The Fourth Precept Still Has Teeth
The fourth precept requires Catholics to observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church. The discipline is lighter than it was in earlier ages, which can tempt us to treat the remaining requirements as ceremonial inconveniences.
You are free to fast more. In fact, voluntary fasting should have a place in the life of a Catholic man. It is good for the soul precisely because the body does not always enjoy it. One host said he has never liked fasting – not once. The other insisted that he sometimes does. That disagreement is useful: the spiritual value does not depend on sharing the same physical experience.
Fasting Needs a Greater Good
Skipping food merely to prove toughness can become another form of self-absorption. Christian fasting is offered. We unite the small suffering of hunger to Christ’s suffering and direct it toward a greater good.
The hosts fast weekly with other men for their wives and families. That gives the sacrifice a name and a purpose. A husband exercises his domestic priesthood by offering himself for the people specifically entrusted to him.
When fasting is rooted in love, the hunger is not meaningless. You may still wonder what is for dinner at three o’clock. You may need to make a conscious effort not to interrogate your wife about it. But desire is being reordered toward something higher than immediate relief.
Aquinas Gives Three Reasons to Fast
St. Thomas Aquinas gives a threefold purpose for fasting: to bridle the lusts of the flesh, to allow the mind to rise more freely toward sublime things, and to offer satisfaction for sins.
The first is self-mastery. A man who never says no to appetite will struggle to say no when the stakes are greater. The second is contemplation. One host feels sluggish while fasting; the other says he thinks more clearly, including at work. Both agreed that heavenly realities become more present because the penance keeps calling the mind back to its purpose. The third is satisfaction: fasting becomes a concrete act of repentance.
A Gymnasium for Athletes
St. Basil calls fasting a safeguard for the soul, a steadfast companion for the body, a weapon for the valiant, and a gymnasium for athletes. That is a properly manly image. Training is not punishment for having a body. It is preparation to use the body well.
Start with the fasts and abstinence the Church requires. Observe them faithfully and prudently. Then consider a regular voluntary practice suited to your health, vocation, and responsibilities. Choose an intention. Keep it quiet. Do not make everybody around you suffer because you skipped lunch.
Prudence belongs here too. A demanding job, illness, medication, pregnancy, age, and the needs of one’s vocation can change what is appropriate. The Church’s rules already account for some of these realities. Voluntary penance should be chosen intelligently, and a spiritual director can help when zeal outruns judgment.
Fasting also exposes the little tyrant inside us. Hunger makes irritability visible. That is not proof the fast failed; it is information about what still needs conversion. The work is not merely to avoid food, but to remain charitable while hungry.
The goal is not hunger. The goal is love with enough self-mastery to bear fruit.
Listen to the Full Episode
Listen to the full TCMS conversation about required fasts, voluntary Wednesday fasting, Aquinas’s three purposes, St. Basil’s athletic imagery, and offering hunger for wives and families: The Bare Minimum: The Five Precepts of the Church on Spotify
