Closer to Thee, My God
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Faith on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 7:53 PM
All day I have wanted to ask my Faith and Family community how their day of fasting was going, but everytime I thought to do so, today’s Gospel would pop into my mind.
“If I bring it up,” I thought, “then I’ll be like one of those Pharisees, drawing attention to fasting instead of suffering in silence.”
So I put it off. But here we are, at the end of the day, and our fast is over. So I’m curious to see (if you want to share) how your day of fasting went.
Briefly I will share that for the first time in a while, I decided to observe a more severe no-food approach. I will admit it has been many years since I’ve done this. Generally, I am either dealing with pregnancy or nursing or having many small children who don’t need a mother running on fumes. For most years of motherhood, I have done something more modified (and, in my opinion, more prudent). I think mothers especially should seriously consider what is required of them in a day when they are praying through what their fast should look like. Some years, giving up Diet Coke and in-between meal snacks was sacrifice a plenty.
This morning at Mass, the deacon made an interesting point in his homily. “If you’re trying to decide whether you should fast [from food] or not,” he said, “why don’t you?”
Paul and I discussed this on the way home, and I decided to take that approach. From there, I could regale you with stories of late afternoon delerium, and how I ended up doing a little substitute teaching on a very empty stomach and how I started to find everything a little funny because I was running on fumes. By the end of the day, I started to feel like a poor lost soul in the desert, dragging myself toward the closest mirage.
BUT! If I told all of that, then I risk being like one of the Pharisees, the ones we should not be like. So I will leave it at that…unless you want to share as well.
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