I know a lot of people are Googling for the reasons why Catholics fast on Fridays or Fridays during Lent. So, let’s hear it from the Pope why we are encouraged to fast.
I know a lot of people have very short attention span, so I shall copy part of the Pope’s Lenten Message for 2009:
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
At the beginning of Lent, which constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition — prayer, almsgiving, fasting — to prepare us to better celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride” (Paschal Præconium).
So, that is why we fast. The Pope also reminded us that Jesus too fasted and was tempted by the devil :
“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2).
And further on, in the Old Testament :
fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God. Such was the case with Ezra, who, in preparation for the journey from exile back to the Promised Land, calls upon the assembled people to fast so that “we might humble ourselves before our God” (8,21).
And another para that explains why Catholics fast :
In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will reward you” (Mt 6,18).
You can read the Pope’s message on Catholic.Org site.
Whether we choose to fast or not, is a private matter. I personally feel that one does not get better or holier by the act of fasting.
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