De arte praedicatoria

The prophet¹ admonishes penitents to be in fasting, weeping, and mourning. And the Lord says: When you fast, do not be as the hypocrites, sad.² Gregory also says that the sinner ought also to devote himself to fasting, so that God may at some point turn his heart to repentance. Fasting macerates the flesh, elevates the soul, restrains the kindling of desire, and rouses reason. By fasting Moses earned conversation with God, Daniel the interpretation of dreams, Elijah his sustenance, the Ninevites the remission of sins. Christ gave us the example of fasting, who fasted in the desert forty days and forty nights.³ Yet fasting of the body does not benefit without fasting of the mind; otherwise it is deceptive and deceitful. For what use is it if the mouth fasts from food, while the tongue is loosed in lying? While the eye feasts on vanities, the ear delights in idle tales, the nostrils are occupied with scents? The touch wanders over smooth things, the hand into plunder, the foot outside the ordinary path? Let the other senses fast along with taste, so that those which were companions in pleasures may become partners in suffering.

There is a manifold fasting: the fasting of custom, which is not done out of charity, but from mere habit, lest a man seem to sail against the public current. This is useful only to avoid a bad example, so as not to give scandal. There is the fasting of avarice and greed, where the stomach is so emptied that the purse is filled, and this is pernicious. There is the fasting of illness, in order to obtain health, and this is indifferent, being neither good nor bad. There is also the fasting of gluttony and greediness, so that food is taken with more relish, and this is the worst. There is the fasting of praise and appearance, which hypocrites use so as to obtain human praise from it, and this is bad.

There is the fasting of need and necessity, by which the poor fast, and this is indifferent. There is the fasting of compulsion, which many religious use, and this is insufficient. Leaving aside the other fastings, then, one should aspire to that which is of charity, by which the body is chastised, the spirit rules, and thus man lives as an angel. For through fasting man becomes spirit, through moderate food, man, through excess, beast.

There are many circumstances of fasting that shape the fast itself, namely: from what, where, when, and why. From what: that one should abstain from delicious foods, for what use is it to fast from food, if what was lost in time is recovered by delight or quantity? For at the hour of the meal, the one fasting ought to use moderate food, so that he helps his neighbor in part, and thus afflicts himself in order to sustain his neighbor. One must also consider where, for the custom of the country must be observed; as it is said,

If you are in Rome, live in the Roman manner.

Hence Augustine says: "When I am in Rome, I do not fast on the Sabbath; when I am in Milan, I fast." When: that fasting should be done on the appointed days. For there are certain days on which one should not fast, such as Sundays, and certain great feast days, because of scandal. Why: that it should be done with regard to God, out of charity. As many kinds of abstinence there are from carnal things, so many different kinds of fasting there are. There is fasting in continence, in abstinence, in humility, in gentleness, in exultation. Of fasting Augustine says: "Let fasting praise you, not belching entrails."

Fasting is beneficial as a medicine for body and soul. For it preserves the body from disease, the soul from sin. In this medicine, heavenly philosophy agrees with natural philosophy. For this medicine purges the stomach from the vice of gluttony, and the soul from indignation. If Adam had fasted in paradise from the forbidden food, he would not have been condemned to exile.⁴ If Esau had fasted from the lentils, he would not have lost his birthright.⁵ If Noah had fasted from wine, he would not have exposed his thighs or private parts (Gen. II). Therefore, through fasting the body is purified so that it may receive the eucharist sacramentally; the spirit, so that it may receive it spiritually. This ought to be the preamble to receiving the eucharist. Let man, then, despise material food in the present, lest in the future he feel the fire of hell. Let these three things be present, which shape fasting: good intention, generosity in almsgiving, and the kindling of charity. If the flesh desires the delights of foods, let a man consider that it makes no difference from what the material of dung is made. If the flesh wishes to hasten the hour of the meal, let it take refuge in the shelter of exercise, lest idleness rouse gluttony and increase appetite. O man, if you consider the ancient Fathers, who used only meager food twice or even once a week, your fastings would seem to you either none at all or very slight. But if the examples of the ancients do not move you, let at least the infancy of blessed Nicholas move you, who on Wednesday or Friday nursed only once.

Let it shame the adult not to have fasted, when he sees that a small child has fasted. To our confusion turns the example of the little child, when infants and children correct us.