There is an episode in the Gospel of St. Matthew where Jesus is asked a question by the disciples of John the Baptist: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answers 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.”    

Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III

I think of this scriptural passage each year as I consider what my Lenten practices might look. When I was little, I always gave up chocolate for Lent, but when Easter Sunday arrived one year, I remember being disappointed at receiving a hollow chocolate Easter bunny in my basket rather than a solid one. Reflecting on my expectation as a child of a more favorable outcome at Easter, I soon learned that there was more to life than doing something for something. The goal of my striving should have been to adopt some practice that would lead to a deeper relationship in Christ rather than an earthly reward for my efforts. 

As we journey through Lent, we should ask ourselves repeatedly if our Lenten practices are rooted in an outcome or aimed toward union with God. We all need to learn how to say “No” to impulses that lead to pride of life and keep us apart from God and others. Our choices lead to consequences for the good or the bad.  Nevertheless, choosing to fast should not be directed to a program of self-discipline that only leads to self-satisfaction, self-reliance and self-importance.  

The goal of fasting during the Lenten season is to have a ‘metanoia’—the Greek word for repentance which means a change of mind that leads to a change of heart toward God. A good fast can be simply choosing to spend less time on entertainment and more time listening to the Lord in the Scriptures, receiving him more frequently in the Sacraments and imitating his charity in every action. 

It is my hope that our Lenten practices will assist us in developing a greater hunger for the Eucharist and a desire to enter more fully into the feast of the bridegroom. In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus speaks of a way of feasting by eating and drinking that which brings life to the soul, “Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life.”  Jesus further added an admonition to this counsel for those who might be looking for an alternate route to heaven through self-discipline alone; “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” 

We should never become complacent in our Lenten planning nor non-participatory when present at Mass. We are not meant to watch the Mass on the internet when we can receive Christ truly present in a most intimate way in the Eucharist. If we feel that the bridegroom is taken away from us, then a metanoia is needed and fasting can become part of our efforts to find him again. However, when the bridegroom is with us, there is no need to fast because in him we have all that we need for life eternal and lasting joy.