Pope Shenouda III
What is the Relationship between God and your Fast?
What does God gain from your fast? What have you received from God? What were you able to sacrifice to God in your fast, and what blessings did He give you? Was your fast a sacred time in your life during which you experienced a spiritual revival allowing you to taste and observe how good God is? Did you experience a change in your behave in accordance with the soul and not with the flesh?
Fasting is not substituting one food for another, and is not abstaining from food for a certain period. All these are just means, but they do not constitute the essence of fasting of to free and exalt the soul from its bodily needs and above the influence of materialism. The soul and the body move in unity in loving God to enjoy His company. This is what is meant by a sacred fast, i.e. one devoted entirely to God.
