There was a thread about the Holy Spirit and the Fathers earlier. But I was thinking about something - there's something the fathers are absolutely unanimous on, and that is that fasting is mandatory and the bedrock or beginning of the spiritual life. Many fathers have written that you must guard your stomach, that food is a cause of problems for people.
Christ gives three imperatives during the sermon on the mount - when you fast, when you pray, when you give alms or do acts of mercy. He fasted, the Apostles fasted, the early church certainly fasted, fasts were part of worship in the OT.
If the fathers are right, should we be surprised that a church that does not fast in some cases at all would have shallow spiritual roots?
Christ gives three imperatives during the sermon on the mount - when you fast, when you pray, when you give alms or do acts of mercy. He fasted, the Apostles fasted, the early church certainly fasted, fasts were part of worship in the OT.
If the fathers are right, should we be surprised that a church that does not fast in some cases at all would have shallow spiritual roots?