Are You Fasting the Right Way? (The Inner Life with Patrick Conley) – The Best of the Week – Omny.fm

Do you find fasting something easy to do? Or do you dread the thought of it?

Patrick Conley is with Fr. Matthew Widder in a discussion about fasting. Navigating through post-holiday indulgences, they delve into how fasting isn’t just about saying ‘no’ to food, but a deeper ‘yes’ to faith. With holidays wrapping up, you may face the familiar dance of delight and discipline, where sweets abound, but so does the call to refocus spiritually.

🌐 Fr. Matthew sheds light on the biblical roots of fasting, referencing Jesus’ own fast in the wilderness. This ancient practice isn’t about deprivation for its own sake, but a reorientation towards heavenly desires over earthly comforts. It’s a spiritual antenna adjustment, tuning into God’s frequency and away from the world’s static.

🍪🙅‍♂️ What is your heart looking at? Fr. Matthew highlights how fasting can reveal our vulnerabilities and dependencies, whether it’s a craving for cookies or a compulsive scroll through social media. It’s a mirror reflecting our reliance on earthly pleasures over spiritual sustenance.

🤔 But it’s not just about what you give up – it’s also about how you do it. Fasting, as Fr. Matthew points out, requires a delicate balance. It’s an exercise of will, aligning personal choices with God’s will, but also a path of temperance, avoiding the pitfall of pride in self-denial.

📆🕊 They also touch on the liturgical rhythm of the Church, urging you to harmonize your fasting with the Church’s calendar – feast when it’s time to feast, and fast when it’s time to fast. This isn’t confined to Lent but is a year-round call, with Fridays marked as days of special penance.

📞 But what if you like fasting?! A caller, Tom from Tucson shares his experience of fasting becoming enjoyable, no longer feeling like a sacrifice. Fr. Matthew encourages seeing this as grace, but also staying vigilant for new ways God might be calling one to grow and sacrifice.

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