Fasting is an ancient Christian discipline to break the power of the flesh in our life—our desires, sins, and cravings—and feed on the Holy Spirit. In a culture of rampant consumerism and excess, fasting is a practice of resistance. We willingly choose to sacrifice through abstinence so that we might be filled with a greater measure of the Spirit.

When harnessed, these rhythms of self-denial continue to point the Church to dependence on the work of the Spirit.