Fasting and Prayer
Entrance Hymn:
Blest and Praise
every moment , be the most Holy and Divine Sacrament.
Glory be to the
Father.....
Fasting is the cry of the whole body‑person, a yearning for the justice of God to be raveled. But it can become a greatest obstacle in the life of prayer and union with God if it carries with it expectations: Lord I have fasted, denied myself, lost three pounds, and gone through the hammers of hell. Now I expect you to come in sweetness and joy, fill my heart with peace, and abundantly compensate for all that arduous fasting. Is this the criterion of a good Prayer?
"Well, Lord, I fell off the diet again with a resounding bang.
And I'm feeling guilty. We both know it's no longer a question of simply losing weight. We both
know I'm sick. I understand I have an illness which can be controlled only by a
restricted diet. And I should be adult enough, mature enough, to accept that
fact and stick with it. But Lord, you
know how weak I am. Especially when I'm hungry! And last night I was so hungry
for all those things I'm not allowed.
Lord help me. I can't do it on my
own. When I get hungry remind me of the
hundreds of thousands of your children
who are
starving. When I am tempted and resent
the limitations of my diet, remind me of all those people who would feel
themselves blessed to have the amount of food that diet allows me. And Lord,
when I'm so hungry I think I can't stand it, feed me yourself, and I will be
satisfied.".....( Mother Teresa )
Physical
fasting from food is the joining if the body ti the spirit's hunger for God.
But fasting for it's own sake is not the type of fasting that is asked for.
What is more important is the attitude in which we carry out our fast. As we
listen to the word of God let us focus our attention to the attitude of Jesus
towards fasting.
Mt. 9:14 ‑ 17 .(Reading)
If today we
have fasted or even tried to fast or are thinking of doing so, then we will
find ourself more readily enter the ardent longing for God. Let us express our
longing for God as we sing this psalm. (Psalm 63 Sung)
At the
beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew in
Ch.3, John the Baptist calls the people to repent and prepare the way of the Lord with prayer & Fasting. Is our bodily hunger leading us to hunger for
God. Without food for a day or two we may faint but do we faint without God? Do
we feel the need for God?
Do we thirst for God?
Isn't that
true in our own experience ? The Lord saying:" I don't want your profound
thoughts, the magnanimous acts of love that so easily slide off your tongue,
your burnt offerings & holocausts , I want your Heart."
" We need
to find God and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence. Is not our mission to give God to the
poor? Not a dead God, But a living ,
Loving God.
The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can
give in active life. We need silence to
be able to touch souls. The essential
thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they
come from within. Words which do not
give the light of Christ increase the darkness."...
Mother
Teresa.
Often we don't expect and like God to come in failure,
in loneliness, in poverty. Yet God comes
to where we live and loves us as where we are. If we are not where we are, God
cannot meet us. But when we remain where we are, with everything that is moving
inside us, Salvation comes.
Individuals are invited to pray for our Country and it's people, while our response after each intercession will be "Lord, Listen to our prayer."
Hymn of Adoration.
(Before the final Hymn.)"With the strength of the Lord, let us go out to give the God of Jesus Christ and ours' to our Country by being witness ourselves of the light of Christ to India. "
Hymn.. "A light within the
world.."
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