Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
The prophetess Anna never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer. So in these few words, the Gospel of Luke tells us that fasting can be an act of worship. It can be an act directed to God, a way of remaining in His presence that's attentive, vigilant, expectant, like that of Anna.
So even though we're still in the octave of Christmas, that octave will soon be over and fasting will hopefully become a part of our spiritual life again, because it is very beneficial to our souls to fast.
You might sometimes wonder, “Well, what is the point of fasting for Christians, depriving ourselves of something that is in and of itself good and useful for our bodily sustenance?” But God, in His Word, reveals to us that not all good things are always beneficial. Not all good things help us in every circumstance. Sometimes we have to deprive ourselves even of good things to make space for better things, and so it is with fasting.
And in fact, in Scripture, fasting is very present, in fact, from the very beginning of Scripture. St. Basil the Great points out to us that it's already a commandment of God to Adam, who says, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of that tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” right? So Basil the Great observes that fasting was ordained in paradise, and the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam. Basil concludes, “You shall not eat” is a law of fasting and abstinence.
If we look at it that way, even to Adam, he was to fast from certain fruits in the garden. So from the beginning, fasting was linked to life itself, right? We need to eat to stay alive, but sometimes we actually need to abstain from eating, fasting, to stay spiritually alive.
And Christ Himself confirms this truth when He says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And Christ also says that His food is doing the Father's will. So true fasting is directed to eating the true food, which is God's will, which really nourishes and sustains us, gives us true life.
So freely choosing detachment from the pleasure of food—it could be other pleasures, usually fasting is specifically eating, because that's just such a strong inclination in us; it leads to many other sins and disorders; that's why it needs to be subdued by means of fasting. But freely choosing detachment from the pleasure of food helps us to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, the ones of which St. John the Evangelist speaks. It's truly an ascetical exercise that strengthens us.
So these few reflections about fasting will hopefully be useful. As the octave finishes, we should make room for fasting once again. It can really be a form of worship, a way of remaining in God's presence, in vigilant expectation. A way of disposing ourselves to doing God's will, which for every believer, every person who wants to be holy, is really the true food that gives us life and sustenance.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.