Why do we Fast?

Why do we fast? Why do we mortify our flesh to prepare for the joy of Easter?

If your like me, you grew up in a family where fish Friday’s and Lenten fasting were the norm;

A norm that was never really explained just accepted as a fact of life. It is perfectly logical after all: Catholics fast—I’m a Catholic—I fast

But if this answer doesn't satisfy you then maybe the true answer to why we fast, and perform other penitential practices seems to be at the center of today’s psalm:

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

We fast, give, alms, and pray, we endure patiently sufferings and even choose to take on extra sufferings because we realize that we have sinned. That there is something wrong with our heart, and so we pray to God create a clean heart in me. give me back the joy of salvation.

You see Jesus is not just warning about pride in the Gospel rather he is warning us about going through the motions without internalizing the deeper meaning contained in our actions

This is why he says:

when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

Not because He doesn’t want us to pray in public, but because He desires that our prayer take effect primarily in the secret inner room of our heart. because it is our heart that needs to be healed! We pray, fast, give alms, and in reality do all that we do as Catholics not to pay God back, buy Him off, or keep Him happy but so as to dispose ourselves to receiving all the healing Grace

He desires to give us. We train our bodies and wills, using the spiritual fitness plan designed by God and perfectly revealed in Jesus. All the things we do, Jesus did, to show us the Way for He is the Way. And when we do what he did, in the way he did it, out of love, slowly our wish comes true. Our father who sees in secret repays us in the secret of our heart by giving us a new heart, and with it an entirely new perspective on life.

So as we enter this time of penance, realize that what you are giving to God in your added prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is really permission for Him to heal you from the inside out

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!