Our day to day lives are hectic (to say the least), and we often don’t get a chance to slow down. Even over Spring Break and Christmas break, there are parties, trips, work, and general business. Holy Week, namely the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) are days given to us to reflect and remember.
In the Catholic Church, but also in other Christian denominations, these are days of fasting and prayer. Through fasting, we are able to not only denounce the physical things that rule our day to day but also unite our suffering with the suffering of Christ. It is amazing to realize how dependent we are on things like food, technology, and entertainment while we fast. By having to eat less, let alone intentionally going without food for a few hours (HOURS?!) we are reminded of our weakness and our need for God.
Additionally, fasting helps you not take food for granted, and the rumblings in your stomach call to mind all those who go without food for days on end. It is only by intentionally fasting that we are able to see past our own abundance, filled bellies, and greed and remember those less fortunate.
Finally, the suffering we feel from fasting links us to the sufferings of Christ as we remember his bloody Passion on Good Friday. Realizing the pain and suffering that Jesus went through, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as he held on his shoulders the sin of the world, makes us feel small for our insignificant pains (like fasting for a few hours, or resisting the temptation to lose ourselves in our phones) which shrink in comparison to His great suffering. And though the sufferings of ours that are not insignificant but great, we can be assured that the Jesus is a God that understands our pain, since he experienced it as one of us. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is not a Savior who was blind to suffering, but one who embraced it with open arms in order to save us.
And amidst the fasting and praying, we do not despair. For we know that on Easter Sunday, Christ will rise, and we will celebrate His Resurrection!
