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27,
2010 |
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Baoutha Begins for Chaldeans -
3 Days of Fasting
The
English word breakfast, in fact, means the meal that breaks
the fast. Fasting is on the mind of many Chaldeans as they
enter their second day of a three day Baoutha fast. Fasting
is the voluntary avoidance of something that is good. When
Chaldean Catholics talk about fasting, they normally mean
restricting the food that they eat. Depending on the fast,
Chaldeans will abstain between meals and the more disciplined
and spiritual Chaldeans will fast from mostly all food.
While fasting takes the form of refraining from eating, it is
primarily a spiritual discipline designed to tame the body so
that the faithful can concentrate on higher things.
Annually Chaldeans fast for three days in observance of
Baoutha; a community promise made to God centuries ago. (Click
here to learn more about Baoutha)
This year Community leaders are asking Chaldeans to turn their
prayers and alms towards the needy of Iraq. Death tolls
continue to skyrocket in Iraq over unsafe conditions and lack
of security. “To put it in perspective it is like ten Haiti
in Iraq,” says Andrew Ishaya of Turlock, California. “It sure
would be nice for to have a $60 million telethon for the war
causalities. Until that time, I will use my Baoutha Fast as
an appeal for mercy to the innocent men, women, and children
of Iraq. And whatever money I can save from my fast I will
donate to an Iraqi orphanage my church is helping to support.”
“Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the
Christian disciplines,” says www.CHALDEAN.org spiritual
columnist Frank Dado. “Through fasting and prayer, the Holy
Spirit can transform our lives. Fasting and prayer can also
work on a much grander scale. According to Scripture, personal
experience and observation, I am convinced that when God's
people fast with a proper Biblical motive, repentant, and
contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven and heal our lives,
our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting
and prayer can bring about revival - a change in the direction
of our nation and the nations of earth.”
Ironically the Baoutha fast commerourates a Chaldean Bishop’s
plea, founded on God’s command of Jonah to help the people of
Nineveh (modern day northern Iraq), during a plague.
Chaldean Churches in Iraq hold a special Mass to rally the
community behind the centuries old promise to God by the
Chaldean people. In Iraq, during the three day fast the
Chaldean diet varies. Mostly the Chaldean faithful will
abstain from meat and dairy. Those with special needs may
modify the time when they fast.
Iraqi Chaldeans would fast from meat and diary limiting their
meals for three days to vegetables, herbs, soups, rice, and
fish. Leafy vegetables like spinach and parsley are often
favored due to their cost and easy access.
The intent of the fast is to self-impose a restriction that is
challenging enough to make you mindful of prayer and
reflective of the suffering of others.
Fasting coincides with prayer and almsgiving (charity) says
Dado. “By controlling the passions of the body, we free our
souls for prayer. And by refraining from eating, we free up
food or money that we can give to those less fortunate than
ourselves. The three spiritual disciplines go hand in hand,
and the Church calls us to practice all three together,
especially during fasting.
The Chaldean Church like all Christians of the Catholic family
encourage individual Catholics to observe a stricter fast.
Extreme fasting, however, can be physically harmful, so, as
with all physical forms of penance and of spiritual
discipline, Chaldeans should consult their physicians and
parish priest before embarking on a very strict fast.
Source
http://www.chaldean.org/Home/tabid/36/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/505/Baoutha-Begins-for-Chaldeans--3-Days-of-Fasting.aspx
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