Letter 35

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: The Church at Milan Date: ~385 AD Context: A pastoral letter connected to Ambrose's preaching during Lent, using the example of the prophet Elijah to teach about the spiritual discipline of fasting. Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful at Milan. The season of fasting is upon us [Lent, the forty-day period of penance before Easter], and I commend to you the example of Elijah, who fasted forty days in the wilderness and was sustained by God alone (1 Kings 19:8). Fasting is not starvation. It is not punishment. It is discipline — the deliberate choice to master the body so that the spirit may be free. The man who cannot say no to his appetite cannot say no to any temptation. Fasting teaches the first and hardest lesson of the spiritual life: you are not your desires. Elijah fasted because the world had become unbearable. Queen Jezebel sought his life; the prophets of Baal seemed to have won; he was alone and exhausted. In that extremity, he did not feast to console himself — he fasted to clear his vision. And in the silence of that fast, God spoke. Not in the earthquake, not in the fire, not in the wind — but in the still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12). This is the promise of fasting: not that you will hear God in the noise, but that by reducing the noise, you may hear God in the silence. I do not impose impossible burdens. The sick, the elderly, the very young, and those whose work demands physical strength may modify their fast. God reads the intention, not the menu. But for those who can fast, I urge you: do not waste this season. Forty days is a short time to practice what should become a lifelong habit of spiritual freedom. Give what you would have eaten to the poor. Let your hunger remind you of those who are hungry not by choice but by necessity. And let the emptiness in your stomach create space for the fullness of God. The Lord be with you in this holy season.

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