The practice of fasting or feasting at certain times and seasons as a religious rite has been accepted by many as a means of gaining grace and spiritual blessing. Medical theories advocate avoidance of some foods as health measures or to prevent obesity, and dietary opinions are given much publicity through press and radio. However, to the student of Christian Science there can be no confusion on such questions, since the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has succinctly handled these points. In her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she writes (p. 220), "The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men better morally or physically is one of the fruits of 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' concerning which God said, 'Thou shalt not eat of it.'"

Mere abstinence from material food accomplishes nothing in the direction of spiritualization of thought. It is only as we free ourselves from material desires, aims, and pursuits, and cultivate Godlike qualities, that we gain spiritual understanding. Isaiah counsels, "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" In the same chapter is given a detailed account of the fruitage to be expected from denial of materiality, and from steadfast obedience to spiritual laws.

There is no need to fast or feast in commemoration of some past event, some great deed. Nor should men spend their time in mournful contemplation and dolorous penance. The Master, Christ Jesus, had many trials; his life, however, was an example for all mankind to follow. The proofs he gave of his understanding of God can be repeated in our experience only as thought is regenerated, never through ritual. Every type of healing Jesus accomplished in substantiation of his words is possible here and now to any and all who attain in some degree conscious oneness with God. Thus what we need today is not a commemorative fast or feast, but a realization of the impersonal Christ, Truth, and its ever-availability.

On one occasion the disciples asked Jesus why they had been unable to heal a certain case. In explanation of his answer, Mrs. Eddy has written (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 339, 340): "Jesus said to his disciples, 'This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,' but he did not appoint a fast. Merely to abstain from eating was not sufficient to meet his demand. The animus of his saying was: Silence appetites, passion, and all that wars against Spirit and spiritual power. The fact that he healed the sick man without the observance of a material fast confirms this conclusion."

The Bible records many instances when men were sustained by spiritual understanding, and were fed under trying circumstances through their knowledge that "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." One such occasion is related of Daniel while he was a prisoner of a pagan king. He proved that his life and health did not depend upon the quantity or variety of his food. He and his associates were offered a portion of the king's meat; they asked, however, to be allowed to eat the simplest fare. The result was that after ten days "their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat."

Dieting through fear of food is found to be unnecessary and wrong. The student of Christian Science learns that he can neither love nor fear material food, and that intemperance impedes demonstration. Man's real sustenance is spiritual, and as one desires to know the truth, grasps and assimilates it, one obviates suffering.

There is a great work to be done in the world today by those who know in some measure the power and presence of God. It should be regarded as a sacred privilege to assist in loosing "the bands of wickedness" and in breaking "every yoke." The question may arise in thought, "Of what avail can be my individual effort to declare the unreality of evil and the allness of God, when the evidence is so preponderantly to the contrary?" This universal work is necessary, however, and it is availing. Every great work has had a few faithful adherents at its inception, and upon their steadfastness has depended the general elevation of thought. Those confronted with fear and the evidence of aggression, hate, disease, and lack will be uplifted and supplied with God's abundance through selfless prayer, and all may assist in this labor of love.

The discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy came through no selfish ambition, no materialistic desire. It was the outcome of her great love of God and her desire to learn more of man's relation to his Maker. She saw that rites and ceremonies are of no benefit to mankind; and she has written of these in her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 16), "Fasting, feasting, or penance,—merely outside forms of religion,—fail to elucidate Christianity: they reach not the heart nor renovate it; they never destroy one iota of hypocrisy, pride, self-will, envy, or hate."

Those who take up the study of Christian Science and incorporate in their everyday experience the truths therein taught, will indeed demonstrate that the only real fasting or feasting is the denial of material sense and the cultivation of the spiritual nature.