Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So when I was back in college, I used to fast.
I used to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays (grumpy voice) and I loved it so very much.
I didn't actually. At the end of the day, I'd be super cranky,
super grumpy, what my sister would call "hangry" or have "food rage".
And so, I was really relieved to find a book in the school store
and the book was on the spiritual life, written by a monk who lived on the campus I was at
and one of the chapters was on fasting.
And he says, "If at the end of the day and you're fasting
and you are grumpy and not nice to be around and mean to people,
then maybe you shouldn't fast.
And I'm like, "Sweet, I don't have to do this anymore!"
So I stopped doing it for a little bit of time.
Now what I should have done is I should have just been smart about it
and a) maybe just been nicer to people, like I'm in control of my emotions, right, I mean try to be,
b) I could have eaten something. I don't know, there's those Snickers commercials
or like you need to eat something. You're not yourself when you get hungry.
It brings up the question: Why should Christians fast?
That's a great question!
Well, thank you very much.
No problem. You're a smart guy.
You're a smart guy.
You're even smarter.
That was weird.
Why do Christians fast?
Well back in the Old Testament, there was a number of different reasons why the people of Israel would fast.
There was one day, the Day of Atonement, where the whole nation would fast.
Now in the New Covenant, in the life of the Christian,
there's at least four reasons why we would fast.
Now I say four, but hold up five because there's one reason why Christians fast
that's actually not a good reason because some people, who as Christians, we fast because we think we need to,
if we fast, we get God's attention, we get his favor, or we get his love, and that's false.
Absolutely false. Why?
Because you already have God's attention.
You already have God's favor. He already loves you.
What are some legitimate reasons?
Well, one is this.
We fast to grow in what they call self-mastery.
What's self-mastery? Think about this.
If you had to do everything that another person said, you couldn't say no to them,
what would you be?
You'd be a slave to that person.
But there's some people—we live our lives
where we cannot say no to our senses.
We cannot say no to our appetites. We cannot say no.
When we want something, we have to get it. We have to do it.
When I try to get out of bed, I cannot say no to sleeping in
therefore what does that make us if I can't say no?
That makes us slaves.
But Jesus Christ came to set us free and to exercise that freedom,
we have to be able to say no, not only to evil but also even to legitimate pleasures.
To be able to say no to ourselves, it's an incredible grace and an incredible gift
because that's what it is to be free.
So one way in which we grow in self-mastery is through fasting,
this ability to say I'm hungry right now but I don't have to say yes to this legitimate pleasure.
So one, self-mastery.
Number two.
One of the reasons Christians fast is for obedience and discernment.
Obedience and discernment.
Now as you probably know, the Church offers us only two days when we have to fast:
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
but to do it on that day is to do what? It is to say, "I'm letting you tell me what to do,"
that you're saying, "Church, you're the legitimate authority. I give you permission.
I'm going to be obedient to you."
In the New Testament in Acts of the Apostles,
you have the apostles getting together and they have a big decision to make
and they need to listen to the Holy Spirit and so they fast leading up to that decision. Why?
Because fasting is oriented also towards discernment. So obedience and discernment.
I'm listening to someone guide me. I'm listening to someone tell me what to do.
Fasting can open us up for that kind of thing.
So, number one: self-mastery. Number two: obedience and discernment.
Number three: Worship. Sacrifice.
You know, a lot of people approach fasting like it's something good for them to do.
"If I give up this, I lose a few pounds" or "If I stop watching TV, I'll gain some more time"
or If I, you know, all these kinds of things. It's all about us, about self-improvement
but that's not the case.
Fasting is a sacrifice and sacrifice is always oriented towards worship.
Pope Benedict XVI, he said the heart of all worship is sacrifice.
So fasting is sacrificing a legitimate sense pleasure not for myself but for someone else,
sacrificing a legitimate self pleasure for love of God.
Think about this.
If you give up some kind of legitimate pleasure, if you fast on that day, what is that day?
That whole day becomes a day of worship,
it becomes a day of sacrifice.
So every moment where you say no to this legitimate good that you could have if you wanted,
it actually becomes worship.
Your whole day could be a day of worship.
Other reasons to fast:
there's repentance, there's to identify with those who don't have anything,
there is to have less so that you can give more to others.
But the fourth reason for fasting I want to point out is this:
To be a co-redeemer with Jesus.
In St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter one he says this.
He says, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake
and in my body, I am making up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ
for the sake of his body, the Church."
And think about that— here's St. Paul saying I'm suffering and I rejoice in that
because in my body, I'm making up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ,
for the sake of his body, the Church.
Now, John Paul II asked the question, the big question. What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ?
The answer: nothing. It's complete, it's full.
But he goes on to say, but so that you and I can experience the ability to redeem the world with Jesus,
Jesus extends us a small particle of his cross.
So here's what happens. In fasting, in any kind of suffering,
we as Christians have the ability to unite that suffering to the cross of Jesus Christ,
not for ourselves, not merely in worship either, but for the salvation of the world.
Think about the next time you have a fast day,
the next time you give up any kind of legitimate sense pleasure,
what you're doing is you're not just doing it for self-mastery,
you're not just doing it for discernment and obedience,
you're not just doing it for worship, you're also participating in God's redemption of the world.
That's why Jesus in the Gospels he says when it comes to people who are bound by Satan,
he says that kind of demon can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.
Last thing.
Still, it's easy to keep that fasting on the surface and not let it penetrate to the heart.
There's an old saying that says the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach,
but there's some kind of spiritual truth here,
where if we want to get to our own hearts, sometimes that passes not by way of good thoughts
or not just by way of intellectual processing
but sometimes there's that pinch, that sting of hunger, the sting of desire,
the sting of a good thing that I gave up for the sake of a better thing.
That's why you're fasting doesn't have to involve food.
It can involve anything. If you're going to fast from TV, you're going to fast from internet.
Maybe, how about this one?
You're going to fast from the snooze button. I want to end on this.
St. Josemaria Escriva called this fasting from the snooze button what he called the heroic minute.
And it looks like this.
The moment your alarm goes off, rather than hitting the snooze button for the next one, two, five, twelve times,
you just get up.
You just say yes to that moment.
You just deny yourself so you say no to that sense that wants to stay in bed.
You say yes to the Holy Spirit of like, "Guide me now."
You say yes to the sacrifice of getting out of bed at that moment.
It becomes an act of worship and not only this.
Your getting out of bed at that very moment
can actually become a sacrifice united to Christ's cross for the salvation of somebody. (laughs)
Think about—
you could help Jesus save someone's soul by getting out of bed the moment your alarm goes off.
You are just doing what you should be doing at the moment that you should be doing it.
You're saying no to the senses and becoming a free person.
You are listening to the Holy Spirit.
You are worshiping God by offering the sacrifice
and you're redeeming the world by uniting that moment of sliding out of bed
to the cross of Jesus Christ.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name's Father Mike.
God bless.
So I mentioned that fasting on Wednesday and Friday is like kind of a small "t" Church tradition,
but there's a saying, St. Ambrose, you know the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", right?
So St. Ambrose back in the fourth century, at one point, he was helping someone—
maybe St. Augustine or someone —
and Augustine went to Rome and was like, "Hey, shoot. They fast on Wednesday and Friday here.
What should I do?"
Ambrose says, "You know what? When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Fast on Wednesday and Friday."
So there you go.
and now you know.
The more you know ...
there you go. OK.
God bless.