40 days Jesus stays in the desert, keeping a fast. What does it mean to fast? How would we explain this to someone outside the faith? Many times, we’ve had to explain those ashes on our foreheads to someone else at school or the workplace. Many times, people have wondered why we skip the meat we’d like to opt for the fish on a Friday night. Sometimes we compare a fast to a diet. But, there’s a difference. Dieting is pretty much about us—our health, our self-image, the way we’d like to others to see us. But, fasting tells us to give up something to make us hunger for God. Remember St. Augustine’s words: “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Pay attention to our fasting this Lent. Make sure skipping the chocolate or the caffeine or the bourbon doesn’t just make us want those things more come Easter! Make sure our hunger and thirst push us to the One who is Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation.