4 Spiritual Benefits of Fasting

Why fast? How can fasting be beneficial for a Christian? While fasting has effects on health and can be sought for therapeutic purposes, religious fasting has beneficial effects on all dimensions of the being: bodily, mental and spiritual. Indeed, the world’s various religious traditions have practiced fasting so much above all for its spiritual benefits. Far from a simple diet, religious fasting is associated with prayer and almsgiving, thus showing us a decentering of ourselves and an openness to others and to God.  

Benefit 1 of Christian Fasting: Lighten and free yourself

The practice of fasting allows us to become aware of certain excesses in our lives, whether these are food-related or related to other areas of our lives. We may feel the need to fast from social networks, screens, outings... This partial or total deprivation, for a given time, invites us to take a step back from our relationship to things, to the world, to the material.

We rediscover the benefit of a certain frugality, a sobriety far removed from the attitudes of our current society. Pope John Paul II also reminded us of the importance of not being caught up in this culture of consumption, and that the practice of fasting could help us.

Fasting, freely chosen and not done out of coercion or guilt, frees us from our yoke. And this is what God wants for us: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58: 6)

Benefit 2 of Christian Fasting: Purifying and strengthening yourself

Fasting, in the Hebrew tradition, also has a value of purification. Benedict XVI said “it is firstly a therapy to cure everything that prevents them from conforming to the will of God.” Fasting is therefore a call to conversion and to return to God. The Catholic Church invites the faithful to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, which are two days of penance.  “The fourth precept (“You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church”) ensures the times of ascesis and penance, which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 2043)

Among Christians, fasting is associated with prayer and sharing. This is an “active purification” of the senses.

The practice of fasting makes us stronger in the spiritual battle that we all have to fight:
“Fasting repels demons and expels unhealthy thoughts. It makes the mind clearer and purifies the heart. It sanctifies the body and transports man to the throne of God. Fasting is a great strength” (Saint Athanasius). Among other things, it feeds, the virtue of temperance in the fasting person.

Benefit 3 of Christian Fasting: Refocusing, unifying

Fasting allows you to refocus and be more attentive to your body. It calms the mind and allows us to better discern our impulses from our deep desires.

It is our whole being that is in prayer: body, soul and mind, and which leans towards the intention that we carry (penance, reparation, offering, request...).

We turn to the essential: God, and putting Him back at the center of our lives. 

Benefit 4 of Christian Fasting: Radiate

This refocusing should not be experienced as a withdrawal into oneself. Fasting can be the occasion for a period of withdrawal and deeper interiority, but it must remain turned towards others. Hence the importance of the notion of sharing, whether material or spiritual, through our prayer intentions.

Fasting must allow us to open ourselves to others.

Thus continues the passage of the book of Isaiah:  

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:6-8) (Discover more Bible verses about fasting)

Fasting, carried out in the desire to convert and to get closer to God, carries many other spiritual fruits, which everyone will see mature in the secret places of their heart.

Discover the benefits of prayer with Hozana!

However we pray, it changes our life, our relationship to the world, our relationship to others, and our relationship to ourselves.

Each of us can experience this magnificent upheaval. On Hozana, the first Christian prayer social network, discover proposals to grow your inner life through prayer. Nourish yourself every day with the word of God—choose to receive the daily commented gospel every morning.

• By listening to God through the practice of fasting or Christian meditation with online journeys to gently accompany you.