Posted on 02/18/2015 5:44:53 PM PST by RnMomof7
My family and church (not RCC) observe Lent. There is no emphasis on fasting or giving something up, rather the emphasis is on the spiritual preparation for Holy Week and Easter. The sermons center around Christs final journey toward Jerusalem and the very significant miracles and discourses that happened during that time. I find it an edifying practice, but dont blame those who do not observe Lent
We also observe advent, but the emphasis is on preparation for Christs second coming. Preparing our hearts and meditating on the next physical appearance of our Lord while remembering the last. I find the rhythms of the liturgical church year add structure and enrich the worship services but ymmv.
History doesn’t bother me, but using history to “cherry pick” passages from the Bible do — that is, ignoring fasting and penance that is written in many places in the Bible.
“some people are much happier in their ignorance.” So you say.
Just a couple of facts... 1) The 10 commandments are old Testament with the purpose of leading men to Christ..
Gal.3: 24Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
2)The "commandment " says Keep the day "holy" (that is set aside) it says nothing about going to mass .. Rome says that
Mark 2: 27Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Fasting will not save you or add to your merit..Please show us where the NT church observed lent ...Facts are funny things
Matthew 22:37
Great scripture. Reminds me of liberals who boast, wear a ‘cause’ tee, or who adorn their Priuses with bumper stickers to ‘feel good’ about themselves.
Lent: One more made-up, unscriptural thing, along with
Last rites
Holy water
Rosary beads
Purgatory
Peter = rock on which church is built
Peter/rock = pope
...the list goes on...
I generally try to add a positive thing or habit to my life.
Lent makes as much sense as baptizing babies.
And what will that reward be for Catholics?
When IHS dissed the Pharisees for conspicuous displays of devotion, he said they did it in anticipation of praise.
On FreeRepublic and in other venues, a Catholic who chooses the OPTIONAL (youknow that, right? It’s OPTIONAL? A Catholic doesn’t HAVE to get ashes or even to go to Mass on Ash Wednesday) practice of having his forehead marked with ashes can be assured of being mocked.
So the comparison with the pharisees wouldn’t seem to hold up. They did it for praise. We do it in spite of insult, judgment, and contempt.
And as we continue to bash each other’s choice of Christianity, forms of self-denial (or not), ISIS continues their romp. Think those Coptic Christians ISIS did away with recently were concerned about which Christian or from of Christianity is more “right”?
As an aside, Aelfric reinforced his point by then telling of a man who refused to go to Church on Ash Wednesday and receive ashes; the man was killed a few days later in a boar hunt. Since the Middle Ages at least, the Church has used ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins.
Yikes!!!! We're all going to get eaten by wild pigs...HaHaHaHa...You're magisterium belongs on SNL....
There are times when I am quite astonished at the ignorance of the learned.
I don't keep Lent for merit or for a reward, anymore than I eat or make love or sleep for merit or a reward, or any more than I offer thanks before I eat for merit or a reward.
The grave peril of the pious, or ONE grave peril, is that they so readily forget the wonder of God's Love. We can turn in a heartbeat from meditation on the love to abuse of family members. Indeed, my hardest evangelical work (And I don't try to make people Catholic; I try to get them to entertain and to allow themselves to FEEL “the Love which moves the sun and other stars.” If they become Catholic, well, cool! But that's not what I'm about) ... my hardest evangelical work is with people brought up in households where the Love was professed — and the wives and the children were beaten.
And, I don't doubt that the evangelical professions were sincere. I just think they were SHALLOW.
And one REASON for that shallowness was the “looking in a mirror, walking away, and forgetting what you saw” phenomenon. In moments of grace, we are swept up in the Love. But then the bill-collector calls. And “straightway” we forget what we saw in the mirror.
Faithfulness is indeed a gift. It is also a virtue, and that means it must be practiced. So, how do we practice? We practice remembering!
And how to we remember in everyday life? We write ourselves notes. We turn our rings around or tie a string around our finger. We do simple homely things to prod our memory.
And so with ashes or the “penances” of Lent. At every meal, my self-imposed deprivation is a REMINDER — not just to remember but to meditate on the appalling mercy of God. The silliness, for such it is, of a smudge on the head is a “prompt” to consider that I, as insignificant (on the ‘merits’) as a streak of ashes, was yet deemed somehow worth the death of the Lord.
Lent is not to EARN something, any more than a diet is to earn something. I am healthier if I control my eating. I am happier if I control my memory by directing it more often to the mighty acts of God.
And if God's Church is directed by his mercy to provide me with companions on the way, and if we laugh about chocolate or sugar or our TV show or what have you, well, go ahead and mock. We are merrily journeying to the death of the Cross and to what lies beyond. A little laughter, even judgment and contempt, they won't hinder us much.
The perfection, as he tells us, of the writer is admirable. But I think that rather than admire him, I will be wily (PS. 18: 26)with my crooked self and with humble and silly tricks beguile it into recalling the Love of God.
Oh, their all going to stew in the boiling sewage pits of hell blah, blah, blah.
Its never ending on this site.
You're too kind.
Sometimes it seems some folks wouldn't have a religion at all if it weren't for Catholicism -so they could be Not Catholic.
Quite sad, and yes, shallow.
Great video
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