreat – and they weren’t able to get to get closer to God as a result. They’ve essentially wasted their time.

As you enter Lent, make sure that you do enter in: embrace fasting as you would silence. Make your fasts with enthusiasm, giving up certain pleasures so as to enjoy the Easter feast all the more – and with a great love for Him who gave up infinitely more just to invite us to it.