Posted on 02/25/2009 10:14:24 AM PST by NYer
Lenten ping!
Again this year I’ve given up self-denial for Lent. LOL
Can. 1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe.
Can. 1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Interesting that the RCC has pretty much declared war on Passover, which is theoretically the precursor to Good Friday (timing issues aside), with that last one.
When has the Catholic church declared war on Passover. Most of our Catholic traditions, which are ridiculed by other Christians, have some origin in the Jewish tradition. We are of Jewish origin.
On another note I would say self denial is an absolute practical necessity. Given our propensity to eat, drink, smoke, and lust ourselves to death. A little self control is a good thing.
Nonsense. You obviously don’t understand the distinction between the Passover of the Jews and the Passover of Christ.
I fail to see what you are talking about. Perhaps you could explain.
Lamb? Check.
Matzah? Check.
Wine? Check.
Enough of all three that the disciples were having trouble staying awake an hour later? Check.
I don't know what "passover" you think you're celebrating on Good Friday, but if it forgoes the above, it isn't the Passover that Messiah kept, calendrical quibbles aside.
Shalom.
Indeed it isn’t, and the difference is far from being merely gastronomical. In fact, the early Church ensured that the Christian Pascha never coincides with the Jewish Passover for a reason: two different events are celebrated, the Passion of Christ and the Exodus from Egypt.
You're criticizing us for giving up the symbol in favor of the reality to which the symbol pointed. It's sort of like complaining that marriage doesn't look like betrothal.
I think the term “RCC” should pretty much be an indicator as to where they are coming from. It’s almost like the modern version of “spick”. It never fails to come from a poster with some sort of distorted knowledge of the ominious “RCC”, as defined by Hollywood or other “Christians”.
I do give Evangelical Christians a lot of credit for their apostolic zeal. As a matter of fact, I love it. But the fact that anyone can just pitch a tent and claim to know and spread the word of God is scary. I guess explains a lot of the misinformation.
I would disagree with Brother Murphy. Please note the following pieces of scripture on fasting:
Psa 69:10 When I wept, [and chastened] my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
1Cr 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except [it be] with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Fasting, btw, is not “morally neutral”. From these (and other scriptures) we see that fasting is a recognition of our weakness and sole dependency on God to sustain us.
But humility is a virtue.
I think you are misunderstanding his statement. He attempts to explain that (the act)of fasting is neutral but since it gives us virtue, and it is the (virtue) that we strive for, it is good. The passages you posted support that assertion.
I find it interesting how you come to the same conclusion in an attempt to explain your disagreement. Is it the different faith that you disagree with maybe?
40 Ways to Improve Your Lent
Everything Lent (Lots of links)
The Best Kind of Fasting
Getting Serious About Lent
Lent Overview
Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ [Devotional]
On Lent... and Lourdes (Benedict XVI's Angelus address)
Lent for Newbies
Lent -- 2008 -- Come and Pray Each Day
Lent: Why the Christian Must Deny Himself
Lenten Workshop [lots of ideas for all]
Lent and Reality
Forty Days (of Lent) [Devotional/Reflections]
Pope Benedict takes his own advice, plans to go on retreat for Lent
GUIDE FOR LENT - What the Catholic Church Says
Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2008
40 Days for Life: 2008 Campaigns [Lent Registration this week]
Vatican Web Site Focuses on Lent
Almsgiving [Lent]
Conversion Through Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving [Lent]
Feasting on Purple [Lent]
Lent: A Time for Prayer, Reflection and Giving
Denver Archbishop’s Lenten Message: “Restore us as a culture of Life”
Where does Ash Wednesday get its ashes?
Catholic Caucus: Daily Rosary Prayer for Lent
On the 40 Days of Lent General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI
Lenten Stations -- Stational Churches - visit each with us during Lent {Catholic Caucus}
Something New for Lent: Part I -- Holy Souls Saturdays
Reflections for Lent (February, March and April, 2007)
Lent 2007: The Love Letter Written by Pope Benedict
Pre-Lent through Easter Prayer and Reflections -- 2007
Stations of the Cross [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
For study and reflection during Lent - Mind, Heart, Soul [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fast-Family observance Lenten season [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Pre-Lenten Days -- Family activities-Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
40 Ways to Get the Most Out of Lent! [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Lenten Fasting or Feasting? [Catholic Caucus]
Pope's Message for Lent-2007
THE TRUE NATURE OF FASTING (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
The Triduum and 40 Days
The Three Practices of Lent: Praying, Fasting. Almsgiving
Why We Need Lent
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2006
Lent a Time for Renewal, Says Benedict XVI
Why You Should Celebrate Lent
Getting the Most Out of Lent
Lent: A Time to Fast From Media and Criticism Says President of Pontifical Liturgical Institute
Give it up (making a Lenten sacrifice)
The History of Lent
The Holy Season of Lent -- Fast and Abstinence
The Holy Season of Lent -- The Stations of the Cross
Lent and Fasting
Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots [Shrove Tuesday]
Kids and Holiness: Making Lent Meaningful to Children
Ash Wednesday
All About Lent
Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"
But humility is something that you cannot seek. When you think you are humble, then your really not. When others say you are humble, then you immediately become proud and lose it. Humility is a very fleeting thing. It is there when you are most unaware of it and when no one around you recognizes it. It disappears when you recognize it or others remark about it. You can't fast your way to humility and expect it to POP up. It won't happen simply because you want it to happen.
Litany of Humility
O Jesus meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
Deliver me, Jesus:
From the desire of being esteemed,
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred to others,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
That others may be esteemed more than I,
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease,
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.
It is true that one cannot just decide to be humble, and that ostentation destroys humility. It has to be a work of prayer as well as fasting. It can also be gained without fasting (sort of like weight can be gained without eating more), but fasting, if undertaken with proper mental attitude, helps. This is why we recommend fasting, and we have examples of Jesus and many saints who also fasted. Seek! I have it on good authority that you shall find.
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