Why Fast?

The prophet, Isaiah chides those who fast, but whose quarreling, fighting and abusive behavior negate any good that their fasting might have achieved. He warns us that it is not in wearing sackcloth and ashes, or hanging our heads in false humility that we fast effectively, but rather in "releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing our bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;, clothing the naked and not turning our backs on our own." (Is 58:6-7) We fast because we hunger for Jesus who enables us to carry out these good works. He is the Food which nourishes and strengthens us to know and follow his teachings. Father Champagnat encouraged a type of fasting that centered on carrying out our duties with greater consistency, praying from the heart, and making sacrifices of little things, that would not call attention to themselves. If we deprive ourselves of food, he said, we should do it so that we can have something more to offer to the poor. And he encouraged intercessory prayer for the conversion of sinners, for the needs of the teachers and students in our schools, and for the souls in purgatory. Today we might add the people of Japan and those who will suffer from the Tsunami.
Bro. Rene