Day 6: The Meaning of the Great Fast

We have been debating whether or not to write a new recipe here, or talk more about some of the pantry items that we have stocked.  Both of us believe that we do not want to inundate you with recipes, nor with pantry goods, so we thought it was best to leave today as just this:

THE MEANING OF THE GREAT FAST 
BY MOTHER MARY AND BISHOP KALLISTOS WARE Taken from The Lenten Triodion (pp.13-37)


"The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. If practiced seriously, the Lenten abstinence from food - particularly in the opening days - involves a considerable measure of real hunger, and also a feeling of tiredness and physical exhaustion. The purpose of this is to lead us in turn to a sense of inward brokenness and contrition; to bring us, that is, to the point where we appreciate the full force of Christ's statement, 'Without Me you can do nothing' (John IS: S). If we always take our fill of food and drink, we easily grow over-confident in our own abilities, acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. The observance of a physical fast undermines this sinful complacency. Stripping from us the specious assurance of the Pharisee - who fasted, it is true, but not in the right spirit - Lenten abstinence gives us the saving self dissatisfaction of the Publican (Luke I 8: 10-1 3). Such is the function of the hunger and the tiredness: to make us 'poor in spirit', aware of our helplessness and of our dependence on God's aid."




God bless, and have a great weekend!