While we’re fasting for Lent, I might be good to be clear that we are not trying to make ourselves holy.  Rather, we do it for two reasons:  First, we are getting the tiniest taste of “suffering” so that our sympathy with the Redeemer’s much greater sufferings will have a bit of the real.

And second,  we are doing what the Church has taught during my whole lifetime: we are doing penance for our sins and we are  preparing ourselves to be open to the Spirit’s  holy inspirations.

We can no more make ourselves holy by fasting than a piano can tune itself perfectly. Anby piano has to have a technician come and stretch its strings to proper length and then tighten its screws to keep it tuned.

We are fasting for this good reason, then:: we are “tuning” ourselves to have am open heart to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. Never ignore the thoughts to forgive others who have hurt you or to reconcile with someone you’re a out of sorts with, or to soften tensions in the family, and the like.

So when we fast to do penance, we are letting the Holy Spirit—the infinitely wise technician of souls—stretch our virtues so we can play in pitch with the Spirit’s moving us. We are wise to let our feasting stretch our virtues.