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The Virtue of Fasting (Ieiunium) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 40

VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

Every day your stomach tells you what to do: eat now, eat more, avoid discomfort. The world calls that freedom. Christ teaches the opposite. The person who cannot freely endure hunger is not free. Fasting is not about punishing the body but teaching it to serve the soul. And that’s why Fasting matters. 🎙️ Introduction Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the vituous life we’re all called to I’m your host Jethro Higgins Today on VirTrue we’re going ot be talking about the virtue of fasting or Ieiunium. Fasting is a sub-virtue of Temperance. God created food as a gift to be received with gratitude, not a master to be obeyed. By voluntarily accepting hunger for the love of God, we learn that true life is found not in satisfying every desire, but in ordering every desire toward Him. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 🌾 Virtue Description Definition Fasting is the voluntary restraint of food according to right reason so that the appetites become subject to reason and the soul is disposed more perfectly for the things of God. Catechism: * CCC 1809 teaches that Temperance moderates the attraction of pleasures. * CCC 1434 identifies fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as the principal expressions of Christian penance. * CCC 2043 reminds us that the Church establishes seasons of fasting and penance for our spiritual good. St. Thomas Aquinas (ST II-II, Q.147) Fasting has three principal purposes: * To restrain the lusts of the flesh. * To elevate the mind to contemplation. * To make satisfaction for sin. Fasting is therefore not an end in itself. Hunger is not holiness. We fast so that our love for God becomes stronger than our desire for food. 🍖 Vice of Deficiency: Gluttony Definition Gluttony is the habit of allowing the appetite for food and drink to govern reason. What it looks like • Eating simply because food is available. • Constant snacking without need. • Becoming irritated when meals are delayed. • Living for comfort rather than gratitude. • Organizing life around cravings instead of charity. 🪨 Vice of Excess: Willfulness Definition Willfulness is the habit of subordinating right reason, obedience, and the will of God to one’s own determinations, using even good practices like fasting to serve oneself rather than God. What it looks like • Inventing harsher penances than obedience requires. • Fasting to prove personal discipline. • Believing God owes us because of our sacrifices. • Refusing moderation out of stubbornness. • Pursuing control or self-image instead of holiness. Pastoral Note Eating disorders deserve compassion and appropriate medical care. The vice of Willfulness concerns the deliberate moral habit of placing one’s own will above God’s, not the existence of psychological illness. 👨 My Life General fasting. We used to go to Skippers when I was a kid, and I would order the chicken strips and think of myself as fasting. Fasting is something we often do, even though we don’t understand. Very few people take the time to really ponder the importance of fasting. That was me until I did Exodus 90. I fasted because I was supposed to, but I really didn’t understand its value. Later, I took a class that focused on the sayings and the lives of the Desert Fathers, and many of you will have heard before my experience with St. Theresa of Avila. God taught me the value of fasting. 🌎 The Secular World Modern culture swings between indulgence and self-perfection. One side says, ‘Feed every desire.’ The other says, ‘Master yourself for your own glory.’ Christian fasting rejects both. We deny ourselves not because the body is evil, nor because the self is supreme, but because God alone deserves to reign over every appetite. Our world loves a false dichotomy. It looks at fasting as a battle between self-will and the appetites, but both forces are focused on pleasing our own will instead of the Father’s. 👴 Example Saint: St. Anthony the Great What it is St. Anthony the Great (c. 251–356) is the Father of Desert Monasticism. After hearing Christ’s call to leave everything and follow Him, he gave away his possessions and embraced a life of prayer, fasting, manual labor, and spiritual combat in the Egyptian desert. Why he fits Anthony’s fasting was never an end in itself. He denied himself so that nothing would stand between his soul and God. His discipline freed him for charity, wisdom, and deep communion with Christ. Story The Life of Anthony recounts his long struggle against temptation in the desert. Through prayer, fasting, and unwavering trust in God, he overcame repeated assaults without surrendering to either indulgence or pride. Legacy Anthony inspired the entire monastic movement. His life reminds Christians that fasting is not about extraordinary feats of self-denial but about becoming extraordinarily free to love God. ⚔️ Act of Fasting O my God, I firmly resolve to receive every meal with gratitude and every hunger with patience. I will not be ruled by my appetites or by my own will, but will freely deny myself out of love for You. May every fast become an act of obedience, every sacrifice an offering of charity, and every hunger remind me that You alone satisfy the deepest desires of my soul. Strengthen me with Your grace that I may persevere faithfully. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe