Re: The Baha'i Fast

Mike wrote:

 You raise a very good point. When your health is at risk, you are
actually being disobedient by fasting.

Yes. This is true. However, even if a person is unable to fast
materially, they can adapt the fast so that the true intent of it is
still achieved. 'Abdu'l-Baha said that the person of the fast is
spiritual:

"Ye had written of the fasting month. Fortunate are ye to have obeyed
the commandment of God, and kept this fast during the holy season. For
this material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a
symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all
appetites of the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit,
being carried away by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from
the love of God."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 69)

What I learned from when I couldn't fast is that I could still get up
early and say my prayers and eat before dawn. I could still say all
the fast prayers, which help one to draw closer to God. I could still
figure out what I could do safely and stick to that. In other words,
I could still submit my will to God's will and take part in the
spiritual fast. I could still feel unity with my fellow Baha'is in
their fast, and not eat in front of them and hold my peace about not
being able to fast. I could still become enkindled with the love of
God and prepared to carry that forward into the rest of my year.

Here's one of the passages from a fast prayer which I have find
especially inspiring::

"These are, O my God, the days whereon Thou didst enjoin Thy servants
to observe the fast. With it Thou didst adorn the preamble of the Book
of Thy Laws revealed unto Thy creatures, and didst deck forth the
Repositories of Thy commandments in the sight of all who are in Thy
heaven and all who are on Thy earth. Thou hast endowed every hour of
these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee,
Whose knowledge embraceth all created things. Thou hast, also,
assigned unto every soul a portion of this virtue in accordance with
the Tablet of Thy decree and the Scriptures of Thine irrevocable
judgment."
(Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 143)

If what Baha'u'llah has revealed is exact spiritual truth, as I
believe it is, then I would want to get the benefit of these precious
hours of fasting, since each hour has been endowed with a special
virtue.

Best wishes,

Suzanne



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