Posted on 12/12/2013 3:57:12 AM PST by markomalley
I was explaining to a new Catholic recently that the color purple (violet) used in advent is akin to its use in Lent, in that both are considered penitential seasons. Hence we are to give special attention to our sins and our need for salvation. Traditionally Advent was a time we would, like Lent take part in penitential practices such as fasting and abstinence.
Of course, in recent decades Advent has almost wholly lost any real penitential practices. There is no fasting or abstinence required, they are not really even mentioned. Confession is encouraged and the readings still retain a kind of focus on repentance and a focus on the Last Judgment.
But long gone are the days of a forty day fast beginning on Nov 12. The observances in the period of the Middle Ages were every bit as strict as Lent. St. Martin’s Feast Day was a day of carnival (which means literally “farewell to meat” (carnis + vale)). In those days the rose vestments of Gaudete (Rejoice Sunday) were really something to rejoice about, since the fast was relaxed for a day. Then back into the fast until Christmas. Lent too began with Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), as the last of the fat was used used up and the fast was enjoined beginning the next day.
And the fast and abstinence were far more than the tokenary observances we have today. In most places, all animal products were strictly forbidden during Advent and Lent. There were many regional differences about the rest of the details. While most areas permitted fish, others permitted fish and fowl. Some prohibited fruit and eggs, and some places like monasteries ate little more than bread. In some places, on Fridays of Lent and Advent, believers abstained from food for an entire day; others took only one meal. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening, when a small meal without vegetables or alcohol was eaten.
Yes, those were the day of the Giants! When fasting and abstinence were real things.
Our little token fast on only two days (and only in Lent) really isn’t much of a fast: two small meals + one regular meal; is that really a fast at all? And we abstain from meat only on the Fridays of Lent, instead of all forty days.
What is most remarkable to me is that such fasts of old were undertaken by men, women and children who had a lot less to eat than we do. Not only was there less food, but is was far more seasonal and its supply less predictable. Further, famines and food shortages were more a fact of life than today. Yet despite all this they were able to fast, and twice a year at that, for eighty days total. There were also “ember days” sporadically through the year when a day long fast was enjoined.
Frankly I doubt we moderns could pull off the fast of the ancients, and even the elders of more recent centuries. Can you imagine all the belly-aching (pun intended) if the Church called us to follow the strict norms of even 200 years ago? We would hear that such demands were unrealistic, even unhealthy.
Perhaps it is a good illustration of how our abundance enslaves us. The more we get, the more we want. And the more we want the more we think we can’t live without. To some degree or another we are so easily owned by what we claim to own, we are enslaved by our abundance and we experience little freedom to go without.
I look back to the Catholics of 100 years and before and think of them like giants compared to us. They had so little compared to me, but they seem to have been so much freer. They could fast. And though poor, they built grand Churches and had large families. They crowded into homes and lived and worked in conditions few of us would be able to tolerate today. And sacrifice seemed more “normal” to them. I have not read of any huge outcries from those times, that the mean nasty Church imposed fasting and abstinence in Advent and Lent. (Though certainly there were exceptions for the very young, the old the sick, and also pregnant women). Neither have I read of outcries of the fasting from midnight before receiving Communion. Somehow they accepted these sacrifices and were largely able to undertake them. They had a freedom that I think many of us lack.
And then too, imagine the joy when, for a moment the fast lifted in these times: Immaculate Conception, Gaudete, Annunciation, St. Joseph’s Feast day, Laetare Sunday. Imagine the joy. For us its just a pink candle and a pondering, “Rejoice? Over what?” For them these were actual and literal “feast days.”
I admit, I am a man of my time and I find the fasting and abstinence described above nearly “impossible.” I did give up all wine for this Advent. Last Lent I banished radio and TV. But something makes me look back to the Giants of old, who, having far less than I, did such things as a matter of course.
There were giants in those days!
Msgr Pope ping
In truth, Advent is more of a time to PREPARE, not PENENCE. LENT is the REAL season of PENENCE.
Yes, we NEED to repent, but also to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Think of a woman who is expecting.
God Bless Msgr. Pope!
Join the Orthodox church; fasting is a central part of the faith.
When there’s no Advent, except on Sundays, the whole concept is pretty much lost. “Christmas” started the first week of November, and it stops cold on December 26.
Fish on Friday? You could see the Catholic Church, and the country, slipping way back then when the “practice” was “eased”...nothing surprises me now. I wasn’t Catholic back then, but always ate fish on Friday. I had no choice at the school lunch counter. Imagine enforcing (imposing?) that practice today. Don’t tell me we haven’t LOST something as a nation.
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It’s funny how people will accept any kind of food restrictions when they believe it’s for their physical benefit, but the idea of a spiritual discipline is something else again.
Like Msgr. Pope, full disclosure ... I’m an on-again, off-again anorexic, so fasting isn’t the smartest thing for me. It doesn’t take much to trip the switch for “Let me show you how little I can eat.” Prayer and almsgiving are safer.
When it comes to penence, think of the very short days and very long nights of winter. Often very cold with the possible reality of getting a snow storm or two. That is why I use midnight blue for my Advent candles and a much warmer pink.
As someone who is dealing with bad knees, that is my PENENCE right there in regards to the COLD weather.
Please see post number 9. Thank-you.
Not being universal, it was an option for the Pope to change. I believe that's true.
People aren't consistent, are they?
Prayer and almsgiving are not only safer, they are FAR easier, especially for me. No sacrifice.
The way I see it, it’s not “penance” if you’re giving in to temptation, doing what you want to do but shouldn’t. I fight the temptation to go “incorporeal” most of the time.
We are to prepare for the second coming of Jesus, He already came as a baby...which we will celebrate on Christmas....but His second coming is worthy of preparation. This reminds us to do so. That preparation may include fasting and penance. I just really have a pet peeve about taking all the joy out of the season.
Alve and well at our church. We had a Faith Formation for adults last night and the presenter talked about all the Old Testament characters who foretold and waited for Christ.
Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, David and on. We did a lot of Bible Study of the prophecies of Isaiah that are read during the four Sundays of Advent.
Then we talked about the Jesse Tree and how it mirrors the preparation of the Coming of Jesus and talked about using a Jesse Tree in our homes, so that not until we would get to Jesus would we even put up our Christmas tree!
It was great. We had only soup and bread to eat too!
I agree, I still stick to my Fish on Friday!
Alive and well at our church
Sounds like a great presentation. I did a short presentation on the Jesse Tree for our RCIA candidates.
I grew up in a home where we decorated the tree on Christmas Eve. I knew a few families who did likewise. When I suggest that today I'm regarded as insane. I ask them, "When did you go into retail?" only to be met with more quizzical looks.
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