Various Fasts

...et humiliabam in ieiunio animam meam et oratio mea in sinu meo convertebatur. Jejunium Domini fuit, quando nefanda obstinatione duratos non inveniebat, quos in epulas spirituales assumeret. Haec enim fuit sterilitas animae ipsius, quod et ieiunium. Ieiunium enim dictum est quasi inedium, quod abstinentes diutius ad inediam usque perducat. Ieiunavit ergo Dominus, quia se ei incredula turba subtraxerat. Potest etiam et ieiunium corporale Domino convenire, quoniam quadraginta diebus et noctibus ieiunavit in monte; sed illo perfecto ieiunio de quo Isaias dicit: Solve omne vinculum iniquitatis, dissolve obligationes vehementium commutationum, dimitte afflictos in remissione, et omnem retributionem iniquam disrumpe; frange esurienti panem tuum, et pauperes sine tecto induc in domum tuam. Si videris nudum, cooperi, et domesticos seminis tui non despicies. Tunc erumpet matutinum lumen tuum, et sanitas tua cito orietur. Et praecedet ante te iustitia tua, et maiestas Domini circumdabit te. Et tunc clamabis, et Deus exaudiet te, adhuc te loquente dicet: Ecce adsum, et caetera, quae textus ille mirabilis coelesti munere pollicetur. Ita Magister bonus, quod prophetarum praedixerat libris, humanitus evidentibus monstravit exemplis. Addidit quoque secretiorem causam quae bene evangelica similitudine reseratur. Dicit enim Dominus discipulis suis: Intrantes autem in domum salutate eam dicentes: Pax huic domui. Et si quidem fuerit domus illa digna, veniet pax vestra super eam; sin autem non fuerit digna, pax vestra ad vos revertetur. Talis est et ista oratio quae fundebatur a Domino. Nam dum eam detestabiles Iudaei minime suscipere mererentur, in sinu eius, id est in secreto pectoris, unde fuerat egressa, remeabat. Si enim in pectoribus fuisset operata, non conversa utique, sed diceretur effusa. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XXXIV Source: Migne PL 70.246a-d

...And I humbled my soul in fasting, and I turned over my prayer in my lap. 1 It was a fast of the Lord when He did not find among those hardened in obstinacy those He could take up to spiritual feasts. This was the barrenness of His soul which is even a fast, for a fast is spoken of as a matter of not eating, and He endured long without eating. Therefore the Lord fasted because He withdrew Himself from the incredulous crowd. But it is possible that a corporeal fast befits the Lord, because He fasted for forty days and nights, 2 yet Isaiah speaks of the perfect fast when he says: 'Break all the bonds of iniquity, dissolve all the burdens that gravely oppress, allow the afflicted rest, and cast away every wicked debt. Break bread with the hungry and lead into your house the poor man who has no shelter. If you see someone in rags, clothe him, and do not sneer at servants as you walk. Then your morning light shall blaze forth, and your healing shall swiftly arise. Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall surround you. Then you shall cry out and the Lord shall hear you, and while you speak He shall say to you: Here I am,' 3 and the rest, which speech promises heavenly reward. So the good teacher, who is foretold in the books of the Prophets, shows His benevolence by evident examples. Also He adds a more secret reason which is revealed in a parable of the Gospel. 'The Lord said to His disciples, When you enter a house, greet it, saying, 'Peace to this house.' And if the house seems worthy, let your peace be upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 4 Such is the prayer that is turned over in the lap by the Lord. Because when the opposing Jews hardly merited being taken up, in His lap, that is, in the secret place of the heart, what went out, returned. For if it had begun to work in their hearts, it would not have been 'turned over' in such a way, but it would have been said to have been 'poured out.' Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, from Psalm 34 1 Ps 34.13 2 Mt 4.2 3 Isaiah 58.6-9 4 Mt 10.12-13