fasting – Walk in Trust

Detachment

2544 Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them “renounce all that [they have]” for his sake and that of the Gospel.

335 Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.

336 The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church

We may be tempted to see ‘riches’ as strictly monetary and therefore if we aren’t in the top 1% then this doesn’t really apply to us. Not so, anything that we may be ‘clinging’ to, is a form of richness. We are to release our attachments to people and things so that we can totally enjoy His Kingdom and all that He wants to give to us.

Matthew 13:45-46
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

We are most likely not being called to homelessness, what we are being called to is ‘detachment’. To pray and obey, to listen to His voice and be willing to step into it with Him, no matter where He leads us or do whatever He asks of us. I said be willing, not be thrilled with it. That ‘not thrilled’ feeling when we first start to undertake this is what ‘sacrifice’ is about. It can be downright painful to let go of our own will. But hope and trust kick in and we know that what God promises us is true. That the Kingdom is worth it all.

When we think about sacrificing, we may think about Lent and the little sacrifices we are asked to make there. Well…it’s a start. Lent is supposed to be a training ground for life. This is why the Church sets up days of fasting, it’s a teaching platform more than anything. It is teaching us to become detached from our own will. By the way Fridays are still days of fasting, even though the abstinence part (no meat) has mostly been done away with. Meaning that we can choose our own sacrifice. But honestly, staying away from animal products has a good effect on our body as well, it is alkalizing.

My favorite story —> the little girl and her pearls.

Diligence

1430 Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion.
Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.23 — Catechism of the Catholic Church

We often see ‘fasting’ and ‘mortification’, as ways to make us feel as badly as possible because we look at it wrongly. Instead of turning to God and asking Him what would He like us to hand over to Him, we start thinking of some grand scheme that we ourselves can put into place.

The truth is that it does cause ‘suffering’ but only to the extent of our attachment to the thing that we are relinquishing. The motive should be to be free of all idols, to love God and His will for us above all.

In Uniformity of God’s Will, St. Alphonsus Ligouri says. “The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love.“

So when looking for some penance to do, I’d suggest first turning to God in prayer and then look at all the ways that little disobediences have crept it…attack those. You’ll know them by their addictive qualities or strongholds…those things that are either at the point of causing outright pain already or are simply at the beginning stages and making you feel like you can’t live without them. Look at all that you consume… whether through diet or are letting in to your life through entertainment or so forth.

The end result, this union with God is SO worth it all, and not just for ourselves. In these dark times we are in now, where so much disobedience, if not outright evil is palpable… the only to combat it is with radical obedience. God can use each one of us, even if in the smallest ways. We just need to be completely open to receiving directions from Him without any interference. Our attachments and sins, cause interference.

Please take some time and watch this video on fasting…very powerful.

Fasting

Social Aspect of Obedience

We have somehow lost sense of the social aspect of sin. We may be quite familiar with the personal effects, but may have with time forgotten that we are part of the Body of Christ. It is with this in mind that I approach The Daniel Fast. Just as our sinfulness effects others, fortunately our acts of obedience can as well.

On day 1 of the fast, it is suggested that we confess our sins. Let us be clear on what we are still clinging to, what idols are we still holding up in our lives.

We are to release anything that is tempting to take the Lord’s place in our hearts. Only through purity of heart can we then truly love others the way God loves us. Sinfulness distorts our view of the world like dirt on our glasses, Confession wipes them clean.

When we take on fasting… we attempt with God’s Grace to hand to Him those idols that we been clinging to as we Offer it up to Him and allow Him to bless us and the entire Church according to His will and not our own.

The Daniel Fast

In prayer this morning I felt called to do something about the craziness I’m seeing in the world right now. I immediately thought of the Daniel Fast, It’s a 21 day thing though, and I was kind of hoping for a weekend or maybe 1 week, tops. However, when I checked my calendar and realized that this 21 day Fast would end just before Pentecost, that confirmed it for me.

Prayer and fasting is crucial in times like these, and so is community. I need to put away those things that are impeding my growth in those areas and listen more intently to what the Lord may be leading me to. So for the next 21 days (starting tomorrow with God’s Grace), I will be taking on this challenge and blogging here. If it encourages anyone else to do something similar, great. If not, then may my obedience to His calling be enough. 😀 🙏🙏🙏