The term ‘Fat Tuesday’ (Mardi Gras) has always made me chuckle. Finish up the goodies – get it in before Ash Wednesday. It seems quite childish, yet most of us are mere children in the spiritual life.

I confess – I have always found fasting difficult. I admire those who with ease, eat only when they are hungry and stop at the first sign of fulness. Those who can chew their food slowly – a hundred times before swallowing! Yet growing in holiness and love is difficult, we can expect nothing less. To make space for God we have to remove our worldly obsessions and cravings. Fasting is part of that process. When Jesus said that some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21) the two were linked in a powerful way. Difficulties and blocks in our relationship to God can be overcome. The discipline of fasting is difficult, but it can be learnt.

I must confess – I have often had the tendency to overeat and have frequently snacked – a big bag of crisps with a movie, followed by one or more ice-creams! I was once described as a ‘good grubber.’ As I rarely bowled when playing cricket and have never played rugby in my life, I don’t think it referred to the way a ball travels in those games. I think it had something to do with the English slang word for food and was meant as an expression for someone who likes their food and will always clear the plate.

Objectors to serious fasting have always cited the giving up of the bad things that come out of us as being more important than food. Matthew 15:17-19 is often quoted…

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.

This has much validity although it was Jesus’s response to dietary regulation and ritual, not fasting.

Objectors will also cite the feasting of Jesus with his disciples (Matthew 9:14) and accusations made against him that he was a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34).

Yet his response was, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:15).

Feasting and fasting is all good and proper, at the appropriate time. But what is the appropriate time?

There are obviously seasons in the church when fasting or feasting are appropriate. And we mark these as a community. Feasting at Christmas to rejoice at the incarnation, fasting during Lent in honour of Our Lord’s 40 days in the wilderness doing battle with the devil. But how do we link these to our own personal stories and journeys in faith? I think it is linked to presence and absence in our spiritual life. Fasting is probably more necessary when absence is felt. As in Jesus’ analogy of the bridegroom being taken away from the bride we can have times when we do not experience God as present. So we then have to look at all those things that are blocking God from being present to us. Our own self-indulgence, and yes over-indulgence being part of these blocks. Yet it is harder to do when the absence of God is felt, which is why it is necessary to practice it as a routine so it becomes familiar.

As I highlighted before, fasting is very much linked to prayer. It is in fact an aid to prayer to lead us back into a right relationship with God and to transform our prayer into contemplation. This is why it has always been part of the great tradition of the Church and you’d be hard pressed to find a saint who didn’t practice it.

The discipline of fasting is also the discipline of staying with hunger, that hunger does not necessarily need to be satiated in that moment. Feel the need and contemplate the need. Satiating the need with food and other things is only temporary. Allowing God to fill the emptiness and need is to embrace the eternal and divine bliss. Being loved by God is far more satisfying than a pot of Ben & Jerry’s! Try it. Taste and see that the Lord is good! (psalm 34:8)

Eating with and for pleasure can place an inordinate amount of focus on ourselves. We can end up eating ourselves…so I say don’t eat yourself – eat Jesus!

Let the Great Fast begin and may the Lord be with you.

Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras 2024