I remember my very first Ash Wednesday, my first day of
fasting as a Catholic. For me it was easy as pie; it was
a piece of cake. (Although, of course, I had neither pie nor
cake!)
Remember, I am a Jewish convert, a veteran of Yom Kippur
fasts: From a little before sundown until a little after sundown,
no food, and nothing to drink. Not even a sip of water!
The not eating wasn't all that hard (I'm not saying it was a picnic, but who picnicked on Yom Kippur, anyway?).
What I found hard was the "not even a sip of water" part.
So, my first fast as a Catholic was easy in that respect. What I found difficult was figuring out the "two small meals that
together don't equal a full meal."
It was like a combined one-day-diet and math exercise!
When Fr. Kelly asked me how I'd gotten through my first
fast-day, I couldn't help laughing.
"Father," I said, "you don't know from fasting!"
4 comments:
I love this story. We used to really "know from fasting" prior to Vatican II, although we could always have water. It was for every day during Lent except for Sundays. I'm trying it this year and hope I can be faithful.
Our fasting must seem whimpy after that!
@ RAnn
In some ways it's just as difficult.
It takes discipline (and some math skills) to see that those two small meals don't add up to a whole meal.
I'm reading a book written by a priest who was in prison in Siberia.
He describes the fast before communion which sometimes couldn't be, clandestinely, celebrated, until late in the day. The prisoners willingly skipped the meager meals of a near starvation diet just to be able to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. Put me to shame!
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