Today’s Readings Podcast Description

When war, famine, or pestilence appears, should the Church still humble herself with fasting? Calvin says yes. Fasting was never abrogated; Christ reserved it for days of mourning. A true fast is not ordinary frugality, but a temporary restraint in time, quality, and quantity of food, so that the mind may rise more freely to prayer. Yet the first danger is always superstition. God abominates a torn garment with an unrent heart. Fasting is not meritorious worship, and it must not be ranked among the works that are necessary in themselves. The forty-day fast of Christ was a miracle to confirm the gospel, not a law for an anniversary Lent. Later ages bound the conscience with food laws, then mocked God by seeking the praise of abstinence in delicacies. The remedy is simple: rend the heart f ...