“And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (Matt. 9:15).
The time of Jesus’s ministry was a special time in salvation history. It was the messianic time when the Messiah was physically present on earth. Jesus was the bridegroom, and his ministry was the time of his wedding with the New Israel. Therefore his disciples did not fast during those special wedding days, although he himself fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert. But he said that when the bridegroom is physically taken away from them, then they too will fast. We are in those days now, and during Lent we emphasize fasting and its importance in the life of a Christian.
Isaiah teaches us that our fasting should be accompanied by alms giving and helping the poor if we want it to have a good effect. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free … Is it not to share your bread with the hungry … Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isa. 58:6, 7, 8). If when we fast we also help the poor with our wisdom and money, our light will break forth like the dawn, we shall shine with the righteousness of God, and the glory of the Lord shall be with us.
Why does fasting have such power? It is because fasting cuts away the things that
divide our hearts and enables us to have an undivided heart in our love for God. By fasting, we reduce our food to the essentials for health and set aside delicacies. This is something we should do in every aspect of our life in order to be able to live only for God with all our heart. Thus we can say with the psalmist, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee … Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows … The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup” (Ps. 16:2, 4, 5). If one fasts in a healthy way, one can fast every day of the year—it can become a whole way of life. What I do is eat only once a day, at noon, never eat meat or use seasoning, and never eat delicacies (things made of sugar, artificial sweeteners, or white flour, or white rice) or fried foods. Thus one can eat all the essentials every day and in sufficient quantity for health but without dividing the heart with unnecessary pleasures. By eating in this way, my food is completely digested when I rise at 2:45 A.M. for prayer and contemplation. For contemplation, it is important to have an empty stomach. I then prolong this time with God in silence during the rest of the morning, quietly doing my work; and at noon, I eat again. I do not eat breakfast because it drops me spiritually at the most spiritual time of the day. We should then organize all the other parts of our life so they are in harmony with our fasting, avoiding unnecessary pleasures of the world in general in every aspect of our life so that our life is harmonious and homogeneous.
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