The Sacred Art of Fasting by Thomas Ryan

I began my day with the reading of Psalm 104. Following what I had read, however, I did my best to direct my thoughts and emotions towards God when I felt physical discomfort. My normal instincts, I found, were to appease my body’s appetities as quickly as possible. Emotions and thoughts stood out more sharply. I was prepared for this from my shorter Good Friday fast. What I will say is that I was far more attentive to each moment as it went by. Even though I prayed during the day and took a long walk at lunch, I found myself unable to create as much space as I would have liked to for mindfulness of God. One of the challenges with the fast was that I still had to work that day and do normal household tasks. Neither one of those describe my general experience. Portions of the books I had been reading about fasting suggested one would potentially experience a mystical union with God and learn to suffer happily.

I find I can’t summarize the whole 24-hour experience in a pithy, Twitter-friendly form. I slept well and resumed my regular eating habits the next morning. I went to bed shortly after, successfully resisting the temptation to indulge in some mint chocolate chip ice cream (organic, of course) in the refrigerator.

On Monday, April 22, around 9:15 p.m., I broke my 24-hour, water-only Earth Day fast with a prayer and a light salad drizzled with drops of lemon juice. I appreciate the folks who checked in with me and wondered how it went. This update on my Earth Day fast has taken longer to write than I expected.

The Sacred Art of Fasting by Thomas Ryan