Bucharest, November 20, 2017
Photo: stwillibrord.org To mark the start of the Nativity Fast, which has already begun for those Churches celebrating on the new calendar, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania has published eleven reflections and recommendations for his flock, reports Sedmitza:
1. We fast not to be seen and praised by men, but to draw nearer to God.
2. We fast because we love God more than His material gifts which we can consume.
3. Forgiveness is a good way to begin the Fast. No one can enter upon a spiritual struggle for purification without forgiveness.
4. Fasting supports the prayer of believers who consider their connection with God to be the center, light, and nourishment for their souls.
5. True fasting is not simply abstaining from animal products, but also to abstain from material greed and the pursuit of selfish domination over others, and also the limiting of any thoughts, words, or deeds which diminish your love for God and others.
6. If the Fast is accompanied by deeds well-pleasing to God, then fasting makes us light for others and chosen vessels of God’s glory.
7. The Fast is not only a material, but a spiritual condition—that is, a fast of the eyes, mouth, and heart.
8. Fasting is the spiritual condition of sacrifice or offering of those who fast freely and in accordance with their powers.
9. During the Fast, the amount of our material food decreases, but spiritual food increases.
10. Fasting supports prayer, while fasting without prayer is not a spiritual work.
11. Fasting calms the egotistical passions, enlightens the intellect, sanctifies the emotions, and changes our attitudes and behavior towards others and nature, placing all in the life of the presence of God’s love.
