The Fast and the Opportunity for Renewal
The month of Ala (Loftiness) has arrived, this is the last month in the Baha’i year, and this is the last month of winter in the northern hemisphere. On March 21 spring and a new year arrives. The month of Ala, which is from sunset on March 1 to sunset on March 20, is the month of the nineteen day Fast. This is when Baha’is Fast from sunup to sundown in accordance with the commandments revealed in the Katib-i-Aqdas by Baha’u’llah.
The Fast, for me, is more the simply abstaining from food, it is a time to refocus one the things that are important. This year I am keeping a meditation journal during the Fast, the journal was an Ayyam-i-Ha gift, it contains a quote for each of the nineteen days to meditate on and then write short thoughts on the quote.
The quote, in the meditation journal, for the first day of the Fast has to do with fasting and obligatory prayer. The quote refers to fasting and obligatory prayer as wings which a person uses to fly to the paradise of God’s love. Indeed, God’s love is paradise and the only true paradise one finds. God’s love is also renewal and peace.
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