You are soul and body in unity. Either your body contributes to the sickness of your soul or it contributes to the healing of your soul, depending on your choices. Train your soul to do what is right and good with the body. Reject any unnatural bodily desires and temptations that lead toward sin.
Be careful not to rationally justify sin because you think giving into a temptation feels natural. Certainly, unnatural desires may seem quite natural in our state of passion and delusion. We judge what is right and good not by our own perception or collective options, but by what our most loving Creator and Physician has shown us.
Master the body so that your soul does not become a slave to an irrational, impulsive master, the sinful passions that seek pleasure for the body. Otherwise, the soul will be yanked around by inclinations and urges like a dog on a chain.
Fasting brings the body into submission to the soul. When you fast, you use your will to choose what you will eat and when you will eat. A cow looks down all day eating grass by instinct, but the human being should deliberately control what the body eats.
If you can control what food you put into your mouth, you can control what words come from your mouth. If you can choose to disregard the passion of gluttony when you eat, you can disregard lustful thoughts and feelings that enter your mind. Learn to deliberately and mindfully do in soul and body what is right and good.
Fasting and prayer should be regarded as sisters. Fasting does not just involve self-effort. Instead, the ascetical (training) practice of fasting prepares the soul to receive the healing, transforming Grace of God. When you fast correctly, you gain spiritual clarity to see yourself as you are and see the world as it is. The ascetic effort helps you to cultivate your humility and to deepen your repentance. Through the therapeutic practice of fasting with prayer, God works in you to tame and heal the sinful passions, transforming them into positive forces, the life-nurturing virtues.
Take fasting seriously. Follow the guidance of the Church. We do not each invent our own way of fasting, but fast together as a community according to the Way. We do not fast legalistically, but in harmony with the spirit of the fast. The fast is not law, but therapy given to us for our sake. Do not disregard the rule, but do not make the rule the focus of your attention. Make God the focus of your attention. Pray with your heart to God with repentance and dependence.
A Physicians cannot prescribe all patients identical medicines and treatment plans even if they all suffer from the same illness. Each human being is individually different. What works for one person may not be effective for another. Keep the fast with guidance from your Priest, a spiritual physician, who may advise you to keep the fast with strictness or advise leniency, depending upon your spiritual condition.
As a rule, physically sick people and women who are pregnant or nursing do not fast. Sickness and pregnancy humbles the body for prayer in place of dietary restrictions. Besides a need for nutritious food to strengthen the body, pregnant or nursing mothers do not fast for the sake of the child. Besides, caring for a new baby is certainly a humbling experience.
Do not advertise to others that you fast, nor judge others for failing to fast. If someone prepares you a meal that does not conform to the rules of the fast, accept the expression of kindness and hospitality. Do not mention the fast to avoid embarrassing or discouraging your host. Eat the food with joy and thanksgiving to God. Then, after the meal, continue practicing the fast.
We set aside certain times for fasting and repentance, but we also set aside other times for feasting and celebration. The feasts remind us of what God has accomplished for us and desires to accomplish within each of us. Keep a proper balance of fasting and feasting. Even when mourning for your sins, be joyful and remember God’s love for you! Be mindful of your unworthiness and remember that God’s love for you is greater than your unworthiness.
Fasting is joined with prayer to strengthen prayer and the effect of prayer. It is better to disregard the dietary guidelines, but to pray than to keep a strict diet without prayer. When you fast, make a greater effort to multiply the frequency of your prayers, increase the time spent in prayer, and to pray from the heart with greater undistracted attention.
Read: Genesis 2.15-17; 3.6-7; Exodus 34.28; Isaiah 58.1-14; Joel 2.12-13; Matthew 4.1-11; 6.16-18; 17.14-21; Luke 5.33-35; 18.9-14; 2.22-38; Acts 10.1-48; 13.2-4; 14.23; Romans 14.17; 1 Corinthians 7.3-5; Revelation 19:6-9
Text copyright © 2018 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees