Before the glad celebration of Easter by the Christian churches, many denominations include in their rituals observances of periods of fasting, especially during that which is called "Holy Week." Now the Hebrew verb translated "fast" in the King James Version of the Old Testament means "to cover over the mouth," thereby implying either a refraining from vain utterances or an abstaining from some food or drink. At all events, occasional fasting, or times of vigorous self-denial in the life of the religionist, has been commended by the votaries of many faiths.

The avowed purpose of these periods of self-discipline is, of course, the increase of one's spirituality; but if fasting, or denying oneself this or that measure of sense-gratification, is truly productive of growth in grace, why not seek a perpetual turning away from the hindrances and earth weights of materialism? Frequently one hears such utterances as this: "During Lent I always give up smoking;" and is there not sometimes an air of smugness and assumed piety with the speaker? And, behold, when Lent is past, there is a speedy return to that which Paul describes (Gal. 4:9) as "the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage." One is reminded here of the lines in one of Pinero's plays: "Yesterday I was firm as a rock, today I'm as weak as water again."

Several centuries before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah entered a forcible protest against the popular notions of fasting. In the fifty-eighth chapter of his book we find him, in vigorous language, uncovering the iniquitous concept of a fast utterly material and pharisaical. Then he asks: "Is it such a fast that I [God] have chosen? ... wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?" Hear the inspirational answer in the following verse: "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?" That this true fast, the spiritualization of consciousness, ultimates in the healing of mind and body is indicated in verse 8 of this chapter, for we read, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily." How happily does this Scriptural pronouncement reverse the generally accepted concepts of fasting! Should not the Christian contemplate with joyousness that turning away from discordant sense testimony—in other words, the true fast—which ultimates in healing?

In the seventeenth chapter of Matthew's Gospel we read that an anguished father brought his lunatic son to Jesus after the great Teacher's students were unable to effect a cure. Of this experience, Mary Baker Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 222): "When his disciples asked him why they could not heal that case, Jesus, the master Metaphysician, answered, 'Because of your unbelief (lack of faith)." "Also he added: 'This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting' (refraining from admitting the claims of the senses)." How grateful should be the student of Christian Science for this priceless light on the true meaning of fasting—"refraining from admitting the claims of the senses"!

Without doubt the Master's disciples were so overwhelmed by the sad picture of hopeless disease and infirmity before them that they were unfit for the great work of banishing the mesmerism. Is it not possible that instead of "refraining from admitting the claims of the senses" they believed in their reality? How often is the twentieth-century disciple tempted to heal or change the discordant presentments of the carnal mind, instead of refusing to admit that evil is real and existent, and thus ensure its destruction!

The importance of understanding the true fast, if one would be a successful healer of the sick, is indicated in these memorable paragraphs which Mrs. Eddy has given us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 395, 417): "It is mental quackery to make disease a reality—to hold it as something seen and felt—and then to attempt its cure through Mind." "To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream from which the patient needs to be awakened." Thus may the latter-day follower of the Christ, Truth, exemplify the fast commended by Isaiah. We may "loose the bands of wickedness, ... undo the heavy burdens, and ... let the oppressed go free" when in Science we begin to grasp the simple yet stupendous fact that causation is Spirit, Mind, Love; that all effect is spiritual, harmonious, good; that evil, discord, disease, are but the phenomena of that mesmerism which is born of ignorance of God—that it is darkness, the absence of knowing, negation. Now darkness is not to be treated; it is dispelled by the entrance of light. The absence of harmony is not to be cured, but nullified by the sweet concord of Truth. A negation is not a thing, but a denial of something. Thus through this scientific apprehension are we truly fasting —"refraining from admitting the claims of the senses," and preparing for the perpetual Eastertide of spiritualized consciousness; and hear the prophet's final benediction to those who fast righteously (Isa. 58:12): "And thou shalt be called. The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

John Randall Dunn