"The fast itself is prayer. It is continuous, unceasing prayer.... Even if my other prayers are somehow reduced, my fast is praying always. It rises up to God like incense that never stops burning. Fasting as a prayer form expresses the weakness of [humans] and the power of God. Fasting is an embodiment of the truth that we depend, we need, we are weak...."

Fasting is silent prayer: prayer that goes on day and night during the fast: prayer of deep communion with Christ; acceptance of the vulnerability of Jesus of Nazareth and of his body; deep communion with the humiliations of so many human beings: youths, senior citizens, physically or mentally handicapped, sick people, dying people, and all those whose weakness and powerlessness come form the harshness of their own brothers and sisters; campesinos, untouchables from so many countries, refugees, women, poor, downtrodden, oppressed, prisoners, who might never taste anew the freedom and the company of their loved ones.