Fasting according to an Eastern Father

 "Let thy mind fast from vain thoughts; let thy memory fast from remembering evil; let thy will fast from evil desire; let thine eyes fast from bad sights: turn away thine eyes that thou mayest not see vanity; let thine ears fast from vile songs and slanderous whispers; let thy tongue fast from slander, condemnation, blasphemy, falsehood, deception, foul language and every idle and rotten word; let thy hands fast from killing and from stealing another's goods; let thy legs fast from going to evil deeds: Turn away from evil, and do good."

Saint Tichon of Zadonsk

Confession, according to the Fathers

"Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life…. On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure." – The Didache, A.D. 70-90

"Just as a man is enlightened by the Holy Spirit when he is baptized by a priest, so he who confesses his sins with a repentant heart obtains their remission from the priest." – St. Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 180)

"It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries [i.e. the Sacraments] is entrusted [i.e. priests]. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt 3:6]; but in Acts they confessed to the Apostles, by whom also all were baptized [Acts 19:18]." – St. Basil The Great (d. 379)

"Regarding confession, some flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness." – Tertullian A.D. 200

"In addition to these kinds of forgiveness of sins, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance…when he [the sinner] does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine." – Origen (A.D. 244)

"But the impenitent spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest…they do violence to his body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him." – St. Cyprian of Carthage (A.D. 250)

"There have been those who would say that no penance is available for certain sins; and they have been excluded from the Church and have been made heretics. Holy Mother Church is not rendered powerless by any kind of sin." – St. Augustine (d. 430)

"Just as in the Old Testament the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so in the New Testament the bishop and presbyter [i.e. priest] binds or looses not those who are innocent or guilty, but by reason of their office, when they have heard various kinds of sins, they know who is to be bound and who loosed." – St. Jerome (d. 420)

"It seemed likewise impossible for sins to be forgiven through penance; yet Christ granted even this to his Apostles, and by His Apostles it has been transmitted to the offices of priest." – St. Ambrose (d. 397)

"Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: “Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed” [Matt 18:18]. Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can bind only the body. Priests, however, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself, and transcends the very heavens…Whatever priests do here on earth, God will confirm in heaven, just as the master ratifies the decision of his servants. Did He not give them all the powers of heaven?" – St. John Chrysostom (d. 407)

(Compiled by William Hemsworth
https://epicpew.com/confession-and-the-early-church-10-quotes-that-show-the-real-practice/)

St Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) on Confession

     The present time is the time for confession. Confess what you have done, whether by words or by actions, whether by day or by night. If you confess at the acceptable time, you will receive the heavenly treasure on the Day of salvation.
     Make yourself pure so that you may be a vessel of more abundant grace. Remission of sins is given equally to everyone but the sharing of the Holy Spirit is given differently to each man, according to the faith of each. If you have expended little labour, you will receive little in the way of reward; if, on the other hand, you have laboured greatly, great will be the reward you receive. It is for your own benefit that you are running this race: run hard, in your own interest.
     If you are holding anything against anyone, forget it, let it go. You have come here to receive forgiveness of sins, so you must first forgive whoever has sinned against you.

--St Cyril of Jerusalem, Instructions to Catechumens


     如今正是認罪悔過的時候。你要承認你在黑夜白日，言語行為上所犯的一切罪過。你要在天主悅納的時刻，承認你的罪過，好使你在救援之日，領受天上的寶藏。
     你要洗滌你的心，好使你能接受更豐富的恩寵。固然，眾人都會同樣獲得赦罪之恩，但聖神所賦予的恩賜，卻按各人信德的大小，而有所不同。你若勉力的少，則你接受的也少；你若多工作，則你領的賞報也多。你是在為自己奔波，要注意你自己的利益。
     如果你跟某人有過節，你要寬恕。你來到這裡，是要領受赦罪之恩，你也應該寬恕得罪你的人。

--耶路撒冷主教聖濟利祿《要理講授》

     Tempus præsens est tempus confessiónis. Confitére quæ perpetrásti, sive verbo sive ópere, sive nocte sive die. Confitére in témpore acceptábili, et in die salútis súscipe cæléstem thesáurum.
     Munda vas tuum, ut grátiam cápiat abundantiórem; remíssio enim peccatórum ex æquo datur ómnibus, communicátio vero Spíritus Sancti, secúndum proportiónem uniuscuiúsque fídei concéditur. Si parum laboráveris, parum accípies; si vero multa operátus fúeris, multa erit merces. Tibi ipsi curris, tibi conveniéntia próspice.
     Si quid contra quemquam habes, remítte. Accédis, ut véniam peccatórum accípias: necésse est et te ei qui peccávit condonáre.

--Ex Catechésibus sancti Cyrílli Hierosolymitáni epíscopi

Confession makes us more human

Today we must learn once more how to acknowledge guilt, we must shake off the illusion of being innocent. We must learn how to do penance, to let ourselves be transformed; to reach out to the other and to let God give us the courage and strength for this renewal. Today, in this world of ours, we need to rediscover the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. The fact that it has largely disappeared from the daily life and habits of Christians is a symptom of a loss of truthfulness with regard both to ourselves and to God; a loss that endangers our humanity and diminishes our capacity for peace. Saint Bonaventure was of the opinion that the Sacrament of Penance was a sacrament of humanity as such, a sacrament that God had instituted in its essence immediately after original sin through the penance he imposed on Adam, even though it could only take on its full shape in Christ, who is the reconciling power of God in person and who took our penance upon himself. In fact, the unity of sin, repentance and forgiveness is one of the fundamental conditions for being truly human: these conditions find complete expression in the sacrament, yet in their deepest roots they are part of the experience of being human persons as such.

 -Benedict XVI, Address to Roman Curia, 21 Dec 2009

What authentic Christianity is

Christianity is not simply a matter of following commandments; it is about living a new life, being in Christ, thinking and acting like Christ, and being transformed by the love of Christ! But this new life needs to be nourished daily by hearing God’s word, prayer, sharing in the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist, and the exercise of charity. God must be the centre of our lives!

-- Pope Francis, 10 April 2013

WHY FAST? WHY MORTIFY? Fast from what is in itself lawful, that you may receive pardon for what you have formerly done amiss. Redeem an eternal fast by a short and transitory one. For we have deserved hell fire, where there will be no food, no consolation, no end; where the rich man begs for a drop of water, and is not worthy to receive it. A truly good and salutary fast, the observance of which frees us from eternal punishment, by obtaining for us in this life the remission of our sins. Nor is it only the remission of former transgressions, but likewise a preservative against future sin, by meriting for us grace to enable us to avoid those faults we might otherwise have committed. I will add another advantage, which results from tasting, one which I hope I am not deceived in saying you have frequently experienced. It gives devotion and confidence to prayer. Observe how closely prayer and fasting are connected. Prayer gives us power to fast, fasting enables us to pray. Fasting gives strength to our prayer, prayer sanctifies our fast, and renders it worthy of acceptance before the Lord. (St. Bernard, Serm. de Orat.) ---- Wherefore, my dear brethren, if the taste only has caused us to offend God, let the taste only fast, and it will be enough. But if the other members also have sinned, let them also fast. Let the eye fast, if it has been the cause of sin to the soul; let the ear fast, the tongue, the hand, and the soul itself. -- St Bernard of Clairvaux

WHAT FASTING REALLY MEANS Let the eye fast from beholding objects, which are only calculated to excite curiosity and vanity; that being now humbled, it may be restrained to repentance, which before wandered in guilt. Let the ear fast from listening to idle stories and words that have no reference to salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from unprofitable and sacrilegious discourse; sometimes also, out of respect to holy silence, from speaking what appears necessary and profitable. Let the hand also fast from useless works, and from every action that is not commanded. But above all, let the soul fast from sin and the doing of its own will. Without these fasts, all others will not be accepted by the Lord. - - St. Bernard of Clairvaus, Serm. 2 de Jejun. Quad http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id20.html http://acontinualfeastcontinued.blogspot.com/2010/03/advice-on-fasting-from-st-bernard-of.html

Repent while there is time

We should repent of our sins while we are still on earth. When a potter is making a vessel and it becomes misshapen or breaks in his hands, he shapes it again; but once placed in the oven, it is beyond repair. Now the clay in the craftsman’s hands is an image of ourselves, and it teaches us that, while still in this world, we must wholeheartedly repent of sins committed in the body and make it possible for the Lord to save us while there is time. When we have left this world, we shall no longer be able to repent and confess our sins. We must do the will of the Father, keep our bodies pure, and observe the commandments of the Lord, for this is the way to obtain eternal life. The Lord says in the gospel: If you have not been observant in small matters, who will entrust you with anything important? For I tell you that the man who is faithful in the smallest things is faithful in the greatest things as well. In other words, in order to obtain eternal life, we must remain pure and keep the seal of our baptism undefiled.

--Sermon from the 2nd century

Confession makes us humble

The sacrament of Penance is also important. It teaches me to see myself as God sees me, and it forces me to be honest with myself. It leads me to humility. The Curé of Ars once said: "You think it makes no sense to be absolved today, because you know that tomorrow you will commit the same sins over again. Yet," he continues, "God instantly forgets tomorrow’s sins in order to give you his grace today." Even when we have to struggle continually with the same failings, it is important to resist the coarsening of our souls and the indifference which would simply accept that this is the way we are. It is important to keep pressing forward, without scrupulosity, in the grateful awareness that God forgives us ever anew – yet also without the indifference that might lead us to abandon altogether the struggle for holiness and self-improvement. Moreover, by letting myself be forgiven, I learn to forgive others. In recognizing my own weakness, I grow more tolerant and understanding of the failings of my neighbour.

--Benedict XVI, Letter to Seminarians, 3, 18 October 2010

WE NEED PENANCE AND MERCY

I must say that we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word 'penance,' which seemed too harsh to us. Now, under the attacks of the world that speaks to us of our sins, we see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is mistaken in our life, to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare oneself for forgiveness, to allow oneself to be transformed. The pain of penance, that is to say of purification and of transformation, this pain is grace, because it is renewal, and it is the work of Divine Mercy.

--Pope Benedict XVI, April 2010, referring to the child abuse scandals

RECONCILIATION FIRST WITH GOD, THEN WITH OTHERS

Confessio: in the language of the Bible and of the ancient Church, this word has two essential meanings, apparently in opposition but in fact constitute a single reality. Confessio is first of all the confession of sins: it means recognizing our guilt and knowing that before God we are found wanting, we are in a state of sin, we are not in the right relationship with him. This is the first point: knowing ourselves in the light of God. Only in this light can we know ourselves, can we also understand what is evil in us and thus perceive all that must be renewed, transformed. Only in the light of God do we recognize one another and truly see the whole of reality.

It seems to me that we should bear all this in mind in our analyses of reconciliation, justice and peace. Empirical analysis is important, it is important to know the reality of this world exactly. Yet these horizontal analyses, made with such precision and skill, are insufficient. They do not identify the real problems because they do not place them in the light of God. If we do not see that they are rooted in the Mystery of God, worldly things go wrong because the relationship with God is not properly in order. And if the first, basic relationship is off course, all the other relationships, however good they may be, fundamentally do not function. Therefore, all our analyses of the world are insufficient if we do not reach this point, if we do not consider the world in the light of God, if we do not discover that at the root of injustices, of corruption, is a heart that is not upright, there is closure to God and, consequently, a falsification of the essential relationship on which all the others are founded.

Confessio: to understand in God's light the realities of the world, the primacy of God and finally the whole human being and the human realities that are oriented to our relationship with God. And if this relationship has gone wrong it does not reach the point God wanted, it does not enter his truth, nor can anything else be corrected because, once again, all the vices that destroy the social network and peace in the world spring up.

Confessio: to see reality in God's light, to understand that basically our realities depend on our relationship with our Creator and Redeemer, and thus lead to the truth, to the truth that saves. St Augustine, referring to Chapter three of the Gospel according to St John, defines the act of Christian confession as "he who makes truth comes to the light". Only by seeing in the light of God our faults, our sins, the insufficiency of our relationship with him do we walk in the light of the truth. And it is only the truth that saves. At last, let us work in truth: making truth is truly confessing in this depth of God's light.

--REFLECTION OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI, (SECOND SPECIAL ASSEMBLY FOR AFRICA OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS) 5 October 2009

PRIESTS, CONFESSION, EUCHARIST

Dear priests, think too of the extreme diversity of the ministries you exercise in the service of the Church. Think of the great number of Masses you have celebrated or will celebrate, making Christ really present on the altar each time. Think of the innumerable absolutions you have given and will give, enabling a sinner to be forgiven. Then you perceive the infinite fruitfulness of the sacrament of Orders. In the space of a moment your hands, your lips became the hands and lips of God. You bear Christ within you; through grace, you have entered the Holy Trinity.

The priest is the man of the future: it is he who has taken seriously Paul's words: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above" (Col 3: 1). What he does on earth is in the order of the means ordered to the last things. The Mass is this one point of union between the means and the End because it already enables us to contemplate, under the humble appearances of bread and wine, the Body and Blood of the One we shall adore for eternity. The holy Curé's simple, concentrated sentences on the Eucharist help us perceive more clearly the riches of this unique moment in the day when we experience an encounter that is life-giving for ourselves and for each one of the faithful. "The happiness that exists in saying Mass", he wrote, "will only be properly understood in Heaven" (Nodet, page 104).

I therefore encourage you to strengthen your faith and that of your faithful in the sacrament you celebrate, which is the source of true joy. The Saint of Ars wrote: "The priest must feel the same joy (as the Apostles) in seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands" (ibid.). In giving thanks for what you are and for what you do, I repeat to you: "Nothing will ever replace the ministry of priests at the heart of the Church" (Homily, Mass on the Esplanade des Invalides, Paris, 13 September 2008).

--VIDEO MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL RETREAT FOR PRIESTS [ARS, SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 2009]

Confession will bring about renewal in the Church

Through the surpassing power of Christ's grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly reborn and each of us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.

(Benedict XVI, Homily, Washington Nationals Stadium, Thursday, 17 April 2008)

So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence, let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that will make us living stones in the temple which he is even now raising up in the midst of our world. If we are to be true forces of unity, let us be the first to seek inner reconciliation through penance. Let us forgive the wrongs we have suffered and put aside all anger and contention. Let us be the first to demonstrate the humility and purity of heart which are required to approach the splendor of God’s truth. In fidelity to the deposit of faith entrusted to the Apostles (cf. 1 Tim 6:20), let us be joyful witnesses of the transforming power of the Gospel!

(Benedict XVI, Homily, Votive Mass for the Universal Church, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York, 19 April 2008)

Examination, confession, penance

Dear Young People of Rome,

This year too, as Palm Sunday approaches, we are meeting to prepare for the celebration of the 23rd World Youth Day, which will culminate, as you know, in the meeting of young people from across the world that will take place in Sydney from 15 to 20 this July. You have known the theme of this Day for some time. It is taken from the words just heard in the First Reading: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1: 8).

It is not by chance that our gathering today takes the form of a penitential liturgy with the celebration of individual confessions. Why is it "not by chance"? The answer can be deduced from what I wrote in my first Encyclical. In it I pointed out that being Christian is the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and with it a decisive direction (cf. Deus Caritas Est, n. 1). Precisely in order to encourage this encounter, you are preparing to open your hearts to God, confessing your sins and receiving pardon and peace through the action of the Holy Spirit and by means of the Church's ministry. In this way room is made within us for the presence of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity who is the "soul", the "vital breath" of Christian life: the Spirit enables us "to grow... in an understanding of Jesus that becomes ever deeper and more joyful and at the same time to put the Gospel into practice" (Message, 23rd World Youth Day, n. 1).

...

Dear friends, let us therefore prepare ourselves with a sincere examination of conscience to present ourselves to those to whom Christ has entrusted the ministry of Reconciliation. Let us confess our sins with contrite hearts, seriously determined to repeat them no more, and above all resolving to always stay on the road of conversion. We will thus experience true joy: the joy that derives from God's mercy, which is poured out in our hearts and reconciles us with him. This joy is contagious! "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you", says the Bible verse chosen as the theme of the 23rd World Youth Day, "and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1: 8). Make yourselves heralds of this joy that comes from accepting the gifts of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness in your lives to the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control"; this is how St Paul lists the fruits of the Holy Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians (Gal 5: 22).

Always remember that you are a "temple of the Spirit"; let him dwell within you and docilely obey his promptings in order to make your contribution to building the Church (cf. I Cor 12: 7) and to discern to what kind of vocation the Lord is calling you. Today, the world needs priests, consecrated men and women and Christian married couples. To respond to your vocation through one of these ways, be generous, help yourselves by having recourse to the Sacrament of Confession and the practice of spiritual direction on your journey as consistent Christians. Seek in particular to sincerely open your heart to the Lord Jesus, to offer him your unconditional "yes".

Dear young people, this city of Rome is in your hands. It is your task to make it spiritually beautiful with your witness of life lived in God's grace and far from sin, adhering to all that the Holy Spirit calls you to be in the Church and in the world. You will thus make visible the grace of Christ's superabundant mercy that flowed from his side pierced for us on the Cross. The Lord Jesus cleanses us from our sins, heals us from faults and fortifies us so that we do not succumb in the fight against sin or in witnessing to his love.

Twenty-five years ago the beloved Servant of God John Paul II inaugurated the San Lorenzo International Youth Centre not far from this Basilica: a spiritual project united with so many others in the Diocese of Rome to encourage hospitality for young people, the exchange of experiences and of the witness of faith, and above all prayer, which lets us discover God's love. On that occasion John Paul II said: "He who lets himself be filled with this love can no longer deny his guilt. The "loss of the sense of sin' derives in the last analysis from "the more radical and hidden loss of the sense of God'" (Homily, Inauguration of the San Lorenzo International Centre, 13 March 1983, n. 5). And he added, "Where can we go in this world, with sin and guilt, without the Cross? The Cross takes upon itself all the misery of the world, which is born of sin. It reveals itself as a sign of grace. It takes up our solidarity and encourages us to sacrifice for others" (ibid).

Dear young people, may this experience be renewed for you today: look at the Cross at this moment and let us welcome God's love, which is given to us from the Cross by the Holy Spirit who comes from the pierced side of the Lord, and, as Pope John Paul II said, may "you too become redeemers for the youth of the world" (ibid.).

O divine Heart of Jesus, from which Blood and Water flowed as a source of mercy for us, we trust in you. Amen!

(Benedict XVI, Excerpts of Homily, Celebration of the Sacrament of Penance with Youth of the Diocese of Rome in Preparation for the 23rd World Youth Day, St Peter's Basilica, Thursday, 13 March 2008)

Lavámini, mundi estóte, auférte malum cogitatiónum vestrárum ab óculis meis; quiéscite ágere pervérse, díscite benefácere: quærite iudícium, subveníte opprésso, iudicáte pupíllo, deféndite víduam. Et veníte et iudício contendámus, dicit Dóminus. Si fúerint peccáta vestra ut cóccinum, quasi nix dealbabúntur; et si fúerint rubra quasi vermículus, velut lana erunt.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us talk this over, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

(Isaiah 1:16-18)

Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

(Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop, Sermon)

Our work for souls is great, but without penance and much sacrifice it will be impossible.--We have to do much more penance than even the Carmelites because of the closeness of sin.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 141)

5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting,
with my garments and my mantle rent,
and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
6 saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to thee, my God,
for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads,
and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt;
and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests
have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands,
to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as at this day.
8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God,
to leave us a remnant,
and to give us a secure hold* within his holy place,
that our God may brighten our eyes
and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.
9 For we are bondmen;
yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage,
but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia,
to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God,
to repair its ruins,
and to give us protection* in Judea and Jerusalem.

(Ezra 9:5-9)