In the tradition of the church, fasting has been a way of penance and 
spiritual rebirth.  The motive for fasting is not to punish our bodies as 
evil, but rather to free ourselves from the control of unrestrained 
bodily desires.  Pope Paul wrote  Through  corporal fasting  man regains 
strength and  the wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by 
intemperance is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence.  
The idea that fasting is a kind of medicine for our soul was shared by 
St. John Chrysostom.  Our experience of hunger reminds us of our deepest 
need -- our need for God.  Thus, fasting makes us more alive and more 
aware.  We are less easily distracted by sin since we know where our 
attention belongs.  After Jesus was baptized, he went out into the desert 
and remained there for forty days without eating.  This forty day fast 
enables Him to reject the temptations of Satan and concentrate on His 
true mission.
The forty days of Lent are a time set aside during our busy year when we 
look at our lives and identify those things which we allow to control 
us.  Today, in a world in which all of our needs are satisfied and in 
which we are not supposed to know emptiness or hunger, it is easy to 
become complacent about our real mission.  But, through fasting we 
realize that God is what is truly important in our lives and are renewed 
in our mission to live as Christ.