Fasting

We're not even a week into Lent so I thought a word about fasting might be appropriate as an option to include in our Lenten practices. I was going to entitle this "Fasting Made Easy", but that would be a contradiction. There has to be some rub, some effort, some stretching, otherwise it looses its purpose. I guess I was thinking that if taken in little bits, it might not be as formidable as thinking of 40 entire days of fasting. The kind of fasting also, has something to do with it. If we say we will limit ourselves to one meal a day...or five days a week on bread and water, then we might well back off from the idea of fasting. But if we say in general that we will willingly deprive ourselves of something we like, even spontaneously, we might find ourselves doing more than we thought possible. So, we can easily leave off the salt or pepper, or our favorite sauce, and offer the sacrifice, small as it is, in reparation for our sins and those of the whole world. Or, we might forgo our favorite TV program, and use the time for a few decades of the rosary. We might take a moment to send a get-well card to a friend who is ill, or call a friend we haven't spoken to for some time. How much time do we spend with the newspaper? Can we limit ourselves to just glancing at the headlines and used the saved time to tell Jesus and Mary how much we love them? These are "fastings" that are doable, and private, as the Jesus recommends in the Sermon on the Mount. We can add them to the compulsroy meatless Fridays. Whatever we do should help us feel a gap in our regular routine, and draw us to fill it with prayer or good works. Let us help each other by prayer to accomplish our Lenten Fast.
Bro. Rene