Answer: When we have doubts about our faith or its practices, we do well to recall the wisdom of the Church Fathers: Lex orandi, lex credendi. The law of prayer is the law of belief. In other words, we let the way the Church prays teach us what the Church believes. That is why I often encourage people to turn to the prayers of the Mass as a sure guide to Catholic teaching. The Missal’s First Preface for Lent beautifully captures an authentically Catholic understanding of this holy season:

For by your gracious gift each year your faithful await the sacred paschal feasts with the joy of minds made pure, so that, more eagerly intent on prayer and on the works of charity, and participating in the mysteries by which they have been reborn, they may be led to the fullness of grace that you bestow on your sons and daughters.

In Lent we recall who we are in Christ: redeemed sinners. In Baptism God claimed us, setting us free from sin so that we might live the abundant life of grace. The Lenten disciplines—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—are meant to make this season a time of purification and enlightenment, renewing within us the process of conversion, the central focus of the Lenten observance. Lent should intensify our everyday Christianity so that we are refreshed and ready to receive the Easter Gospel with joy: Christ is risen, and we have life in his name. Alleluia!
Seen in this light, Lent’s disciplines should be embraced as gifts. Penance, for Catholics, is medicine, not punishment. Our God is merciful and desires that we live in the freedom of his children. Lent is a pilgrimage of the heart, and its practices are meant to guide us toward deeper communion with God and our brothers and sisters.

We fast because fasting clarifies the mind and helps us examine our relationship with the world. When we fast, our spiritual senses sharpen. Through the eyes of faith, we are better able to distinguish what is passing from what is eternal. Fasting exposes our attachments, and we must confront our bodies, hearts, and habits, so that we may freely choose to attach our hearts more firmly to God.

Fasting can feel difficult, much like physical exercise. It requires a deliberate act of the will. We are used to following the world’s simple rules: do what feels good, avoid what hurts. Our Catholic measure is the Cross—die to self to live in Christ. When we fail, as all of us do, we do not give up, we begin again with the same zeal with which we started. Lent is not a test of perfection but a strengthening through perseverance. When deciding what to “give up,” ask what would simplify your life and dispose you more generously to the Gospel. Let God stretch you to greater love. Consider Jesus in the desert. By fasting he showed us how fasting strengthens us against the enemy’s lies. In a similar way, choose to abstain from something that is good in itself but to which you sense an unhealthy attachment. Always remember, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Finally, remember the Lord’s teaching from the Ash Wednesday Gospel: let your Lenten practices be hidden. They are an offering to your Father in heaven, who sees what is hidden. Let your fasting be accompanied by a quiet joy. A simple smile can be a beautiful sign that what you are doing is not for show, but for love.