The Worth of a Well-Tested Abstinence

If you want to test the force of this rule, keep to this limit continually. Never depart from it by taking any cooked food, even on Sunday or Saturday, or when any of the brothers arrive. For the flesh, refreshed by these exceptions, is able not only to support itself on a smaller amount through the rest of the week, but can also put off all refreshment without difficulty, since it is sustained by the extra food it has taken beyond the limit. But the man who has always been satisfied with the full amount of the measure we have mentioned will never be able to do this, nor to put off breaking his fast until the next day. For I remember that our elders (and I recall that we ourselves often had the same experience) found this abstinence so hard and difficult to practice, and kept the rule laid down with such pain and hunger, that it was almost against their will, and with tears and lamenting, that they set this limit to their meals.