Reclaiming roots – Catholics need to rediscover fasting, author says

Catholic Online ^ | February 27, 2006 | Father Thomas Ryan

[Dumb_Ox]

Eamon Duffy's essay To Fast Again is also worth a read.

[redgolum]

I know little of the Eastern method of fasting, but it sounds like a great discipline if done in the right heart.

Fasting, if only done because "you have to" or so you can brag to others about how hard it is, isn't what we should do. Fasting (or other forms of self denial) is good if being done to truly bring yourself closer to the Lord.

Lutherans in this country don't have any mandatory fast days, but "giving it up for Lent" and fasting on Wednesdays during Lent is very much encouraged. My current pastor gave a great sermon last year about the proper way of self denial, and the improper way.

Myself, I will be avoiding buying new books and reading more of things like Augustine and Bonhoffer (I am a bibliophile, so not wandering into a book store is very hard for me).

[Kolokotronis]

"But I have to eat to produce milk for the Ravenous Maw, who weighed 10 lbs. 10oz. this morning, for an average of slightly over a pound gained each week!"

Even the monks on the Holy Mountain would see the wisdom in your position!

[Tax-chick]

Even the monks on the Holy Mountain would see the wisdom in your position!

Someone fed them when they were babies, even during Lent!

[bboop]

Maybe it's form without substance, the fasting followed by partying all night. It fits, imho, with my understanding of that ROP. They HATED it there, went with an open mind to understand another culture....

[ArrogantBustard]

baby n: An alimentary canal with arms and legs.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

You are not in the usual situation, dear Tax Chick! But tubby ol' me can sacrifice for the both of us.

Right now, I am contemplated bread and water tomorrow. My tummy may hurt too much to carry through with it though. We will see.

Fasting with tummy problems is another interesting challenge!

[opticks]

Muzzie. That is an interesting piece of verbal coinage for Muslims. Now every time I look at one of my Muzzy(R) broadheads, I will think of Osama. Thanks!

[NYer]

I know little of the Eastern method of fasting, but it sounds like a great discipline if done in the right heart.

Yes ... you have grasped the concept. It's better known as asceticism.

While Kolokotronis and I are separated in faith by a thin chord, we both enjoy the beauty of eastern traditions. I can only stand in awe at the strict discipline of fast conserved by the Orthodox and pray that my fellow Catholics will learn from it. For my part, as a Roman Catholic practicing my faith in a Maronite (Eastern) Catholic Church, it has been a learning experience. Like their Latin cousins, the Maronites of the diaspora prefer to follow the Latin 'relaxed' forms of fast. Our bishop, however, has encouraged all Maronites to re-adopt the fast of their ancestors. And this is it:

Traditional Maronite Fast and Abstinence
(in vigour until at least the 1920's)
(Cf. Fr. R.. Janin, A.A. Les Eglise orientales et Les Rites orientaux, Paris 1922)
The practise of fast and abstinence was regulated by the Maronite synod of 1736 Fast: eating and drinking forbidden until midday Abstinence: abstaining from eating all meat, oil, wine and animal products (eggs, milk, cheese etc.)
1. Great Lent	from Quinquagesima to Easter abstinence every day; fasting every day except on Sundays and Saturdays (with the exception of Holy Saturday)
2. Apostles Lent	abstinence four days 25th - 28th June
3. Assumption Lent	abstinence eight days 7th - 14th August
4. Christmas Lent	abstinence twelve days 13th - 24th December
5. Abstinence	every Wednesday and Friday except: from Christmas to Epiphany, the Friday before Great Lent, from Easter to Pentecost, June 24th and 29th; August 6th and 15th
6 Forbidden food	Like most oriental Christians, the Maronites kept the Mosaic ban on eating blood, suffocated animals and certain animals considered impure; and which Oriental Church Councils have many times renewed.

[Tax-chick]

Boy, that's the truth! It's a Digesting Machine!

[Tax-chick]

We went out for Chinese this evening, and I'm planning on granola and bananas as the mainstay for tomorrow ... although after taking all eight of the Offspring to Mass at 11:00, I may have to declare "5 O'clock Somewhere" at noon and have a restorative.

They got so out of hand on one of the Marian holidays last year that I thought Father was going to have a stroke ... he was a lovely shade of aubergine.

[Tax-chick]

Cool! I'll be discussing Lent with my Sunday School class next week, and they'll think this is really interesting!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Sometimes, we just have to remember Jesus loves the little children...so we need to do it too!

[Tax-chick]

Father Hawker - a dear old Boston Irishman - gave up trying to keep a straight face and sat down and howled with laughter. I was ready to die, and made them all go to bed for the afternoon :-).

I think tomorrow I'll try to spread them out ... we should know most of the people at Mass at that hour - church employees, senior citizens, homeschoolers - so I'll ask if Tom can sit with Sister Veronica, Elen can sit with her Sunday School teacher, etc.

[nina0113]

There's a daycare center somewhere near my office that takes the kids on walks, all walking between a pair of ropes, holding on with both hands...they look like a pint-size chain gang. Something to consider...

[Tax-chick]

They did that with the preschool at our church in Tulsa, when they were taking the children to the playground. Each child had a knot in the rope that he had to hold on to.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

We have several large families in our parish that go to the same mass I go to. One of them has three boys that are wiggle worms and want to do things like close the cryroom door, and sneak down the aisle towards the altar, and various stunts like that. Learning to deal with the reality of kids at mass, and the fact that we are a family is an important lesson too..I do feel sorry for Mamma a times, though. How hard it must be to pay attention to the service when you have to keep an eye on these darling boys!

(I get asthma attacks sometimes from the perfumes in people's deoderants, body sprays and colognes and often have to sit in the foyer or cry room just to be able to make it through mass on Sundays. It gives me a different perspective on things...)

[nina0113]

There was a little girl at Mass last Sunday, looked about two, who apparently had just learned how to unbutton - she took her button-down denim dress off and stood there in her t-shirt and underpants. Her dad tried to get the dress back on, but she put up a fight, so he took her out & didn't bring her back till she was dressed again. I'll bet she doesn't wear that dress again! At least not to Mass.

[NYer]

They got so out of hand on one of the Marian holidays last year that I thought Father was going to have a stroke ... he was a lovely shade of aubergine.

You are just too, too funny! I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to lure the brood to Mass but I have no doubt that our Lord is smiling at you and all the young ones, grinning from ear to ear.

One of the more rambunctious pre-K kids ran up to the altar during the Consecration at Mass last year. The boy stopped dead in his tracks, staring up at the host as Father lovingly shot him a glance. He got "the lecture" afterwards. Father comes from a family of 9 children. I recall one of his homilies when he used his family as an analogy. It seems the parents went to Church one night and entrusted the care of the little ones to the older kids.

Well, old or young, the name of the game is fun and they re-arranged the furniture to suit their game plan. They didn't count on the parents returning early, however. The punishment was swift. All of the children were sent to different corners of the rooms in the house, to kneel in prayer and ask forgiveness from our Lord for their misbehavior. Apparently, it left a permanent impression :-) I regret not applying the same methodology with my one and only.

[Tax-chick]

Great story! I'll have to try your priest's mother's technique with my crowd, next time they pull something totally unexpected :-).