The fasting period is a time of repentance, purity of heart, and attachment to God… It is also a time of trials waged against us by the devil out of his envy. Yet, in the midst of these trials, God leads us in the procession of His victory…

It is a period of struggle. The devil strives to make us fall, and we strive to cling more to the Lord.

A period of attachment to God.

Do not take a constant defensive موقف against the devil; rather, crush him during the fast through your strong spiritual life: through your prayers, your readings, your meditations, and the purity of your hearts.

The fasting period is not an ordinary time, but rather a deep focus on all aspects of spiritual life and all means of grace.

It is a period of dedication to the Lord, a period of spiritual ذخيرة (storage), a period of struggle and victory. In it, you triumph over your body, subdue it, and bring it into subjection.

Set for yourself a firm spiritual program… for attachment to God.

Exercises for this period:

1- Do not limit yourself to the prayers of the Agpeya:
But let there be your own personal prayers, and the stirrings of your soul before God.

2- Train yourself to pray on the road, while walking or in transportation:
Either with a psalm, or with spontaneous prayer, or with short phrases you repeat saying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to Your great mercy. Forgive me, O Lord, my sins. Save me, O Lord, from my weaknesses. Give me strength, O Lord. Bless, O Lord, this holy forty days; make them blessed days. Fill me, O Lord, with Your love. Bind my heart to You. Grant me grace, according to Your mercy, O Lord, not according to my sins. Give me, O Lord, purity of heart. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

And as you walk on the road, let your heart be occupied with speaking to God; be preoccupied with Him, and sanctify your thoughts through prayer…

3- Train also to pray while among people:
People are around you, in a gathering or a meeting, and you are silent, yet your heart is working in its divine work.

The silent person is a storehouse of spiritualities, a workshop of the Holy Spirit. But the one who talks much indicates that he is empty within, empty of divine work because he is occupied with الكلام. But as the spiritual elder says: “Silence your tongue so that your heart may speak.”

But beware of being silent while your mind wanders in vanities, or your thoughts judge people. Rather, be silent so that you may speak with God.

4- Train also to pray during work:
Let your work be mixed with prayer. Say to Him, “O Lord, be with me in this work; give me good understanding in it. Do not let work occupy me or estrange me from You.” And from time to time, during work, lift your heart to God…

5- Resist ending prayer; make it continue:
Whenever you find that your prayer has ended, resist yourself and continue in prayer. Train yourself to lengthen your standing before God, even by a minute or two.

6- Train to meditate on the prayers of the Psalms:
Take the Psalms, the sections of the Agpeya, their absolutions and prayers, as a field for meditation, so that you may be able to pray them with understanding when you repeat them.

7- Train to pray in the spirit:
Train yourself to pray with understanding, with depth, with fervor, and with desire and longing of heart. Train yourself to pray with contrition and humility. Also, to pray without distraction, without wandering. Try to reach the love of prayer. And say to yourself, “My fasting without prayer is of no benefit.”

And if you find that you do not have the desire to pray, then pray for the sake of prayer, that the Lord may grant you prayer and desire…

Say to Him: Give me, O Lord, words with which I may speak to You. Give me the love by which I may sit with You. Open my heart to pray. Do not deprive me of speaking with You. Ignite Your Spirit within me so I may pray. Let Your Spirit speak on my lips. Teach me to pray as You taught Your disciples. Move my heart, and let Your grace inflame me with the warmth of divine love. Give me desire, give me love. Grant me solitude with You.

8- Train yourselves to wrestle with God in the Great Fast:
Strive in your prayer with God until you obtain your request. Enter into the experience of victorious prayer, which wrestles and receives…

9- Train to pray for all people:
All those who previously asked for your prayers and you forgot them, remember them in the Great Fast. Pray for all: for the Church and the state, for general and personal problems, for your family, your students, your friends, and all who are in distress…

Train to pray for those who offend you:
Pray for the people whom you judge in your thoughts, heart, and tongue; those whose image has darkened in your mind; pray for those who humiliated you, hurt you, and spoke badly about you…

Say to Him: O Lord, preserve them and save them. Grant me grace in their eyes, and make my heart pure toward them. Remove from us hatred, enmity, and الخصومة (strife). Grant us purity of heart from You.

10- In the Great Fast, train also to rise early for prayer:
Remember the phrase: “Those who seek Me early shall find Me.” Wake up while people are asleep and be alone with God. Let Him be the first you speak to in your day…

11- Train also to use the prayers of the saints:
There are famous prayers in Scripture, prayed by the men of God in depth, such as the prayers of Nehemiah, Ezra, Daniel, Manasseh, Solomon, and others… Use these prayers, repeat them, and enter into their depths.

12- Read spiritual books that ignite your heart and move you to prayer. Reading in the Great Fast is not for knowledge, but for repentance.

So read what stirs the love of God within you, what reproves you, and what moves you to prayer.

During the fasting period, focus your struggle intensely on your weaknesses:

Focus your prayers on your points of weakness, asking for help to overcome them. Say to Him: “I confess, O Lord, this نقص (deficiency), and I will not leave You until You deliver me from it… I have struggled for my salvation and failed, and nothing remains except Your help…”

Fasting is not a change of food, but of life… so struggle:

Whenever hunger presses on you, do not eat, but rebuke yourself.

Say: Others do not eat because of asceticism, but as for me, I should not eat because I do not deserve food due to my sins. It is more fitting for me to repent before I partake of food…

Say to yourself: I must come out of this fasting period having triumphed over such-and-such sin, otherwise my fasting would be in vain, merely a bodily act without spirit!!

In every prostration you make, rebuke yourself for some of your weaknesses.

Believe me, the person who humbles himself with prostrations and rebukes before eating cannot have a desire for food. Contrition fills his heart spiritually, leaving no desire for bodily food…

Set a rule for yourself: that you do not eat until after completing all your prayers, and that you do not eat unless you are repentant…

Take the fast seriously and spiritually. May its days be blessed… Amen.

    An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Ten), 11-3-1977.
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