Tonight we explored an often neglected aspect of the spiritual life; or one might better say an essential part of the spiritual life – Fasting. Throughout the spiritual tradition, we have heard the Saints tell us that “prayer without fasting is weak” or that “where there is no prayer and fasting there are demons.”
With the coming of Christ, however, we see a unique and distinctive meaning of fasting emerge. It is not only a discipline to help order the appetites or a form of penitence. It is tied directly to Christ: what we see in His practice and in what He teaches us about it. His own fasting is guided by the Holy Spirit in preparation for embracing the Father’s will, and His desire that it might be accomplished. Beyond this, Christ teaches us that our practice of fasting is forever tied to our desire for Him. He is the Heavenly Bridegroom and each soul the Bride. We see and experience in Him the One alone who can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart. He is the Bread of Life.
The focus of our discussion this night was on recapturing not only the practice of fasting, but seeing it as something that is to be “loved”, precisely because it draws us to Christ. It is not a discipline but a path to draw nearer to the Beloved.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:25:01 Stephen McCane: I have doing this “Exodus 90” and it is like a warm up to Lent. 00:25:51 Stephen McCane: For women it is called “Fiat 90”. 00:45:48 Adam Paige: Hi Father, should laypeople share their Lenten fasting plans with their spiritual director in the same way Saint Benedict instructs his monks to do with their spiritual father in his rule ? 01:14:51 Victoria: here is the book pdf: https://ia902908.us.archive.org/6/items/tolovefasting/To%20Love%20Fasting.pdf 01:15:41 Victoria: Free on Internet Archive :) 01:16:14 Adam Paige: Original version in French: https://folleautonomie.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/adalbert-de-Vogue-Aimer-Le-Jeune.pdf 01:21:00 Adam Paige: Reacted to "here is the book pdf…" with 👍 01:33:07 angelo: Reacted to "here is the book pdf..." with ❤️ 01:33:20 angelo: Replying to "here is the book pdf..." thank you 01:33:53 Matt Mondorff: I’ve found that our physical bodies don’t require much food, it’s mainly our mind and habits that convince us that we’re hungry. So to realize that and push through the initial hunger, knowing it’s coming but we’ll be ok has helped me a lot. Then, little by little it gets easier to go longer and longer. Eating healthy and moderately helps also…it seems to my anyway 01:47:52 Lori Hatala: you can saute in broth. 01:48:12 Fr. Michael Winn: A former monk of Mt. Athos once told me that in North America it would be inadvisable to stop all use of oil during the winter seasons - reduce, but do not eliminate. 01:57:15 Kathy: My experience of fasting is that it is a type of prayer in and of itself.01:59:22 angelo: Thank you for that short clarification of the centering prayer and the danger of falling into delusion. 02:06:09 angelo: Thank you so much Fr. 02:06:29 Lori Hatala: thank you so much Father. 02:06:31 Stephen McCane: Thank you Father. 02:06:33 Ryan McMann: Thank you! 02:06:40 Monk Maximos: Thank you Father 02:07:18 kevin: thanks father that was great!! 02:07:21 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 02:07:22 Fr. Michael Winn: Thanks, Father! 02:07:25 Rachel Pineda: Thank you father Abernethy!! 02:07:31 Siggy Evers: Thank you Fr.