Fasting has surged in popularity, touted by health gurus and podcasters like Joe Rogan for its health benefits. But is there more to it than merely a slimer body and self-discipline? While modern discourse on fasting often centers on wellness, it misses the deeper truth: fasting is, at its core, a path to spiritual renewal. True fasting, as understood in Christian tradition, is about redirecting the soul toward God.
Fasting is necessary for all Christians seeking spiritual development. For centuries, the Church urged fasting during Lent but also during Ordinary Time, particularly on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Church in Poland still emphasizes such a practice when many Catholics in the West dropped fasting during the mistaken modernization that thought Vatican II required. But John Paul II, who as Karol Wojtyla participated in Vatican II and guided the Church in Krakow during its implementation, never discouraged fasting. He encouraged it. In fact, he emphatically encouraged it in his Wednesday audiences during his first Lent as pope. He reminded the Church of its need for fasting. In an age of increasing distractions, he saw fasting as especially vital. Part of this must be credited to his immersion in Carmelite spirituality, particularly the works of St. John of the Cross.
St. John of the Cross wrote the Ascent of Mt Carmel as a guidebook for spiritual development. And while John sees union with God, or, in other words, partaking in the eternal banquet (the top of the mountain diagram are the words “I brought you into the land of Carmel to eat its fruit and its good things” (Jer. 2:7)), as the ultimate end of the spiritual life, he, nevertheless, begins his guide by emphasizing renouncing worldly attachments. The first stage of spiritual purification is the “dark night of the senses” or detachment from physical pleasures, including food, comfort, and self-indulgence. John writes, “A soul must strip itself of all natural appetites and affections, not feeding them or consenting to them, but rather completely rejecting them” (Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 1, Chapter 4). This emphasis on detachment is not about rejecting the world but about properly ordering one’s relationship with it. This principle became even clearer to me in a conversation with Polish Carmelites, who embodied both deep renunciation and a joyful love for the world.
Struggling with such seemingly radical pronouncements on renunciation, I once asked some Polish Carmelites about them to see if John of the Cross just liked denial for denial’s sake. At that time, I was teaching these Carmelites English, and I sensed that these Carmelites were very happy people delighting in good things of the world. I wondered how they could be formed in a way that seemed to put great stress on renunciation. Upon hearing my question, they immediately laughed and reminded me that John of the Cross was a great lover of the world but that to truly love and appreciate the world one must first pass through the dark night of sense (the mortification of the appetites). This is the path union with God. And when we enjoy God we can then properly enjoy all the good things of creation. That made sense and helped me better understand John Paul II’s great love for fasting and feasting.
During his first Lent as Pope, John Paul II devoted his Wednesday audiences to teaching about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In his audience on fasting (March 21, 1979), he concentrates not only on abstention from food and drink but on the deeper meaning of the fasting and how it applies in today’s context marked by what he calls “the consumer attitude”. Writing on consumerism that has become the predominant characteristics of civilization and particularly Western civilization, John Paul II writes,
“Man geared to material goods, multiple material goods, very often abuses them. It is not a question here lust of food and drink. When man is geared exclusively to possession and use of material goods
— that is, of things — then also the whole civilization is measured according to the quantity and the quality of the things with which it is in a position to supply man, and is not measured with the yardstick suitable for man. This civilization, in fact, supplies material goods not just in order that they may serve man to carry out creative and useful activities, but more and more… to satisfy the senses, the excitement he derives from them, momentary pleasure, an ever greater multiplicity of sensations.
We sometimes hear it said that the excessive increase of audiovisual media in the rich countries is not always useful for the development of intelligence, particularly in children; on the contrary, it sometimes contributes to checking its development. The child lives only on sensations, he looks for ever-new sensations… And thus he becomes, without realizing it, a slave of this modern passion. Satiating himself with sensations, he often remains passive intellectually; the intellect does not open to search of truth; the will remains bound by habit which it is unable to oppose.
It is seen from this that modern man must fast, that is, abstain not only from food or drink, but from many other means of consumption, stimulation, satisfaction of the senses. To fast means to abstain, to renounce something.”
If only John Paul II could see where we are today! He never saw the brave new world of digital media. Now it is possible to spend one’s entire day connected to the screen, leaving no time for stillness and silence outside of sleep. Such tools have created a society of addicts. Studies now confirm what John Paul II foresaw decades ago: digital overstimulation can lead to increased anxiety, attention disorders, and even depression. The average smartphone user checks their device over 250 times a day, often without conscious thought. This kind of sensory overload dulls the intellect and enslaves the will—precisely what fasting seeks to correct. Just as excessive consumption of food leads to physical unhealthiness, excessive consumption of media leads to spiritual and mental numbness. The remedy? A return to fasting, both physical and digital.
So how can one begin fasting? First, start with disciplining your desires by following the Church’s traditional fast by giving up and limiting the consumption of food and drink. Second, find a good spiritual mentor who can guide you in the stages of spiritual development. Find someone who is experienced in Christian living, particularly someone older than forty. Experience in living the spiritual life is much better than merely having read many spiritual classics. But perhaps you can read classics like The Ascent of Mount Carmel with them, having a better understanding of the nature of the spiritual life. Lastly, do not forget to put away the phone or limit the amount of time you spend on it. Today’s form of gluttony may very well be digital overload and “doomscrolling”. Much of the mental health crisis today may be related to the effects of these devices. Download an app to limit digital distractions. It may seem like an imposition of a limit, but as apps aptly named “Freedom” show, the imposition of limits might be the key to genuine spiritual freedom.
More than anyone, John Paul II desired the full development of human freedom. But he understood that as relying upon the asceticism of a good fast. As we enter this season of Lent, let us embrace fasting not just as a discipline, but as a path to true freedom—one that John Paul II so passionately championed.
