Fasting question

[totallylost]

This might be 2 threads at once…

1. Jesus fast for 40 days and 40 nights. After that he is thirsty and hungry.
   • did he eat anything at all?
2. Let’s say I wanted to fast for my spiritual growth (I’m aware I shouldn’t treat fasting as spiritual shopping-list but I hope I’m not). How should I fast? From what I read, it can be
   • eat half meal of the usual meal, eat only two meals a day and eat nothing solid in between.
   if I eat fruits in between meals, eat only fruits to replace one meal, is that fasting?

or how should I fast?

thanks.

 

[datingtrappists]

A few suggestions about the second question, since I’m unsure of the first one (though if Jesus was perfect God and perfect Man, it would make sense that he was thirsty and hungry after fasting for so long). First of all, if you have a regular confessor or spiritual director, make sure that you at least get the “Ok” from him before you take on any fasting outside of the required time. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to make an appointment with an MD to make sure that you are physically healthy enough to fast. As far as what fasting looks like, I’ll paraphrase what I have read before in a few missals: one full meal a day, with up to two smaller meals that is no bigger than the one full meal combined if needed for strength.

Again, if you plan on fasting more than what is required, it is very important to have a spiritual director or regular confessor to make sure that you are fasting for the correct reasons, and to make sure that it isn’t turning into something that is harmful (like an eating disorder).

 

[totallylost]

thanks datingtrappist for your reply.