The other day I was eating graham crackers with milk. It is a throwback I enjoy from my childhood. Baxter got a whiff of the graham crackers, and he was obsessed with getting some. He jumped on a chair next to the one I was in at the table. He kept eyeing me and meowing. Finally, he began to grab my arm and pull it in his direction, hoping to get a morsel of cracker close enough for him to have a bite. He was persistent. Finally, I had to get him off the chair and tell him to settle down. He still continued to wait on the floor next to my chair, until finally I let him lick the crumbs from the plate after I was finished. Thank God for sterilizing dishwashers! We get this way sometimes, don’t we? Probably we’re not obsessed by graham crackers and milk, but by something that we set our heart on getting or achieving. Maybe it’s a person who catches our fancy. Maybe it’s a job we think is our ticket to success. Maybe it’s a car or house or boat or bike or some other thing that we can’t get out of our mind, can’t live without. We have our mind set on having it, and we can’t rest until we figure a way to get it.
That’s why we fast during Lent. We can get carried away by our desire for something or someone, and we lose perspective on our lives. We begin to see everything from the point of view of how we can get what we want, and we begin to lose sight of how we can give what we have. Fasting clears our vision, and helps us to focus on what matters.
We come to see how much we have been given - from our country of birth or adoption to our talents, family and friends. We realize that we did nothing to deserve these gifts. They came to us with the gift of life itself, and they are resources we can call upon for the rest of our lives. We have added to these gifts by our education and training, the social networks we’ve developed, and the opportunities that have come our way. Of course, we had to invest time and effort in all of these, but they all began with many happy coincidences, chances to set out anew, invitations to broaden our worlds with new people and ventures. This is the hand of God’s Providence caring for us and beckoning us to help Him shape our lives to better reflect His image.
Rather than grab for what He has, as Baxter does with the food he likes, God gives from the store of His boundless goodness, so that we might learn how to do the same. It’s the lesson hidden in our fasting. Reach for less so that we can realize how much we have been given. Want less so that we can appreciate all that we have. Give more of our time, talent and treasure so that others and our world grow richer through us. Fasting may make us hungry for a short while, but if we learn its lesson, we will feel more satisfied with the many blessings that fill our lives.
-Monsignor Statnick
