Our Spiritual Life in the Great Lent
n this lecture His Holiness Pope Shenouda III affirms that the Great Lent is the most important spiritual period of the year because it is long and connected to the Lord’s sufferings, and it should not be limited to physical abstinence from food but rather be a distinguished and holy period consecrated to God.
The basic aim of fasting
Fasting must lead to a real spiritual effect: increase in spiritual life and virtues and love for God, and decrease of faults and sins, and a transformation in the person’s behavior and way of dealing with himself and others.
Renewing the mind and the spiritual meaning
Fasting calls for a “renewal of minds” — that is, a new understanding of dignity and life and relationship with God; a shift from a literal material understanding to a deep spiritual understanding that places Christ at the center of life.
True repentance and self-knowledge
Fasting must begin with real repentance: hatred of sin and leaving what you love for the sake of God, with self-monitoring and knowing weaknesses and not being indulgent when they are discovered but addressing beloved and repeated sins.
Inner virtues versus prominent virtues
Fasting should focus on developing inner virtues (faith, surrender, love, longing for God, joy, and peace) not only external practices or physical abstinence.
Practical rules for spiritual fasting
Spiritual fasting includes deep prayer, reading and contemplation, chanting and spiritual songs, occupying the mind with God instead of wasting time in idle talk and trivialities, and using free time for spiritual growth without harming responsibilities (like study).
The relation of the body to the spirit
Fasting goes through stages: suppressing the body, uniting the body with the spirit, then purifying and sanctifying the body so that it does not oppose the spirit, until the person reaches a state where Christ lives in him and controls his will.
Practical conclusion
The intention of fasting is that it becomes a daily spiritual method that makes the presence of God felt in every passing day, so that the person becomes genuinely spiritual and not merely attached to the physical forms of fasting.
Repentance
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