We picked up once again with the theme of “loving fasting.” The severity of the desert father’s practice of this discipline reveals that love. They discovered not only how essential the body is in the spiritual struggle to overcome attachment and the order of one’s desires towards God, but also that fasting brings a simplicity to one’s life.

We begin to realize that we need much less than we imagine. We are often tempted to think that we need to pamper the body so as not to become sick or weak. It is the regular practice of fasting, we must keep in mind, that teaches us to see the intimate connection between eating and Christ. He is the bread of life and also he who gives us living water to drink in abundance. Therefore, we are to eat in a thoughtful and contemplative fashion, and to make an explicit connection between eating and the Eucharist. In fact fasting and the Eucharist shape the way that we eat. We must attend to the body, but we must also allow the body to serve us spiritually. We discipline ourselves not to punish the body as something evil but to allow everything to be directed toward what satisfies the deepest longing of the human heart.

We are not promised happiness in this world, but rather the invincible, peace, joy, and love of the kingdom. Fasting is one element that helped the monks learn to hunger for what endures.

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Text of chat during the group:

 

00:07:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 127, # 8

 

00:43:17 Bob Cihak, AZ: Is the Elder hastening his own death excessively?

 

00:48:25 Susanna Joy: When I was a girl, we fasted on bread and water on Fridays, but after awhile stopped bc virtue is harder to practice ...making it pointless if no charity is left

 

00:48:53 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "When I was a girl, w..." with 😩

 

00:51:15 Susanna Joy: Right! The regular habit is important and the combination with prayer

 

00:51:57 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Right! The regular h..." with 👍🏼

 

00:51:59 Maureen Cunningham: Holy Spirit will help

 

00:52:54 Forrest Cavalier: Is there a #16 that was skipped?

 

00:53:21 Cameron Jackson: Despondency. I can get how one can transcend Judas like despair. God is so good He can forgive all our sin but despair of life itself is another thing. I’m old, my money is running out, I can’t protect my family from ever present evil, etc. God doesn’t guarantee quality of life. How do you think this through? Life is suffering get used to it?!

 

00:56:40 Susanna Joy: Emerson

 

00:56:56 Susanna Joy: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation

 

00:58:33 David Fraley: I think that was Thoreau.

 

00:59:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "I think that was Tho..." with 👍🏼

 

01:01:28 Susanna Joy: Reacted to I think that was Tho... with "👍🏼"

 

01:08:10 Maureen Cunningham: How long did he live

 

01:14:54 Steve Yu: As a beginner, would one 16 hr fast a week be excessive?

 

01:15:00 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You , Blessing

 

01:15:31 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!

 

01:15:35 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂

 

01:15:35 Forrest Cavalier: Steve, start by skipping breakfast.

 

01:15:36 Lorraine Green: Thank you Father!

 

01:15:43 David Fraley: Thank you, Father.