Lent And The Human Desire For Self-Discipline

 I recently had a conversation with Matt Swaim of The Coming Home Network about this topic, which I thought was a good one. Christianity does not have a copyright on fasting and asceticism, as it is taken up by almost every ancient religious tradition. Even in the secular world, things like time-restricted eating and cold exposure are gaining interest. And as I mention in the podcast, I was attracted to this kind of moral code and self-denial even before I became a Christian, which I tried to live out in Straight-Edge underground hardcore scene.

But in our own Catholic faith, it's often not so much the "why" behind what motives us to undertake various disciplines, but the "Who."

It's about an hour long, but may be of interest to some of you. Pat Flynn (Chronicles of Strength is his podcast, focusing on fasting, fitness, philosophy, and minimalism) is the other gentleman on the podcast (he's on the left side of the screen, I'm on the right). I enjoyed the conversation.

I pray your Lent is off to a good start. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint!

The Economic Case For Fasting

We all know fasting is an essential part of the Christian spiritual life. Our Lord noted that some demons are only driven out "with prayer and fasting" (Mt 17:21). Jesus himself fasted for forty days and nights in the desert without food (Mt 4:2) as spiritual preparation for his ministry. 

Catholics typically fast during the liturgical season of Lent to mirror this spiritual preparation of our Lord. The Church today prescribes a modest approach to fasting (2 half meals + 1 full meal, with no eating in between). For some this is a relatively pain-free endeavor, while others struggle with it more. We are typically used to eating whatever we want, when we want, and don't limit ourselves. Food is relatively cheap in the U.S. compared to a hundred years ago, when the food budget for the average American family was a higher percentage of take home pay (42% in 1900 vs 12% in 2003).

But with inflation running amuck, many families are starting to feel the pinch in their grocery budgets. It's hard not to get pissed off when you head to the grocery store and what cost you $150 a year ago is now topping $200. It's not imaginary, either. Food prices have risen over 11% from August 2021 to August 2022, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Additionally, credit card debt has surged to try to account for the increase in cost in just about everything, with balances increasing $46 billion in the second quarter of 2022--a 5.5% increase from the first quarter. The average Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for all accounts in the third quarter of 2022 was over 16%! And with interest rates rising (which, in turn, increases credit card APR), that means it's easier to fall prey to a cycle of debt which can feel impossible to get out of without drastic measures. 

While we're talking stats, though, consider this: in America, a whopping 42% of adults are obese. Forty-two percent. That's incredible. Whether this is because of the type of food consumed, or the amount, may be debated. But the fact is, we have more fat stored in our bodies than we really need or know to do with. 

As with many things, what's old is new. Could the ancient practice of fasting--limiting food intake and restricting it to certain times of day--be a potential solution to our flattened wallets and unhealthy weight problem? I think so.

I lost over ten pounds over a month and a half while I fasted regularly during Lent. Of course the spiritual benefits were there as well, but the weight lost was a bit of a bonus track too. The funny thing is that when you develop a more disciplined habit of when, how, and how much you eat, your stomach tends to shrink a little so that you don't require as much to be satiated. The types of food consumed can play into this as well. Foods high in fiber and protein tend to "stick" more than foods high in carbohydrates (especially sugars and other 'cheap' calories). 

We could take a tip from the developing world as well to help stretch our food dollars if we incorporated more rice, lentils, beans, whole grains, and fresh (or frozen) vegetables. If we cut out so-called "snack foods" that we take for granted in the U.S., and just focused on eating either three full meals (dialing it back to the point where we are still slightly hungry when we finish our meal), or even two half meals and one full meal or a variation of that, we could stem the difference between what we were spending a year ago on groceries and what it costs now.

It does take some discipline and a little planning and forethought, though. But don't say it's not possible. My breakfast most days consists of Paw-paws (a fruit native to our region that is like a mix of mango and banana) that I foraged and froze last year, mixed in with a quarter cup of rolled oats, a tablespoon of hemp seeds, and a pat of butter. Total cost is maybe a dime per serving. I will sometimes skip lunch, but when I do have it I will sometimes do chicken broth (saved from cooking a whole chicken in the instant pot). Recently I picked up eight, 5 lb packs of chicken drumsticks at Giant the other day for $1 each ($.20/pound) using an app called Flashfood ; this is just one example of somewhat out-of-the-box ways to save on groceries in the present challenging environment we live in. I froze seven of the eight packs, and made Filipino chicken adobo that evening with the remaining package. 

If you don't know how to cook, you can learn. Keep it simple, healthy, and cheap (those three qualities are not mutually exclusive either). Youtube is your friend. Channels like Clara's Kitchen (aka, Great Depression Cooking) as one example are easily accessible and a treat to watch. It's not rocket-science.

Skipping a meal here and there, or waiting til noon to eat (and not eating past, say, 6pm in the evening) teaches your body to burn fat and can shrink your stomach as well so that you don't require as much food to feel full. Most of us (myself included) eat out of boredom, from stress or habit, and often occurs when we don't really have to eat. 

Getting in the habit of fasting, beyond the spiritual benefits, trains your body to do without, so that it's not such a shock to the system when you are forced into a situation in which food is not available. With the war in Ukraine, inflation, and volatile supply chains, it might not be a bad idea to start learning to fast now since the future is unknown. I'm not fully there yet, but I'm working towards it being a regular thing as I'm probably carrying fifteen pounds at the moment that I don't really need. It's good discipline for body and soul, and fits, evolutionarily speaking, with how we were meant to eat (feast/famine cycle).

Worst comes to worst, you try it for a month and go back to your normal way of doing things after that; no harm no foul. But if it sticks, you may find the practice of fasting give you a spiritual, physical, mental, and economic advantage over others, and may just help stretch your budget in a way that gets you through this economic hump we seem to be going through lately. 

Bread Alone

I have been fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays since the scandals broke. We know we are dealing with demons in the Church, and that in scripture sometimes prayer needs to be accompanied by fasting, as the Lord says, "this kind can only be driven out except by prayer and fasting" (Mk 9:29) And so it is good for discipline but also necessary for reparation.

By God's grace, though, I don't notice the hunger as much as I may have fixated on it in the past. Something is happening, there is something in the air, and all around me people are rising up to what God is calling them to, even as many fall away and no longer follow, or remain tepid and static.

I get very sad sometimes. We stopped by a carnival type festival the other day in our town. There were rides and things for the kids, food vendors, people selling things. Normally it would just be a nice afternoon, but I was in a somber kind of mood and don't generally like crowds to begin with, so I was put off a little. As my wife mentioned one time when we were at the kitchen table one night talking about the end of days, "it's like everyone is walking around, like that show "The Walking Dead." You try to explain, you try to say 'wake up!' but they won't be roused from the immediacy of the here-and-now. There is nothing wrong with enjoying things like food and entertainment. But at Mass this morning in the epistle, the words of the Apostle took root, and it made sense:

"I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away." (1 Cor 7:25-31)

In Adoration the other day, I had a strong experience of wanting nothing but the Lord, like air, like I would suffocate without him even for a second. I knelt on the floor and closed my eyes and for a while was just taken over by my helplessness, my need for Him, to cleave to Him during these times. Later, it came to me as I was in bed the scripture in John 4. Jesus has met a Samaritan woman at the well, asks her for a drink, and when she scoffs that he has nothing to draw the water, he replies:

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:13-14)

She wants that water. She does not want to thirst again.

Not long after this episode, his disciples find him and urge him to eat something. But he replies,

“I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (Jn 4:32) 

So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them,

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." (Jn 4:32-34)

In fasting, we are training our bodies, as Paul says, "I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Cor 9:26-27) It's not that food is not important, but when bread is all we live for, we are blinded to life behind the curtain, the spiritual reality of life beyond the world. Fasting brings us in line with that reality. Dostoyevsky knew the power of bread, but more so the power of Christ to give meaning beyond bread:

“Christ knew that by bread alone you cannot reanimate man. If there were no spiritual life, no ideal of Beauty, man would pine away, die, go mad, kill himself or give himself to pagan fantasies. And as Christ, the ideal of Beauty in Himself and his Word, he decided it was better to implant the ideal of Beauty in the soul. If it exists in the soul, each would be the brother of everyone else and then, of course, working for each other, all would also be rich. Whereas if you give them bread, they might become enemies to each other out of boredom.”

I do not want to live for bread alone. I do not want to thirst again. The good news is in being baptized in Christ and into his death, we are brought into his life, since "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Mt 4:4) The Eucharistic bread, His true blood, sustain us, just as the waters of baptism wash us clean and dispose us to receive them and subsist on them.

St Catherine of Siena lived on the Eucharist alone for the last few years of her life. St Catherine of Genoa lived through the fasting times of Lent and Advent on only the Eucharist. St Joseph Cupertino lived for 5 years without food apart from the Eucharist. Blessed Alexandrina da Costa spent 13 years without food or drink but for the Eucharist.

This is truly miraculous of course, but we should not be surprised, those who are in Christ and see with eyes of faith, that life is more than bread! When we skip a meal we would think our lives would end from the way we act. But we are not trained, we are carnal, and so we suffer by way of softness. But the coming days will be days of hunger, both materially and spiritually, and we would do well to prepare, to train our bodies as Paul exhorts, but also to rely on the One who sustains us: God alone.

I still get sad when I am in crowds sometimes. I don't mean to be a curmudgeon when it comes to fun distractions. I feel very alone, but take comfort in Christ and that he often got away from crowds to be alone; that he enjoyed a wedding feast, ate and drank with his friends, but also spent 40 days of fasting as well to be undergo testing in preparation for what He was being called to. That he extols the virtue of going into your room and closing the door to be alone in intimacy with the Father. That he would rise early and go to a lonely place to pray. And it reminds me again that there is more to life than bread, than bread alone.