Welcome, Ramadan!

Because asceticism is such a scandal in a consumerist society, Ramadan is associated in the minds of many with feats of fasting. To be sure, fasting is an important part of Ramadan, just as Ramadan is itself an important period in the liturgical year for the followers of Muhammad. But each is a part of a larger whole: the struggle of the human being to come to maturity, i.e., to learn to conform one's desire to what is possible.