Heather King posted a beautiful Lenten reflection on the Patheos blog last week about the deep connection between mercy and fasting. Read her blog article below.
There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.
Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated…
--From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop, Office of Readings, Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Since coming into the Church in 1996, I have more or less eagerly embraced the Lenten fast. For many years I “gave up” coffee, a near martyr-like effort for a caffeine addict such as myself. For the last several years, I switched to sugar, a feat which likewise could only have been achieved with supernatural help. Even so, last Easter morning I went to the 7-11 before Mass, bought a bag of Gummi Bears--because by that time I didn’t want any fancy bittersweet chocolate, I wanted cheap cane sugar in as unadulterated a form as possible short of simply scarfing the stuff with my hands from a five-pound bag--and the minute I got back to my car, dug in.
The object from which I chose to fast, I realized, was the least of Lent, and at the same time, the fasting was a major focus. (Hard to believe the luster a, say, Lindt bar acquires in the absence of booze, drugs, nicotine, sex, shopping, gambling, junk food, and TV). So as Lent approached this year, I thought: Those people who say fasting is just an ego-based endurance test are right. I’m going to do something different this year. I am going to fast from badmouthing people. I am going to fast from something that can effect some actual good...
Read the rest of the article here.