7 Mar | a.m.

Blessed is he that observeth the fast wholly for Thy sake and with absolute detachment from all things except Thee.

- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá'u'lláh, p. 10

[Fasting] essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desired."

- From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, January 10, 1936