Caput XVI. De quadragesimali jejunio.
The Excellence of the Lenten Fast
The Lenten fast is declared supreme among Christian fasts, binding on all believers and attested by the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel.
Since we are about to speak of the Lenten season, we should first affirm its excellence. Although Christians keep many fasts, the Lenten fast surpasses them all, since it is commanded not to specific individuals or to people of this or that rank, but to all Christians by divine authority. It has testimony to its excellence from the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel.
Forty Days of Fasting in Sacred History
Moses, Elijah, and Christ each fasted forty days and nights, receiving divine law, hearing God's voice, and overcoming the tempter respectively.
For Moses, the servant of God, fasted forty days and forty nights, so that he might be found worthy to receive the law of the Lord.✦ And after the prophet Elijah had eaten bread baked over ashes and drunk the water an angel had provided him, he fasted forty days and forty nights, and then deserved to hear the voice of the Lord.✦ When our Lord and Savior fasted forty days and forty nights, he overcame the tempter, and angels came and ministered to him.✦
Read the original Latin
De tempore quadragesimali locuturi, primo excellentiam ejus credimus commendandam. Cum multa sunt Christianorum jejunia, omnibus excellit quadragesimale jejunium, quod divina auctoritate non singulis quibuscumque personis, non illius vel illius ordinis hominibus, sed omnibus indicitur Christianis. Habet autem testimonium excellentiae a Lege, a Prophetis et ab Evangelio. Nam Moyses famulus Dei jejunavit quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, ut legem Domini accipere mereretur. Helias autem propheta cum manducasset de pane subcinericio, aquamque bibisset, quam angelus ei ministraverat; jejunavit quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, et tunc vocem Domini audire promeruit. Dominus et Salvator noster cum jejunavit quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, superavit tentatorem, et accesserunt Angeli et ministrabant ei.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.34.28;Deut.9.9 — And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Deut.9.9 — When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.
- ↩1Kgs.19.6-1Kgs.19.8 — And he looked, and behold, near his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and turned back and lay down. 1Kgs.19.7 — And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 1Kgs.19.8 — He got up and ate and drank, and he walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- ↩Matt.4.1-Matt.4.2;Mark.1.12-Mark.1.13 — Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the Devil. Matt.4.2 — And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Mark.1.12 — And immediately the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness. Mark.1.13 — And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice