Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke about fasting, giving us a more
perfect understanding of how it should be practised:
“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your
fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and
your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (St. Matt. 6:17-18).
“Jesus said to them, The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom
is with them ... As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot
fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day” (St. Mark 2:19-20).
Christ Himself fasted forty days and forty nights in preparation before
beginning His public mission:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by
the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was
hungry” (St. Matt. 4:1).
Fasting, together with prayer, has from the beginning of the Church’s
history been part of her ceremonial worship:
“While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called
them. Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent
them off” (Acts 13:2-3).
“And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer
and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to
believe” (Acts 14:23).
Fasting gives added strength to the Apostle and the servant of Christ
against the powers of the Evil One:
“Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we
cast them out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief ... But this kind
is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (St. Matt. 17:17-20).
Fasting is a sign of the suffering and penitential Christian:
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