[../../Contains/Banner1.htm]
[../../Contains/Left3.htm]

[../../Contains/GoogleSq_Ad.htm]

[../../Contains/Orthodoxy.htm]

The Holy Lent

Day 11 - Second Thursday of The Holy Lent

by Prince Mathew

Preface for Meditation:

Fasting was practiced by the Lord Himself. After prayer and fasting for forty days in the wilderness, the Lord victoriously faced the temptations of the devil (Matthew 4:1-­11). The Lord himself asked the disciples to use fasting as an important spiritual weapon to achieve spiritual victories (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; Luke 2:37). The example of the Lord was followed by His disciples (Acts 14:23; 27:9; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 6:5, 11:27, etc.).

The importance of fasting depends on its meaning. Fasting is not abstaining from food only; it is first of all, abstaining from sin. By detaching us from earthly goods and realities, fasting has a liberating effect on us and makes us worthy of the life of the spirit, a life similar to that of angels. Fasting, as abstinence from bad habits and sin, is the mother of Christian virtues, the mother of sound and wholesome thinking; it allows us to establish the proper priority between the material and spiritual, giving priority to the spiritual.

In our materialistic society we learn to identify ourselves through self-indulgence and we tend to see the fasting only as a time of deprivation and penance. But this is not at all the view of the Church on fasting and abstinence and it is clearly explained by the Fathers in their spiritual discourses. For them, fasting is the feast of the soul and good fasts are like medicine which cures our soul and mind, and, along with other virtuous works, it leads us to the eternal life. In our spiritual battle, fasting protects us from the evil one. It not only resists the attack but also trains our body and mind for the battle. Fasting is a great weapon against the evil one. Through fasting Christ defeated the Satan and has given us this weapon to overcome the evil. Fasting and abstinence are the two weapons for cultivating the field of Christian life.

Bible Reading Passages:
Second Thursday of The Holy Lent

Evening
* St. Luke16: 1-13

Morning
* Numbers 16: 1-10
* Isaiah 20: 20-25
* Acts 10:34-48
* I Corinthians 9: 1-12
* St. Luke 18:1-8
* St. Matthew 18: 18-22

Bible Verse for the day:

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." St. Luke 16: 10.

The Holy Lent Archives | Yesterday | Tomorrow

 

[../../Contains/footer.htm]