During my prayer session with the Hallow app tonight, this quote from St. Peter Chrysologus really hit home:

Fasting is the soul of prayer. Mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them. They cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing.

So if you pray, fast.

If you fast, show mercy.

If you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others.

If you do not close your ear to the others, you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others.

If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry.

If you hope for mercy, show mercy.

If you look for kindness, show kindness.

If you want to receive, give.

If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.”

May the Spirit open my heart and my ears so that I can hear what others are asking for so that I never deny them.

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