Saint George's Anglican Church

On Fasting

A. Where does the discipline of Fasting come from? There are a number of references to fasting in the Scripture:

Joel 2. 12-14    Ezra 8.21-24   Acts 13.2; 14.23
Psalm 35.13   Nehemiah 1.3-4; 9.1  1 Corinthians 9.27
Esther 4.16   Daniel 9.3; 10.2-3  2 Corinthians 6.5; 11.27
2 Chronicle-8 20.1-4   St. Luke 2:37; 5:35  1 Samuel 7.5-6
St. Matthew 6. 16-18

Aside from all of these there is, of course, our Blessed Lord's own fasting throughout the forty days and nights in the wilderness. (St. Matthew 4) Through all of these examples, we can only concede that we of the modern Church have lost an important element and understanding of prayer. So closely were fasting and prayer regarded that at least in two places in the New Testament they are deemed to be one and the same (Acts 10.30 and 1 Corinthians 7.5). Why is this so? E. B. Pusey of the Church of England in the 19th century explained this clearly:

"It must be feared that it is one of the subtlest devices of the Enemy, to persuade us that we may become spiritual, through means merely spiritual; that we can cherish better the things of the Spirit, by neglecting those of the flesh; that we can have the victory over the flesh without fighting against it; that, being in the body, we can transfer the conflict, wholly to the soul; that we can cultivate spiritual feelings, desires, longings, love, without the discipline of the body, which would obstruct them and weigh them down.
It cannot be otherwise. God has wonderfully blended together our souls and bodies, so that they must ever be in harmony with each other, act upon one another; God drawing up the body to the soul, by giving it the mastery, or man drawing down the soul to the body, by making it the slave of the body, whose lord God made it. Nature herself teaches us that we cannot mourn with the soul and be at ease with the body. How does sorrow furrow the cheek, dim the-eyes, make the whole frame. heavy and languid and weary, dry up and waste the flesh! Feasting and joy, fasting and heaviness, are by nature and our very speech joined together. When we do mourn, dainty meats become loathsome, sweet sounds discordant, fragrant smells oppressive; we refuse our bread, or eat bread .of affliction, and drink water of affliction.

And shall we then think that we can reverse this law of our nature and pamper our bodies, fare sumptuously every day, and yet be true mourners for our sins, and be in heaviness for them?”

B. Why engage in Fasting?

The objects of fasting as stated in the Homily on Fasting (from the Second Book of Homilies, 1571-- See Article XXXV on page 712 of the Book of Common Prayer):
1. 'To chastise the flesh, that it be not too wanton, but tamed and brought in subjection to the spirit"
2. "That the spirit may be more fervent and earnest in prayer."
3. "That our fast be a testimony and witness with us before God of our humble submission to His high Majesty."

E.B. Pusey, in setting out some simple rules for anyone's first Lent, suggests that:
a) Fasting be undertaken as an act of obedience (i..e."As Father Herbert said, 'the Scripture bids us fast, the Church says now'.")
b) We fast with our Lord, and for our sins.
In this latter sense, fasting is a way of entering into self-examination. As Pusey says, "We review our past lives; recall to our remembrance what chief sins we can; confess them habitually, and in sorrow" with the-use of the-penitential Psalms, and especially that daily medicine of the penitent soul, the fifty first. We fast, in token that we are unworthy of God's creatures which we have misused. We take thankfully weariness or discomfort, as we before sinned through ease and lightness of heart."
*The Penitential Psalms are 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143.

C. How should fasting be undertaken?
Pusey urges that a person "begin gently". In this he means to approach fasting humbly rather than over-confidently. If we jump in without truly weighing the commitment, we will grow weary and fall short, trying to carry the fast on our own strength. As he says, "God leads us in all things step by step… One object of our Lenten fast is a long-continued discipline. Till thou knowest thine own strength, it is best to make a rule week by week, which may be relaxed or tightened as each is able to bear. Some things which health requires not, we most naturally give up for the whole season…Only let it be real self-denial and a rule."

D. The side-effects of fasting!
There are spiritual side-effects to the Church's fast which benefit the whole community. These have to do with the grocery and lunch money which is saved. Pusey explains: "Give to the poor what thou savest by fasting, and to God the time which thou rescuest by the retirement which befits it; so shall charity sweeten thy self-denials, and prayer shall sanctify them, and with charity and fasting shall thy prayers the more ascend before God, offered in love to man and humility to God. "

On Prayer
Our observance of a holy Lent and our own renewal of repentance and faith (as well as that of the Church Catholic) depends on a commitment to prayer and fasting, among other things. And yet prayer is one of those aspects of the Christian life to which we often give only a few hurried minutes each day at best.

The story is told of Richard Hooker who used to go every so often and retrieve the key to the Parish Church from his vestry clerk, and lock himself in for the day, fasting and praying for his people, There is really so little that we can do to change the situations and circumstances and pains of our people: a broken marriage; a child's fear; a cancer diagnosis; a bereaved widow; an unemployed father; a young woman in the throes of depression; the suffering of untold thousands in famine struck countries; the apostasy of Church leadership.
And so the Church has set aside the hours of the Daily Offices for public prayer, as well-as the Ember Days (the next batch of which are February 13, 15 and 16). This Lenten Season is yet another opportunity for us to lead our people in the advice of that well known Proverb: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." (3.5)