In her commentary on the forty-ninth chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict, which chapter lays out "How Lent should be observed in the monastery," Esther de Waal points out: "The paradox is that the joy of Lent is necessarily connected with sorrow, that is a joy that flows from sorrow." She goes on to explain that just "as Lent and Easter are inseparable, so also are sorrow and joy." This is exactly how, as noted in my post for Ash Wednesday, at root, being Christian is about becoming fully human. In a word, Christian holiness is holistic.
The Lenten character of Christian life, which consists of proclaiming the Lord's death and professing his resurrection until he comes again, is made manifest by our practice of the three disciplines taught to us by the Lord himself, as is evidenced in our Gospel reading from Matthew 6 on Ash Wednesday. It is our practice of these disciplines that make us Jesus's disciples. It is by ceaselessly praying, fasting, and giving alms, the latter of which not only consists of giving money - though it certainly includes that - but consists in equal measure of serving others, that we proclaim Christ's death and profess his resurrection as we await his return.
It is fasting that makes prayer and alms-giving holistic. Fasting integrates prayer, which, especially in our atomistic/individualistic culture, often becomes subjective to the point of being solipsistic, with alms-giving, which can be done with no reference to the transcendence of those we serve, thus making it a duty instead of a privilege.
Unless you are hypoglycemic, diabetic, or suffering from some other disease or health condition that makes it dangerous for you, or you are pregnant or nursing, in which cases you absolutely should not fast, fasting means either going without food and /or drinking and eating significantly less than is your norm. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, you grow hungry and maybe get a little hangry. As those who fast with some regularity can tell you, all those other things that are proposed as "fasting" options (i.e., speaking less, being kind, doing less of this or that indulgent activity, etc.) are the fruits of fasting.
Food and water are fundamental for us, we need both in order to sustain life. This is why fasting that is truly fasting affects you at a fundamental level that abstaining from other behaviors and activities simply don't. Fasting shows you how indulgent you tend to be and how much less you "need" to live. Fasting provides you with more time for prayer and service. Fasting provides you with the means to contribute to the welfare of those in need. Fasting brings you to a point at which you tire of your own b.s. Oh yeah, as recent literature amply demonstrates, fasting has many health benefits, even beyond weight-loss. But for those who regularly fast as a spiritual discipline, health benefits are a by-product.
Discussing the spiritual discipline of fasting in his Lenten message for this year, Pope Francis writes to us: "Fasting, that is, learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to 'devour' everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts."
Speaking of Christian life always featuring a Lenten character, our traditio for this Friday after Ash Wednesday - next Friday is the First Friday of Lent, Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent serves as warm-up for Lent - is the Choir of New College, Oxford singing Psalm 51, known as the Miserere Deus mihi. Regularly, Psalm 51 is the first Psalm of Morning Prayer each Friday throughout the year. Just as Sundays, which do not count as days of Lent, are always a celebration of Easter, Fridays for Christians are to take on something of the character of Good Friday. Fridays, unless a solemnity falls on it, are days of penance:
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