Questions About Fasting?

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Purple_Junebug

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I wasn’t really taugh about fasting outside of Lent, but I know people fast sometimes when they want to pray for someone or something or just for spiritual growth. I am interested in this so here are my questions.
  1. Why do we fast and what is the point of fasting?
    2.Are there any special prayers for fasting? What are they?
  2. Are there different types of fasting and if there are, what are they?
  3. I know the usual fast is one normal meal and two small ones but that doesn’t seem strict enough for me. I don’t have any dietary issues and I am fine with eating just one small meal in the day, is that okay?
Thank you 🙂
 
Purple_Junebug said:
I wasn’t really taugh about fasting outside of Lent, but I know people fast sometimes when they want to pray for someone or something or just for spiritual growth. I am interested in this so here are my questions.
  1. Why do we fast and what is the point of fasting?
    2.Are there any special prayers for fasting? What are they?
  2. Are there different types of fasting and if there are, what are they?
  3. I know the usual fast is one normal meal and two small ones but that doesn’t seem strict enough for me. I don’t have any dietary issues and I am fine with eating just one small meal in the day, is that okay?
Thank you 🙂
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  1. We fast to show our love for God and for others. God became man and suffered to pay a debt He didn’t owe. That suffering was His firsthand demonstration of His love for us. He in return only asks that we love Him. (For what is not already God’s? He made everything. Our loving free will at its core is the greatest and truly the only gift we can give Him. We can give Him other gifts but they have to be given with a loving free will on our part to mean anything to Him.) We suffer to demonstrate our love for God. The suffering can be voluntary or involuntary. While you are suffering, think about how God lovingly accepted suffering for our sake and return the favor. This is also “offering it up” and answers the question in your other thread.
Also during fasting, it helps us to remember that while the fruits of the earth are ours to use, they ultimately belong to God. Helps us appreciate better the “give us this day our daily bread” clause in the Lord’s Prayer.
  1. I’m not sure. I simply humbly ask that God accept my offering and renew this thought whenever I can remember throughout the day I happen to be fasting.
  2. Well, I don’t know if any special type of fasting is given a special type of name, I only know that there are any number of degrees of fasting.
  3. This is the standard Church definition of a daily fast. You might be able to adopt a more rigorous fast for yourself. Use cautionary discretion as to the degree. If you really get gung ho about fasting or other severe mortifications of the flesh a spiritual advisor is recommended. One small meal for the entire day for a grand total of one day in a row here or there is yet moderate and probably would be okay without a spiritual advisor - a guess on my part. I am not a spiritual advisor nor do I play one on TV.
 
A good way to think about prayer is:
  • it’s praying with your body
  • you use your own body’s reflexes to remind you about God; using the reflexes to bring the presence of God to mind.
  • the pangs of fasting remind you to talk to God; fast with God; talk to Him as you struggle.
  • connect your sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus
 
To Fulbert: I was only planning on fasting for one day, if I was going to do more I would eat a bit more. I want to fast, not starve myself 😛 Thanks to everyone for helping 🙂
 
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