Page 76 - Nurturing the Nurturer 2018 Flip Page Program

FASTING (can be a form of intercessory prayer)
For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food in a spirit of penance and/or

intercession.

Fasting is not a mere diet, with the simple desire to lose a few extra pounds. Rather, the
purpose of fasting is to please God, convert our hearts as well as to beg for the conversion of
others. In other words, fasting must have a horizontal or supernatural intention!

In addition to reducing our food intake, there are many forms of fasting. Some examples are:
Eating less and receiving the most Holy Eucharist more; controlling our tongue; living the
heroic moment (getting out of bed without hitting the snooze button); controlling our

wandering eyes; punctuality; listening to others and finally, fostering gratitude and not
complaining.

VISUAL PRAYER

Visual prayer is using your imagination and your memory to pray typically without words. It

can be a form of intercessory prayer. For example: picturing in your mind the angels and the
saints worshipping God in heaven and joining with their sentiments of adoration or thinking
about your husband at work and imagining his guardian angel protecting him. Another
example would be to imagine that you are in the sanctuary in front of the tabernacle sitting in
God’s presence.

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