Fasting

Wednesday marks the start of Lent. For Christians Lent is a time to reflect on the way that they are living in relationship to others. 

Lent also gives another opportunity to become overwhelmed by the abundance of the natural world. Caught up in everyday routines it is very easy to become oblivious to the abundance that is part of Creation and instead become caught up in the frantic desire to protect one's self against scarcity – which is a major force behind capitalist economics.

If more is always better, safer somehow, then how do people know when they have enough? When to quit accumulating or eating? There may be a financial goal to reach before a decision to marry, or have children, or before buying a house, or going back to school or changing from a horrible job to one that is more fulfilling or before retiring or whatever the goal might be… but strangely enough, the goal can keep expanding out in the face of the fear of scarcity that fuels our economy; an economy that is based on more and more and more until the abundance of Creation is entirely reduced to commodities that are daily being destroyed.

The need for more and more has motivated humans not only to take more than they need from the land and the sea, but has promoted ways of producing that pollute land, air and water while denying creatures any enjoyment of the life for which they evolved. Here I speak specifically of factory farms which raise both animals and fish in unnatural ways in order to feed the over consumption fostered by those who make money in these industrial operations. 

Lent can be a time to become conscious of abundance – an abundance that is daily being diminished by human greed, but which many people believe is still abundant enough to recover if only humanity can put on the brakes. I want to believe that this is true even though I am aware of the great depletion of the seas and the variety of seeds and wild or natural life in general.

Writing in his book Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Norman Wirzba says that “Creation is the concrete manifestation of God’s sacrificial love” and that “it is an imperative that food production and consumption recognize and honor the costly grace of life.” 

He notes that “as creatures made in the image of a self-giving God, humanity’s most fundamental task is to participate in God’s self-offering life dedicated to the nurture and well-being of all creatures…" And that, "the paradigm of eaters as mostly unknowing and uncaring consumers is a dangerous one because it suggests that people can eat without concern for the health of the soil, the plants, and the animals they depend upon. (p. 135). I believe it is imperative that people become conscious eaters if the rest of Creation is to have a fair chance at survival.”

Wirzba also cautions that those who eat animals must do so in ways that respect their integrity and well-being and therefore honor God. But for this condition be met it is crucial that these animals be accorded the attention and care that reflects God’s own self-giving care for creation.(136-137).

Those people who choose not to eat any fish, animals or dairy, and I include myself in this category, do so because we are aware that more than 95 percent of chickens, turkeys, laying hens, and pigs, 78 percent of cattle, and virtually all fish currently sold in the US are raised without "the attention and care that reflects God’s own self-giving care for creation". There are not enough animals raised with the dignity they deserve to satisfy the needs of all who want them – nor is there the necessary amount of land, water or other resources to make a complete switch away from the terrors of factory farms if everyone continues to consume the same amount of meat, dairy, eggs and fish. Less is best: for the health of all creation.

During Lent, Catholic Christians are called to give up meat on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays, and to fast between meals on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting and abstaining can help people to develop the discipline that is needed in a world that is filled with material goods and access to more than enough of everything.

“How we eat, what we eat, and how much demonstrate what we think our responsibilities to each other and the world should be...People who fast learn that food is a gift and is not to be taken for granted or exploited...When we fast, we learn that too much of the time personal life is marked by an aggressive or rapacious disposition... When we fast, we learn that in many of our actions we presume that the world’s gifts exist for our own exclusive enjoyment...Fasting, in other words, leads us to a realization about the responsibilities of life together. When we refrain from eating, we not only demonstrate solidarity with those who do not have food to eat, but we also demonstrate that food is the precious gift of a self-giving God. It is a gift not to be taken for granted or to be presumed upon. We need to refrain from eating from time to time so that we can more fully appreciate food as a gracious gift, and then also practice the self-offering that will enable others to eat when they don’t have enough." (142)

Wirzba makes the point that feasting is not the opposite of fasting… rather it is gluttony that is the opposite of fasting. Gluttony is an obsession with eating where the stomach and taste buds rule. A glutton not only takes more than they need, they spend much of their time thinking about food and how to satisfy their particular desires. Feasting on the other had is the recognition of God’s grace in the gifts we receive. We generally associate feasting with food.. but we can feast on other things, a glorious sunset or the company of good friends as well. The key is to recognize God’s gift in whatever we are receiving and to rejoice in the gift. Clearly it is possible then to feast during Lent even as we fast from those things that are harmful or which distract us from living faithful lives. 

  

I will close with words from Wirzba's book and a recommendation that you read what he has to say. His book is available on Kindle as well as in hard copy.

"People should feast so they do not forget the grace and the blessing of the world. People should fast so they do not degrade or hoard the good gifts of God. We feast to glorify God, we fast so we do not glorify ourselves."