De jejunio dominica quinta jejuniorum

On Fasting: Fifth Sunday of the Fasts. The time has come, brothers, for us to gather the fruits of repentance through fasting. For summer and autumn are suitable for the gathering of fruits, and winter and spring for sowing; but for fasting and prayer every time is suitable. For the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast. If, then, in addition to the other days this work has escaped us, behold, now is a welcome time for us to cultivate the field. I call fasting a field, because it admits all of us to labor and sowing; it does not reject a woman, nor an old man, nor a youth, nor small children; it opens its doors to all and receives all, in order to save all, as it did the Ninevites. The sowing of fasting is good, because it uproots our sins like thorns, and raises up and causes righteousness to bloom like a flower; the labor of fasting is good, because it lightens the soul from the burden of sins, and bestows the light load of the commandments of Christ. For take up my yoke upon you; for my yoke is kind, and my load is light. The yoke is faith, laid upon all; the load, the works of the commandments, borne on the shoulders of the soul in deeds, manifested in the heavens. Through fasting the lawgiver Moses became glorious.

Having remained without food for forty days and nights, he saw God speaking to him face to face, a cloud overshadowing, and through it God speaking to him what was beneficial, a pillar of fire shining by night as a guide for the camp of Israel, the gates of heaven opening, angelic bread descending to earth, a man partaking of the manna of God, a rock split by a rod and producing water, a sea generating a strange food, a quail, and nourishing the people. Moses saw many other signs as well because of his attention to fasting. Fasting is the overthrow of death. The Savior said: This kind of demon departs by nothing except prayer and fasting. And there is nothing worse than demons; a demon is a mountain hard to move; a demon is a wound more grievous than all evils, mockery in marketplaces, humiliation in homes, disturbance in churches, devourer of flesh, weakness of soul, daily pain, hindrance of mind, obstacle to works. Great is the assault of the demon. But fasting and prayer prevail over all these. David, praying and singing, drove away the demon of King Saul. For the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and he was choked by the spirit of an evil demon; and while David was singing, the king revived. That King David fasted, hear him writing in the Psalms: My knees have grown weak from fasting, and my flesh has been altered by oil. If Adam had fasted from the tree, he would not have lost paradise; if Eve, deceived by the serpent, had not eaten, she would not have brought death upon the world.

If Esau had inclined toward fasting, he would not have lost his birthright; for the sake of a single meal he lost his glory and became a slave to his brother. Do you wish to see the power of fasting? Run to the Ninevites, who employed it for a common good. For when God wished to destroy Nineveh because of their sins, he sends the prophet Jonah and says to them: "Three more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed." And the philanthropy of God proclaims what he is about to do, and foretells death to those who are its debtors, not that they might flee from the city, but that they might repent in the city, that they might be roused and become more zealous for the word. He did not say: "Fast, and I save you"; he did not declare: "Repent, and you will be pitied"; but he concealed the philanthropy and proclaimed the severity, so that no one might say: "He compelled them to fast or to repent, and to worship God." For what comes from compulsion is not acceptable; for God loves a cheerful giver, not one from grief or necessity. "Three more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed." The threat is brief, the deadline unjustly close at hand. What are you to do? From what refuge leap forth? What strong army shall I set against him who speaks? Who answers God? The speaker is unerring. But if God is the one threatening, they say among themselves: "What escape from the evil shall we find? In what war shall we array ourselves? Who will become the champion of our souls? Who will appease God to stop his wrath against all? What advocate shall we send to God to reconcile us to peace? We are all sinners.

We are enemies of God and are not heard. What shall we do? Where shall we flee from the face of the Lord? Come, let us run to fasting, O men of Nineveh, says the king, and let us strew ashes beneath us, and let the sheep and the oxen neither graze nor drink; and let us see if God will have mercy on us. Having considered these things, the Ninevites, and having performed fasting as a most swift arrow, and having prepared prayer as fragrant incense, having brought down tears of repentance as rivers of water, and each having turned back from his evil way, they shamed God into making peace. The three days of fasting ascended to the heavens, drew near to the Master, and received salvation from him. He granted life to all, to men and to beasts. Repentance shone forth, and fasting. See that you do not despise the creature, but approach, keep vigil, and produce in it the fruit of piety. Let us therefore all pray with one accord, that we too may be delivered from the impending wrath, and attain the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are the glory and the power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.