What does take real power is restraint — to not do things — especially when we want to do them. Fasting is restraint in action. I do feel hungry, I am confronted with tempting treats and tantalizing entrees. If I can learn to bypass them, I can learn to bypass a lot of tantalizing things, that in the long run, add little value.
— Mike Sturm, Friday Fasting: A Weekly Practice to Bring Back Focus and Strength
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“The beginning of a fruit is a blossom, while the beginning of a productive life is self-restraint. A sufficient quantity of matter will fill a container, but a stomach, even if it bursts, will not say: enough. A body sparsely fed is like a well-ridden horse — it will never throw its rider. Just as a dead enemy will not evoke fear, so a body mortified through fasting will not disturb your soul.”
—St. Nilus of Sinai -
We should remain, then, within the limits imposed by our basic needs and strive with all our power not to exceed them. For once we are carried a little beyond these limits in our desire for the pleasures of this life, there is then no criterion by which to check our onward movement, since no bounds can be set to that which exceeds the necessary. Pointless effort and endless labor wasted on what is unnecessary only serve to increase our longing for it, adding more fuel to the flames.
—St. Neilos The Ascetic
Philokalia -
All this is contrary to nature, for the Creator has ordained the same natural way of life for both us and the animals. ‘Behold,’ says God to man, ‘I have given you every herb of the field, to serve as food for you and for the beasts’ (cf. Gen, 1:29-30). Thus we have been given a common diet with the animals; but if we use our powers of invention to turn this into something extravagant, shall we not rightly be judged more unintelligent than they? The animals remain within the boundaries of nature, not altering in any way what God has ordained; but we, who have been honored with the power of intelligence, have completely abandoned His original ordinance. Do animals demand a luxury diet? What chefs and pastry-cooks pander to their bellies? Do they not prefer the original simplicity, eating the herbs of the field, content with whatever is at hand, drinking water from springs – and this only infrequently? In this way they diminish sexual lust and do not inflame their desires with fatty foods. They become conscious of the difference between male and female only during the one season of the year ordained by the law of nature for them to mate in, so as to propagate and continue their species. The rest of the year they keep away from one another as if they had altogether forgotten any such appetite. In men, on the other hand, as a result of the richness of their food, an insatiable desire for sexual pleasure has grown up, producing in them frenzied appetites which never allow this passion to be still.
Since, then, possessions are the cause of great harm and, like a source of disease, they give rise to all the passions, we must eliminate this cause if we are really concerned for the well-being of our souls. Let us cure the passion of avarice through voluntary poverty. By embracing solitude let us avoid meeting those who do us no good, for the company of frivolous people is harmful and undermines our state of peace. Just as those who live in an unhealthy climate are generally ill, so those who spend their time with worthless men share in their vices.
—St. Neilos The Ascetic
Philokalia -
Or when I have the overwhelming urge to pop bites of food in my mouth while I’m preparing dinner, I say to myself,
“Don’t eat before you eat.”
This Practice Will Make You Stop Your Food Cravings -
The urgency and panic I was feeling from this little fast seems suddenly was so small and insignificant. When minutes ago, it was my entire world. And I had the revelation that all the chaos and anxiety and stress we feel as humans in our daily lives exists because we are so focused on things that don’t really matter. I’m not saying bills and all the shit we have to deal with daily isn’t real. But we blow it up. We drown it in, and lose ourselves. If we gain the ability to sit through things, no matter how uncomfortable, long enough to find our breath and core, they won’t have the power over us like we allow them to. We will be free. And that’s how I feel in this very moment. Completely free and clear. Did my hunger go away? Of course not. But it’s no longer the center of my world. I am. It’s peripheral.
My first 24 hour fast and what I learned from it -
“Few people today think of their eating habits as being spiritually significant. Especially in a society where food is plentiful and relatively cheap, it is so easy to get in the habit of eating in a self-centered, indulgent way that is not healthy spiritually or physically. The more deeply ingrained the habit of satisfying our taste buds and stomachs becomes, the weaker we become in our ability to resist other self-centered, indulgent desires. That makes it harder to put the needs of others before our own or to control what we say or do for the sake of others.”
—Fr. Philip LeMasters, Fasting for Fulfillment -
“Remember that, in the Biblical narrative, humanity’s estrangement from God is first manifested in relation to food. Our unruly appetite is a prime example of our enslavement to our own desires, of our addiction to getting what we want when and how we want it.”
—Fr. Philip LeMasters, Fasting for Fulfillment -
“It is not food or good conditions in life that secure good health. It is a saintly life, the life of Christ. I know hermits who fasted with the greatest austerity and were never ill. You’re not in danger of coming to any harm by fasting…To do this, however, you need to have faith. Otherwise you will feel empty and nauseous and have a craving for food. Fasting is also a matter of faith…When you have love for things divine, you can fast with pleasure and everything is easy; otherwise everything would seem impossibly difficult.”
—St. Porphyrios
SO GOOD QUOTES 