Homily

There are few things that are absolutely necessary for human life. What are they? Breathing is important and highly recommended. Adequate clothing and shelter protect us from harsh weather. Drinking is also a vital part of life because we can only go a few days without water. And lastly, we need food to fuel our bodies. And we heard today that St. Paul was yelling at the Corinthians because of what they were eating and the impact it had on the parish in Corinth. So even though we are still a week away from the Great Fast, I want to talk a little about fasting.

In today's epistle St. Paul writes that food does not bring us closer to God in and of itself, and that it true. But how we use food can indeed have important consequences for our spiritual life. Father Alexander Schmemann rightly pointed out that we, as human beings, are hungry. That's what went so very wrong in the Garden of Eden because Adam and Eve were hungry. They ate fruit from the one tree they were told not to eat from, because of their hunger. It was not a physical hunger. It was a hunger that they should have satisfied by turning to God and obeying His commandment. Instead of that they chose to satisfy themselves, and sin entered into paradise. Ever since that time men and women still have that same hunger for that which can only be satisfied in a deeper union with God, but like the First Parents they also look for substitutes to fill up that spiritual need, to find satisfaction on their own, in their own way, and by their own choosing, trying to fill up with all kinds of things that never quench the hunger only God can fill.

Just as Adam and Even wanted to assert their independence from God by eating the forbidden fruit, we as Christians can choose to show our dependence on God by fasting. When Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus rebuffed him by telling him that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. The temptation of food could not sway Jesus even though His time of prayer and fasting in the desert was over. He came to do the will of His Father, not His own will. We should fast so that we can better do the will of our Father and realize how much we should be depending on Him.

We pray before meals, but I suspect that often it is not so easy for us to get a sense of our dependence upon God, or to be genuinely thankful that we have this food before us. Strangely enough it may be harder for us to see the connection between our eating and God's loving kindness because we have so much food available to us. We know there are many people in the world who are hungry and even starving. There are many more who have enough to eat but there is very little choice of what they can eat. We not only have plenty to eat, but we can also even buy strawberries in winter and kiwis from the other side of the world. When we can eat whatever we like and as much as we like, in a material way it adds to the mistaken idea that we are in truly in control of our lives. Fasting helps us better understand the truth that we are dependent upon the Lord, and it should also open us up to gratitude for the gifts we have been given. Not eating certain foods can help us to thank God for all He has given us because it can give us a better perspective on the riches we already enjoy. We stand apart for a while from some of those riches so that we can see them more clearly.

Fasting also changes the rhythms of our lives. By abstaining from certain foods, we break up our normal daily routine and habits, and we spend a bit more time choosing what goes into our mouths. This change in routine and habits is especially good if it also pushes us to more prayer, because prayer and fasting go together like peanut butter and jelly, (both of which are fasting foods.) This change in eating habits can also be good if it helps us to think more about our life in Christ. What a great exercise it would be if, every time we thought about what fasting foods we were going to eat, we also asked ourselves the question, "What will satisfy me?" Not in the sense of food, of course, but rather what will satisfy me in my life. When I am not simply eating whatever I want to eat, it can be a very good time to ponder whether or not I am choosing well in other areas of my life, and once again, am I truly dependent upon God, and am I grateful for what He has given me?

Fasting is an important part of Christian life and always has been, although in our day it may not be practiced as much as in some other times. Our present Church law is very, very minimal. You are only required to keep the fast on the first day of Lent and on Good Friday. And maybe that is best, so that we may choose for ourselves which kind of fasting and how much fasting we ourselves will do according to our particular circumstances, our health needs, and other factors that need to be considered. Fasting is not some kind of endurance contest that exists for its own purposes. It is only helpful if it helps our life in Christ. But at the same time let us not be afraid to restrict our food so that we can enlarge our faithfulness.

I read a little piece about a guy who is so fixated on "eating healthy" that when he and his wife are invited to other people's homes for dinner, he makes his wife carry fruit and nuts in her purse. Sometimes he even brings his own food and cooks it in the host's kitchen. A friend asked him if he felt embarrassed by cooking his own food instead of eating what his hosts had cooked. He answered, "I would never be embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for them and the way they eat." Lord, have mercy.

What a self-centered soul! That is the anti-fast mentality. It is, of course, never just about what we eat, but also about how and why we eat. That was true in the Garden of Eden, and it is still true for us today.

Yes—eat healthy! But more importantly: let us think about eating toward holiness! And, at all times, let us give thanks to God.