Fasting--Days 23, 24, and 25

Saint Paula the Venerable of Rome

Today (January 26) is the Feast Day of Saint Paula on the Orthodox calendar. She lived from 347 to 404 and was one of the early Desert Mothers. She was born into one of the wealthiest senatorial families of the time, married well, and gave birth to five children. When she 32 years old her husband suddenly died, leaving her widowed. This caused her reexamine her life and she gradually became more and more devoted to Christ.

Saint Paula eventually made the decision to go into the desert to live a monastic life. She took with her a large group of unmarried woman and another large group of widows like herself. Paula found founded two separate convents in order to accommodate the needs of the different women. Although the two groups lived separately, they worshiped together and chanted the entire Book of Psalms every single day which all of the sisters had to know by heart. Additionally, each sister was required to chose a passage from the the Holy Scriptures to memorize and meditate upon throughout the day. (You may recall from an earlier post that this is what Eknath Easwaran teaches people to do in his book Passage Meditation.) Saint Paula herself was said to have become so familiar with the Holy Scriptures that she could respond to almost any situation with a perfectly appropriate passage.

Saint Jerome says that she was the living image of all the virtues, assiduous in prayer, eager at work, disciplined in fasting. She was lavish only in alms giving and in her love for the poor. Every earthly blessing that came her way she immediately distributed to those in need, as she could not bear to send anyone away hungry or in rags. When she was lying on her death bed after a long illness, her face suddenly lit up as she heard Christ speak to her, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone" (Song of Songs 2:10-11). And she relied to Him, "The time of harvest has come. I shall truly see the good things of the Lord in the Land of the Living." At that moment, she gave up her soul into the hands of her Creator.

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Day 23 (January 24): My weight was 91.4, my blood pressure was 96/68, my pulse was 96 (high), my temperature was 98.2. Dr. Linzner, who is the one that mostly checks me every morning, feels the high pulse is indicative of detoxification. He said he has seen the pulse go up to 110 and stay there for days on some some people. My urine test showed that "specific gravity" was good, which means that I am consuming enough water. My urine is still quite dark. Only slept 1.5 hour, bad night. Moderate lower GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 24 (January 25): My weight was 90.6, my blood pressure was 94/66, my pulse was 76, and my temperature was 98.1. I enjoyed a wonderful 6 hours of sleep last night. What a blessed gift! My urine does not seem to be quite so dark today. All the doctors are impressed with how strong I am, and with how well I seem to be holding up. Dr. Linzner told me that he is worthless on a fast after about 3 days and just cannot believe how great I'm doing. High level of lower GI gas (extremely annoying!), no bowel activity. I am feeling quite good overall. My acupuncturist came to give me a treatment again today. He said my eyes and my complexion look so much better than they did when he saw me on Friday. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 25 (January 26): My weight was 90.2, my blood pressure was 94/66, my pulse was 68, and my temperature was 98.1. Slept 4 hours. My mouth is starting to feel cleaner, and the water is starting to taste better again. Had blood drawn today and will get results tomorrow morning. High levels of lower GI gas (really the most troublesome symptom I am having), no bowel activity. I felt very good overall again today. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Many of you have been asking me for information on how to prevent ourselves from becoming infected with parasites. Here is an article on Parasite Prevention by Dr. Glenn Wilcox. I must say that after reading it, I came to the conclusion that it might be easier to just do periodic parasite cleanses or other types of treatments than to follow all of the hygienic recommendations outlined in this article. But you can read it and decide for yourself.

I have added several new informational Pages to my blog:

WHY DO A WATER FAST?

FASTING TESTIMONIALS 

The links are in the column to right of my posts under "My Pages.".

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If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta