I fast by not eating during the day until I get home from work. Just like the Muslims do at Ramadan. It was hard at first but now I do it almost without thinking. It is a source of huge joy. The only problem being it has maybe got a bit too much routine. I also as a penance and accesis work very hard at work and , its hard this one, not to gossip , back stab and get on with people. In a packed office this is like wearing sack cloth and ashes. especially as I work with some of the laziest individuals God ever created. But I don't know I am so happy doing this, like I am at a big party all the time. It not sad faces and ashes, really but a fountain of joy. http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/12/quaeritur-penances-appropriate-for-a-married-layperson/
Please keep me posted on what is going on in the world. It's scary but I would like to know, I fear for all of us. Thanks for that info
June Klins has an article on fasting here, called, Live the Fast http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/july2013.htm
I am finding fasting tough at the moment, but also I find if I don't fast on a wednesday I feel strange, I feel pains in and around my head. But when I manage to fast on wednesday accompanied by decent prayer time, I feel at peace. I am looking forward to understanding more about wednesday and friday fasting. Regarding the thread, very interesting.
The worst part of fasting from my experience is the day after, if you know what I mean. just saying, you better watch what you eat the next day!
Just make sure you conceal your days of fasting and that no one knows but God. When I get asked if I want something to eat from one of my kids, I usually tell them either I am not hungry or I'm still full. That way I honor my lord and no one knows and most of the time my kids don't even pay attention.
I always let my family know. Many times my husband offers to cook dinner or one of the kids. Its a very good example for them. I know a nun who always talked about charity. She often times fasted and if someone came over with some goodie for her and the nuns she would graciously receive them and their goodie, sit down and have a bite with them, talk and share faith and when they left she would offer that charity to our good Lord. That way, it counts! My children have often times gone to others home during lent and they were having meat. They would get invited over to eat dinner and they would call me and ask if it was ok. I always tell them that if they chose to stay that they needed to interiorly tell our Lord that although it was delicious, that they offered this charity to Him, because instead of making a big deal out of it, it is done privately. One time a mother called me and she had openly asked my child if they were fasting from meat during the dinner. My child then explained that charity was the greater virtue and that it pleased the Lord to accept her kindness of inviting them to dinner than to go without and turn down her kindness. She was gushing about it and told me it was the neatest lesson her family had learned all year!
That's good that you do it your way to honor our Good Lord, each person should do it according to how they feel it will honor God. I tend to follow the Good book most times. I hide mostly what I do, no one knows me like God does. I've been friends with an 80 year old man from church for about 3 years and one day he offered to built me a grotto in my land and I accepted. He came almost every weekend to the T and rarely missed a weekend and we spoke every time about our good Lord. I never knew he had doubts about me, he confessed later that he never knew if I was into God like he was until one day I showed him the grotto I had built in my house for God. He then told me that he had doubts about me but after seeing the grotto I built for God he said now he knew that I truly loved God. I told him the story behind the grotto and how my lord told me to built it for him. I've learn love each person as they are, teach what I have learn but it's up to the person to accept or not. So I offer advice as much as I can to those that ask but then I step back to let our Good Lord make the seed grow.
I would never lie to my family when I fast. They know I fast and it is an example to them. I do not make others fast, but setting and example to them, just as I do in prayer is a good thing. Don't brag about it, but do not be ashamed to do so either.
Right to the point, never be ashamed. What we do for God should be done with gladness in our hearts! Like i mentioned before each person does what they feel is right for God and none of it is wrong. God see's us trying for him and thats what should matter, what i read in the good book and do, i try to instill in others but many see it different then me and i understand that. I'm just old fashion i guess lol. I felt old in spirit when i was a child, and still do. The bible was my stories growing up and i wish i lived at that time, days have changed and not for the better i see. What ever anyone is doing to reach God, keep doing it.. God see's the good in it. He loves to see us try to reach him because it shows him we love him and he will let us know he is there at his time.
I know it's best to keep things hidden because Jesus said so. Matthew 6:1-4, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” On the other hand when we live with or work with people at close quarters it's impossible to keep things hidden without outright lying to them. For instance they saw quite early on I never take lunch and I am not going to tell them fibs about it. I have come to be convinced that office workers are the nosiest people God ever invented. But I am quite comfortable with this. Things are not like they were in the time of Christ at the moment. Either folks do not believe in God or they have put Him up in the attic and clean forgotten about Him So I think an open testimony about fasting is just fine. It gives them pause to think. At the end of the day they don't think I am wonderful about this but are inclined to think I am nuts. I am fine with this as they thought this anyway. But I would never ever tell fibs about fasting, or praying or going to Church. On the other hand I feel no great desire to preach at them either. There is a nice story about about Stanley and David Livingstone the two famous explorers who discovered the source of the Nile. When their exploring days were over Stanley was asked if he did not miss being with Livingstone. Stanley said he did not because if he had stayed in the company of Livingstone a moment longer he would have become a Christian. He was asked if this was because Livingstone (who was a missionary) preached to him all the time. He said no that Livingstone never talked about his beliefs, he simply lived them. That he would convert not because of what he said but because of what he was. I suspect we have much less secrets from others than we think we have, they tend to know us better than we know ourselves.
Not very much intriguing. The KGB has been infiltrating America and seeding ideas against the West for a long time. A few links: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...k-Islamist-terrorism-U-S-Israeli-targets.html http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/thousands-of-russian-spies-in-us-ex-cia-agent-35561 http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/3006871-kgb-still-walks-among-us http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/record_mole_russia_cold_surpass_K6S6j9QENZeRCOSEvhvYtO A recent book even shows how a Soviet spy infiltrated the White House: "Operation Snow" shows how Joseph Stalin and the KGB used a vast network of double-agents and communist sympathizers - most notably, Harry Dexter White - to lead Japan into war against the United States, demonstrating incontestable Soviet involvement behind the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR’s White House Triggered Pearl Harbor, by John Koster, 2012).
here! here! you are so true on what you said, for no matter how well i hide it people see and questions arise and thats when i try to explain to them what i am doing lol. Even though i do not tell my kids the days i fast or when i am fasting my 8 years old was found to say the other day, oh today mom is not eating and she knows why for she had asked me once before and i explained that my food comes from heaven, let me tell you we all need spiritual food to survive this world, i know i do. My kids are aware only through curiousity and i am glad for when they see me spend time alone with God, they want to do the same. They have started to come into the grotto when i go to pray and they pray with me to our Heavenly parents. My 8 year old usually says "Mom i want to go with you to pray"" and i always take her by her hand and i teach her how to pray. But outside in the world when i go to work people tend to mock my lord, i hear the comments they make about God but i always say in my thoughts, Lord forgive them for they do not know what they are saying. I am also known as a nut at work, a Jesus freak but i'm proud of it. i would have it no other way. you know when i was 12 years old i went up to my mother to tell her i wanted to be a nun and she got angry at me and made me feel ashamed. It pained me greatly for many years because i wanted to be a nun so much, so i eventually got married and had my beautiful children. I asked my Lord 4 years ago, why he did not want me... I cried when i asked him because it was very painful for me in heart and spirit and you know what he told me. He said, you would of made a great nun, but out here in the world you are going to be better. It still hurts me when i speak of it, but God knows what is best for each of us. Sometimes what we want is not what God wants for us and he will let us know. NIce talking to you padraig
I too at work am called the "Flying Nun" LOL! MOst of the people I work with are fallen away Catholics, so they don't mind my scapular or the crucifix hanging in my office though. They just think I'm behind the times. I meant to say, that I too felt I had a vocation, but by the time I realized it, I was married. I joined the 3rd Order Discalced Carmelites in 2001 and wondered if you ever thought of joining a Third Order? The great thing is that you have a rule to follow and access to spiritual direction, which is so hard to find these days.
Nice to meet you Carmel333, i've heard of the carmelites but never put too much into it. Is it like being a nun? i would like to know about it, how do i get more info? What kind of rules? what do we do? ahh i guess curiosity got me. Please fill me in, sounds very good to me.
There of course are many Orders of religious, depending on what you feel called to. 1st Order is cloistered Monks, 2nd Order is cloistered Nuns, and 3rd Order is any marital status, either cloistered or living in the world. Pope John Paul II was also a 3rd Order Carmelite. Anyway, a common 3rd Order that seems to be everywhere is the Franciscan Order. They do alot of active charity work. My order, the Carmelites, are mostly involved in Contemplative Prayer, and do their acts of "work" by prayer support for the Church and Missions. If you feel called to do a certain thing, like working with the poor, or teaching religion, there are orders for that too. You'll have to do a little research to see what is in your area and if you feel called. It is truly a vocation. I STARTED in 1998 learning and praying the Divine Office and working toward becoming a 3 Order Carm. I did my 6 month novitiary in the fall of 2000 and was clothed in the spring of 2001 along with 3 others in my area. Here is my daily rule: Divine Office (Lauds and Vespers), Daily Mass if possible, a weekly devotion to Mary (I pray the Rosary daily), and most important: 1/2 Quiet Prayer per day. Of course Confession and obeying the Catholic Church, being in a state of grace is also demanded. I took vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience also. If one is already consistantly living a holy, devout life, and attending daily Mass, praying the Rosary ect. for several years, I would highly recommend looking into a 3rd Order. Of course pray about it, as it is a calling, and you may be called to just be a Holy wife and parent right now.
