FASTING turns us toward God.
As an important form of penance, fasting during the Lenten season serves to heighten a sense of greater dependence upon God. The Sacred Scriptures attest to fasting as a regular and important practice done for a variety of reasons: for help with especially difficult tasks, for the forgiveness of sins, for the ending of a calamity, to gain needed grace to fulfill mission, as preparation for encountering the Living God.
Saint Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus, once was asked to summarize her childlike way. She answered, “It is to be disturbed by nothing.” Fasting goes a long way in helping to make this happen.
