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Why should we fast when we fast every Sunday?

Unknown
edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
Hello everyone who is reading this message why should we fast on Coptic seasons when we fast every Sunday from 12:00-11:00 or in some churches they start at a different time because they rent a Catholic Church or any other kind of Church but forget about that the real thing I want ansewered is that what is the point of fasting every Coptice season when we do it every Sunday I mean I know we do it for selfcontrol but we can do selfcontrol on other things like no videogames or no T.V. and if you don't like videogames or T.V. you can just give up something else and besides fasting every time can probably for some people cause health problems and what if some people can't be fasting for some reasons and are old and cannot fast because the priest says if you are 18 or older and you do not fast you will not be able to take communion. Please if you are readind this I need an ansewer fast but just to tell you I am fasting.

Thank you for reading this and please ansewer this problem.

Comments

  • whizzwhizz
    Actualy, i do not see the point of self control in the first place.
  • mmatt95mmatt95
    Self control with food helps u to control ur other lusts, i think we discussed this a million times on other threads lol

    the fasting on sunday's has nothing to do with the fasting to control ourselves and grow spiritually. We fast on sundays as a preparation for the Holy Communion.

    People who can't abstain due to sickness or age etc can get an absolution from their FOC, our church is not trying to kill it's believers :)
  • AvvaAntoniAvvaAntoni
    Hello,

    The fasting that we do on sunday morning is different from the fasting during the fasting season in a few ways.

    First of all, sunday morning we fast by not eating until we have received the Holy communion (it does not mean not to eat meat or dairy products). We do this because we are preparing ourselves to receive the Holy Body and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you notice, this fast should be started at least nine hours prior to taking the communion because it takes the body about nine hours to digest the food in its system, so that when we take the body and Blood of Christ, it is the first thing in our bodies after our period of fasting. Also the fact that Jesus suffered during his nine hours of passion, so we too must take part in that suffering by fasting.

    The fasting during the fasting season, on the other hand, is different because we cannot starve ourselves for this period of time, so what is done is, we abstain not only from meats and dairy products, but also from say example a bad habit. The reason we have this fast is as you said to have control over our bodies. By doing this, we are letting our bodies know that we are in control.

    If you look at the verse in the gospel of St. Matthew:
    "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt. 26:41)

    Here according to this verse, one must overcome all the tempations of this world and set his mind on what is more important. Through fasting one lets go of all the cares of the world to concentrate on God.

    To sum it up, the fasting on sunday morning is different from the fasting during certain coptic seasons.

    I hope this helped.

    Please keep me in your prayers
    Avvaantoni
  • Unknown
    AvvaAntoni I learned so much from you but I need more replies.
  • Unknown
    Okay, my knowledge of fasting is very limited so forgive me if I'm wrong or don't make any sense at all...anyhow, I've learned that we need to keep our bodies pure for this holy time or others..the foods we eat are of simple nature and your body usually gets weaker and we are supposed to be become more humble and cry out to God more often since you have become so weak. Fasting now is different than when it originated..now we have tofu and all that stuff so it kind of takes away all the meanning of fasting but back then fasting was pretty much difficult since they didn't have as much of a variety of foods as we do so they didn't eat often and suffered for Christ's sake. It's also for self control; in this case looking at a food and saying "no, for Christ's sake." And learning to say no to food may very well soon bring us to say the same to sin. God bless.
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