The Great Diet

[cartoon courtesy of the Pithless Thoughts blog]

Growing up, I had struggled with the thought of fasting.  Why would God care about what we eat? And, ever the rebel, my mind fixated on what seemed like endless loopholes e.g., what if someone did not like meat .. do they automatically get a free pass to heaven? The Church and all it's crazy rules!

I still feel as humbled today as when I first came across the words of St. John Chrysostom ... and realized he agreed!

Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast.

Fasting is not about food? Wow! Growing up, I was told over and over that it was about food .. it was about punishment .. it was about "sacrifice".  However, the blessed Saint continues:

Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? 

If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. 

Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others.  ... Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamation. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers?

The wisdom of St. John Chrysostom on the fasting ("On Fasting", published by OrthodoxyToday.org) is an easy-read even in today's age of very short attention-spans, and truly a must-read.

And as with all true Christian teachings, the teaching on true fasting goes well beyond benefiting ourselves ... it's never about what "I" want to sacrifice or give up, but more about what "we" as a Church can do together.  Frederica Mathewes-Green has a wonderful short video that unfortunately I cannot embed on this blog but can be accessed through BeliefNet - we participate in a common fast with the Church, which requires humility, obedience and fellowship and at the end everyone is strengthened.

At the end, the fast is not about "giving up" something, but rather gaining everything that has been promised.  The more we become like Christ - which goes beyond words and takes actual effort and training very much like physical exercise - the more natural it becomes to us to be like Him.

That's what fasting is all about! To end on the perfect "How To" explanation out there -

[another cartoon courtesy of the Pithless Thoughts blog]

P.S. Remember ... it's never to late to begin to observe Lent.  It's not just a diet, nor is the fast a bunch of rules from an institution.  It is and always has been more than just about the food .. it's all about Christ.