St. Faustina and Fasting

I am continuing to read St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy in My Soul as I recently finished A Story of a Soul. I hope to gain more traction in this book as we approach Divine Mercy Sunday.

I recently came across a paragraph that fails to leave my mind:

Today, I received some oranges. When the sister had left, I thought to myself, “Should I eat the oranges instead of doing penance and mortifying myself during Holy Lent? After all, I am feeling a bit better.” Then I heard a voice in my soul: My daughter, you please Me more by eating the oranges out of obedience and love of Me than by fasting and mortifying yourself of your own will. A soul that loves Me very much must, ought to live by My will. I know your heart, and I know that it will not be satisfied by anything but My love alone.

Our Lord permits Faustina to eat the oranges out of “obedience and love” and finds it more pleasing than an act of penance. Faustina was ill at the time and the fruit was intended for her to build her strength. Our Lord often reminded her to obey her superiors and that it pleased Him when she did so. What’s interesting is that there is a noticeable trait about Faustina’s desire for penance – it is a desire “of [her] own will”. It is not the Lord’s will for her to fast in this case since the virtue of obedience has trumped the act of penance.

There was something also within the last line though that further intrigued me. I believe I came upon a deeper understanding when I searched for the Church’s teaching on fasting:

The fourth precept [of the Church] (“You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church”) ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart [emphasis added]. CCC 2043

Our Lord said to Faustina, “I know your heart, and I know that it will not be satisfied by anything but My love alone.” Faustina had obtained complete freedom of her heart as noted as the ultimate goal in the Catechism. This very freedom moves her to desire nothing but Jesus. Let that be our goal and serve as a reminder for the purpose of any penitential act we observe. St. Faustina, pray for us!