In the concluding part of our interview with Sister Mary David, she explains why fasting is about more than simply giving something up; it is a source of important spiritual benefits.

Catholic Compass: Wouldn’t it be more sacrificial for me to give up foods that I really love such as chocolate rather than meat which maybe I do not like much, or do some other good work?

However valuable works of compassion may be (and they have always accompanied the practice of fasting), fasting is of another order. On the one hand, the purpose of fasting and abstinence is not to “give up” things. Fasting and abstinence, as the new booklet hopes to show, is a much broader reality than, say, giving up chocolate. It takes in the whole person, not just this or that activity. While fasting takes the form of refraining from eating, it is primarily designed to submit the body to a spiritual discipline, “sealing” our entire being so that we can concentrate on higher things.

On the other hand, fasting and abstinence is something we do in common with everyone else in the Church. In the words of Archbishop Nichols: “What we’ve sought to do in this decision is establish a shared practice.” In the past, fasting and abstinence was something we did in common with everyone else in the Church; there is a strength that comes with following the accepted patterns of the Church’s traditions, when, in the words of the bishop’s resolution, all the faithful [are] united in a common celebration of Friday penance. When we choose our own penance, there can always be the danger of secret pride. It is spiritually safer to be humble and do the same as all other Catholics.

Catholic Compass: What are some of the spiritual benefits of fasting and abstinence?

Man is a unity of body and soul, and fasting and abstinence is a practice that involves both. So fasting or abstinence will also include an effort at abstinence from evil thoughts, desires, and deeds. Fasting is part of the struggle against weaknesses and defects to acquire purity of heart. It fosters prayer. It is a way of preparing the body for the resurrection, opening it to grace, and making it more receptive to God’s word. Renouncing taste for earthly nourishment develops the taste for God. It is to liberate oneself from dependence on the things of this world in order to concentrate on the things of the Kingdom of God. Finally, food restrictions train us to be content with what is necessary, by freeing us from artificial needs created by our consumeristic society.

Sr Mary David is a Benedictine nun of St Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight, where she serves her Community as Prioress and Novice Mistress. Keep an eye out for her book, coming soon from CTS.

	Spiritual Warfare – This booklet enlightens the struggle by searching the wisdom of the scriptures. It gives hope to everyone, because Christ is always by our side to help us in every battle.
	Lent and EasterSpanning the seasons of Lent, Easter and to Pentecost, this booklet describes the rich heritage of customs and traditions long practiced by Catholics down the ages, up to today.
	Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving – The three traditional “weapons of the spirit” used by Christians particularly during Lent.

Continuing our interview with Sister Mary David, Prioress of St Cecilia’s Abbey on the Isle of Wight, we asked her about Fasting and Catholics in the West.

Catholic Compass: How does abstinence form Catholic identity?

The Friday abstinence was a universal act that reminded Catholics that they were called to live differently from non-Catholics around them, and it was recognised by non-Catholics as something that Catholics did. Religion is not a purely private affair. The Bishops recognise that Catholics need to recover outward signs of their collective identity.

Catholic Compass: Why has fasting and abstinence declined in the West?

A loss of Catholic identity, a secularist mentality, but also the rise of a disincarnate spirituality that would separate body and soul in the spiritual effort. Then, the weakness of modern man is sometimes cited.  But fasting has always been difficult. Perhaps it is truer to say that if bodily disciplines no longer have a place in modern life, it is because we no longer feel they are important.  Moreover, one of the aims of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. If we always take our fill of food and drink, we easily grow over-confident in our own abilities, acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. Fasting and abstinence confront our tendency to grab and snatch at material things, to see them only as sources of our satisfaction

Catholic Compass: Don’t fasting and abstinence point to a disdain for material creation?

Quite the contrary. There is no question here of saying that fasting is a good thing because food and drink are bad things. Christians fast and abstain in order to acknowledge the Lord as the true giver of good gifts; the true Bread of Life, and as the One calling us to the banquet of his Kingdom. We fast to purify our eating and drinking, and to make them no longer a concession to greed but as sacrament, a means of communion with the Giver.
Sr Mary David is a Benedictine nun of St Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight, where she serves her Community as Prioress and Novice Mistress. Keep an eye out for her book, coming soon from CTS.

	Spiritual Warfare – This booklet enlightens the struggle by searching the wisdom of the scriptures. It gives hope to everyone, because Christ is always by our side to help us in every battle.
	Lent and EasterSpanning the seasons of Lent, Easter and to Pentecost, this booklet describes the rich heritage of customs and traditions long practiced by Catholics down the ages, up to today.
	Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving – The three traditional “weapons of the spirit” used by Christians particularly during Lent.

Beginning on September 16th 2011, the Bishops of England and Wales are re-introducing the obligatory practice of abstaining from meat on Friday as a weekly ascetical discipline. That date is the first anniversary of Pope Benedict’s state visit to the UK. A new CTS booklet will look at the history of abstinence and fasting in more detail; here its author, Sister Mary David Totah OSB, answers a few questions concerning the practice.

Catholic Compass: What is the history of this practice?

From the dawn of Christianity, Friday was kept as a day of abstinence, in memory of Our Lord’s passion and death on that day of the week. The fasting in Paradise consisted of abstaining from certain food — namely of “the fruit of the tree.” For centuries, most Western Christians, in common with their brethren in the Orthodox East, abstained during Lent – and at other times – not only from meat but from animal products, such as eggs, milk, butter and cheese. Today the practice and idea of fasting and abstinence is largely ignored and the meaning of food restriction is less and less familiar to Christians in the West, though it exists in other religious traditions, and even outside them, for example in some therapies or medical treatments.

Catholic Compass: What is its meaning?

Meat is one of our chief sources of protein and therefore to abstain from it is to make us just a fraction weaker for one day, so that we feel ever so slightly less well fed without doing ourselves any harm. Meat, to become food for humans, involves the killing of a living creature. This was permitted to human beings in the Book of Genesis. Nevertheless, on the day when we are remembering the cruel way in which Our Lord was killed, by our abstinence from meat we are saying: Christ died for me, out of love for me and the whole world; today I do not want any blood shed for my mere enjoyment. The poorest in the world cannot afford meat. On this day, when I remember that I owe everything in this world and in the next to Christ and his love, I make this tiny sacrifice in solidarity with them.

Catholic Compass: Why now?

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the decision was inspired by Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain last September and the enthusiasm showed for abstaining from meat during Lent. The papal visit had given Catholics “a fresh expression of self-confidence and identity”. “We observed there was a greater enthusiasm amongst many Catholics to observe the penance in Lent,” he said. Vegetarian Catholics are being encouraged to give up another food on Fridays.

Watch this space for news of Sr Mary David’s booklet!

	Spiritual Warfare – This booklet enlightens the struggle by searching the wisdom of the scriptures. It gives hope to everyone, because Christ is always by our side to help us in every battle.
	Lent and EasterSpanning the seasons of Lent, Easter and to Pentecost, this booklet describes the rich heritage of customs and traditions long practiced by Catholics down the ages, up to today.
	Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving – The three traditional “weapons of the spirit” used by Christians particularly during Lent.