On Sunday, Patriarch Daniel of Romania emphasized that fasting is not practiced “to be seen or praised by people,” but in order “to love God more.”
Patriarch Daniel participated in the Divine Liturgy celebrated at the historic chapel of St. Great Martyr George at the Patriarchal Residence. Interpreting the Gospel of the Sunday of Adam’s Expulsion from Paradise, he highlighted the true motivation for fasting.
“Fasting is self-offering to God, an offering of oneself in gratitude for the gift of life and as a desire for the sanctification of life. Fasting as the reduction of food and drink, or abstinence from them, is motivated by reverence and love for God. We fast because we love God the Giver more than His gifts which we consume. We entrust ourselves to Him because He is the source of our life,” the Patriarch said.
What true fasting means?
The Patriarch of Romania underlined the importance of prayer during fasting.
“Fasting supports the prayer of the faithful person, who considers his relationship with God to be the center, the light and the nourishment of his soul. For this reason, one who fasts but does not pray does not gather spiritual light in his soul; he is not sanctified. He performs only a biological and psychological exercise motivated by hygienic or aesthetic reasons,” His Beatitude noted.
Patriarch Daniel stressed that fasting is a personal work of communion between the human person and God, and when practiced rightly, it brings about a real change in one’s life.
“True fasting must be united with humility and joy, so that it becomes an inner, intimate work of spiritual communion between the human person and God, who secretly and silently sees the soul and the deeds of the faithful, self-sacrificing, prayerful and fasting person,” he said.
“In this way, fasting becomes a change in one’s way of being: a passage from greed or a passionate, possessive love of material things to the love of virtues and spiritual gifts, cultivating more intensely prayer and loving communion with God, who is immaterial, limitless and eternal,” the Patriarch added.
A mystical participation in Christ’s forty-day fast
The Patriarch of Romania also explained what the faithful gather in their souls through fasting, prayer, vigil and ascetic struggle during this period.
“We gather in our soul the divine grace, the humble and sanctifying love of the eternal God. We gather the light of His merciful love in our hearts. In this way, the prayerful and fasting spiritual person, illumined by the grace of Christ, acquires a humble and spiritual way of thinking and seeing, uses spiritual words and performs spiritual deeds, through which he becomes like God, who is holy, humble and merciful,” he said.
Concretely, fasting includes “prayer, the reading of holy books, spiritual conversations, confession and more frequent Eucharistic Communion,” the Patriarch explained.
At the same time, Orthodox Christian fasting is “a mystical participation in the forty-day fast fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness, to teach us that no one can overcome evil spirits and dark, selfish passions without first receiving the light of divine grace, through fasting and prayer, through confession and more frequent Holy Communion,” Patriarch Daniel stressed.
Obedience to the New Adam
The Patriarch went on to list the three “great mistakes” that led to Adam’s expulsion from Paradise: disobedience to God, lack of self-restraint and fasting, and the absence of repentance after sin.
“From then until today, sinful man tends to justify himself and accuse others. For this reason, he cannot be saved without repentance—that is, without acknowledging with regret the sins he has committed and asking forgiveness for them,” His Beatitude said.
In conclusion, Patriarch Daniel emphasized that “the obedience of Christ, the New Adam, heals the disobedience of Adam the Old.”
Source: basilica.ro
Photo credit: Lumina Newspaper
