The Handy Little Guide Fasting
ISBN 9781639661732
eISBN 978639661749
ASIN B0D42K1LDQ
This is the third of the ‘Handy Little Guide’ books from Our Sunday Visitor that I have read, it is available in eBook format and I believe it is one of 4 available digitally from the 9 in the series. This is a pity. I want to state that this is a wonderful little book or booklet. It is a great little read, and one that could read repeatedly, and with new benefits each time. Second, I really wish this that others in the ‘Handy Little’ series were available as eBooks. After having read three in the series I want to read the others but almost never pick up physical books anymore. Mainly due to my dyslexia.
The chapters and sections in this booklet are:
Introduction:
What This Book Is and Isn’t
A Prayer Before Beginning a Fast
A Brief (or Fast) History of Fasting
Reflect
A Prayer of Humility
How Fast Is Too Fast? Some Practical Pointers
1. Ease into it.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Slow down.
4. If you take medications, take care.
5. Just as you eased into a fast, you need to ease out
of it, too.
Reflect
A Prayer for Patience
Not So Fast: Hold On! Do I Really Have to Do This?
Reflect
A Prayer for Those Who Must Do Without
Getting Started: It’s Been an Hour; Give Me a Cookie!
Fasting Pro Tip
Prayer at the Beginning of a Fast
Reflect
A Prayer in Time of Temptation
The Hunger Games
1. Make your fast a prayer.
2. Don’t think so much about what you’re missing,
but about what you’re gaining.
3. Take the time you would normally spend having lunch
(or even dinner) and spend it with some holy reading.
4. Got the time? Go to confession.
5. As the day winds on, never fail to give thanks. Often.
Reflect
A Prayer of Thanksgiving During a Fast
Food for Thought: Fasting from Other Temptations
Fast from Social Media
Fast from Television
Fast from Gossip
Fast from Despair
Reflect
Prayer for Fasting in the Twenty-first Century
Fast Friends: Fasting as a Group
1. Identify a cause.
2. Form a group of like-minded people.
3. Determine the specifics of your fast.
4. Form a prayer circle for the fast.
5. Conclude your fast with another liturgy —
and a modest meal!
Reflect
Prayer for a Group Fast
One Last Bite: Some Final Thoughts
Prayer of Thanksgiving after a Fast
The description of this volume is:
“Many Catholics view fasting as hard, burdensome, weird, or only for Lent. This little book demonstrates that fasting can be so much more than that! It's an opportunity for prayer, reflection, and solidarity with the suffering of the world.
The Handy Little Guide to Fasting is your easy-to-read, down-to-earth introduction to this ancient practice. Author, speaker, and award-winning journalist Deacon Greg Kandra presents a way to blend faith and fortitude to make fasting more spiritually fulfilling. You'll learn:
Some practical pointers when fasting
The difference between fasting and abstinence
What the Church teaches about fasting
The various options for fasting (hint: It's not just about food!)
Each brief chapter concludes with reflection questions and a prayer for your fasting journey.”
I only highlighted a few sections while reading this volume, they are:
“If we’re honest, most of us struggle to eat well, eat sensibly, and eat healthy. For Catholics, the struggle can take on another dimension when we try to give up eating altogether and undertake one of the most venerable religious traditions in the world: a fast. Fasting can be mysterious and intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. This little book, I hope, will help make this practice understandable and doable. Fasting isn’t just for the extremely pious or for ascetics who subsist on water and air while living in a cave. Anyone can do it.”
“This book offers an approach to see fasting not as a chore or a duty—or a painful discipline that looms over us during Lent—but rather to see this age-old practice as an opportunity to give something up and, in the process, just give.”
“Jewish educator Aliza Bulow writes, “The purpose of fasting is to bring one to repent, and true repentance brings about a change in actions.””
“A fast can be a powerful and unifying force in a local community. What causes or concerns would a group of people want to pray about in a corporate fast?”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for the wisdom contained within this small volume. When I was in university, I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ, there was a series of booklets by the founder Bill Bright, called Transferable Concepts, and by reading them many times you could almost memorize them and the message so that you could share it. This volume and series remind me a lot of those books.
This book and series would be excellent for High School Students, College or University Students and older adults. It is easy to engage with. Can be read in a brief time. Can be worked through chapter by chapter ahead of time or during a planned fast. Deacon Greg writes in an engaging manner and offers a lot of personal examples and includes a good serving of humour. An excellent little volume.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books in the Handy Little Series from OSV:
The Handy Little Guide to Adoration - Michelle Jones Schroeder
The Handy Little Guide to Confession - Michelle Jones Schroeder
The Handy Little Guide to the Holy Spirit - Michelle Schroeder
The Handy Little Guide to the Lent - Michelle Schroeder
The Handy Little Guide to Novenas - Allison Gingras
The Handy Little Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours - Barb Szyszkiewicz
…
Books by Deacon Greg Kandra:
The Busy Person's Guide to Prayer
A Deacon Prays: Prayers and Devotions for Liturgy and Life
Befriending St. Joseph: Finding Faith, Hope, and Courage in the Seven Sorrows Devotion
The Busy Person's Guide to an Extraordinary Life
The Handy Little Guide to Fasting
…\
