The Carnal And The Spiritual Fast

Cum ergo universa vitia per continentiam destruantur, et quidquid avaritia sitit, quidquid superbia ambit, quidquid luxuria concupiscit, hujus virtutis soliditate superetur; quis non intelligat quantum nobis praesidii per jejunia conferatur? In quibus indicitur, ut non solum a cibis, sed etiam ab omnibus carnalibus desideriis temperetur. Alioqui superfluum est suscipere esuriem, et iniquam non deponere voluntatem; reciso affligi cibo, et a concepto non resilire peccato. Carnale est, non spiritale jejunium, ubi soli corpori non parcitur, et in iis quae omnibus deliciis nocentiora sunt, permanetur. Quid prodest animae foris agere quasi dominam, et intus servire captivam, membris propriis imperare, et jus propriae libertatis amittere? Et merito plerumque patitur famulam rebellantem, quae non reddit Domino debitam servitutem. Jejunante ergo corpore ab escis, mens jejunet a vitiis, et curas cupiditatesque terrenas regis sui lege dijudicet. Meminerit primam dilectionem Deo, secundam deberi proximo, omnesque affectus suos hac regula dirigendos, ut nec a cultu recedat Domini, nec ab utilitate conservi. Quomodo autem Deus colitur, nisi ut quod ipsi placet, placeat et nobis; nec ab ejus imperio noster umquam resultet affectus? Quoniam si hoc quod ille vult volumus, ab illo sumet infirmitas nostra virtutem, a quo ipsam accepimus voluntatem: Deus est enim, sicut ait Apostolus, qui operatur in nobis et velle et perficere pro bona voluntate. Nec superbia itaque homo inflabitur, nec desperatione frangetur, si bonis divinitus datis in gloriam dantis utatur, et ab iis desideria sua revocet quae sibi nocitura cognoscit. Abstinens enim ab invidiae malignitate, a luxuriae dissolutione, a perturbatione iracundiae, a cupiditate vindictae, purificabitur veri sanctificatione jejunii, et incorruptibilium deliciarum voluptate pascetur, ut per usum spiritalem etiam terrenas copias in coelestem noverit transferre substantiam, non sibi condendo quae acceperit, sed magis magisque multiplicando quod dederit. Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo XIX, De Jejunio Source: Migne PL 54.187a-188b

Since therefore all vices are destroyed by continence, and whatever avarice thirsts for, and whatever pride strives for, and whatever luxury lusts after, is overcome by the firmness of this virtue, who does not understand how much protection may be given to us by fasting? In which is signified not only restraint from food, but from all carnal desires. Otherwise it is pointless to take up hunger and yet not cast out an iniquitous will, to be afflicted by cutting off food and yet not to shrink from sinful thought. That is a carnal, not a spiritual fast, where the body alone is restrained and those things persisted in are more harmful than all delights. What profit to the soul to act outwardly as mistress of the house and within to be a captive and a slave, to command the limbs and to lose the right to her own liberty? Rightly does she for the most part suffer rebellion from her servant who does not pay to God the service due. Therefore when the body fasts from food, let the mind fast from vices, and give judgment on all worldly cares and desires by the law of its king. Be mindful that love is firstly for God, secondly for our neighbour, and that all our affections should be directed by that rule which never draws one away from the worship of God, nor from being helpful to a fellow servant. 1 And how shall we worship God unless that which is pleasing to Him is also pleasing to us? For if what He wills we will, our weakness will take up strength from Him, from whom we received the will. As the Apostle says: 'For it is God who works in us, both to will and to act for His good pleasure.' 2 So neither will pride puff up a man, nor will he be crushed by despair, if he uses the goods God has given to His glory, and withholds his desires from those things which he knows will harm him. For in abstaining from the wickedness of envy, and from the dissolution of luxury, and from the perturbations of anger, and from the lust for vengeance, he will be purified to sanctification by true fasting, and will be fed with the joy of incorruptible delights, so that he will know how to transform worldly riches by spiritual use into heavenly substance, not by hoarding up for himself what he has received, but by multiplying it more and more by what he gives. Pope Leo the Great, from Sermon 19, On Fasting 1 cf Mk 12.30-31 2 Philip. 2.13