{"id":8485,"date":"2019-03-08T08:57:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T14:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=8485"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:41:09","slug":"i-fasted-on-only-bread-and-juice-for-lent-this-is-what-i-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2019\/03\/08\/i-fasted-on-only-bread-and-juice-for-lent-this-is-what-i-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"I fasted on only bread and juice for Lent. This is what I learned."},"content":{"rendered":"

My stomach felt like an empty pit. There could not possibly have been anything left in the tank. I had already been on the toilet for 10 minutes, but I had not built up enough confidence to walk away. Diarrhea for reasons beyond our control is bad enough. This time it was, I admit, completely self-inflicted.<\/p>\n

A few days earlier, I had started a bread-and-juice fast for the season of Lent. Three times a day, at normal meal times, I had a simple piece of bread (preferably multigrain, as my body begged for nutrients) and a glass of fruit juice. I was also drinking lots of water, and it was going straight through me. Fasting always sounds like a brilliant idea before… [This is the beginning of an\u00a0essay recently published by\u00a0<\/i>America<\/a>.<\/i>\u00a0Continue reading\u00a0here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo credit: Kamil Szumotalski on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ABOUT THE RABBLE ROUSER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Luke Hansen, SJ<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Luke-Hansen-SJ\"Originally from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, Luke Hansen, SJ, has been a friend of Sister Julia\u2019s since 2004 when they met at an airport on their way to serve in the\u00a0Jesuit Volunteer Corps<\/a>\u00a0in California. Passionate about justice and peacemaking, much of his experience in ministry has been centered on serving adults and adolescents who are incarcerated. He now is studying in Rome at the\u00a0Pontifical Gregorian University<\/a>. (Photo credit:\u00a0www.jesuits.org<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My stomach felt like an empty pit. There could not possibly have been anything left in the tank. I had already been on the toilet for 10 minutes, but I had not built up enough confidence to walk away. Diarrhea for reasons beyond our control is bad enough. This time it was, I admit, completely...","protected":false},"author":14328657,"featured_media":8491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2178641],"tags":[7616927,28175,1094,20065141,2416,106887,401,43523,7816,72541,32979,403736,549936,698755380,46903590,853,49907,65427,2282,82348,222631],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-8485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer-and-spirituality","tag-america-magazine","tag-awareness","tag-body","tag-christian-peacemaking","tag-church","tag-conversion","tag-faith","tag-fasting","tag-god","tag-guantanamo","tag-hunger","tag-ignatian","tag-jesuit","tag-lent","tag-luke-hansen","tag-prayer","tag-sacrifice","tag-social-change","tag-social-justice","tag-suffering","tag-weakness","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-1522331572506-5b8a886f8904.jpeg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"

I fasted on only bread and juice for Lent. This is what I learned.<\/a><\/blockquote>