«The fasting that many fear… and that can transform your life.»
This promise of God does not arise from material lack, but from a deep spiritual truth: the human being was created for love, and true love requires encounter, complementarity, and self-giving.
For many, fasting is a difficult practice, almost impossible — something reserved only for very spiritual people. Yet fasting is not a punishment or a burden: it can become one of the most transformative spiritual experiences of your life.
In these days of Lent there is a topic we Catholics constantly talk about: fasting. Yet when the moment comes to practice it, many feel afraid or see it as something impossible. And so the excuses appear — even excuses drawn from God's own Word.
One of the most commonly cited passages to avoid fasting is Isaiah 58:
"Is this the fast I choose?… Share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your house…" (Isaiah 58:5–7)
And what Scripture says is absolutely true. The fast that pleases the Lord includes charity, justice, and mercy. But this does not mean that fasting from food is unimportant. In fact, the Bible is full of examples where bodily fasting prepares the heart for a mission.
Moses fasted before receiving the Law:
"I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water." (Deuteronomy 9:9)
And Jesus himself, before beginning his public ministry, also fasted:
"He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days… and he ate nothing during those days." (Luke 4:1–2)
This teaches us something very profound: before great missions comes spiritual preparation. We live in difficult times. There are worries, interior struggles, complex family situations, wounds, and anguish. That is why the Lord, in his love, continues to invite us to fasting.
Fasting is a concrete way of telling God: "Lord, I want You to have more space in my life." When we give up something as basic as food, we begin to learn something fundamental: dying to ourselves. Fasting is not a punishment or a practice meant to impress God. It is a school of interior freedom.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us:
"The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and varied ways… above all fasting, prayer, and almsgiving." (CCC 1434)
Fasting helps us bring order to many areas of our life: dependencies, disordered emotions, anxiety, the comfort zone, and the need for control. Little by little, the heart is purified.
Perhaps someone thinks: "I am not capable of fasting." But God does not wait for spiritual heroes. God waits for available hearts. Jesus calls you today just as you are: in your weakness, in your struggle, in your disorder. What transforms is not your strength. It is the power of God acting in a heart that opens itself to Him.
Fasting has power when it is united to conversion. When we allow God to transform our heart, we gradually come to live the fast that Isaiah speaks of: freeing the oppressed, sharing with those in need, and loving with generosity.
God does not want to punish you. God wants to save you.
And very often fasting is precisely the path the Lord uses to bring order to the heart, heal the soul, and strengthen us in the midst of our struggles. In this season of Lent we are living 40 days of fasting and prayer as spiritual combat. We are already on day 22, and tomorrow we begin day 23.
If as you read these words you feel the Lord touching your heart, I invite you to join in. You do not need to do it perfectly. You only need a willing heart.
Start tomorrow.
Offer your fast to the Lord for your life, for your family, for your struggles, and for the intentions you carry in your heart. God works wonders when He finds a heart that decides to open itself to Him.