Truth

Truth comes only to those who must have it, who want it badly enough. And gifts of healing come only to those willing to change. Jesus had his demands even for the blind and leprous. Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam. Show yourself to the priest. Sin no more. He had larger demands for the rich. Sell all and come.

There is hope for us but no easy healing. There is truth but never without search.

There is beauty but only in the exercise of discipline and the control of waste. Our lives can be redeemed but only with lasting commitment to live under God's judgment and grace.

By Doris Janzen Longacre in the Foreword to Living More with Less page 15.

And, at the spring-time beginning of this new year, a re-posting of Flannery O'Connor's unadorned statement:

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

True fasting

It is necessary most of all for one who is fasting to curb anger, to accustom himself to meekness and condescension, to have a contrite heart, to repulse impure thoughts and desires, to examine his conscience, to put his mind to the test and to verify what good has been done by us in this or any other week, and which deficiency we have corrected in ourselves in the present week. This is true fasting.  - St. John Chrysostom

 As quoted by Molly Sabourin.