What past participants are saying:
Frequently Asked Questions
Those discerning participation often ask if every guideline for the disciplines of self-denial need to be followed to the exact letter. In general, the answer is yes, otherwise they wouldn’t have been written as such. However, women are in many different life stages, of varying ages and health needs. Please discern this seriously in prayer and decide what you can physically commit to for the fasting guidelines and if in doubt, follow the Maternity/Postpartum guidelines that make sufficient substitutions.
What about tv news?
no media is the prescribed mortification...and it’s for many reasons.
The sin of curiosity. There’s nothing wrong with being aware of current events, but it becomes sinful when we desire to know things and brood over them when we can’t change them. When we gossip about people or companies or events, that isn’t becoming of saints. When it drags us down simply because we desire to know things. It’s honestly stemming from the very beginning of sin...pride...
It takes time away from prayer and cultivating person to person relationship and / or charitable interactions. It disrupts our peace and is so much more likely to lead us to sin than not. I’m of the personal, humble opinion that when we get to stand before God He truly won’t ask us why we didn’t pay more attention to the media or current events. I believe He will ask us why we let the state of the world bog us down with despair or discouragement, scandal or distraction... He really will judge us more on our interior life and our faith lived out.
So I’d ask you to consider WHY you want to watch the news and the truly take it to prayer and ask God. It takes real discernment to decide that God called someone to Magnify 90 but yet would invite them to continue to partake of media.
The Lord will never not have us know something we need to know. It’s when we go looking for more that we take baby steps away from trust in Him. And then before we know it... we’ve moved right back into full on sin. If you are participating in Magnify, trust in Him and truly submit yourself to a desert experience. If we were able to really go into the desert like the great desert mothers and fathers...we wouldn’t be keeping up with the news! That’s kind of the whole point so that we can focus truly on our relationship with God….
What about anchors, accountability, or doing it as a group?
Technically no there's nothing specific about anchors and meetings held in a large format. Generally, these have sprung up organically in a variety of ways for each little group across the globe.
Some people have parish groups doing Magnify 90 together, some have a group of friends or acquaintances they're meeting with in person, and some ladies I have heard from are “zooming” or having other online meets, and some are just doing text check ins for accountability.
I do encourage women to get together in person as best they can, once a week at least, to pray together and for each other and their intentions. Sharing highs and lows would be beneficial to spark conversation, but in general, I’ve found that women don’t struggle nearly as much as men do to have deep and meaningful conversations and spiritual things. Thus, there’s no “group setting” requirement, per say. I do certainly endorse having an accountability group, especially to stay committed to the spiritual disciplines and mortifications. That could be incorporated into the high and low discussions and sharing advice on what works for maintaining the mortifications.
a formal outline would be:
begin with prayer - spontaneous and seeking intercession of Mary as Spouse of the Holy Spirit
have a presenter go over the theme for the week with anything that stuck out to them, or focusing on a scripture/CCC/saint quote that was impactful
have a guest presenter/zoom in speaker if an option
time for sharing highs and lows / what stuck out to individual women
shared prayer intentions
end with prayer such as litany of humility or other rote prayer from Magnify 90
optional fellowship time if anyone is able to stick around
an unformal outline would be:
just get together for a walk, a board game, a pietra fitness class, or something else that builds up sisterhood to helps with closeness and trust in spiritual companionship — and conversation would naturally be uplifting as all involved are seeking to grow in holiness through their Magnify 90.
What about the friday fast for those able to do it?
Regarding two small meals; there are many reasons I put this requirement. For many women, myself included, fasting is a trigger to mental health issues and past eating disorders (if you are currently recovering from one, please do the Maternity 90 option). Losing weight or finding our value in how well we eat is an attachment virtually all women suffer from. I wanted to include the small meals as a means to keep metabolism decent enough to stop women from falling into an eating disorder thing (binge/purge/OCD over eating as a result of starvation), yet also not making food (or lack there of) an idol.
I don’t think the “lent style” fast is quite right either. Because it mentions a regular size meal but two other meals that don’t equal that one... so what has happened to my husband and I in the past is we just adjusted our regular meal to be pretty large rather than take the other two meals, and then it didn’t feel like a real fast when we found ourselves eating a big dinner.
Fasting should be more prayerful than what we were doing. The harder, more disciplined, thing I found was to eat a little bit and stop. Doing that twice a day made sure that I wasn’t so famished that I couldn’t perform my duties at home/kids. Yet it was over-indulgent to the point of wondering if I really was fasting at all.
I fully believe God magnifies our efforts and any attempt at regulating the first world food consumption most of us have will surely prove a worthwhile endeavor. I just really pray this isn’t a trigger for women who like myself have a history with eating disorders or struggle with finding our worth in any adherence to a “diet” of sorts. Most men do not understand this and so this is why Magnify 90 tries to be tailored to a woman so much more than a men-specific journey ever could.
As you likely know, the point of fasting is to offer it up. To find solidarity with the poor. To recognize our true hunger is for Jesus the Bread of Life. So what does an appropriate fast look like for the Fridays during Magnify 90?
I suggest something to the effect of:
two deviled eggs and an apple with peanut butter with water or plain coffee/tea for mid morning or a lunchtime meal and then something like a medium portion of tuna salad on greens for dinner time meal with water or plain tea.
plain no sweetener oatmeal with a piece of fruit and later in the day a peanut butter sandwich with carrot sticks
scrambled eggs with greens and a piece of toast and then later in the day a salmon patty with sweet potato
The goal is plain, but nourishing enough to fulfill ones state in life.... On a final note, another food mortification option is not adding anything to coffee or tea, or not having any condiments with a meal.