(According to P. Keese Waaijman, O.Carm.)
Purification of the Body (Chapters 16–17)
Fasting and abstinence1 are two forms of self-regulation on the bodily level. It involves a dual purification, a spiritual strategy, and an exercise aimed at the Resurrection: so that we can experience, “in our bodies,” what resurrection is, namely, that life is a gift given to us. Fasting is a form of self-denial that aims to create space for the Giver of life; abstinence is a form of self-rejection that wishes to allow life in its holiness.
The working goal (skopos) here is to become capable of receiving, thus emptying oneself (fasting) and removing what is foreign to us (abstinence). To be open to God, to life, and to be free and independent of others—not with sadness, but with an attitude of expectation.
Fasting (Ch. 16)
In its original meaning, fasting means complete renunciation of food—for a certain time. Then this term also referred to the practice of noticeable restriction in eating. Various religious orders adhere to approximately the same definition of the period of fasting. The Great Fast lasted from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to Easter. Fasting was not practiced anywhere between Easter and Pentecost since the church commemorates the meeting of the risen Lord with the disciples.
Fasting is characterized as clearly neutral; it is a means that, according to John Cassian, a monk uses similarly to a doctor with their instruments or a craftsman with their tools. Therefore, in practicing fasting, it is important to differentiate: the right time, the right measure, the right way.
An old saying goes: Opposites touch each other—after all, the same ends can be reached through overindulgence in fasting as through gluttony... We have often seen how those who could not be led into gluttony were brought to fall by exaggeration in fasting and, through their weakness, slid right into the passion they had overcome.2
Fasting is aimed at the purity of the body to the heart, at the purity of heart (where purity of heart is the skopos, the telos itself is love, acceptance of the Other). John Cassian recalls the proper order of our efforts: fasting, which in itself is something neutral, cannot be the goal of our training in virtues (in mercy, patience, love). Virtues themselves are no longer neutral but good, and fasting is a means to acquire them.
The fasting period observed throughout the church (before Easter) reminds us of Christ's suffering and death—we are led with Him into the realm of death so that He may raise us to life. To fast means: through mortification, through active “exercise of death,” to expose oneself to the power of the One who is Alive. Therefore, since fasting is ultimately aimed at life, it is not permitted to fast during illness or physical weakness (this would be an abuse of the purpose of fasting). The rule explicitly takes this into account. The “other just cause” for which fasting can be interrupted may be laborious work, exhausting study, various forms of great strain, intense physical growth, but also hospitality towards a guest. And whatever the reasons may be, the principle always applies: necessity knows no law. If something is genuinely necessary, the rule of fasting must yield to it.
Abstinence (Ch. 17)
Fasting concerns the quantity of food, while abstinence concerns the type of dish. A person refrains from substances that they believe have a negative impact on the spiritual process within us, which are foreign to our spiritual life. Generally, it can be said that we refrain from substances that have irritating effects. The desert fathers were convinced that some vices have their origin directly in the human body—lust, gluttony—while other vices have their origin in the soul—anger, sadness. Accordingly, one must fight against them. Vices arising in the body should be overcome through corresponding bodily restraint. The mention allowing the eating of meat as medicine in case of illness again shows that the intent of this abstaining from meat is not to destroy the body but to prevent unhealthy processes from occurring within a person: not merely some enslavement to food but also illness or debilitating weakness. If we do not intervene, we will be constantly sullied by something foreign, which subtly invades our behavior through our culture.
A small note of interest: in 1247, the Carmelites requested Pope Innocent to completely abolish abstinence, arguing that Elijah ate meat. However, the Dominicans, who were advisors to the pope, noted that while Elijah and other Old Testament prophets ate meat, they did not drink wine. Since New Testament Carmelites are allowed to drink wine, it is appropriate for them to abstain from meat.3
“Refrain from eating meat, unless it is used as medicine in illness or weakness. And because on the way you must often beg, you may eat cooked dishes with meat outside your homes, so that you do not burden your hosts; you may also eat meat at sea.”
Generally recognized exceptions from abstinence, which are also mentioned in the original Albert text of the rule, include illness and weakness. Innocent's revision of the rule allows for two additional cases: if the brothers are begging or are on a journey. Two distinct things are meant here. “Being on a journey” for mendicants meant “wandering, passing” through the land and expressed that a religious is a disciple of Jesus Christ, having no permanent place in this world. Jesus traveled through Israel and preached. “Passing through” and preaching went together as an expression of apostolic life, that is, proclaiming the gospel. But simultaneously, begging was closely linked with “passing through”—as its logical consequence: you must beg on the way. The approval of such a mendicant lifestyle meant that Carmelites had to eat more with other people, while the rule insists, “that you do not burden your hosts.”
Another exception is permitted at sea—such travel was likely quite common for Carmelites at the time. These journeys maintained contact between the various convents situated in the Holy Land, Cyprus, Sicily, southern France, and England. (The 1281 order statutes state that the prior or oldest brother on board may dispense from silence during meals...).
All exceptions regarding fasting and abstinence have a fundamental motivation: necessity knows no law. Fasting ends where need, want, necessity begins. The relativity of fasting relates to what is absolute: life. (For a form of “abstinence,” we can also consider humor: it acts as an anti-neurotic by bringing about an “unimportance” of what seems so important.)
The chapters on fasting and abstinence are probably also meant to be more individual than communal exercises, as they concern self-regulation (fasting—detaching oneself and accepting life) and discerning with regard to oneself (abstinence—accepting sanctification from the One who is Holy) on a bodily level, which the others (hosts, etc.) should not burden.
Summary of Chapters 10 to 17
Thematically, the aforementioned chapters (which also connect them) deal with the fundamental exercises through which we assist our effort to achieve the purity of heart at the level of our body. This is evident from the text of the rule itself.
- In these chapters, we find a considerable number of verbs indicating activity (showing what we should practice): to remain, to meditate, to be vigilant, to pray, etc. Often there are also expressions relativizing individual instructions, allowing for exceptions, limitations, or alternatives to what has just been stipulated. For example: if there are not..., except..., if it can be easily adjusted..., as needed on other days..., etc. Since all prescribed exercises only serve as a means to a working goal, they can be omitted in individual cases without harm to spiritual life.
- These fundamental exercises pursue transformation in the literal sense. The old structure in which a person lived is disrupted, and a new one is created (for instance, remaining in the cell breaks various detrimental attachments to the outside world and creates within them a space open to God).
- While many expressions in the previous part of the rule were locational determinations, here there are notably many temporal indications (e.g., day and night, every morning, daily except Sundays, etc.). Bodily exercises have their designated time.
- The working goal of these exercises is purity of heart. It concerns the heart. The interior of each brother, which is somehow a parallel to the cell and is to be transformed: opened inward (by reciting psalms, remaining in the cell...), then cleansed (of excess and alienation), then focused outward (being vigilant in prayers, going out into community, extending oneself in need). Through all this, one is enabled to accept that they will be clothed with God's qualities as their armor (see below).
Bodily exercises and, conversely, virtues (which the rule discusses from Chapter 18 onwards) are two distinct categories, and the rule is very aware of this. Especially since the 16th century, however, the ability to distinguish this (telos and as opposed to skopos; bodily exercises from virtues) has been disappearing from spirituality.
According to notes from Sister Petra of the Risen, OCD, processed by P. Gorazd, O.Carm.
