Week 6 Desire

Fasting

Learning you are not the slave of your cravings.

IThe Scripture

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

Read these slowly, aloud, before you say anything of your own.

“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness… and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”Matthew 4:1–2

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”Psalm 42:1–2

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”John 6:35

“Walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.”Galatians 5:16

IIThe Opposite Passion

Gastrimargia

Gluttony

The Desiring Faculty

The anxious urge to overconsume and hoard — to secure yourself by feeding yourself.

Gluttony isn’t only about food. The desert fathers saw it as the first foothold of the desiring soul — the reflex to soothe every discomfort by consuming something: food, snacks, screens, videos, more, now. It promises to fill you and leaves you needing the next hit.

Fasting is the direct attack: you feel the craving, you don’t obey it, and you discover you don’t die. ‘Hunger and thirst for righteousness’ takes that same engine — desire — and aims it at God, the one hunger that actually gets satisfied: ‘they shall be filled.’ Every growl becomes a reminder: I am hungrier than this for God.

IIIConsider Together

What’s one craving that feels like it runs you — that you obey the second you feel it?

Most things you really want never actually satisfy you. Why do you think that is?

IVThe Practice & The Skill

Fasting • the skill of consolation & desolation

Back to Ignatius, stuck in his bed. As he read, he noticed his insides kept shifting. When he daydreamed about his old life — glory, partying, conquest — it was exciting in the moment but left him flat and empty afterward. When he imagined giving his life to God, the joy stayed. Same man, same bed — two completely different inner trails.

The tradition gives these names. Consolation: an increase of faith, hope, and love — a settled, alive pull toward God. Desolation: the opposite — heaviness, discouragement, a sense God is far away. Tell your guys plainly: desolation is normal. It doesn’t mean something is wrong with them, or that God left. Fasting makes these movements loud, so you can learn to read them.

A word of care: with teenagers, be wise about food fasting. For some it’s good practice; for athletes, or anyone with any history around food, a screen, game, or habit fast is the far better call. Default to those unless you know the young man and his family are fully on board.

VFrom the Fathers

Voices from the desert, the cloister, and the long line of men who walked this road before you.

“Fasting is the support of our soul; it gives us wings to mount up high.”

John Chrysostom · Homilies on Fasting c. 347–407

“Resist the beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the evil has gained strength by long delay.”

Thomas à Kempis · The Imitation of Christ 1380–1471

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

C. S. Lewis · Mere Christianity 1898–1963

“More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.”

Richard Foster · Celebration of Discipline b. 1942

“Do not look for pleasure, but turn away from the things that satisfy your senses and your mind, and look for God in hunger and thirst and darkness, through the deserts of the spirit.”

Thomas Merton · New Seeds of Contemplation 1915–1968

“The addict, or the sinner, does not actually enjoy the world so much as he is enslaved to it.”

Richard Rohr · The Universal Christ b. 1943

VIFor Your Life Today

A word for you, the one who leads — how this lands in a thirteen-year-old's real week.

At this age the wanting gets loud — food, phones, games, attention, and yes, sexual desire. The lie underneath all of it is, ‘I have to obey every craving the second I feel it.’ Fasting disproves that lie in the most direct way possible: you feel the want, you don’t act, and you don’t die. You’re bigger than your cravings.

That’s one of the most freeing things a young man can learn. Keep the fast doable and lean toward screens and habits over food. And keep returning to the language of consolation and desolation — it gives them a map for an interior life they’ve never had words for.

VIIConsider Together

When have you done something ‘fun’ that left you emptier afterward, like Ignatius’s daydreams?

What’s one thing you could fast from for a few days — and what might that teach you?

The Practice of the Week

‹ Week 5 Week 7 ›

Week 6 · Student HandoutTuesday, September 22

Fasting

Fasting · the skill of consolation & desolation

Scripture

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness… and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” — Matthew 4:1–2

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” — Psalm 42:1–2

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” — John 6:35

“Walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.” — Galatians 5:16

The Opposite Passion · Gluttony Gastrimargia

The anxious urge to overconsume and hoard — to secure yourself by feeding yourself.

From the Fathers

“Fasting is the support of our soul; it gives us wings to mount up high.”
— John Chrysostom · Homilies on Fasting (c. 347–407)

“Resist the beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the evil has gained strength by long delay.”
— Thomas à Kempis · The Imitation of Christ (1380–1471)

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
— C. S. Lewis · Mere Christianity (1898–1963)

“More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.”
— Richard Foster · Celebration of Discipline (b. 1942)

“Do not look for pleasure, but turn away from the things that satisfy your senses and your mind, and look for God in hunger and thirst and darkness, through the deserts of the spirit.”
— Thomas Merton · New Seeds of Contemplation (1915–1968)

“The addict, or the sinner, does not actually enjoy the world so much as he is enslaved to it.”
— Richard Rohr · The Universal Christ (b. 1943)

Talk About It

What’s one craving that feels like it runs you — that you obey the second you feel it?
Most things you really want never actually satisfy you. Why do you think that is?
When have you done something ‘fun’ that left you emptier afterward, like Ignatius’s daydreams?
What’s one thing you could fast from for a few days — and what might that teach you?

The Practice of the Week · Fast From One Thing

Choose one thing to fast from this week — a game, social media, sweets, or a meal if that’s wise for you. Each time the craving hits, don’t obey it. Take a breath and pray one line: ‘Jesus, I’m hungrier for you than for this.’ Each night, write down one moment you felt drawn toward God (consolation) and one you felt flat or far (desolation). You’re learning to read your own insides.

Pick ONE thing to fast from — real, but doable.
When the craving hits: breathe, and pray one line.
Notice what the wanting is really about.
Each night, name one consolation and one desolation.

Each day: A growl, a craving, a reach for the phone — let each one become a tiny prayer: “I am hungrier for you.”

May your hungers stop ruling you, and may they all begin to point you home.