Bishop Proclaims a Fast to Maximize Prayers

What did Jesus do to get the maximum out of his
ministry? He prepared by first going into the wilderness to fast for forty
days.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:16: “When you
fast…” not “If you fast…” The first Christians fasted (Acts
13:2-3; 14:23). It was nothing new. Moses and
Elijah had done the same. Fasting and putting on sackcloth saved the city of
Nineveh from destruction. King David said, “I humble myself through
fasting” (Psalm 35:13).

And this month, citing the
example of Jesus, AsiaNews.it reported that the archbishop of
Singapore, Msgr. William Gob, has proclaimed a fast. In his Lenten pastoral letter, he called on Singapore’s
200,000 Catholics (5% of the population compared to 45% for Buddhism) to fast
each Friday with water and bread to promote the New Evangelization.

“For prayer to be effective, it must be
accompanied by fasting,” he wrote. “We learn this from Jesus, our model in
evangelization, by looking at how he prepared his ministry, going into the
wilderness where he fasted for 40 days.” Msgr. Gob emphasized that adding fasting
to “devout and fervent prayers” is the
only way to defeat the “hostile secularism” that is undermining society. He also
credited fasting with removing obstacles while cleansing us from sin.

But for it to bear fruit, Msgr. God said fasting should be a source of
opening our hearts to God and showing mercy and charity to others. He
recommended doing it in union with others to benefit from encouragement and
mutual support and to pray and read Scripture together. He also suggested using mealtimes to pray
or go to Eucharistic adoration.

Mission Talk on Fasting

During a mission I recently attended, a priest explained
that fasting strengthens the soul to take command over the body. He made the
following points:

•
Jesus fasted
so how can I not?

•
Jesus told us
to pray without ceasing (1Thes 5:17). Fasting adds a
physical commitment to heighten our
prayers.

•
The hunger throughout the
day is a reminder of God in our lives and our desire to grow in holiness.

•
It boosts our
prayer with sacrifice and suffering.

•
Fasting increases
awareness of our human weakness and dependence on God.

•
When asking
God for help or answers to prayers, fasting puts sacrifice behind our intentions.

•
Sin is about being weak and
fasting helps us overcome weakness and strengthening our will power.

•
Just as fasting increases
our awareness of the subtleties of food, it can increase our awareness of the subtleties
that lead to sin through better discernment of good and evil.

Ways to Fast

While it’s true that we can fast such as TV or the Internet to make better
use of our time, when the Bible referred to fasting, it referred to food.

Bread
and water is a radical way to fast, but it offers radical results. When the Church requires fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, it means
one large meal and two smaller ones with no snacking. It’s a big sacrifice for
some. For others, for instance people in
the Third World, it would be a feast.

With that in mind, we can add to the fast by eating simply even to the
point of plain food that only offers nutrition not enjoyment. This allows a person unable to fast strictly
because of health reasons or physical demands to still sacrifice through
fasting.

Fasting
is an opportunity. As they say in
sports: no pain, no gain. With so much
to gain by following the example of Jesus, it’s unthinkable for us not to use
this powerful spiritual tool.

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