Reader Question: Fast Not as the Hypocrites Do

In the answers to "What Are You Giving Up for Lent 2010?" reader Dixie asks a good question:

Isn't your "fast" supposed to be private?

I suspect that Dixie is thinking of the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, drawn from Matthew 6:

And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.

Fasting is not something we do for public approval, but for spiritual growth. On one level, therefore, Dixie is right. If we go around trumpeting our sacrifice, we're just replacing whatever we've given up with spiritual pride.

When I was 13 or 14 years old, I gave up television for Lent. I spent the entire 40 days jumping into any conversation about a television show to tell those speaking that I had given up television for Lent. Needless to say, my Lenten exercise did me no real good—and may in fact have done harm to my soul.

Does that mean, however, that we must refrain in all circumstances from telling others what we have given up for Lent? Not at all. For most of us, if we give up something that we eat or do every day, it's going to become obvious to our family, friends, and coworkers. If they ask about it, there's no reason to dissemble; we aren't diminishing our fast by answering their questions.

Nor, for that matter, is it wrong to discuss with others what each is giving up for Lent, particularly when such discussions might help others to decide what they want to give up, or might help all of us to support each other during the fast. The Church lays down minimum rules for fasting and abstinence, rules which were much stricter in centuries past.

In other words, the very nature of the Lenten fast as prescribed by the Church is public; we couldn't follow those fasting rules privately if we wished to. That doesn't mean, of course, that we should make a big deal of them, sighing when our non-Catholic friend orders a hamburger on Friday or telling our coworker with the candy bowl every day that we've given up chocolate for Lent.

As with so many other things, intention matters. If we're trying to support others in their Lenten fast and to ask for their support, it's perfectly fine to talk about what we're giving up for Lent.

But if we're trying to show others that we're better than they are, we might as well forget our Lenten fast.

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