Since the generous and liberal directives of Vatican Council II, within the Catholic Church and, particularly, in Malta the practice of fasting during Lent has become a big joke.

If one attends a university course, one studies hard. So if one fasts, one takes it seriously, not just on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.

I am not acquainted with Jewish fasting, except during the period of Yom Kippur, the greatest feast in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, when fasting is seriously practised.

Orthodox Jews have strict rules about the Sabbath day and will not ride a bus but walk.

Moslem daily fasting during the month of Ramadan is meant to purify soul and body. No eating or drinking, no water, no sexual relations between sunrise and sunset, no smoking. After sunset, one can partake of a good meal.

In our western world, we have become much too liberal and libertine. Anything and everything goes in our modern ‘advanced’ thinking. We have misinterpreted the meaning of the revolutionary French concept of liberté. We have gone much too far. We need to revise our position and psychological and spiritual outlook.

The Old Testament and the New Testament are serious about fasting and we therefore cannot cut corners or seek shortcuts.

The six visionaries of Medjugorje have been fasting on bread and water twice a week ever since the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them on June 24, 1981. They were told that fasting and prayer are the way to stop wars. We are battling against the forces of evil and this is the spiritual armour we need to put on.

Pressure needs to be exerted on Malta’s Catholic authorities to reintroduce the practice of serious fasting in the calendar. The spiritual, political and military battle does not allow half ways.