I have to admit, one of my favorite verses from the Bible is 1 Timothy 4:8, which says, “Bodily exercise is of little value.”

Going to the gym and taking physical exercise simply doesn’t interest me. I’m not really a couch potato; I just get bored running on a treadmill or lifting weights or working out. When I have gone to the gym I’ve been astounded at the capacity of the keep fit crowd to exert themselves just to sweat off a few inches in one place or add a few inches somewhere else.

If we were to exert even a fraction of the self-discipline we see in the gym on our spiritual lives, we’d all be on the fast track to heaven. If we were to break into a spiritual sweat, we’d soon get fit spiritually. If we’d watch our spiritual calorie intake (avoiding all fatty, sweet and indulgent TV programs and movies for instance) and avoid all spiritual toxins (junk computer games, pornography, trashy novels, shallow magazines), and took a regular diet of high-energy, nutritious fare (prayer, Scripture, Church teaching, the lives of the saints), think how spiritually healthy we’d be.

Lent is the time for us to get fit for God. Too often, our attitude toward Lent is one of doom, gloom and guilt. While we are called to examine our lives and repent of our sin, I think the proper attitude toward Lent should be healthy, vigorous and positive. Lent should be a time of spiritual boot camp; a period of getting spiritually fit — like an athlete in training.

St. Paul uses imagery from athletics time and again in the New Testament. In his First Letter to the Corinthians (9:24-27) he writes, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

St. Paul says he “beats his body and makes it his slave.” In our comfortable society, where every pleasure is available at the flick of a switch, it is easy to forget the need for physical discipline as part of the spiritual life. While not calling for extreme forms of physical mortification, it remains true that we must discipline our physical desires if we are to achieve spiritual perfection in Christ.

We sometimes forget that we are spiritual/physical hybrids. The spiritual and the physical are linked. What we do with our bodies affects our souls, and what we do with our souls affects our bodies.

In our pleasure-seeking society, it is convenient to forget that our sufferings in this life are part of God’s discipline in our lives. The writer to the Hebrews (12:4-7) encouraged his hearers, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ Therefore, endure hardship as discipline.”

The sufferings that come to us through life are part of the discipline that purifies us for heaven, but we can also adopt certain hardships in order to cooperate with God’s work of discipline in our lives.

Fasting is the most simple and effective way to do this.

Fasting has many benefits in our lives. On the physical level, it helps us to attain control over all of our appetites.

If we can control our food intake, we will be better able to control our other raging desires, as well. Furthermore, fasting is actually good for us. Unless we suffer from some sort of eating disorder, fasting helps to purify the system and clean out the toxins we accumulate.

Fasting also makes us more alert. When we are hungry, our senses are sharpened. Mentally we are on edge, and spiritually we are more aware of the otherworldly battles to which we are called.

Finally, fasting has a real spiritual benefit. Jesus says that demons are cast out through prayer and fasting. When we combine our spiritual exercises with sacrificial fasting, our prayer power meter surges upward.

Fasting during Lent is a healthy, vigorous and active way to take part in the spiritual battle and run forward in the way that leads to eternal life.

St. Paul put it this way when he wrote to the Philippians (3:13-14): “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” And when he was at the end of his life St. Paul wrote to Timothy — his son in the faith (4:7-8), “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Running the race and fighting the good fight during Lent is the calling of all the saints.

When we learn what they accomplished and how they learned to live in God’s grace, we are not only heartened by their example, but we’re strengthened by their constant intercession and encouragement.

So the writer to the Hebrews encouraged his readers, and encourages us (12:1-3):

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Father Dwight Longenecker is the chaplain of St Joseph’s Catholic School, Greenville, South Carolina.

dwightlongenecker.com