Secrets of the Saints: The Forgotten Spiritual Power of Fasting by ChurchPOP Editor - June 27, 2017 There’s a powerful spiritual discipline recommended by Our Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture and practiced by all the saints, but that seems to have been mostly forgotten in our day: fasting. Fasting, or the intentional abstinence of food for a period of time, is hugely counter cultural. In a culture where physical pleasure is the highest good, why would we intentionally withhold something as good, satisfying, and necessary as food? The fact we need food so much is actually precisely why fasting is so powerful. To temporarily withhold something so necessary for life forces us to focus on spiritual things that are even more important. As Christ himself says in Scripture, “One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4.4) Here are 10 quotes from the saints on why this is such an important spiritual practice: 1) St. Augustine “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.” 2) St. Peter Chrysologus “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.” 3) St. Jane Frances Chantal “God hides the prize of eternal glory in our mortifications and in the victory of ourselves, which we always strive for with great gentleness.” 4) St. Isaac the Syrian “When a man begins to fast, he straightway yearns in his mind to enter into converse with God.” 5) St. Gregory the Great “It is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict, without the previous subjugation of the appetite.” 6) St. John Chrysostom “Fasting is the support of our soul: it gives us wings to ascend on high, and to enjoy the highest contemplation! […] God, like an indulgent father, offers us a cure by fasting.” 7) St. Francis De Sales “Besides the ordinary effect of fasting in raising the mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly reward, it is also a great matter to be able to control greediness, and to keep the sensual appetites and the whole body subject to the law of the Spirit; and although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast.” 8) St. Catharine of Sienna “Without mortifying the taste, it is impossible to preserve innocence, since it was by the indulgence of his appetite that Adam fell.” 9) St. Basil “Penance without fasting is useless and vain; by fasting [we] satisfy God.” 10) St. Alphonsus De Ligouri “He that gratifies the taste will readily indulge the other senses; for, having lost the spirit of recollection, he will easily commit faults, by indecent words and by unbecoming gestures. But the greatest evil of intemperance, is that it exposes chastity to great danger.”
I have just started a 40 day fast and I am using a new type of Fasting called Intermittent Fasting, which involves not eating for 18 hours in a 24 hour period, and eating over a 6 hour period of each day. e.g confining food intake from noon until 6 pm. I partly undertook it because I knew that I was carrying an extra 7 kgs and this was affecting my social behaviour, in that I no longer wanted to see people because I was feeling so self concious. Because I am petite / short of stature, I cannot carry the extra weight. I was withdrawing socially, and as people did not understand why, I was actually offending people with my stand offish behaviour. But the other reason for the fast was because I gave my two lots of tenants 42 days notice to vacate and I realised that neither lot of tenants wanted to leave/ vacate, so it is a fast to "bind the strong man" and to ask God to take care of easing the tenants out of my houses so that my children, who need accomodation, can move in to them. I am asking God to please help my tenants to find new secure dwellings. One of the tenants is my friend who has substance abuse issues and never wants me to take a hard line with him, but prefers to be helpless so that I will take care of him. He is a very strong personality and, when intoxicated, can be quite malicious. He spends all of his spare time trying to persuade me to change my mind and let him stay and so it is something of a spiritual battle as he accuses me of having no charity. I am also adding other things to the 40 day period - I start my day with a morning offering, followed by the daily Rosary, A prayer to Saint Joseph. hourly, I drink a cup of tea to sustain me over the morning, then lunchtime / Noon mass, (that is the first food of the day) then home for a decent lunch meal at 1pm, then Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 pm and possibly a trip to the gym or the community pool for some aqua jogging, followed by a soak in the hot tub at the community pool (for my rheumatism) and an evening meal. No food, after the evening meal, just tea. No alcohol allowed for the 40 days (apart from Altar wine). I will be getting on the scales each day and today was my second day. I had lost half a kg after the first day. I know that it is also for weight loss and health reasons, and also to train myself to drink alcohol much much more moderately. But all of those things also affect us spiritually. Today I asked the Blessed Mother to please help me and bless my fast, even though it is imperfect.
Fasting is the most powerful weapon in your spiritual arsenal. It is the only way to Leave the worldly and enter the spiritual. Brother al
Not only this but the new science shows fasting is incredibly healthy for you. There are dozens of cases now that show a 20-30 day water only has tremendous benefits such as curing cancer.
I can attest to fasting having a profound affect on Rheumatoid Arthritis. I undertook a 3 day fast once as part of a elimination diet. It eliminated almost all inflammation from my hands and other joints. Unfortunately it returned immediately when I began taking food again. Fasting has been especially helpful to me in prayer and worship.
Good point. The act of any sacrifice and the discipline that it requires is a lesson itself in humility for one.
I think I'd find it not too difficult to go a day without food if I could still have coffee, so going a day without coffee for me is the hardest fast to do. Especially in the morning. Getting out of bed knowing there is no cup of coffee to look forward to is really, really hard.
For me it is tea with milk. I will never give it up because it is the only thing, sometimes, that seems to make the day bright. In our culture, we drink a lot of tea, (ordinary black tea, usually with a splash of milk). I have been drinking it for 45 years and I cannot imagine life without it. I have a lot of emergency supplies and they are all around being able to make hot tea in a power outage (e.g. in an earthquake).
Yes, in Ireland we drink a lot of tea too. On days when I don't drink coffee I usually end up drinking about 10 cups of tea! Can't imagine giving them both up, even for a day. I don't think I'd be able to even get out of bed... I know what you mean about it being the only thing that makes the day bright!
