I'm not getting anything out of fasting

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Hi All,

I obey the laws of abstinence and fasting during lent, however, I don’t “get” anything out of fasting. I understand the reasons intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually, I am not able to grow in prayer or in my relationship with God through fasting. What am I doing wrong? How can I use fasting in a more benecifial way?
 
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MooCowSteph:
Hi All,

I obey the laws of abstinence and fasting during lent, however, I don’t “get” anything out of fasting. I understand the reasons intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually, I am not able to grow in prayer or in my relationship with God through fasting. What am I doing wrong? How can I use fasting in a more benecifial way?
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Hi Moo, You might want to start by telling no one that you are fasting. 😦 Try reading Isiah 58. This showed me how God wants us to truly fast. 👍 God Bless
 
I think maybe one way to look at it is not to think about what you want to get by fasting, but what you want to give. Think of it as giving your time and discipline as a gift to God. Think of it as a humble offering.

One thing that I’ve learned as I’ve returned to Catholicism is that the most spiritual growning is done in an almost arid period of worshipping. After I get through a slump of not ‘getting anything’ from a devotion or worshipping I look back and realized that God was raising the bar for me, for me to continue to follow him the best way I knew how and he was working in me even though I didn’t realize it.

I suggest you read Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. Even if you have read it already, try it again and look at it from the perspective of one having difficulty with the fruits of fasting.

Hope I helped.
 
Steph, I bet you’ll get lots of good answers to this one.

You could make your fast very specific so that it actually saves you money which you then always give to the poor. I find this hard to do because usually it costs my family more to eat during lent for various reasons. But it can really help to do this.

Look at your fast as a preparation for ministry or apostolate. Jesus did it for 40 days at the begining of his ministry. Connect it to a specific goal, like to be more able to give up other behaviors. Discipline yourself so as to win the race before you. Practice and train to give up what is unnecessary and in the way of leading a Godly life.

Remember the boy who had a demon that the disciples could not cast out. Jesus said that kind can only come out by prayer (and fasting). You can fast and pray to be prepared for service to God. It does not matter how it “feels”. You will still be more prepared.

And if the fasting annoys you, just ignore that, let it go, focus on the upcoming Easter Day. (I am a hypocrite, BTW). It can be super hard to not be annoyed by it!:o
 
Fasting is an individual experience.
Keeping it private is important because it is a commitment between you and God. Respectfully we are only human but Fasting is a good way to cleans the body of earthly toxins and allows the temple to resurrect.

Personal prayer and meditation is very important during Fasting.
Above all do not tell anyone, only the hypocrites will cry from the streets of their suffering.

Mat 6:2 Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.​

Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.​

1Cr 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except [it be] with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.​

👍
 
how do you know that? most of us are not so in tune with our spiritual side that we know how God is working within us, and it would be a very rare person who experience immediate and perceptible “results” each and every time they prayed, fasted, read the bible etc.
 
Steph, you know intellectually that fasting is pleasing to God. If you fast and “get nothing” from it, you are still doing something for God. This will help you develop the virtue of detachment. Say, “Lord, I know you want this fast, so here it is - please help me unite my will with yours, and I don’t care if I feel anything or not. Teach me to love Your will.”

And truly, you don’t know that there’s been no benefit - you might have fallen into sin had you not been fasting, or gone backwards in your relationship with God rather than (what appears to you to be) staying in one place. You can advance rapidly by putting aside your expectations and embracing the will of God, whatever it is.

Keep up the good work - you’re farther along than you think!

Betsy
 
How do you know your getting little out of it. Some people seem to make no progress for years. Then all of a sudden they take a leap forward in the spiritual life. Others progress little by little. Too slow to notice. But through the years of perseverance and struggle they make great progress. Sometimes God is slow to reward us also. He may have a plan to show you that you can do nothing without Him. And that all good comes from Him. You may feel the fruits of your struggle later on. Pehaps you are progressing little by little, and can’t perceive it. Or perhaps God is testing you, to see if you will be loyal without consolation for a while. In any case perseverance at such times is extremely pleasing to God. Don’t give up at these times, your reward comes in Heaven and there you will realise how beneficial it was for you and others that you persevered through these trials.
For the devout Catholic the devil will try to cause discouragement, impatience, gloominess, depression etc. He will do this to at least limit the damage the Catholic does. Ultimately he tries to eliminate the Catholic. Don’t let him fool you. Your fasting is infinitely valuable, whether you know it or not.
 
I guess I feel like I don’t get anything from it or more accuratly, that I’m not really offering anything, because of how I feel. When I receive the Eucharist, when I participate in adoration, when I pray, when I read Scripture, I can feel God present. I can feel that I’m growing spiritually. When I fast, I feel hungry. :o I think I must be doing something wrong.

Do you “offer up” that hunger? I guess where I’m having trouble is that I can’t connect the fasting to the reasoning. I can’t make the mental connection between my hunger and my growing with the Lord.

BTW, I do not share my fasting with anyone, other than my husband of course, since we fast together.

Thanks, everyone
 
Steph, you have fallen into the error of believing that you must feel something if you are making spiritual progress. As you get closer to God, the special feelings become fewer in order to purify your love. You love God for His own sake, not because it makes you feel good. It appears you are making enough progress for God to trust you with a bit of dryness. Yes, offer up your hunger and be confident that God is handling the emotional side of things perfectly for you. Remember what Jesus said in the Garden - “Not my will but Thine be done.” If God chooses to give you the good feelings that are often called consolations, that’s wonderful. If He chooses not to, that’s wonderful, too. He knows what’s best for you in each moment.

But since you’re trying to conceive, don’t miss your folic acid, even when you fast! 👍

Betsy
 
Dear friend

Tell not a single soul what you are doing, your fast is between you and God alone

The fast is foremost for God and not for yourself

The fast is to bring about glorifying God , not for you but for God. God will give graces for fasting, but only because it glorifies His own name’s sake and raises the human to the divine because He loves you, but to begin with the motive and intent must be to glorify God.

In short it is not about you, it is all about God for His own name and His own sake…‘It is no longer I that live, but Christ Jesus’

Your whole life is all about God for His own name and His own sake, He does all for you for His own name and His own sake and see how much He does for you and count your blessings

Sit down this Easter and write down just how many blessings you have in your life, for a start you are created and have life and even the smallest things like water in your tap, write them all down and you will see all that He does for you…then now don’t look what you can get…

Look what you can give to God in thanksgiving and to all humanity, because when we give to each other, we give to God.

Only satan cries, ‘well what about me?’ well I would say to you, what about God and what is your motive for your fast, you do it for God or it is not worth doing.

Die to your-**‘self’ **and live in Christ.

Fast your heart out, it glorifies His name, how beautiful to glorify Him.

You are created out of love, how fitting then you should return love to your Creator without even thought for yourself.

How can you show Him you love Him?

Obey Him, follow everything His Son came and taught as God Himself begotten as full human, His Son fasted for 40 days, but in preparation to serve His Father in Heaven, so you fast without word to anyone but God, you do the fast and in preparation for serving your Father in heaven to glorify His name for His own name’s sake.

Simple…

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
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MooCowSteph:
Hi All,

I obey the laws of abstinence and fasting during lent, however, I don’t “get” anything out of fasting. I understand the reasons intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually, I am not able to grow in prayer or in my relationship with God through fasting. What am I doing wrong? How can I use fasting in a more benecifial way?
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Heck sometimes I don’t feel that I get all that much out of going to Church either, but I do it because I know it is the right thing to do. Our feelings can be fickle. It is our faith put in action that really matters over the long haul. Stick with it, even when you don’t feel like it and seem to get nothing out of it.
 
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springbreeze:
Dear friend

Tell not a single soul what you are doing, your fast is between you and God alone

The fast is foremost for God and not for yourself

The fast is to bring about glorifying God , not for you but for God. God will give graces for fasting, but only because it glorifies His own name’s sake and raises the human to the divine because He loves you, but to begin with the motive and intent must be to glorify God.

In short it is not about you, it is all about God for His own name and His own sake…‘It is no longer I that live, but Christ Jesus’

Your whole life is all about God for His own name and His own sake, He does all for you for His own name and His own sake and see how much He does for you and count your blessings

Sit down this Easter and write down just how many blessings you have in your life, for a start you are created and have life and even the smallest things like water in your tap, write them all down and you will see all that He does for you…then now don’t look what you can get…

Look what you can give to God in thanksgiving and to all humanity, because when we give to each other, we give to God.

Only satan cries, ‘well what about me?’ well I would say to you, what about God and what is your motive for your fast, you do it for God or it is not worth doing.

Die to your-**‘self’ **and live in Christ.

Fast your heart out, it glorifies His name, how beautiful to glorify Him.

You are created out of love, how fitting then you should return love to your Creator without even thought for yourself.

How can you show Him you love Him?

Obey Him, follow everything His Son came and taught as God Himself begotten as full human, His Son fasted for 40 days, but in preparation to serve His Father in Heaven, so you fast without word to anyone but God, you do the fast and in preparation for serving your Father in heaven to glorify His name for His own name’s sake.

Simple…

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
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Thank you, Teresa. This was quite helpful. :blessyou:
 
You say you have trouble making the connection. Try watching the passion movie again. You are another Christ. Your life is meant to be patterned on his. You are called to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Not that anything was lacking. But this is the way Christ chose it to be. He wants us to participate in His sufferings. We are not Christians if we don’t also take part in His passion.
Whenever one of us does something meritorious we lift up the whole Church with us. Souls return to Christ. People come back to the sacraments. And we benefit also. We can also avert the wrath of God, as our Lady told us at Fatima.
You may never have to suffer like Christ, but when you watch the movie see yourself and your sufferings, sacrifices etc as your contribution to our Lords passion. See yourself as joined to Him and offer it all up with Him to the Father.
This is what we do at Mass. We unite all our good works, prayers, sacrifices and sufferings with Christ and offer them up to God the Father in the Eucharistic celebration.
Happy Easter to all.
 
It seems Providential that I came across this thread because I was going to ask a question about this very thing.

I have never fasted except for when I was going to have blood drawn the next day. Can I fast for a specific intention - such as conversion? And do I give up just one specific food/drink item or a whole meal or what?

I’m sorry if these are dumb questions but I really don’t know anything about it and I want to learn everything I can.

Thanks for your help -
Melissa
 
Melissa,

Yes! You can fast for an intention. You might fast and also do a novena to you favorite saint at the same time for your intention. Since a voluntary fast has an indulgence connected with it, offer the indulgence for a soul in purgatory.

Fast in what way seems best to you, since it is voluntary. You could skip a food group (junk food) or do a fast more like the Good Friday fast. Go vegetarian for a day if that would be a fast for you. Do not attempt severe fasts for any length of time without advice of your spiritual director.

These are not dumb questions!
 
If you feel your not getting anything out of it and feeling no presence of God, they do it with for God and simply content to not feel anything. After all doesn’t that sound like a good gift of love to God, to give him that and not expect anything in return.

As far as not telling anyone. I don’t think it’s necassarily bad to tell others, the thing not to do it with the intention of having the desire to look pious in other’s eyes. So keep it better to keep it as to yourself as you can to avoid mixing this intention in with it to keep it a more pure sacrifice. Sometimes you do have to tell others, sometimes you have to excuse someone giving you food. Sometimes its good to tell a spouse, it’s good for them to know whats going on. Sometimes its good to let others know as a witness. Or sometimes like with the Terri Schaivo case, you can tell others you are doing it to be in solidarity with her pain. But it is never good to do it too show off. Also make sure it doesn’t lead you to becoming pain to deal with. It’s always better to give a smile and be a friend to another, that to give an act of pious sacrifice.

It’s always good to have an intention to go with it. I went to central america and stayed with a poor rural community. Fasting takes me back there and remembering their poverty of goods, but their riches of love and kindness. Our nation is so filled with gluttony, that sometimes its good to fast and to deny ones self to keep remember whats most important. Also I’d say you can offer up any ordinary act, listening to the kids cry whatever. More often I think its the ordinary acts than the extra ordinary acts that God appreciates. Afterall, some of the ones God blessed the most, Mary, Peter, Abraham were quiet ordinary people.
 
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MooCowSteph:
When I fast, I feel hungry. :o I think I must be doing something wrong.
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Sounds like you’re doing a perfect job of fasting!!! 😃
 
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