How do I fast?

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Hermione

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Hello,

I would like to completely abstain from food for a day or two to learn to control the desires of the flesh. What has your experience with fasting been? What advice can you give me? What attitude should I have when fasting? Also, is abstainig from food completely dangerous?

Thank you 🙂
 
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Hermione:
Hello,

I would like to completely abstain from food for a day or two to learn to control the desires of the flesh. What has your experience with fasting been? What advice can you give me? What attitude should I have when fasting? Also, is abstainig from food completely dangerous?

Thank you 🙂
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I have never tried to completely abstain from all food but I have abstained from meat.

Try to have as good of an attitude as you can. Keep it between you and God that you are fasting. You do not want to give off the appearance of fasting because you do not want to have the attitude where you are looking for sympathy from others around you.

If you are completely abstaining from all food, it probably depends on how long you are doing it. If it is only a day or two it probably wouldn’t be dangerous but more than that and it would be dangerous probably.
 
have you been directed by your spiritual advisor to fast? we have ample direction in our rich spiritual tradition on fast and abstinence. Why not begin with the practice we are all asked (not commanded) to do and abstain from meat on Friday. If you wish to fast why not adopt the Lenten practice of two small meals and one normal meal, and abstain from desserts, sodas etc. If you had a spiritual director he would probably want to explore with you the reasons you want to fast. Is it just to see if you can do it? Is it part of a larger spiritual goal or a means to combat a habitual sin? These practices are not things we adopt for the fun of it, do you see what I mean? You ask if it is dangerous. Certainly a prolonged fast could be a problem especially for someone with an underlying medical problem. Most of us have gone without food (not liquids) for several days due to the flu or some illness and come out all right.
 
Thanks for responding 🙂

I’m in the RCIA program and don’t have a spiritual advisor yet. I have been abstaining from meat on Fridays, but I guess it’s not a very big deal for me because I was raised in an environment where meat wasn’t thought of as essential. I’ve been thinking of fasting for a while, but have decided to do it since I heard a speaker on Catholic Answers radio talk about the importance of fasting in our fight against the Devil. The speaker was discussing chastity and said that it’s very important for us to learn to say no to ourselves. Those words really spoke to me because I’ve had problems with saying no to my desires in the past. I want to be able to abstain from food because food has been an area where I frequently can’t say no to myself. (I always try to resist eating sweets and other unhealthy foods but fail.) Being able to abstain from food at will would greatly increase my confidence in my ability to do the right thing when it’s difficult. I can’t feel confident about my ability to resist being tempted by the Devil if I can’t resist a piece of chocolate.

Do you think this is a good spiritual reason to want to fast?
 
Hermione

I normally fast once a week. This is something I began several years ago to bring myself closer to our Lord. I fast on Fridays and contemplate our Lords passion through out the whole day. I also reserve my Fridays for deeper prayer and Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I follow the teachings of the Church and have two small meals and one normal meal. The two small meals do not add up to the normal meal. I also keep the “meals” very simple and very plain. In this secular world in which we live, this simple “mortification” has brought me great rewards in my prayer life.

I would suggest speaking to a spiritual director or priest regarding your questions on fasting. Fasting is a way we humble ourselves before God, and open our hearts to His Mercy. It can help draw ourselves away from societies “wants and desires”, and allow us to better focus on Jesus Christ as the center of our lives.

The one caution I would watch out for, based on experience, is attempting to use fasting as a means to an end.

Example: The Church says we should fast, so I’m going to fast to lose weight. Not good. Our motives must center on our relationship with God, not on what we want here on earth.

In His Peace!
 
Dear friend

It’s as good a reason as any as you are looking to strengthen yourself spiritually. Fasting can be done for a number of reasons, as a penance, as a way of prayer, as a sacrifice for a favour from God, to show your love of God to God alone, to strengthen the spirit and to withdraw from the world in a physical sense so that a person can deepen spiritually, obviously there are more aspects to it than this.

If you love bread and decide to have a fast and only have some amount of bread to eat and water, then this is missing the point! Fasting is abstenance from anything, you can fast from watching TV, you can fast from doing anything that is most enjoyable to you. People usually fast from food as it is most enjoyable to all the senses and is a necessity. How each individual fasts is individual!! there is no exact way to fast as long as you are mindful that God does not want you to harm yourself in the process. Some of the saints were granted magnificent graces where they could achieve extraordinary feats , some of whom could fast from food and deny themselves sleep for significant periods, this would not be recommended!!

One of the posts made me laugh about losing weight and that might be a by product from fasting, but my diet is very small and bland and fasting is something I do frequently, I’m quite chubby, I don’t know how!!! I must have the worlds slowest metabolism!! As for fasting from sleep, I find I cannot stay awake for more than one night, after this life becomes a bit hazy!!!:rotfl: I once had a fast from sleep the night prior and went to church to pray the next day before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and fell asleep!! I was alone there and was I glad no-one saw me !!! Only my Lord saw me and it was so peaceful there with Him, I was so at peace and relaxed that sleep caught up with me.

If you do decide to make a regular fast for our Lord and God, wear a big smile, tell no-one when you are doing it and offer it up cheerfully. No-one has ever born as great a hardship as our Lord Jesus Christ and He never complained once.

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
I have a hard time fasting. As soon as I intent to fast for a day, I all of a sudden crave all sort of food. It seems “you know who” is just watching so that it can thwart my plans to fast.

My experience of fasting? Just recently I had to undergo a small operation and was told to fast for at least 12 hours before the scheduled operation. So, this was an unvoluntary fast, but nevertheless a fast. After the operation, my appetite was suppressed and I did not feel like eating for a good four days afterwards. I forced myself to eat a little.

The effects of this unvoluntary fast were just amazing. I had more energy, I could think with a clearer mind, and all sorts of little annoyances like dry, itching skin, sleepiness, stiffness in limbs, etc. disappeared.

Now I have to find a way on how to fool the enemy of my plans to fast. If I only heed more closely the advice Tobit gives in Ch 12:8 “Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness.” I think I know my mistake: When I fast I still think too much of my misery and forget to accompany it with at least some short prayers of petition for perseverance each time I begin to weaken.

Okay, I have to go to church. After all, it’s Sunday. You all have a wonderful and blessed day!

Theodora
 
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