The brothers are to fast from the feast of All Saints to the Nativity of the Lord. Then, as to the other fast which begins with the Epiphany and lasts uninterruptedly for forty days and which the Lord sanctified with His own fast, those who keep it voluntarily, may they be blessed by the Lord, and those who do not wish to keep it, are not bound to do so. But the brothers are bound to keep the other fast which ends with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord.
They are bound to no further fasting, then, except on Fridays. And whenever necessity requires that a brother not fast, he is not bound to corporal fasting.
Rule of 1223 - Chapter III
Friday, October 06, 2006
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All that fasting makes one feel inadequate. I wouldn't be able to keep up, then again, maybe I can.
ReplyDeleteHello Brother Lesser. I saw your post on Cardinal Sean's blog. Regarding your post here on fasting, did the brothers observe a bread and water fast during these times or did they fast (abstain) from meat? Thank you.
ReplyDelete- Sheila
Dearest Megan- it is said that there are two kinds of Franciscans; fat ones and skinny ones.
ReplyDeleteDearest Sheila- St. Francis was the most austere when fasting. Sometimes he would go for 40 days without food or water, following the example of Jesus. He spoke about being fed "manna from heaven" at these times. Many of the earlier followers did a "hard fast" in that they would go for several days without food or water. Within the lifetime of St. Francis, some of the latter followers fell away from this practice, just as they did their vow of poverty. This greatly troubled Francis.
Very seldom did the Brothers eat meat. Meat was not condemned by Francis, for he instructed the Brothers to eat what was placed before them when it was offered to them in an alms. He especially encouraged the eating of meat when a Brother was ill and in need of nourishment to become well again.
I hope this helps.
One should never fast unless God call you into one. And it should not be done to win God's favor (believing that by fasting we can manipulate the will of the Father) It should only be done when we hear God's call and it should be done for the sole purpose of worship; giving Him thanks and praise!
ReplyDeleteBut boy oh boy is it hard!