FASTING
I proclaimed a fast there, so that we might humble ourselves before our God.
The Bible, Ezra 8:21
Declare a holy fast …
The Bible, Joel 1:14
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do …
The Bible, Matthew 6:16
Do not limit the benefit of fasting merely to abstinence from food, for a true fast means refraining from evil. Do not let your fasting lead to wrangling and strife. You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother; you abstain from wine, but not from insults. So all the labor of your fast is useless.
Ambrose
If there is a man among them who is poor and in need, and they have not an abundance of what is needed, they fast for two or three days so that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.
Aristides of Athens
Christ saith that when the bridegroom was taken from them, his disciples should “fast” (Mk. 2:19, 20). And even painful Paul was “in fasting often” (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27), and, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection” (1 Cor. 9:27). And I am sure that the ancient Christians (Acts 5:30; 14:23; Lk. 2:37), that lived in solitude, and ate many of them nothing, … did not find this cure [fasting] too dear.
Richard Baxter
If the appetite alone hath sinned, let it alone fast, and it sufficeth.
But if the other members also have sinned, why should they not fast, too?
Let the eye fast from strange sights and from every wantonness, so that which roamed in freedom in fault-doing may, abundantly humbled, be checked by penitence.
Let the ear, blameably eager to listen, fast from tales and rumors, and from whatsoever is of idle import, and tendeth least to salvation.
Let the tongue fast from slanders and murmurings, and from useless, vain, and scurrilous words, and sometimes also, in the seriousness of silence, even from things which may seem of essential import.
Let the hand abstain from all toils which are not imperatively necessary.
But also let the soul herself abstain from all evils and from acting out her own will. For without such abstinence the other things find no favor with the Lord.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Fasting is not approved by God, except for its end; it must be connected with something else, otherwise it is a vain thing. Men by private fastings, prepare themselves for the exercise of prayer, or they mortify their own flesh, or seek a remedy for some hidden vices.
John Calvin
What we gain from fasting does not compensate for what we lose in anger.
John Cassian
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him.
Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all the members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.
For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?
May HE who came to the world to save sinners strengthen us to complete the fast with humility, have mercy on us and save us.
John Chrysostom
To fast is to learn to love and appreciate food, and one’s own good fortune in having it.
Monica Furlong
Abstinence is the mother of health. A few ounces of privation is an excellent recipe for any ailment.
Anthony Grassi
It is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict unless the appetite for food has first been subdued.
Gregory the Great
Do you not know that fasting can overcome concupiscence, lift up the soul, confirm it in the way of virtue and prepare a great reward for the Christian?
Hedwig of Silesia
There is no great excellency in watching and fasting till thy head aches, nor in running to Rome or Jerusalem with bare feet, nor in building churches and hospitals.
Walter Hilton
I find it a good thing to fast. I do not lay down rules for anyone in this matter, but I know it has been a good thing for me to go without meals to get time for prayer. So many say they have not sufficient time to pray. We think nothing of spending an hour or two in taking our meals.
D.E. Hoste
If you fast regularly, do not be inflated with pride, but if you think highly of yourself because of it, then you had better eat meat. It is better for a man to eat meat than to be inflated with pride and to glorify himself.
Abba Isidore
When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.
St Jerome
The honor of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices, since he who limits his fasting only to abstinence from meats is one who especially disparages fasting.
Abba John
If a king wishes to subdue a city belonging to enemies, he first of all keeps them without bread and water, and the enemy being in this wise, harassed by hunger, become subject unto him; and thus it is in respect of the hostile passions, for if a man endures fasting and hunger regularly, his enemies become stricken with weakness in the soul.
Abba John
Fasting is a medicine. But like all medicines, though it be very profitable to the person who knows how to use it, it frequently becomes useless (and even harmful) in the hands of him who is unskillful in its use.
Abba John
I speak not of such a fast as most persons keep, but of real fasting; not merely abstinence from meats, but from sins as well.
Abba John
The Publican did not fast, and yet he was accepted in preference to him who had fasted in order that you may learn that fasting is unprofitable unless all other duties accompany it.
Abba John
Leanness of body and soul may go together.
John Owen
Quit feasting, start fasting.
Leonard Ravenhill
Some are deceived by too much abstinence from meat and drink and sleep. That is a temptation of the devil, to make them all down in the middle of their work.
Richard Rolle
Fasting is a divine corrective to the pride of the human heart. It is a discipline of body with a tendency to humble the soul.
Arthur Wallis
If humility is the basic ingredient of true holiness, the soil in which the graces flourish, is it not needful that from time to time we should, like David, humble our souls with fasting? Behind many of our besetting sins and personal failures, behind the many ills that infect our church fellowships and clog the channels of Christian service – the clash of personalities and temperaments, the strife, the division – lies that insidious pride of the human heart.
Arthur Wallis
First, let fasting be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven.
John Wesley
Feast, and your halls are crowded; fast, and the world goes by.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox