Fasting

[Stjudeprayforus]

Sorry if I sound niave…

I would like to know any information about fasting.

How long is a typical fast?

I have heard people say only liquid during the day? Does that mean they eat at night?

I have heard of others who have only small meals (not sure how this is fasting).

Could a fast be done with liquid protien shakes only?

I have heard of people who did a 40 day fast… ???

I would like to go on a fast but, I honestly have so many questions… I dont know how to start.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Also… why do people do this? I understand its in the bible… but what exactly is the point of it?

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

To become stronger? To offer up suffering for God?

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

That is the goal for me.

I just want to do it right. All I find is no meat on fridays or meat for one meal a day.

I am a vegetarian so…that does nothing for me…

 

[baltobetsy]

Fasting done right is always under obedience. We obey the Church laws regarding fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - one meal plus two small meals if needed. Anyone wishing to go beyond what the Church requires should do so ONLY with the advice of a confessor or spiritual director. To go ahead on your own opens you up to health problems and spiritual pride.

Betsy

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

Fasting done right is always under obedience. We obey the Church laws regarding fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - one meal plus two small meals if needed. Anyone wishing to go beyond what the Church requires should do so ONLY with the advice of a confessor or spiritual director. To go ahead on your own opens you up to health problems and spiritual pride.

Betsy

Oh… thank you for that!

 

[Lancer]

I offer two things for your consideration…both address the “why” Fast…and it is my belief that once you clearly understand the “why”…everything else will become clearer as to the “what”…“when”…“where”…“how much”…type of questions.

The first is a beautiful Message of Pope Benedict XVI for Lent 2009…the Holy Father (in baseball terms) “knocks cover off the ball and sends it out of the park – a tape measure grand slam!”…please read it and see if after…you can discern the answers to all your questions. A few excerpts/quotes:

For this year’s Lenten Message, I wish to focus my reflections especially on the value and meaning of fasting.

We might wonder what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance. The Sacred Scriptures and the entire Christian tradition teach that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it.

Commenting on the divine injunction, Saint Basil observes that “fasting was ordained in Paradise,” and “the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam.” He thus concludes: “ ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence” (cf. Sermo de jejunio: PG 31, 163, 98).

*In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will reward you” (*Mt 6,18).

• He Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (**Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the “true food,” which is to do the Father’s will (cf. *Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy.
  ***In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God.
  ***The faithful practice of fasting contributes, moreover, to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20081211_lent-2009_en.html

The second is from a homily by Saint Peter Chrysologus early Church Father (Bishop of Ravenna, Italy @450 A.D. …a couple of excerpts/quotes:****

---

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. 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.

crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/408/Prayer__Fasting_and_Mercy___St._Peter_Chrysologus.html

Hope this is helpful…and after you discern what actual Fasting that you want to do…I strongly recommend (although it is not required)…that you do so only after discussing it with a priest/deacon (spiritual advisor) or with a/your confessor in the Sacrament of Penance…our pride can get into so much of our good intentions and corrupt what we honestly desire to do for the Lord. Remember, that in the end…Fasting…is always about love and obedience to the Father and to do his will.

Pax Christi

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

I offer two things for your consideration…both address the “why” Fast…and it is my belief that once you clearly understand the “why”…everything else will become clearer as to the “what”…“when”…“where”…“how much”…type of questions.

The first is a beautiful Message of Pope Benedict XVI for Lent 2009…the Holy Father (in baseball terms) “knocks cover off the ball and sends it out of the park – a tape measure grand slam!”…please read it and see if after…you can discern the answers to all your questions. A few excerpts/quotes:

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20081211_lent-2009_en.html

The second is from a homily by Saint Peter Chrysologus early Church Father (Bishop of Ravenna, Italy @450 A.D. …a couple of excerpts/quotes:****
****crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/408/Prayer__Fasting_and_Mercy___St._Peter_Chrysologus.html

Hope this is helpful…and after you discern what actual Fasting that you want to do…I strongly recommend (although it is not required)…that you do so only after discussing it with a priest/deacon (spiritual advisor) or with a/your confessor in the Sacrament of Penance…our pride can get into so much of our good intentions and corrupt what we honestly desire to do for the Lord. Remember, that in the end…Fasting…is always about love and obedience to the Father and to do his will.

Pax Christi

Thank you!! Exactly what I was looking for. I will speak to my priest.

Wonderful information.

God bless you all.

 

[LilyM]

In terms of definitions, properly fasting is any deliberate reduction in the quantity of food (ie eating less than you do normally - say one or two meals a day). That’s why the things you’ve discussed count as fasting.

Cutting out particular types of food - meat, sugar, caffeine or alcohol - is properly called ‘abstaining’.

As an illustration, on Fridays in Lent we are to abstain - eat no meat. But we can eat normal quantities of food. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday we BOTH abstain from meat AND fast (eat only one moderate-sized meal and two other snacks that together are less than the main meal).

 

[samovila]

I’m glad you asked this question. Every so often lately I feel the urge to fast for a particular prayer intention such as the precious unborn or for the conversion of unbelievers. I wasn’t sure how to even begin a fast. I had questions like yours… do I just not eat for the day and pray at various times for special intentions? I hadn’t considered fasting more than a day just because a day in itself seems like a great challenge to me. I guess after all the advice posted I’ll just ask during my next confession.

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

I’m glad you asked this question. Every so often lately I feel the urge to fast for a particular prayer intention such as the precious unborn or for the conversion of unbelievers. I wasn’t sure how to even begin a fast. I had questions like yours… do I just not eat for the day and pray at various times for special intentions? I hadn’t considered fasting more than a day just because a day in itself seems like a great challenge to me. I guess after all the advice posted I’ll just ask during my next confession.

I have been hearing alot about people fasting and praying… like you said for an end to abortion or for America ect…

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

In terms of definitions, properly fasting is any deliberate reduction in the quantity of food (ie eating less than you do normally - say one or two meals a day). That’s why the things you’ve discussed count as fasting.

Cutting out particular types of food - meat, sugar, caffeine or alcohol - is properly called ‘abstaining’.

As an illustration, on Fridays in Lent we are to abstain - eat no meat. But we can eat normal quantities of food. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday we BOTH abstain from meat AND fast (eat only one moderate-sized meal and two other snacks that together are less than the main meal).

I’m glad you mentioned the liturgical fast days—can voluntary ‘fasting’ on other days throughout the year include skipping one meal?

Don’t Fridays also remain a day of penance? Usually I give up meat but I thought other forms of penance can be substituted.