“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: “Here am I.” If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:6-12
“Do not, however, define the benefit that comes from fasting solely in terms of abstinence from foods. For true fasting consists in estrangement from vices. “Loose every burden of iniquity.” Forgive your neighbor the distress he causes you; forgive him his debts. “Fast not for quarrels and strifes.” You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine, but do not restrain yourself from insulting others.
You wait until evening to eat, but waste your day in law courts. Woe to those who get drunk, but not from wine. Anger is inebriation of the soul, making it deranged, just as wine does. Grief is also a form of intoxication, one that submerges the intellect. Fear is another kind of drunkenness, when we have phobias regarding inappropriate objects; for Scripture says: “Rescue my soul from fear of the enemy.” And in general, every passion which causes mental derangement may justly be called drunkenness.
Pray consider a man smitten with anger, how he is inebriated by this passion. He is not in control of himself, he does not know who he is, nor does he know those around him. He attacks everyone and collides with everyone just as in a night-battle; he speaks recklessly, cannot restrain himself, rails, pounds his fists, utters threats, swears, shouts, and becomes apoplectic. Avoid such inebriation as this, and do not accept the inebriation that comes from wine.
Do not precede the season in which you drink only water by consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. Let not drunkenness initiate you into the fast. For neither through greed do you attain to righteousness, nor through wantonness to temperance, nor, in short, through vice to virtue. The door to fasting is a different one. Inebriation leads to wantonness, frugality to fasting. An athlete trains before a contest; a faster practices abstinence before a fast…
May the Lord Who has brought us to this period of the year grant us, as contenders, to display steadfast and vigorous perseverance in these preliminary contests and to attain to the Day of the Lord, whereon crowns are bestowed, so that we might now commemorate the saving Passion of Christ, and in the age to come enjoy the reward for our deeds in life at the just Judgment of Christ Himself, for unto Him be glory unto the ages. Amen.”
Basil of Caesarea (330-379) in Homily “On Fasting” 1.10-11. Basil is the second of the four doctors of the Eastern Church. Yesterday we heard from John Chyrsostom. Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius of Alexandria will follow over the next two days.
I want to pause and thank readers for following God’s leading to help with the $40,000 matching grant. Through the contributions of many people we hit the mark on the final day with a total reaching $40,210.30. Praise the LORD.
Many of you set aside your desires to serve others and gave according to your ability. This is precisely the fasting God wants to see. It loosens the chains of injustice. Basil adds that it estranges us from our vices to position us to serve as contenders for God.
Are you contending earnestly for the faith (cf. Jude 1:3)? We do this by forgiving others, by putting off anger, greed, fear, wantonness and worry, and by attaining to righteousness, frugality, and temperance. Sound too lofty?
Then look at the new header photo. It’s Grace St. Catherine, our German Shorthair Pointer, on a walk this week. The weather warmed up and while walking along, she pointed a bird so I snapped her photo. Then I reflected on what I saw.
Grace is focused on doing what God made her to do, which is hunt for birds. When she saw one, nothing would distract her until I released her from her point. May we live with the same focus, undistracted by the things of this world!
Let us spend ourselves for God with unswerving focus. He will make us like well-watered gardens. He will sustain us and rebuild what is broken down through our service. And in all this, He will get the glory.
Read more