Dear Ones,
Because of the dire situation in Israel/Palestine, I am sending out world peace emails more frequently. Please feel free to join our Prayers on Zoom, or simply pray on your own. All prayers are helpful.
There are many prayer efforts for peace happening around the globe at this time. The quote further 
below is from Our Lady of Medjugorje. Swami Kriyananda wrote of his visit in 2009 to Medjugorje. He had a special devotion to Divine Mother and aspired to visit the various places on earth where She had made appearances, such as Lourdes, Guadalupe, and Medjugorje. He wrote of his beautiful experience in Medjugorje in an email to us all, now posted on ananda.org: My Visit to Medjugorje.
A few times a year I still follow the messages from Medjugorje and they are almost entirely about personal devotion and transformation. So I was struck by this message, below, regarding the world situation. It gave me encouragement when I needed inspiration regarding our prayers for peace and healing. Sometimes our efforts may feel insignificant in the face of the great need, our prayers add light and healing at a time of great need.
Following is the message of Divine Mother given through Ivan Dragicevic on October 20, 2023:
“Dear children! Today I invite you to pray for peace. At this time, peace is threatened in a special way, and I ask you to renew fasting and prayer in your families and to encourage others to pray for peace. Dear children, I want you to understand the seriousness of the situation and that much of what will happen depends on your prayer and perseverance. Dear children, I am with you and I invite you to seriously start praying and fasting, Thank you for responding to my call!”
Fasting for Healing of Body, Mind and Soul
“Jesus did not dismiss the value of fasting with its spiritualizing influence on the minds of men. Periodic fasting, if properly done, not only promotes health of the body and clarity of the mind, but helps to free the soul from the bondage of body consciousness. It impresses the consciousness with the knowledge that the body is not dependent on food alone for sustenance, but on the Divine Spirit. Fasting and meditation are thus effective aids in realizing one’s connection with God…” Second Coming of Christ, by Paramhansa Yogananda
Yogananda gave many instructions on fasting which are influded in the book, Divine Will Healing. If you choose to fast, I would suggest you start small, perhaps with a partial fast. 
Yogananda said it is very helpful for yogis to fast one day a week, and three consecutive days a month. He suggested fasting on fresh orange juice or milk. If that is too difficult at first, then limit your meals to one or two small meals on your fasting days – just enough to take the edge off. You get the idea. Take a step in that direction and see what works for you. The simplicity of fasting frees up our time and energy for God.
Years ago I did a special healing fast where I ate only one tiny meal a day; then on the alternate day, I would eat normally. I did this “alternate day diet” for many months. This did help me lose weight as well as heal asthma. I found it helpful on fasting days to summon more energy in through the medulla, a.k.a. “the mouth of God.” I could feel the energizing force of it, and I felt uplifted into a state of spiritual grace. It was easier to pray deeply at any time of the day – not just after meditation
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus Christ, Matthew 4:4
However, I found fasting to be very difficult after my beloved husband, Timothy, died in 2012. The fasting, even years later, released intense and raw feeling of tears and grief, when oherwise I had been doing well. I don’t know why the fasting triggered such crying. Sometimes I could do a partial, modest fast, and I found that a tiny glass of milk was soothing and helped me to complete the fasting day with peace. Even so, I still tread lightly with fasting. So, out of respect for everyone’s individual realities, I recommend starting modestly, and growing from there. A good beginner step might be to simply set the habit of 2 or 3 meals a day, and no snacks. Do what makes sense for your individual needs.
I hope you find these insights helpful.
Blessings,
Mary Kretzmann
Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry
PS – The Prayer Zoom links and times are listed in the first message of this series: Pray for Peace – You will also find helpful links in the comment section there.
6 Comments
In addition, I had a naturopath who told me that some broth with butter melted in it doesn’t take the digestive system out of its state of rest (which even orange juice or milk would, to an extent–the former has a lot of sugar in it, and many people have a hard time digesting the standard store-bought kind of milk, particularly). So we could use some veggie broth with melted butter in it during a liquids-only fast, with the butter providing something that sticks to the ribs a bit more. I find that I can easily do an all-day liquids-only fast with a bowl or two of this broth late in the day. Every once in a while, I have a day when I naturally feel quite disinclined to eat, so I seize those when they arrive to fast. That way, I’m not fighting my instincts too much, but instead going along with them.
Thank you for your thoughts. I use raw milk when I fast, but I didn’t want to make the post complicated. Your ideas are good and may help others.
Thank you, Mary! I find your suggestions and information on fasting very helpful. “Do what makes sense for your individual needs” is the key to keep it simple and be free to focus more time on God. It’s such a blessing to have you in my life, our lives – the Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry is miraculous in so many ways.
Thank you for your kind words, and I am happy to know that the blog was helpful to you.
Dearest Mary, thank you for your beautiful, powerful, timely message. So practical for fasting and wonderfully heartfelt!
Much love, gratitude and joy to you and all,
Priyala
Thank you, Priyala, for your kind words.