Optional Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Brief Background:

St. Peter Damian was born in 1007 in Ravenna, Italy, and experienced hardship early in life after being orphaned and raised in poverty. Despite these struggles, he received a strong education and became a teacher before feeling called to a deeper life of prayer and penance. He entered a hermitage and embraced a monastic life rooted in simplicity and discipline. Living during a time when corruption and moral laxity affected parts of the clergy, Peter Damian became a courageous reformer, urging priests and bishops to live with integrity, holiness, and fidelity to the Gospel. Though he preferred the quiet life of contemplation, he obediently accepted appointments from the Pope and was eventually named Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, serving the Church in difficult political and spiritual matters. Known for his sharp intellect, strong moral conviction, and deep love for Christ, he was later declared a Doctor of the Church. St. Peter Damian is considered the patron saint of reformers, monks, hermits, and those seeking renewal within the Church.

REFLECTION:

Yesterday, I didn’t post a reflection.

After a full day of meetings, conversations, decisions, and responsibilities, I didn’t get home until 8:00 PM. I spent some quiet time in Adoration, sitting before the Lord — and by the time I returned home, I was simply tired. Too tired to write. Too tired to wake up early and try to write something meaningful.

And in that tiredness, today’s reading from Isaiah speaks directly to the heart.

The people in Isaiah’s time were asking a similar question: “Why do we fast?” Why deny ourselves? Why make sacrifices? Why do the religious things if nothing seems to change?

God’s answer is striking.

Fasting is not about proving something to God. It is not about spiritual performance. It is not about checking a religious box.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God says fasting is meant to change us.

 If you remove oppression…
If you stop pointing the finger…
If you give bread to the hungry…
Then your light shall rise in the darkness.”

Fasting creates space.

When we fast from food, from noise, from distractions — we begin to notice what fills us. We begin to see where our impatience lives. Where our pride hides. Where our sharp words come from. Fasting exposes the interior clutter.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Isaiah reminds us that true fasting leads outward: less complaining, less blaming, more generosity, more mercy, and more care for the vulnerable. In other words, we fast so that our hearts can soften.

Last night, in Adoration, I realized something simple: even exhaustion can become a kind of fasting. Letting go of productivity. Letting go of needing to say something profound. Just sitting before the Lord as I am — tired and human.

And maybe that is where fasting begins. Not in dramatic sacrifice, but in honesty. We fast because we need re-centering. We fast because our desires can become disordered. We fast because without discipline, we drift. We fast because we want to become the person we ought to be.

Isaiah says if we live this way, we will become like a “watered garden.” Not dry. Not brittle. Not burned out. But sustained by God.

So today, maybe the question is not just “Why do we need to fast?” Maybe the deeper question is: What in me needs to be cleared away so God can water what truly matters? And perhaps that is enough for today.