Think giving up chocolate is enough?

From Canada comes this story of a priest who is doing something truly counter-cultural — and daunting — for Lent:

Eleven days into a 48-day fast, Jesuit Father John McCarthy was feeling pretty good.

“I haven’t noticed anything yet, other than a bit of weight loss,” McCarthy told The Catholic Register from Corner Brook, Nfld. “But in terms of energy level and everything else — well, it’s only 11 days.”

That is 11 days living on nothing but water and juice. McCarthy never liked V8 juice, but he’s acquiring a taste for the low-sodium variety. The most substantial thing he drinks is Sunkist strawberry and banana smoothies. He’s going through a fair amount of cranberry juice. He doesn’t have a blender.

From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, McCarthy will go 48 days without solid food this Lent. Why?

“It’s God’s creation and my love of nature,” he said.

McCarthy first thought about fasting for Lent while he was working on his PhD in forestry ecology at the University of British Columbia six years ago. While it’s important to him that the fast remains a spiritual exercise, it’s also a public witness. He’s fasting in solidarity with God’s creation, in penance for all we have done to diminish the forests, wetlands, wildlife and ecosystems God called good through six days of creation in the Book of Genesis.

A water-and-juice fast through Lent is probably not medically dangerous, said University of Toronto professor of nutritional science Dr. Thomas Wolever.

“It’s not something you would necessarily be advising the general public to be doing, but it’s not absolute craziness,” Wolever said. “I’m a Christian myself, so I understand about Lent.”

Without doubt, McCarthy will lose weight. He may also suffer some vitamin B deficiencies at the end. But a healthy person can go three months without eating, providing they continue a good intake of fluids, according to Wolever.

McCarthy is keeping in touch with a doctor friend and promises he will stop the fast if it endangers his health.

You can find out more about his reasons behind the fast at the link.