• Prayer of Repentance: Lord, you are so en below: What is Fasting

good and I am sorry for having offend-

• Lord Jesus, you say to ask and I would receive,
ed you by my sins. I so often seek hap-
piness in things that are not you; help
seek and I would find, knock and the door Fasting
would be opened to me. I trust you and I have
me to realize that only you can give me
asked, sought and knocked. I thank you for I as a Weapon of Warfare
life. I repent of and with your help,
know that you have heard me and that you will
I will try not to do them again. Amen.
do what is best in my situation.
• Prayer to Offer your Intention: Lord, I • Fasting is making a conscious decision to
offer this day of fasting, in union with give up some food (either a full meal or
the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Im- parts of it) for a specified period of time
maculate Heart of Mary, for this inten- (such as a full day or a few hours) so as to
tion: . Amen. be spiritually open to God’s power for a
specified need.
• Other Hours: repeat your prayer of offer-
ing. You may choose to follow it with a spe- • The weapons of our warfare are not carnal
cial prayer or devotion such as to a favour- but are mighty through the Holy Spirit for
ite saint whom you will ask to accompany the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthi-
you. Examples include: ans 10:4). And fasting is one of the great-
est weapons that we have as Christians but
• Miraculous Prayer to St. Joseph it is often ineffective because we do not do
it properly.
• The Nine Memorares (which I learned
from the Missionaries of Charity and I • Fasting is conscious;
find useful when praying every three
hours). • So you have to know that you are fast-
ing for it to be effective. You can’t just
• To the Infant Jesus of Prague. decide that because you’ve had no food
for the last few hours that this qualifies
• Or you may have another devotion that
as a fast. It has to be a deliberate act.
will accompany you through this time.
You can also choose a different devo- • You also need to decide how long you
tion for each interval. intend to fast in a given day. Will it be
for the full day with no meals; will it be
• As you fast, you may feel hungry, or
from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm?
someone may offer you a meal that
you normally like (both these things • You need to decide what you will fast
happen to me even more regularly on from: from full meals for the day; will
my fast days than any other time). you have reduced meals (which is the
When hunger comes, you can say a minimum recommended by the Church)
simple prayer such as, “Lord, I’m offer-
ing this hunger or temptation to you as • Fasting is not the same as dieting (not eat-
a prayer for my intention; may my fast ing to lose weight) nor hunger-striking (not
be pleasing to you, Amen.” eating to get the attention of human
agents). Fasting is directed to God alone.
• You end the day’s fast with a prayer of
faith and thanksgiving. A suggestion is giv- • Fasting is for a specific amount of time
5 6 1

There are some things that can only be realized by Prayer and Fasting
• You need to decide firstly when in the
day to start, how long it will last and
when it will end.
• You also need to decide if one day of
fasting is enough. You may choose
once a week (which I recommend); but
you can also do multiple days of fasting
for very stubborn and important situa-
tions, such as three days, six days or
even more.
• Even when you fast, be careful that you
are drinking enough water and that you
do not over-exert yourself. It is no vir-
tue to fast so much that you fall sick.
• Fasting is necessary for the mature Chris-
tian because there are some things that
prayer alone, on its own, will not do (Mark
9:14-29). Sometimes, when the evil one
has a foothold in our lives, we may try eve-
rything else, but fasting is concentrated
surrender to God for a specific purpose.
What to Fast For
• You fast for a God-willed situation or need.
In other words, you should not be fasting
for something that is sinful. Fasting opens
you up to the spiritual; if your heart and
intentions are pure, then God responds to
your prayer but if it is not, then your pray-
er will put you powerfully in contact with
other forces.
• This is really important, that your heart and
intention be pure when you fast and pray.
The wrong heart will not only not receive
you an answer from God (Isaiah 58:3-14),
2 3
it can be spiritually costly.
• Fast for the conversion of family and friends, for
the needs of your parish (I recommend that a
group of parishioners can decide to make a joint
fast for a parish need such as youth or a coming
programme), for the grace to overcome some sin
habit in yourself, or if there is something in your life
that you feel the evil one is stealing from you and
he will not let go.
Fasting and Prayer
• Very often, even when we do fast, it feels empty
because we do not pray, or at least, we do not
have a prayer structure. A day of fasting, even if it
is a day of work, is also a day of intensified prayer
for something; so just because you did not eat for
the day does not mean you had an effective fast.
• I recommend that you start your fast with an Act of
Reconciliation.
• Decide if you will pray every hour or every three
hours (6:00 am, 9:00 am, 12’ noon, 3:00 pm and
6:00 pm).
• Decide also the prayers that you will say to accom-
pany the fasting period (some suggestions are giv-
en below).
• At the end of the Fast period, make a special prayer
of Thanksgiving.
• Decide if you will make a special act of abstinence
while you fast:
• You can decide to stop doing some things such
as giving up television or computer, not spend-
ing time on the telephone, giving up a sinful
habit (gossip, slander).
• Or you may want to take on a act of
penance such as spend some time
reading the bible, go to confession,
attend Mass, go to a prayer service.
Days of Fasting
• Traditionally, the day of fasting for Catho-
lics is Friday. In olden days, Wednesday
was also considered a day of fasting and
abstinence. You can fast any day when an
intention presents itself; but for Catholics,
we do not fast on Sundays because it is the
day of the Lord’s resurrection. Neither do
we fast on special feast days or during the
seasons of Christmas and Easter; these
days are sacred to the Lord, therefore we
do not fast and weep, for the joy of the
Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:9-11).
• Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are spe-
cial days of penitence and abstinence, so
they are also good days of fasting and
prayer.
Who can Fast
• The Church recommends that anyone be-
tween ages 14 and 60, who has no medical
condition that would be affected, can fast,
not only during the Lenten Season, but also
during Ordinary Time.
A Suggested Process
Any process you choose to use is fine, as long
as it is properly planned. This process is merely
a recommendation.
• 1st Hour: An act of Repentance and stating
your intention for the fast. A suggested
prayer goes like this.
4