With barely a week’s notice, our parishes (St. Joseph, Ottumwa and St. Mary Magdalen, Bloomfield) have lost our parochial vicar and, for an unknown amount of time, no replacement is coming. Our pastor, Father Joseph Sia, needs your help as he begins serving both parishes alone. Your prayers and sacrifices can support him, especially your fasting.
Please sign up for a day, or several days, using the calendar on this page. More information about the fasting that we are doing can be found below the calendar. If you have any trouble signing up, please contact John Oven at johnoven@gmail.com or (641) 208-2661. Thank you!
To sign up for a day, select the day on the calendar, select the only available time (12pm), and click “Next”. Then enter your details and click “Schedule Event”. You should get a reminder email and text around noon the day before your fasting day.
Sunday is excluded as it is the Lord’s day and thus unsuited to penance. If any other day on the calendar is grayed out, that means someone has signed up to fast that day. The calendar only allows one person per day but that does not mean you cannot fast for Father on the same day as someone else. We would, however, prefer that all days of the month are filled as a show of support for Father.
On the day of your fast, your fasting should be only for the intentions of Father Joseph Sia. These include: his sanctification in general, specific spiritual and temporal needs, and his ever-deepening devotion to Our Lady, Mother of Priests. In addition, we will be offering our fasts for Father Joseph Sia’s increased devotion to St. Joseph, model of fortitude and purity.
There are not strict rules associated with this fast. Each person chooses what type of fast he/she will offer, e.g. no food all day, only bread and water, not eating until 3 p.m., no eating from dinner the evening before until dinner the next day — whatever he/she discerns from the Holy Spirit. It should be sacrificial.
Why it matters
Holy Mother Church is under attack like never before. Our priests daily face the brunt of Satan’s brutal assault. Like officers bravely leading the charge into battle, our priests need the support of the entire Church Militant. Jesus tells us of how to fight the most powerful devils: “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). We must stand with our priests, especially when it feels like no one else will.