When walking into the Lewis University Recreation and Fitness Center, it’s not uncommon to see a variety of athletes training their bodies strenuously. We see them running an extra mile, lifting that last set, and hear them waking up at Godforsaken hours of the morning.
The athlete knows that all of these sacrifices are necessary for the sake of a greater good. And what is that ultimate goal? It is to seek the perfect the body and perform at the top of one’s sport. The athlete knows that this goal makes all of those sacrifices worth it. As the old adage goes, “no pain, no gain.”
Many who are not athletes often watch these glorious feats of strength in awe. We all tend to have some sort of minor fitness goals and wouldn’t mind losing a few pounds, however, we’ve come to accept the physical struggles for bodily perfection as relatively normal. Yet when I begin to mention fasting, many modern people feel a disconnect. Author Brian Pessaro asserts that “in our society, it’s considered perfectly normal to mortify our bodies so long as the reason is secular and the goal is physical.” Nevertheless, I believe that fasting functions in the same way as physical exercise, except on a spiritual level.
Just as we need to work out our bodies, we need to exercise spiritually. “Use it or lose it,” many say. In the spiritual life, if we aren’t thinking of ways to exercise spiritually, then our bodies may look like Arnold Schwarzenegger while our souls oaf about like Homer Simpson.
Fasting is a way to exercise our spirits for a greater purpose. We deny ourselves food or entertainment or any other form of pleasure in order to draw closer to God. What at first seems like a loss becomes transformed into a feeling of closeness with God in the end. Even the weightlifter knows he has to rip and break down his muscles so that they can be rebuilt even stronger. And just like the athlete knows how to sacrifice for a greater good, each Christian knows that it takes sacrifices to come to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
Christian fasting during Lent echoes Jesus’ fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights (see Matt. 4:1-2). But what was the true purpose of Jesus’ fasting? Jesus fasted in order to prepare for the public ministry ahead of him. He didn’t fast because the body was bad or pleasure was evil; these common misconceptions miss the true meaning of Christian fasting. Instead, Jesus fasted to prepare. Just as the athlete exercises each day to prepare for the big race, the Christian fasts to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter.
Now, think of the best feast you’ve ever had. You probably wouldn’t have felt it was an excellent feast if you’d eaten an hour before. Having your belly already full, you might have picked at the food a little, but when you were truly hungry, that feast would most likely taste so much more heavenly.
The same is true with the celebration of Easter. Easter is an elaborate feast of faith, a heavenly banquet of immense joys. We can only fully appreciate it when we have recognized our spiritual hunger and need for God by fasting. Conscious of our dependency on Christ, we enter the feast of Easter fully prepared to receive the spirit of His resurrection. Our modern society understands the concept of feast, but has forgotten how to fast and still wonders why it is unsatisfied. Our society can only truly find delight in the feasts if it relearns how to fast and prepare for them.
In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul asks if you “do not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one” (9: 24-25).
In the same way, let us exercise spiritually during this Lent with the same intensity and fervor as our fellow athletes at Lewis University. Strive for the goal, work hard and don’t accept defeat. And if being an athlete is far outside your physical capabilities, always remember your ability to be a spiritual athlete for Christ, working on the discipline of fasting so that you can run the race toward His Everlasting Kingdom.
Kevin D. Magas
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