Fasting During a Pandemic

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. — Lk 12:32

Today, the Holy Church venerates the Life-Giving Cross of Christ. Despite the raging pandemic, we continue our observance of Great Lent as we look forward to the Pascha of the Lord, His bright and glorious resurrection. As the mass media proclaims death in an overload of non-stop “news” about the coronavirus, the Church continues to proclaim life.

The pandemic is quickly changing many practices that we always considered unchangeable. Many of our churches are closed to parishioners, and the faithful are encouraged to “attend” divine services by watching live or pre-recorded broadcasts. Several Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. dispensed with whatever remnants of the fasting discipline were left and allowed meat on Fridays during Lent. Curiously and instructively, in Italy, the country that has been hit much harder by the pandemic than the Diocese of Syracuse, NY, for example, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to double their fasting efforts and to observe Wednesdays as an additional day of fasting.

I think that the bishop of Rome is onto something here. In sacred history, during calamities, pestilences, or events of utmost importance, the people of God fasted–both individually and as a nation. Moses fasted for 40 days before receiving the ten commandments from the Lord. (Ex 34:28) Daniel pleaded with the Lord “by prayer and supplications, with fasting.” (Daniel 9:3) King David wrote: “But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting.” (Ps 35:13) And the Prophet Joel proclaimed to the people: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” (Joel 2:12) Even the Ninevites, who were not generally known for their piety, fasted and repented, and God spared them:

And [the king of Nineveh] caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. (Jonah 3:7-10)

Besides the obvious and great spiritual benefits of taking a break from the news cycle and turning to fasting in this fourth week of Great Lent, there are also some practical ones:

• Fasting gives us more time that can be devoted to spiritual matters. Even if breakfast, lunch, and dinner take only 15 minutes each, this is already 45 minutes every day that we can gain by simply not eating. Add to this the time saved by not shopping and cooking, and it really adds up.
• When we fast, we do not have to go to shops to buy food. This makes our social distancing efforts more effective. By shopping less, we help prevent the spread of the virus.
• When we fast, we use less toilet paper! This is obvious, of course, but the anxiety caused by the various shortages due to the pandemic can be lessened if we simply fast more.
• We do not have to participate in the mass panic as much and frantically hunt for canned goods or other items if we fast more! Instead, we can practice Christian charity and share more with others because we are using less.
• Finally, there are various health benefits of fasting. Some of the underlying medical conditions that can make COVID-19 more dangerous are coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Fasting can help improve those conditions and make us more resilient to complications from the virus! (Hint: I am not a medical doctor, so talk to your physician.)

Therefore, let us plead with the Lord like Daniel, and humble our souls like David, and heed the call of Joel to turn to the Lord with all our heart, but above all, let us remember that Christ is with us “always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. “(Matt 28:20)

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See also: 

The Third Sunday of Great Lent: The Veneration of the Cross of Christ

On the Closure of Churches

On the Closure of Churches – 2

Putting My Mouth Where My Writing Is

“He was afterward an hungered.” (Matt 4:2)

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