Drawing from the Gospel and a powerful story about hot cross buns, Fr. David Colhour, CP, invites us to see fasting not as dieting, but as a path toward trust in God and solidarity with those who hunger.
Join us this week as we reflect on the meaning of fasting, exploring how it deepens our prayer and prepares our hearts more fully for the journey toward Easter.
Welcome and The Second Sunday of Lent
Well hello and welcome back to our Passionist series from Noon to 3 p.m. I’m Father David. It’s good to have you with us today as we celebrate the Second Sunday of Lent. I hope your first week focusing on prayer was beneficial. This week we take another step forward and return to the three themes we discussed on Ash Wednesday: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Today we spend some time reflecting on fasting.
Into the Wilderness
Last Sunday’s Gospel told us that Jesus was driven into the wilderness. I decided to step outside myself and experience something of that wilderness. Standing here, I find myself thinking that if I were to spend a long period of time in a place like this, my first concerns would be very basic: What am I going to eat? Where am I going to sleep? How will I handle the elements?
As I pondered that, I realized those concerns are all about self-preservation. They are human needs focused on survival. If Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, he must have worked through the question of how to move beyond self-preservation. Being out here reminds me that he needed absolute trust and confidence in his Father.
Perhaps that is part of what Lent is about. In a small way, we ask how we can loosen our grip on self-sufficiency and the protective walls we build around our lives.
The Story of Hot Cross Buns
When I think about fasting, I recall a story about the origins of hot cross buns. In the fourteenth century, a group of monks baked spiced bread marked with a cross for Good Friday. Yet because it was a day of fasting, they were not allowed to eat the bread themselves. Instead, they carried the buns outside the monastery walls and gave them to the poor.
Imagine smelling freshly baked bread all day, your stomach turning with hunger, and still choosing to fast. When the monks distributed the bread, they likely had two options. They could hand it out quickly and move on, or they could truly look at the people receiving it.
If you look into someone’s eyes and see desperation and hunger, and then reach into your bag to offer a bun, how is it received? Is it grabbed? Is there gratitude? Is it devoured instantly? Is there a plea for more? In that moment, perhaps the hunger inside you resonates with the hunger inside them.
You begin to realize how truly hungry they are. You may also realize how blessed you are. Perhaps you give a second bun or even a third. Soon your bag is empty and the people are still hungry.
Then you return to the monastery chapel and pray. What goes through your mind? Maybe the words of Jesus echo within you: “When I was hungry, you gave me food.” Maybe your awareness of how fortunate you are changes the way you pray.
When you lie down that night and close your eyes, you see again the faces of the people you fed.
What True Fasting Does
That is good fasting. Fasting is not dieting. Fasting connects you with other people. It brings your relationship with God together with your relationship with others. Fasting begins to change you.
Jesus did not go into the desert to make himself holy. He was already holy. He went into the desert to realize his dependence on his Father. Fasting connects me to God and fasting connects me to other people.
Closing Reflection
As we continue this week reflecting on fasting, may your time of fasting draw you closer to God and deepen your compassion for others. Have a blessed week. For those who wish, we will see you on Saturday. God bless you.
Thank you, Fr. David, for this enlightening reflection.