Friday Fast (With a Few Notes on Why)

Fast from all food or caloric drinks until 5 PM.

Why fast?  There are a host of reasons (Jesus did it to name one), but one of the key benefits of fasting is that it give us a spiritual hardiness.  Fasting provides a conscious and regular way to say no to our desires, in this case for food.  By learning to say no in order to open ourselves to something better (the Bread of Life), we prepare ourselves for the million nos that must come in our life in order to say yes to all of the good things God brings us.  If we are married then we must say no to all other romantic love, when we have a child we must say no to our own whims, when we follow Christ we must say no to the ways of the fallen world in order to enter Christ’s Kingdom.  Saying no in small things helps build our strength to say no to big things when they come our way.