[Andy08]

There are sins that I struggled with my whole life. Fasting has removed these temptations. Really, they have disappeared from my reality. Being hungry every once in a while is a small price to pay for such a huge reward. Prayer and fasting--these two things are powerful in limiting temptation and creating an incredible closeness to the Holy Mother, Her Son and the Father.

I know we talk a lot about how to ease the discomfort of the fast. I try to do this too. (One of my tricks is to go to bed early to shorten he day.) I'm wondering if that is the wrong approach. Perhaps we should be looking for stale unenticing bread. I have used stale old hot dog buns before--they were terrible but so be it. Its a sacrifice. Now, I have found that pieta bread is what I use. I go to the store get the same bread every week and try to fast on Wed. It's the bread I imagined Christ used at the Last Supper so on Wed the bread has a holiness to it even if it is only in my own mind. I find the more I pray on those days the more meaningful the fast is and the easier it goes. when I don't pray tha much I often fail and eat before the fat is complete. My 2 cents. God Bless, and I think this is a very valuable topic deserving of its own subject line on this forum. Who's ever idea it was it was a great one.

[bluecross]

The best of all medicines is resting and fasting
• Benjamin Franklin