Friday Fast #3: Food

Is it really Friday already?

Throughout much of the year Fridays are one of my favorite days of the year. The work week is ending; the weekend holds much promise of either fun things to do or much to accomplish.

But the last few weeks, during Lent, not so much.

Why is it? 

That darn self-denial as a discipline practice in the rhythm of the week. These Friday fasts are hard.

Because my husband is Catholic, we do not eat meat on Fridays in Lent. I enjoy seafood; I like PBJ sandwiches, but when I am not “allowed” to eat meat on Fridays suddenly I seem to have so many leftovers of beef and chicken and often really get a taste for a burger. But overall, skipping meat on Fridays is not onerous. His parish holds Fish Frys every week and it is more a community building exercise, with everyone enjoying dinner together rather at the end of the week rather than sit home in sackcloth.

But fasting from a whole meal or even a day’s worth of meals is something else entirely. It takes a determination, a plan, preparedness and a mindset to make the missing of a meal into a spiritually fulfilling practice. Skipping lunch in itself can be a good thing, but if done because work piled up and I need to plow through then the missing of a meal really isn’t a fast but rather poor planning on my part.

However, if we are mindful of what we are doing and we take ourselves out of the current place either physically or mentally and concentrate on what we are doing and spend time with scripture and in prayer, then the practice can indeed be quite meaningful.

I planned poorly today in order to fast from food. I should have done it yesterday. Today, I have a lunch date with several friends, so I cannot skip lunch. I am “running” a race tomorrow, so I must have the fuel of an evening meal in my body so I can make it through the race healthy tomorrow morning. Perhaps I can offer up my race as a prayer, instead of the mental place I sometimes go in just trying to make it through without feeling ill or walking too much.

I vow to figure out a day when I can indeed fast for a meal (or two) in the coming week, but today is not my day for that kind of fast.

Today, I am back to only water and I will consciously limit what I am listening to throughout the day. No audio books on my walk across campus. No coffee after lunch. I am going to offer up a prayer each time I think about breaking these fasts…for those who have no clean water, for those who struggle to find a meal, for those students who are making unwise choices on this Unofficial St Patrick’s day on campus and for those for whom life is a struggle.

How, in our experience of discomfort, can we grow closer to God today?