Vigils Reading – Ash Wednesday

WHY WE FAST

From a sermon by St John Chrysostom

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Why do we fast for forty days? Formerly many believers approached the

sacraments without any particular preparation, especially at the time when

Christ first gave them to us. But when the fathers realized the harm that could

result from such neglect, they took counsel together and decreed that a period of

forty days of fasting be set aside, during which the people would meet to pray

and listen to the word of God. During this Lenten season each of the faithful

would undergo a thorough purification by means of prayer, almsgiving, fasting,

watching, repentant tears, confession, and every other remedial measure. Then

when they had done all in their power to cleanse their consciences, they could

approach the sacraments.

It is certain that the fathers did well to use such lenience in their desire to

establish us in the habit of fasting. As we know, we could proclaim a fast

throughout the whole year, and no one would pay any attention. But now, with a

set time for fasting of only forty days, even the most sluggish need no

exhortation to rouse themselves to undergo it; they accept it as a regular

observance and recurring encouragement.

So, when someone asks you why you fast, you should not answer: because

of the Passover, or because of the Cross. Neither of these is the reason for our

fasting. We fast because of our sins, since we are preparing to approach the

sacred mysteries. Moreover, the Christian Passover is a time for neither fasting

nor mourning, but for great joy, since the Cross destroyed sin and made

expiation for the whole world. It reconciled ancient enmities and opened the

gates of heaven. It made friends of those who had been filled with hatred,

restoring them to the citizenship of heaven. Through the Cross our human

nature has been set at the right hand of the throne of God, and we have been

granted countless good things besides. Therefore we must not give way to

mourning or sadness; we must rejoice greatly instead over all these blessings.

Listen to the exultant words of Saint Paul: God forbid that I should boast

of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And elsewhere he writes:

God shows his own love for us because when we were still sinners Christ died for

our sake.

Saint John’s message is the same. God loved the world so much, he

declares, and then, passing over every other manifestation of God’s love, he

comes at once to the crucifixion. God loved the world so much that he gave his

only Son, that is, he gave him up to be crucified, so that those who believed in

him might not perish but might have eternal life. If, then, the Cross has its

foundation in love and is our glory, we must not say we mourn because of the

Cross. Far from it. What we have to mourn over is our own sinfulness, and that

is why we fast.