Fasting for Peace: because Pope Francis said so

As many of you know, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared tomorrow (September 7th) as a day of fasting and prayer, for peace in Syria. I am an advocate of peace through strength, however, this is not a war that we Americans should be involved in, but this isn't a political post, so I will leave it at that. 

Fasting is becoming a lost treasure in the Church, and it is Divine Providence that Pope Francis is shifting attention to it*. To fast is to deny the body of what it desires, such as eating for example, and through this we are are doing many things. Not only are we disciplining our bodily senses, but also detaching our soul from the bodily senses, so that it may be free to embrace a higher spirituality.

Is fasting fun? No. Is it easy? No. Should we complain during fasts? Even bigger no. To grumble and gripe while fasting is a sure-sign that the individual is still very attached to their bodily senses. To have such an attitude is to also lose sight of the bigger picture, because we should be focusing on the interior life, instead of the discomforts of the exterior senses. 

 So instead of fasting like this...

"And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face; that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father Who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee." Matt. 6:16-18 (DR)

   

                         We should be fasting something like this....

So, let us embrace tomorrows fast with a spirit of willingness to suffer, for the sake of peace and glory to God the Father.

 "Besides the ordinary effect of fasting in raising the mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly reward, it is also a great matter to be able to control greediness, and to keep the sensual appetites and the whole body subject to the law of the Spirit; and although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast." -St. Francis de Sales

Happy fasting!

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, 
St. Gabriel Possenti,
Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis.

-Yvonne Gemma 

*This isn't to say that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI didn't put an emphasis on fasting, which he did strongly during Lent of 2009.