Keeping the Faith: Thankful for faith, not just food

March 5, 2009 by Haley Etchison 

Lent began on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25. Traditionally comprised of the 40 days leading up to Easter, Lent represents the time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan before his arrest and crucifixion.

Observers refrain from one or more comforts of life for the duration of the holiday and focus on thankfulness for what God provides throughout the year, but fasting in any religion should be recognized as much more.

The principles behind most belief systems that involve fasting are similar: the more you go without something the more you will appreciate what you have and its source.  

Spiritual people, religious and nonreligious, have long found reasons for fasting outside the constructs of tradition and fasting appears to varying degrees in many faiths. During Karvachauth, Hindu wives fast for their husbands. Ramadan, the month-long fast in Islam, observes the time during which the Prophet Muhammad received the Qur’an from God.

Though we usually recognize that a fast reminds us to be thankful for what we enjoy the rest of the year, there is a deeper, more fundamental meaning.

Lent is a time to recall the sacrifice Christ made to be able to win man’s freedom from sin on the cross. The things Christians go without for these 40 days should represent more than thankfulness for a full stomach and a warm home. The space represented by the fast should be filled with the memory of his sacrifice and the knowledge that without faith, life would be more incomplete than skipping a meal or two can represent.

The same applies to every faith. When husbands feed their wives to bring Karvachauth to a close, both man and wife should be conscious of the space that would be left if God had not blessed them with each other.

When the sun sets and the fast of Ramadan is broken, the refreshment of water and food should bring to mind not just thankfulness for the provisions of the rest of the year. It should recall the fact that without God our minds, not only our bodies, would be left painfully incomplete. 

Fasting of all kinds is a call back to the reasons religion exists. Theoretically, man has faith to explain things that otherwise would make less sense — to fill a space in his system of reason. Religion is at its core a treatment of lack. It is the way we deal with the gaps our senses leave in our worldviews. The absence of a usual staple is a reminder of the insufficiency we would face without faith.

KEEPING THE FAITH is a column about religion and philosophy that seeks to open constructive discussion about our most important beliefs. It appears in every Thursday issue.