things, as the angel Raphael saith: " Prayer is good with fasting." Thus Moses for forty days prepared his soul by fasting, before he presumed to speak with God: so Elias fasted forty days, that thus he might be able, as far as human nature would permit, to hold converse with God: so Daniel, by a fast of three weeks, was prepared for receiving the revelations of God: so the Church has appointed " fasts" on the vigil of great festivals, that christians might be more fit for celebrating the divine solemnities. The holy fathers also every where speak of the utility of fasting.[1] I cannot forbear quoting the words of St. Chrysostom: " Fasting is the support of our soul: it gives us wings to ascend on high, and to enjoy the highest contemplation.[2]
Another advantage of fasting is, that it tames the flesh; and such a fast must be particularly pleasing to God, because He is pleased when we crucify the flesh with its vices and concupiscences, as St. Paul teaches us in his Epistle to the Galatians; and for this reason he says himself: "But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a cast away." (1 to Cor. ix. 27.) St. Chrysostom
