by Joe Cady
Some of you who have been at St. Timothy’s for a while might remember this… once, when Fr. Charlie was here, he was speaking in a homily about why we have to fast for an hour before receiving communion, and among other things he said (that, honestly, I don’t remember), he said something that I will never forget: It’s good to come to Mass hungry.
I remember that striking me in a very simple, yet profound, way. Among any other disposition that we might have coming into mass, there is a sort of inherent goodness in coming with a sense of hunger, a hunger that ought to remind us of our hunger for God (or remind us that we ought to hunger for God).
This, I think, is precisely the point of fasting and “giving things up” during the season of Lent. Ordinarily, when we fast and abstain from eating meat, we become very aware of our desire for the things we’ve given up (I mean, who doesn’t instinctually crave a hamburger every Friday during Lent). The idea is that every time we think about how much we want whatever it is we’re fasting from (coffee, chocolate, whatever), we should ask ourselves: Do I desire the Lord as much as I want this other thing that I’m craving? Now, that might sound ridiculous – you might think, of course, I desire God more than coffee or chocolate. But think about it… when it comes down to it, do we really desire the Lord like we desire the things of this world? Like, when the alarm goes off much earlier than we want and we wake up thinking “oh man, I need some coffee” – do we think the same thing about prayer – “oh man, I need to spend some time in prayer.” Maybe you do, that’s good. But I think sometimes if we’re honest, we tend to put the things of God and spiritual progress on the lower end of our daily priorities. If we look at our lives, how we use our time and resources, how we prioritize our day and schedule our week… do we put God first?
Part of the point of Lent and the practice of fasting is to train our minds and hearts to pursue God above all other things. The things we choose to give up for Lent aren’t about showing off or trying to out-do one another. What is easy for one person might be a real sacrifice for others. You might think giving up TV is the easy way out, but for someone who spends hours binge watching Netflix everyday, this might be really difficult, and has the potential to free up a lot of time that could be devoted to more enriching activities. The point is to pick something that will be a challenge. Why? Because it’s good to be hungry sometimes. Now, just to be clear, we aren’t talking about the involuntary poverty experienced by people struggling with food insecurity (in fact, Lent is the precise time to double down on our service and support of the poor and vulnerable). We’re talking about freely, voluntarily choosing to refrain from certain things that we regularly have access to. When we voluntarily deprive ourselves of some of the things that we enjoy, it provides us with an opportunity to master our passions and cravings, helps us think more deeply about what truly satisfies, and helps us enter into solidarity with those who daily go without.
So, as we continue through Lent, let us make an effort to be extra conscious of those moments of hunger, those times when we really want whatever it is we’ve given up. And when those cravings begin to rise up in us… let us call to mind that God alone satisfies, that the things of this
world are passing and temporary, but that the love of God and the gift of the Spirit remain forever.
Our fasting and self-denial during Lent helps train our minds and hearts to put the goods of this world in their proper perspective, and to order our lives in such a way that temporal goods are utilized in a way that moves us toward our transcendent good. If you haven’t decided to give something up yet, I encourage you to consider doing so, not to make us miserable, but because voluntary self-denial is good for us. The Christian life is ultimately about learning how to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, learning how to lay down our lives to give life to others. Lent is an opportunity to really train ourselves in this self-giving way of life. But it’s also a time for us to be more intentional about spiritual growth and building habits that lead to greater holiness. May our fasting and sacrifices this Lent increase our hunger for God and our resolve to pursue the Lord with greater devotion.