One of the questions people often ask is, why do we need to fast? Is it required? And what's the history of fasting in the Church?

What does it mean to fast in terms of Lent? To fast is to abstain from food. St. Thomas Aquinas notes that fasting consists of taking only one meal a day (ST, II-II, q. 147, a. 6). This definition has been refined recently by the Church in terms of what's allowed during Lent.

We can also make a distinction between fasting and abstinence in reference to the Lenten precept of the Church to observe the days of fasting and abstinence (CCC 2043). When abstinence is used in reference to Lent, we are speaking about regulating the quality of the food that is taken. For example, on Ash Wednesday, Friday of the Lord's Passion, and all other Fridays during Lent, Latin Rite Catholics are obliged to abstain from eating flesh meat. On Ash Wednesday and Friday of the Lord's passion, Catholics both fast and abstain from flesh meat.

What about the origin and history of fasting in the Church? There's an ancient practice of fasting in sorrow and repentance for sins found in the Old Testament. Fasting also accompanied fervent prayer to God. The idea was that fasting made one's prayer more acceptable to God. It was a way of demonstrating one's level of commitment before the Lord. These ideas remain valid today. God desires that we prove our love for him. As the old adage goes, actions speak louder than words.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus does not seem to emphasize fasting while his disciples are with him. When questioned about this by John's disciples, Jesus insists that fasting is inappropriate in times of joy. (Matt 9:14 ff; Mark 2:18 ff; Luke 5:33 ff). In other words, while Jesus and his disciples are together, it is a time of joy like a wedding feast, not a time for fasting. Jesus notes that when the bridegroom is taken away, then there will be fasting, which seems to imply fasting as a sign of mourning the loss of the bridegroom and also in anticipation of and preparation for his return.

In the early Church, we find that the apostles were familiar with fasting and did so prior to making important decisions to gain divine assistance (Acts 13:2 ff; 14:23).

In the concepts of anticipation and preparation for the Lord Jesus we find a connection to the practice of fasting and abstinence during Lent. Lent is a time of penance and atonement for sin in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord. Fasting and abstinence are integral to that preparation for several reasons, such as building virtue, self-mastery, and helping to avoid sinful tendencies that may ultimately lead to spiritual death in the case of mortal sin.

The practice of fasting during Lent finds its genesis in our Lord's journey into the desert where he fasted and prayed for forty days and nights in preparation to begin his public ministry (Matt 4:1-2; Luke 4:1-3). The forty days of Lent are in imitation of Christ's time in the desert. During Lent, the Christian walks into the desert with Christ and fasts so as to have the strength to avoid temptation with the help of God's grace. Lent is also a penitential season in which we strive to atone for our sins and purify our lives in preparation for the celebration of Christ's glorious rising from the tomb on Easter Sunday.

In ancient times, however, the forty-day period of Lent sometimes involved extended and more austere fasts, as some Catholics practice today. For example, some Catholics fasted each of the forty days (except for Sunday and sometimes Saturdays) up to the ninth hour or 3:00 p.m., which is the hour that Christ gave up his spirit on the cross (Matt 27:50). The intent was to unite one's suffering through fasting to the passion of Christ. Since our Lord's suffering ended at the ninth hour, so too was the fast ended at that hour. St. Athanasius recommended in his Festal Letter (AD 331) that Christians engage in a forty-day fast prior to a stricter fast during Holy Week.

What is clear in all this is that the ancient tradition of fasting in order to unite oneself to Christ, do penance in atonement for sins, and prepare for the celebration of the resurrection is an integral part of the Christian life. Lent in particular is that time when we engage in those penitential practices for the spiritual benefit of the entire Church.