To fast and give alms

Two practices the Church gives us in Lent are fasting and almsgiving. But why?

The short answer is that they disturb and discipline the body and mind, and in so doing, they mould the heart.

And yet, without their necessary companion – the relational practice of prayer – these two tools of Lent can not only become arduous and burdensome but ultimately remain fruitless…at least in the Lord’s eyes. And this is because they need their intended context and focus, namely, Christ. Without Jesus at their centre, these powerful practices become detached and serve to form an ego more than a heart in the image of its Creator.

The great tragedy of our time – which many are coming to realise – is when this detachment slowly and subtly takes hold of the Christian. As a result, activism becomes the ‘character’ or even mark of Christianity disconnected from faith and relationship with God. 

Here, almsgiving and fasting are often adopted as a political stance, protest, or even a tool of self-affirmation and improvement. But this is not the purpose of Christian fasting and almsgiving. Christian fasting and almsgiving are always about God; consequently, others and ourselves are bound up in the fruits thereof.

We can often focus on the good ‘we’ are doing, but Lenten fasting and almsgiving cause us to see what God is doing in and for us, and through us, for others.

Pope Francis called fasting “not a quaint devotion”, as some are tempted to think, but a “spiritual training ground where we joyfully renounce the superfluous things that weigh us down, grow in interior freedom, and return to the truth about ourselves.”

As Christians, when we fast (in the case of food) or abstain (in giving up other things), we deprive ourselves of temporal, passing realities and, reminded of our finitude, we become acutely aware of where true human hunger lies – in longing for the divine and reaching the eternal. This sacrifice of fasting opens up a space to grow in more genuine love for self, created in, for and by God.

When we give alms similarly, we deny ourselves, but here, the purpose is to give something of ourselves, not from our surplus. Like the woman in the temple (Lk 21:1-4; Mk 12:41-44), we are called to offer all we have, and in this kind of giving, we more truly make an offering to God by serving others. The ancient practice of almsgiving allows us to grow in a more generous love of neighbour. 

These two acts of love come from God and return to God; that is to say, how they affect ourselves and others is only secondary to how they draw us closer to God. They reflect the understanding that we are the Body of Christ. The Christian is not an autonomous individual running their race but deeply bound in love to their neighbour because they are bound to Him who loves us first (1 John 4:19).

For this reason, the third discipline of prayer is the most important, the jewel in the crown, for through it, the first two practices bear fruit. In prayer, wings are given to fasting and almsgiving; our intimacy and familiarity with Jesus is intensified, and the human heart is strengthened, reconfigured, and placed upon true fulfilment.