Penance, fasting

Saint John the Baptist, "the voice in the desert" who announced Jesus, lived as an ascetic. He fed on wild honey and locusts - James Tissot - Brooklyn Museum.

The privations of the flesh can obtain many Graces for the Souls, but they must be done with a supernatural and holy purpose.

In "The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me"

Fasting

• Why do the Disciples of John fast a lot and not yours? (Matthew 9:14-17 - Mark 2:18,22). – Gergesa
• When you fast, do not look sad as the hypocrites do.
• "But then what must we have to overcome these demons?" - "Prayer and fasting. Nothing else is needed. Pray and fast.
• He (Margziam) has understood so well in prayer what strength is, that he surpasses many adults," says Jesus. "Do you think he makes sacrifices with a fixed goal in mind?" asks Thomas. "I am certain."

Penance, austerity

• It is difficult to follow (the Baptist) in his penance. You are kinder and easier to love – And yet just as one hates him for his austerity, one will hate me for my goodness, because both announce God, and God is hated by the wicked.
• I need to snatch two Souls from Satan. Only penance can achieve this. I ask for your help.
• A simple spoonful of honey that one sacrifices can help bring Peace and hope to the afflicted, just as the fouace or other food, which one denies oneself for a purpose of love, can obtain a bread, miraculously given, to a hungry person far away who will always remain unknown to us.
  Likewise, a word of anger, even of just anger, restrained by spirit of sacrifice, can prevent a distant crime, just as resisting the desire to pick a fruit, out of love, can bring a pensée of regret to a thief and thus prevent a theft.
  Nothing is lost in the holy economy of universal love: not more the heroic sacrifice of a child before a plate of fouaces than the holocaust of a martyr. I tell you even that the holocaust of a martyr often has for origin the heroic education given to him since childhood for the love of God and neighbor.
• What about those unfortunate ones? God gave them time to do penance and they abuse it to sin. But God does not lose sight of them, even when it seems He does. A moment comes: like lightning that breaks even rock, the love of God breaks their Heart hard...
• He who begins penance from childhood will easily find the path to virtue throughout his life.
• I have understood that penance is a suffering for the flesh but a light for the spirit. I have understood that it is a means to strengthen our weakness and obtain much from God.

Asceticism, ascetic

• Account of the Temptation in the desert: "Here, I felt the weariness of the hero and the ascetic who, in an hour of premonition, realizes the uselessness of his effort... I wept..."
• Jesus comments to Elijah the Essene on true asceticism: "You sacrifice yourself for too little. Why? For whom? For how long? For human praise. For a mortal body. Raise your sacrifice. Believe in the true God, in the blessed resurrection, in the free will of man. Live as an ascetic, but for these supernatural reasons. And with your resurrected flesh you will taste eternal eternal joy."