“Isaiah has taught us the grace of fasting, rejecting the Jewish manner of fasting and showing us the true fast. “Do not fast to quarrel and fight, but loose every bond of iniquity” (Isaiah 58:4, 6). And the Lord adds: “Do not be gloomy, but wash your face and anoint your head” (Matthew 6:16-17). So let us acquire the disposition that we have been taught, not looking gloomy on the days of fasting we are currently observing, but cheerfully disposed toward them, as is fitting for the saints. No one crowned is despondent; no one glum holds up a trophy. Do not be gloomy while you are being healed. It is absurd not to rejoice in the soul’s health, and rather to sorrow over the change in food and to appear to favor the pleasure of the stomach over the care of the soul. After all, while self-indulgence gratifies the stomach, fasting brings gain to the soul. Be cheerful since the physician has given you sin-destroying medicine. For just as worms breeding in the intestines of children are utterly eradicated by the most pungent medicines, so too, when a fast truly worthy of this designation is introduced into the soul, it kills the sin that lurks deep within.”
Basil the Great, (330-379) bishop of Caesarea and doctor of the Eastern Church in First Homily on Fasting.
I did not add a Scripture to today’s post as Basil astutely connected two key biblical texts on fasting for us in his homily. At least three wise insights surface for me from my reading that are worth sharing widely.
Firstly, caring for your soul surpasses pleasing your stomach. I am finding that praying the Psalms at the divine hours has been food for my soul this Lent. As life is really full, we must attend to soul care over dietary needs.
Secondly, don’t be gloomy but be cheerful when you fast. Basil declares the reason for this reversal. “The physician has given you sin-destroying medicine.” And, the best part about sin-destroying medicine: we can’t overdose.
Thirdly, when we put that which is better in us, “it kills the sin that lurks deep within.” I pray your times of fasting this Lent are shaping you into a new person for life after Lent. Transform us as we feast on you, Jesus.
Together these insights inspire us to pursue a true fast so that we attend to the care of our souls, so that we appear as glad rather than gloomy, and so that God forms us into new people in the process.