Most of us do it out of a feeling of obligation, or tradition, or habit.

But the Lenten fast has deeper and much more meaningful roots than most of us realize, as the newspaper Arkansas Catholic explains:

Cackie Upchurch, director of Little Rock Scripture Study, said fasting is an ancient custom that can be found in almost all religious traditions. In the time of the Old Testament, the Jewish people regularly fasted from food and drink, but they did so for different reasons.

“It was not about a devotional practice. It was really about petitioning, or praying for repentance, or sorrow,” she said.

Tearing one’s garment and putting on sackcloth and ashes while fasting was common. King David did this to repent and petition for the life of his son. But when the baby died, he stopped. (2 Samuel 12:16-23)

According the Law of the Israelites, which is spelled out in the books of Leviticus and Numbers, the only place fasting was an act of worship was on the Day of Atonement, which continues today, Upchurch said.

In the New Testament, fasting is rarely mentioned, but when it is, it’s usually in reference in how not to do it. But that does not mean it wasn’t practiced, she added.

During Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount he said when fasting “do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. … But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden.” (Matthew 6:16-18)

So the presumption is “that of course you’re going to be fasting.” The important thing is “you do it from the heart,” Upchurch said.

“Jesus doesn’t want a typically religious practice just to be taken for granted. He wanted them to understand the purpose of it,” she said. “He really is critical of the fasting practices that had become just generally rote.”

She called his teaching a “kind of evolution in Scripture.” Jesus confirmed what the prophets Micah, Hosea and Isaiah had said while speaking for God in saying the kind of fasting he desired.

“‘The sacrifice I desire from you is that you rend your hearts and that you serve the poor and walk humbly with God,'” Upchurch said, summing up the prophets’ instruction.

If the external act of fasting does not reflect “something internal in us” then it is not what God wants, she said.

In the Catholic faith, people fast out of repentance or petition, but ultimately, the goal is to “draws us closer in a more regular way to the heart of God,” Upchurch said.

For Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, of Subiaco Abbey, fasting is a way to gain freedom. This concept is rooted in the Benedictine tradition of the early Desert Fathers. It acknowledges that “the human being is a complicated system, and we don’t always know our motives, and we are not always as free as we think we are.”

The idea of freedom coming from self-denial is countercultural. Popular belief is that “when I do anything I want to do, I’m free,” he said. “But actually the reason I’m doing these things may be because of slavery.”

Choices are often made “because society tells me too, because my emotions tell me too, because my hang ups tell me too, because some other person who I want to impress tells me too.”

Msgr. James Mancini, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Tontitown and a charismatic liaison for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, said, “As a consumer society, we’re encouraged to satisfy all our appetites. If it feels good, do it, and that’s not the spirit of Christ.”

Referring to Paul’s letter to the Romans, Msgr. Mancini said fasting is a recognition “that the Spirit and the flesh are in battle with each other.” In fasting, “we try to limit or modify the demands of our appetites. The appetites are not wrong, God gave them to us for a purpose, but they definitely need discipline,” he said.

Denying self to draw closer to God, “is a way of putting God back in control,” Abbot Jerome said.

This kind of fasting is asceticism, which comes from the Greek “askesis,” which refers to a bodily exercise or athletic conditioning.

“If you’re an athlete you’ve got some idea in your mind of why you’re doing that; you’re not just going through the motions,” he said.

The same applies to fasting. If it is done without a clear purpose then it can become a rote practice.

During Lent fasting helps “prepare us for renewing our baptismal promises; sort of like to re-enlist,” the abbot said.

“The Easter Vigil is every Christian’s baptism date, even though we do it at different times of the year, it’s sort of like the anniversary of our birthday in Christ,” he said. “So we want to free our minds, free ourselves to make that profession of faith as freely as we can.”

There’s much more at the AC link — it’s a terrific primer on the practice, and could be great reading for RCIA or CCD.