Pope Shenouda III
Do worldly concerns fill your thoughts during a fast?
In the whirlwind of labour, news, and in conversation with others, you do not find time to give God your thoughts!
You may fast till sunset but your thoughts are not with God and your mind exhausted, roaming and conforming to the world! You may spend a lot of time in idle chat and trivial things and your thoughts are away from God. You may only remember Him only when you sit down to break your fast. Then, you pray before eating and mention to God the fact that you have been fasting. Is this the kind of spiritual fast that sets your conscience at ease?! Remember the words of the Prophet David: “I have set the Lord always before me. “ (Ps 16:8).
He is there before me in every thing I do and in every word I say. He sees everything. I also set Him before me because He is my aim away from which I do not want to venture. He is before me and because of Him alone I fast. My fast is not to distract me from Him, but to have Him always before me.
If on regular days you remember all the time God before you, then how much more so should you be when fasting, a time devoted and consecrated to God?
