CONCERNING FASTING. DOMINICA V OF FASTING.
A It is time, brethren, that we should gather the fruits of repentance through fasting. For, indeed, summer and autumn are suited to the gathering of fruits; winter and springtime for sowing; but for fasting and prayer, every time is suitable. For the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast. If, therefore, this work escapes us at other times, behold now the acceptable time to labor in this field. I call fasting a field, because it admits us all to labor and to sowing: it does not reject the woman, nor the old man, nor the youth, nor little children; it opens its doors to all, and welcomes all, that it may save all, even as it saved the Ninevites. The seed of fasting is good, because it uproots our sins like thorns, and raises up righteousness like a flower, and brings it to bloom; the labor of fasting is good, because it renders the burden of sins lighter for the soul, and makes the weight of the precepts of Christ lighter. Take my yoke upon you; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The yoke is faith, imposed upon all, a burden of the works of the commandments, carried upon the shoulders of the soul, made manifest in heaven. Through fasting, the lawgiver Moses, having remained fasting for forty days and nights, saw God speaking to him face to face, the cloud overshadowing, and God speaking through it things profitable to him; a pillar of fire shining and leading the camp of Israel by night; the gates of heaven opened, angelic bread descending to earth, man receiving the manna of God as food; the rock rent by a rod and pouring forth waters; the sea producing a strange food; the quail nourishing the peoples. Many other signs did Moses see because he kept the fast. B Fasting is the destruction of death. The Savior said: This kind of demon goes out in nothing but prayer and fasting. Nothing is worse than demons: a demon is a boundary difficult to cross; a demon is the most grievous of all evils and wounds: in the marketplace a laughter, in houses a humiliation, in churches an overturning, a consumption of flesh, a weakness of soul, a daily pain, an obstacle of the mind, the one impediment to works. Great is the vexation of the demon. But fasting and prayer overcome all these. Praying and beseeching, David drove out the demon of King Saul: For the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and he was suffocated by the spirit of an evil demon; and as David played the psalms, the king breathed again. But that King David fasted, hear him writing in the Psalms: My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh is changed because of oil. If Adam had fasted from the tree, he would not have lost paradise; if Eve had not eaten, deceived by the serpent, she would not have brought death into the world; if Esau had devoted himself to fasting, he would not have lost his birthright; on account of one meal he lost his glory, and was made a slave to his brother. Do you wish to learn the power of fasting? Run to the Ninevites, who used that common good work. For when God wished to destroy Nineveh for their sins, He sent Jonah the prophet and said to them: Three more days, and Nineveh will be subverted. This was the clemency of God, that He sounded as with a trumpet what He was about to do, and predicted death to those who were subject to sin, not that they might flee from the city, but that they might perform penance within the city, and that they might be awakened and become more diligent by hearing this word. He did not say, "Fast, and I will save you"; He did not signify, "Perform penance, and you shall obtain mercy"; but He hid His clemency and proclaimed severity, so that no one might say: "He compelled them to fast, to perform penance, and to worship God." For that which is done by necessity is not acceptable: Not of grief or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. Three more days, and Nineveh will be subverted. A short threat: a determined time about to come soon without the form of judgment. What are you about to do? From what harbor do you bid us flee? Shall I oppose a valid army to the one saying these things? Who is he who shall answer God? He who speaks is without falsehood. But if it is God who threatens, they say to themselves, "What way of escaping shall we find? How shall we wage war? Who will fight for our souls? Who will appease God so that He may put aside His wrath? Whom shall we send as an orator to God, who may reconcile peace to us? We are all sinners; since we are enemies of God, we shall not be heard. What shall we do? Whither shall we flee from the face of the Lord? Come, let us run to fasting, O men of Nineveh, says the king, and let us spread ashes: let not the sheep and oxen feed, nor drink: and let us see if God will have mercy on us." Thinking these things, the Ninevites, even as if using fasting as a most sharp javelin, prepared for prayer, as for incense of good odor, shedding tears of repentance like rivers, and returning each from his evil way, they appeased God and brought Him to peace. C The three days of the fast ascended into heaven, they reached the Lord, and obtained salvation. He granted life to all, to men and to beasts: repentance and fasting shone forth. See that you do not despise this possession, but approach, watch, make within it the fruit of piety. Let us all pray together, therefore, that we too may be delivered from the impending wrath, and may attain the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and empire unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING FASTING.
It is a time of propitiation, lest we neglect the opportunity; a time of recalling ourselves from sins, lest we reject grace; but let us fast from foods, and first from sins, for the first good is liberation from evils. Malice, indeed, is contrary to virtue; namely, envy, theft, slaughter, war, and whatever other evils are spoken of and exist. And he who dwells in evils has the evil itself as his punishment: for even before Gehenna, he is tortured by present wickedness. For the surgeon’s knife is not an evil; but the punishment is brought on because of the preceding malice. The first evil is to live in wickedness. The impious man is alien to God; even if he is not cast into Gehenna, he is deprived of good things. He who is not temperate is corrupted by concupiscences; the envious man wastes away from this disease; the thief is fearful and afraid; the murderer does not trust in his own life. The primary evil is to be evil. Even if the physician does not cut, the infirm man is sick; although God does not punish (for He is patient), he who sins is sick; for he who commits sin, He says, is a slave of sin. Therefore, even before sinning, the sinner is a slave, and already has punishment. The bridle of fasting is a good thing for those who love the utility of fasting. Do not look at the labor alone, but also at the fruit. For if he did not foresee the utility, he who sows would not sow, lest he appear to be scattering seeds: looking at hope, he sows what he has, so that he may reap what he does not have. The grieving flesh fasts, but the soul rejoices in the hope of good things. D