The Third Sunday of Lent

Welcome, young history buffs and curious minds, to My Daily Saint, the podcast that digs deep into the incredible lives of the saints, those remarkable people who shaped history and continue to inspire us today. Forget dusty old portraits and boring stories. Today, imagine the worst punishment you've ever received. Maybe you were grounded for a week. Maybe you lost your phone privileges. Now, multiply that by infinity. Imagine standing outside the gates of the most perfect place in the universe. Inside, there is no pain, no hunger, no sadness.

Just moments ago, you were walking with God in the cool of the evening. But now, you are outside. The gates are locked. You can't go back. You have been banished. Why? Was it a crime spree? A war? According to the man we are meeting today, it was something much simpler. It was a failure to control an appetite. It was a failure to fast.

St. Basil lived in the 4th century in what is now Turkey. He wasn't just a thinker, he was a doer. He is famous for fighting against major heresies that tried to confuse people about who Jesus really was. But he was also a man of deep action. He is credited with building one of the first hospital complexes, the Basiliad, to care for the poor and sick. Because of this, St. Basil the Great is the patron saint of hospital administrators and reformers. But today, we aren't looking at his hospitals.

We are looking at his strategy for spiritual warfare. You see, Saint Basil looked at the very beginning of the human story, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, and he saw something most of us miss. He didn't just see a snake and an apple. He saw a test of will. He wrote, it is because we did not fast that we were banished from paradise, so let us fast that we may return to it.

Let that sink in. We usually think Adam and Eve were banished for disobedience, and that's true, but St. Basil gets specific. He points out that they were expelled from the garden because they did not fast from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave them a simple rule. You can eat anything else, just fast from this one thing. They couldn't do it. Their appetite, their desire for that fruit, overpowered their intellect, And their obedience.

This Lent, maybe you gave up soda or video games, or maybe you're trying to stop gossiping. It's been a few weeks, and right about now, on the third Sunday of Lent, you might be running out of steam. Forty days feels like a long time. Being consistent is really hard. You might be asking, does it really matter if I sneak one piece of candy? Or does it really matter if I skip my prayers today? St. Basil would say, yes, it matters. He teaches us that fasting is a good thing.

Isn't just about making ourselves miserable. It's about training. Fasting encourages the virtue of self-control. It helps us reorder ourselves so that things may be put in proper order. Pope Benedict XVI backs up Saint Basil on this. He calls fasting a spiritual arm, and he doesn't mean a body part. He means an armament, a weapon. He says that fasting is a weapon to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. We all have those disordered attachments. Maybe you're too attached to your phone, or your popularity, or comfort.

These are the appetites of nature that have been weakened by original sin. When we choose to detach from the pleasure of food or material goods, We are strengthening our spiritual muscles so we can control ourselves. And here is the secret weapon. It's not just about being hungry. Pope Benedict explains that physical hunger is actually a signpost. It teaches us to pay attention to a far more serious spiritual hunger. When your stomach grumbles during Lent, it's a reminder that your soul is thirsting for God.

The physical need points to the fact that we depend entirely on Him. So, how do we apply this wisdom to your life right now? Recommit. If you have failed in your Lenten resolutions, or if you've gotten lazy with them, today is the day to restart. Don't give up just because you slipped.

Next, pause. The next time you feel a strong impulse, whether it's to eat something you shouldn't, to snap at your parents, or to open an app you know you should stay off of, freeze. That is your appetite trying to drive the car. Then, say a quick prayer. Lord, I am hungry for you, not this. Use that moment of denial to feed your spiritual hunger instead of your physical one.

Remember St. Basil's warning, it was because we didn't fast that we lost paradise. Let's use this Lent to train our hearts, toughen our wills, and find our way back. Thank you for joining us on My Daily Saint. We look forward to sharing another incredible story of faith and courage with you tomorrow.