What Fasting Is Really For...

The pastor at the school where I teach is a man of few words...but, boy, does he make 'em count!

I don't know why (or how) it's taken me so long to realize what is meant in the Gospels when it speaks of Jesus (in response to the Pharisees) explaining how guests cannot fast while a bridegroom is with them -->

Mark 2:18-20 (from Biblegateway.com)

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

I admit I never quite got it.

But Fr. Pat put it so simply - the Apostles had no need to fast (a practice to remove one's reliance on earthly needs to allow opportunity to grow closer to God) because they couldn't get any closer to God than they already were - Jesus was in their midst! He was already "hanging out" (excuse my colloquialism) with them.

Maybe I just never fully understood the idea of fasting before. (Society doesn't help with the understanding of fasting, that's for sure, as the term is often understood in light of fasting from foods in an effort to diet and so forth...)

But I am very thankful for those few (wise) words from Fr. Pat. It actually makes sense now...When we fast, we discipline ourselves to deny something worldly, and, in its place, we have more room for God.