Fasting for the Homecoming

Today's readings.

It’s fitting that Jesus calls himself the Bridegroom and speaks of the days when he will be “taken away.” In doing so, he gives fasting a relational meaning: it becomes a way of remaining faithful in the absence of Someone we love.

In Vietnamese war-time songs, there is a recurring motif of a bride whose husband has gone off to war, and she chooses not to adorn herself as she waits. In loyalty, she withholds makeup, from her true devotion; her simplicity becomes an unspoken vow that her beauty belongs to his return.

I think that image helps us understand Christian fasting a little better. We do not fast because creation is bad or because pleasure is suspect; we fast because our joy is not yet complete. Christ draws close to us in the Eucharist, but we are still waiting for the homecoming—when there is only eternity between us and his joy. So we live in a restrained gladness, reminding ourselves that the waiting matters. Fasting, then, is not harsh spiritual discipline for its own sake; rather, it is love that stays true in the in-between.

Today's practice – Fasting (quiet simplicity):

Today, fast from one small “presentation habit” with coworkers or family: skip the extra comment, email, or story that’s mainly there to make you look right, better-than, or put-together. When you feel the impulse to polish or manage perception, pray quietly: “Lord, I belong to you. Teach me to wait with love.”