VATICAN - In his Lenten Message, the Pope recalls that fasting for believers “is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – In his Message for Lent 2009, entitled: “He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4:1-2), the Holy Father Benedict XVI reflected on the meaning and value of fasting. “Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry,” the Pope wrote. “We might wonder what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance.”
The Holy Father, quoting various passages of the Old Testament, beginning with the Book of Genesis, points out the fact that “since all of us are weighed down by sin and its consequences, fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God.” In the New Testament, Jesus explains the deeper meaning of fasting, “condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting...is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who 'sees in secret, and will reward you' (Mt 6:18). He Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' (Mt 4:4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the 'true food,' which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn 4:34)...and open in the heart of the believer a path to God. Moreover, fasting is a practice that is encountered frequently and recommended by the saints of every age.”
Today, the practice of fasting “in our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body,” the Pope said, pointing out that “fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a 'therapy' to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God.” Benedict XVI then made reference to the Apostolic Constitution “Pænitemini” of Servant of God Paul VI, in order to appreciate the “authentic and perennial significance of this long held practice may be rediscovered, and thus assist us to mortify our egoism and open our heart to love of God and neighbor.”
The practice of fasting also contributes “to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord...Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God. At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live...By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger.”
The Holy Father then encouraged parishes and communities to “ intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community, in which special collections were taken up, the faithful being invited to give to the poor what had been set aside from their fast.”
The Message concludes by pointing out that “fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves,” and “the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us, as the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote, to make the complete gift of self to God. May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass.”
Benedict XVI invokes the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae, asking that she “accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a 'living tabernacle of God.'” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 26/2/2009)