FASTING
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March 1, 2024Many of us are aware that during Lent, we ought to practice fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In addition, all Fridays of Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. The norms tell us that fasting is obligatory from age 18 until age 59 and abstinence is binding upon Catholics aged 14 onwards. However, many seem to be unaware of what we call Eucharistic Fast.
The current Code of Canon Law states that “a person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine” (Canon 919 §1). Canon Law, however, provides an exception: “The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour” (Canon 919 §3).
But why? What does it matter if I already ate a burrito, chewed gum or drank coffee right before I walk into the church and receive the Eucharist? Allow me to share some thoughts from Philip Kosloski:Pope Paul VI wrote concerning the power of spiritual discipline in his apostolic constitution Paenitemini: “Mortification aims at the liberation of man, who often finds himself, because of concupiscence, almost chained by his own senses. Through ‘corporal fasting’ man regains strength, and the wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by intemperance is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence.”
Fasting builds up our spiritual strength, and the Church asks us to complete this simple task every time we receive Holy Communion for our own benefit. Just like any athlete, we need to exercise discipline and fasting is great for building those spiritual muscles. Without fasting we are weak, and our passions drive us to wherever the wind blows.
Additionally, Pope John Paul II lamented in Dominicae Cenae how modern Catholics possess a “lack of Eucharistic ‘hunger’ and ‘thirst,’ which is also a sign of lack of adequate sensitivity towards the great sacrament of love and a lack of understanding of its nature.” We need to “hunger” and yearn for the Eucharistic Jesus before we can properly receive him. Our reception of Holy Communion needs to correspond to an inner hunger that is indicative of a soul that thirsts for God’s love. If we don’t have this hunger (brought to mind by our physical hunger during fasting), we might think of Holy Communion as something ordinary, not needing any preparation beforehand.
Last of all, fasting before Mass is an image of the Eucharistic stories in the Gospels, specifically the Feeding of the Five Thousand. After a long day the disciples urged Jesus to send the crowd away so that they could buy food for themselves to eat. Instead, Jesus multiplies the bread and fish, leaving everyone “satisfied” at the end of the meal. Just like the crowd on that day, when we approach the table of the Lord, we must be hungry, or as the Psalmist proclaims, “As the deer years for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1).
