Fasting
The ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of usto make a complete gift of self to God. - Pope Benedict XVI-
Lent is also synonymous with fasting. Fasting from food or a luxury; or it can also be a fasting from all that prevents us from loving...obstacles that prevent us from being more forgiving, more compassionate or more charitable. We have to examine within ourselves what these obstacles are. Could it be hatred? jealousy? envy? a grudge? resentment? We have to face these obstacles head-on and to rise above them, through prayer and fast.
Prayer after all is the lifting of our mind to God...and what better resonance can we get than God's great love and mercy for us. And when we receive such from God, so freely and abundantly given to us, sinners as we are, shouldn't we want to share it with our fellow human- beings? By fasting, we discipline ourselves to practise self-control; help us to reflect on our oneness with the less fortunate and realise our dependence on God. So, by prayer and fast, we should work to rid of those sins that separate us from God and from our neighbours.
Fasting helps us to attune our hearts to the essential and to sharing.
It is a sign of awareness and responsibility in the face of injustice,
abuse, especially to the poor and the little ones; and
it is a sign of the trust we place in God and in his providence.
-Pope Francis-
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