PROSPECT HEIGHTS — While the directives on how to fast during Lent have evolved over time, the reasons for it are unchanged, according to Father Alonzo Cox, director of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Office of Diocesan Liturgy.
“The whole idea,” he said, “is being able to let go of those things that we’re just so used to partaking in and being able to just focus on what God has given to us.”
Jesus understood this. He fasted to beseech his father’s power just before the start of his earthly ministry.
For 40 days, he fasted, even while Satan tempted him. Jesus responded: “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God’ ” (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4).
Father Michael Bruno, dean of seminarians and professor of Church history at St. Joseph Seminary and College in Dunwoodie, Yonkers, said Jesus’ original apostles fasted after the savior ascended into heaven. Disciples who came later also fasted.
“There is some mention that the apostles instituted a time of fast,” Father Bruno said.
“Clearly, there were times that the Church embraced fasting as an ascetical practice, most likely connected to the celebration of the sacred Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and, obviously, Easter.”
Acts 13:2-3 describes how two disciple-teachers in Antioch were fasting and worshiping the Lord when the Holy Spirit came and said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” They subsequently embarked on this mission, proclaiming the gospel in Seleucia and Cyprus.
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Father Bruno added that starting in the 4th century, bishops who would be known as the Church fathers weighed in on fasting.
“We have evidence in the Council of Nicaea in the Fifth Canon, a clear mention of fasting,” he said. “Now, it’s not clear what the fasting is towards. We’re not sure, but it could have been towards the Feast of the Ascension.”
Father Bruno noted a standout voice at the council was a deacon, Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, who later became the bishop there and a saint. He expounded more on fasting.
“Athanasius, who defended the divinity of Christ at Nicaea, gives us a clear understanding from his letters of a 40-day fast, including a fast of Holy Week,” he said.
He added that Athanasius traveled to Rome and observed even more fervent fasting. He was embarrassed that the Church in Alexandria was not as active, so he urged his flock to fast even more.
Later, Church leaders wished to recognize the exact number of 40 days, which led to the practice of beginning Lent on Ash Wednesday.
“So,” Father Bruno asked, “what’s the point of 40 days? Well, certainly for Christ in the desert. But again, we also have the Old Testament prophets who fasted for 40 days. Moses, Elijah, and Christ form a template of a 40-day fast.”
Father Bruno said fasting facilitates “an encounter with the Lord and penance.”
“The idea,” he added, “is that we follow him in the desert as a way to unite ourselves to him and fight temptation following his example.”
More than a dozen centuries would pass with other Church directives on fasting.
Acts of charity, almsgiving, and abstinence from activities such as various forms of entertainment also became Lenten practices.
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Disciplined fasting was relaxed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially during flu epidemics in 1889 and 1918. A similar situation unfolded during the recent COVID-19 pandemic when some bishops granted permission to eat meat during Lent to maintain proper nutrition because people had trouble shopping.
Now, about 40% of Catholics adhere to fasting, according to a 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center, down from 47% in 2015.
Still, Catholics outpaced Protestants, who registered 18%, Pew reported. The survey also noted that 49% of Jewish people say they fast, and 80% of Muslims pursue it.
Although relaxed from earlier centuries, fasting still challenges a Catholic’s resolve to ignore desires for food and entertainment.
“Abstinence,” Father Cox added, “is being able to focus on how God can fulfill longings for those things.”
Fasting rules hold for people ages 18 to 59, who are “permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
There are exceptions for people who are 60 or older, physically or mentally ill, and women who are pregnant or nursing.
The USCCB also offers guidance for Lent in an article by Father Daniel Merz, who served as Associate Director in the USCCB’s Secretariat of Divine Worship. Fasting, he wrote, “liberates us from total dependence on food, on matter, on the world.”
Father Cox, also the pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said fasting can be a spiritually enriching time during Lent.
“My own look at fasting during Lent,” Father Cox said, “is an opportunity just to be able to deepen my relationship with God.