"When you pray, pray first for the Holy Spirit because when you have the Holy Spirit, you have everything."        - Medjugorje April 4, 1985

"You have forgotten that through prayer and fasting you can avert wars and suspend the laws of nature."       - Medjugorje Dec. 2, 1982

The Apostolic Fast of Wednesdays and Fridays

In the Early Church, fasting (which included abstinence as part of it) was widely observed each week on Wednesday and Friday. This practice is kept by some pious Catholics and Eastern Catholics. On the rationale for fasting on these days, St. Peter of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria until his martyrdom in 311 AD explains: “On Wednesday because on this day the council of the Jews was gathered to betray our Lord; on Friday because on this day He suffered death for our salvation.”

Wednesday Penance in Memory of Judas’ Betrayal

In his entry for Spy Wednesday (i.e., the Wednesday of Holy Week), Dom Gueranger writes of the inexplicable connection between our Lord’s betrayal and the Church’s practice of Wednesday penance:

"Such is the impious scheme devised on this day, within the precincts of the temple of Jerusalem. To testify her detestation at it, and to make atonement to the Son of God for the outrage thus offered Him, the holy Church, from the earliest ages, has consecrated the Wednesday of every week to penance. In our own times, the fast of Lent begins on a Wednesday; and when the Church ordained that we should commence each of the four seasons of the year with fasting, Wednesday was chosen to be one of the three days thus consecrated to bodily mortification."

Friday Penance is in Memory of Our Lord’s Sacrifice on the Cross

The Didache, the Teaching of the Apostles, written by the end of the first century states in chapter 8: “But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but fast on the fourth day and the Preparation.” Since Sunday is the first day of the week, the fourth day referred to Wednesday and the day of Preparation referred to Friday. The phrase “day of preparation” preceding the sabbath on Saturday occurs in the Scriptures in Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; and John 19:14,31,42. All such instances unequivocally confirm that it refers to Friday.

Saturday Penance is in Memory of our Lord’s Time in the Tomb

Some places added Saturday fasting as well, as noted by St. Francis de Sales who writes, "The early Christians selected Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as days of abstinence” (Introduction to the Devout Life III, Chapter 23).

Saturday fasting eventually became extended to the entire Church in the early 400s by Pope Innocent I who wrote: "Reason shows most clearly that we should fast on Saturday, because it stood between the sadness [of Good Friday] and the joy [of Easter Sunday]” (Epistola 25 ad Decentium 4; Patrologia Latina 20:555). The Douay Catechism written in 1649 explains the rationale for Saturday abstinence, which was then still universally practiced, even though the weekly fast on Saturday had long ended by that time: “To prepare ourselves for a devout keeping of the Sunday, as also in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary, who stood firm in the faith on that day, the apostles themselves wavering” (Douay Catechism Q. 554 “Why Abstinence on Saturdays?”)

Likewise, the 1875 Catechism of Father Michael Müller adds: “This practice began with Christianity itself, as we learn from St. Epiphanius, who said: ‘It is ordained, by the law of the Apostles, to fast two days of the week.’” Some places also added Saturday fasting, as noted by St. Francis de Sales who wrote, “The early Christians selected Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday as days of abstinence.”

The Weekly Fast Is of Apostolic Origin Which Continued to Be Practiced by Christians for Centuries

Wednesday and Friday fasting continued for centuries with Wednesday fasting continuing for nearly 10 centuries as Father Slater notes in “A Short History of Moral Theology” published in 1909:

The obligation of fasting on all Wednesdays and Fridays ceased almost entirely about the tenth century, but the fixing of those days by ecclesiastical authority for fasting, and the desire to substitute a Christian observance at Rome for certain pagan rites celebrated in connection with the seasons of the year, seem to have given rise to our Ember Days.

About the tenth century the obligation of the Friday fast was reduced to one of abstinence from flesh meat, and the Wednesday fast after being similarly mitigated gradually disappeared altogether.

As a result, Ember Days are always Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. And while fasting laws did vary from place to place, some places kept Wednesdays with more rigor that others for centuries even after the 10^th century. For instance, in Ireland per the Irish Ecclesiastical Record: “…down to the middle of the seventeenth century…the use of meat was prohibited on all Wednesdays throughout the year.”

For Fridays, however, Catholics are still required to perform year-round penance (i.e. abstinence) on all Fridays of the year – not just those in Lent.

This was taken from Matthew Plese’s text,  “The Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.”

Thank you for fasting with us tomorrow – You will be glad you made the effort for all of eternity.

Why We Fast – Our Core Fasting Intentions

1) We add the new fasting intention of taking back the church from evil. We submit the three-step process to achieve this victory is 1-Repent, 2-Prayer & Fasting and, 3-Imitate our Savior by throwing the evil leadership from the church. We will seek to emulate the Savior in our effort to End The USCCB, an organization that has been devastating to the church.  (“You shall know the spirit by the fruits” - Matt. 7:16)

2) For the Holy Spirit to reign down upon America, renewing our land as the Christian, capitalist meritocracy we were founded to be.

3) For the protection of our police, firefighters, military and their families from harm and that the Lord bless their courageous generosity on our behalf.

4) For the protection of the families who fast with us, and for God’s blessings of abundance upon them and that true to His word, we will be able to witness that He prospered us in famine.

Would you like to learn more about fasting?

We maintain a repository of ideas and information we have learned over the last decade while fasting weekly for America. From scientific studies on the benefits of fasting, to the differences between intermittent dieting vs intermittent fasting, to scriptural references regarding the power of fasting to the history of first century Christians who stated believers are obligated to fast weekly, we hope you will find numerous insights with our free resource located here.

Together let us also implore Heaven while fasting for intentions you have highlighted:

4) For all patriots who put themselves on the front lines in combatting evil and for all of the warriors who are stepping up around the nation to fight for the gospel – May The Father cover them in the blood of our savior,  protect them and their families from evil and bring victory to their endeavors.

5) For priests, ministers and all who aspire to lead others to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit will reign down upon them as at Pentecost filling them to overflowing. 

6) For the Americans jailed after January 6th who were admitted to the Capitol building by the police, and who were not found to have destroyed any property at the capitol yet who have been held captive ever since on our own soil - That God's Spirit will move quickly to bring justice back to this land and free them.

Who We Are
St. Joseph Partners is a for-profit business that has funded Fast for America for over ten years. To the extent you support our work to renew America and if you understand why gold and silver protect believers' wealth in this world, please consider us or recommend us when you or someone you know buys or sells gold and silver. From our website www.StJosephPartners.com you can buy and sell dozens of types of precious metals. We close on Sundays to honor the Sabbath. Click here for a link where you can view a brief video about our firm and a brief video about why all investors and families should have some gold and silver in their portfolios.