Lenten Journey Day 3


February 16
 
“One can safely conclude that by the end of the fourth century, the 40- day period of Easter preparation known as Lent existed, and that prayer and fasting constituted its primary spiritual exercises,” writes Fr. William Saunders in The History of Lent.
Once the length of the Lenten season was determined, regulations about the amount of fasting required began to develop. In Jerusalem, the faithful fasted for 40 days, Monday through Friday, but not on the weekends, which meant their “40 days” actually lasted eight weeks. In Rome and other parts of the Western world, people fasted for six weeks from Monday through Saturday, which was the practice that eventually prevailed.
The rules of the fast also took time to develop. In some areas, the faithful abstained from all forms of meat and animal products while others allowed fish. As Pope St. Gregory (d. 604) once wrote to St. Augustine of Canterbury, “We abstain from flesh, meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese and eggs.”
Whatever food was allowed could amount to no more than one meal a day and was to be taken in the evening or at 3:00 p.m., which was known as the hour of None.
As time went on, a second smaller meal, called a collation, was permitted during the day for the sake of those who needed strength for manual labor. Gradually, fish was allowed and, much later, the eating of meat during the week except on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Persons could receive a dispensation to eat dairy products, but only if they performed some pious work. It was this practice of abstaining from dairy products that led to the blessing of Easter eggs and the eating of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday.
The purpose of this fast is not just to atone for our own sins, but for the sins of others as well. “In practicing penance, we should keep in

mind that there are two levels of reparation we are to practice, for our own and other people’s sins,” writes the late Fr. John Hardon. “We are to expiate the guilt incurred by failing in one’s love for God. And we are to repair the harm done by disobeying the will of God.”
 
 
Today’s Reflection:
What does my experience with fasting look like?  What was I taught about fasting as a child, and how has that changed over the years?  Spend some time with our Lord today asking Him where He is calling you to fast in your own life.  What does He want you to fast from this Lent?

 

Bishop Confronts Notre Dame’s Contraceptive Decision

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend did not mince words in a recent statement calling upon the University of Notre Dame to reconsider its plans to provide “a limited range of contraceptives” in student and faculty insurance plans.

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Lenten Journey Day 2


February 15

Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother
St. Alphonsus de Liguori
O my afflicted Mother! Queen of martyrs and of sorrows, thou didst so bitterly weep over thy Son, who died for my salvation; but what will thy tears avail me if I am lost? By the merit, then, of thy sorrows, obtain me true contrition for my sins, and a real amendment of life, together with constant and tender compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and thy dolours. And if Jesus and thou, being so innocent, have suffered so much for love of me, obtain that at least I, who am deserving of hell, may suffer something for your love. “O Lady,” will I say with St. Bonaventure, “if I have offended thee, in justice wound my heart; if I have served thee, I now ask wounds for my reward. It is shameful to me to see my Lord Jesus wounded, and thee wounded with Him, and myself without a wound.”  In fine, O my Mother, by the grief thou didst experience in seeing thy Son bow down His head and expire on the cross in the midst of so many torments, I beseech thee to obtain me a good death. Ah, cease not, O advocate of sinners, to assist my afflicted soul in the midst of the combats in which it will have to engage on its great passage from time to eternity. And as it is probable that I may then have lost my speech, and strength to invoke thy name and that of Jesus, who are all my hope, I do so now; I invoke thy Son and thee to succour me in that last moment; and I say, Jesus and Mary, to you I commend my soul.  Amen.
 
 
Today’s Reflection:
The forty days’ fast, which we call Lent, is a time set aside for prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation for the celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Savior. This season of prayerful repentance has been the Church’s preparation for Easter since the very commencement of Christianity.
“Our Blessed Lord Himself sanctioned it by fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert,” writes Abbot Gueranger, OSB. “And though He would not impose it on the world by an express commandment, yet He showed plainly enough, by His own example, that fasting, which God had so frequently ordered in the old law, was to be also practiced by the children of the new.”
The significance of the 40 day fast has a long biblical history. On Mount Sinai, preparing to receive the Ten Commandments, “Moses stayed there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights, without eating any food or drinking any water” (Ex 34:28), and Elijah walked “40 days and 40 nights” to Mount Horeb (I Kgs 19:8).  Lent is a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon lencten, meaning “spring” and lenctentid, which means “springtide” and, more literally, “March,” the month in which the majority of Lent falls.
Evidence exists that the marking of Lent existed in the time of the apostles. In the second century, St. Irenaeus (d.203) wrote to Pope St. Victor I about how differently Catholics in the East and West practiced the fasts of Lent. “The dispute is not only about the day, but also about the actual character of the fast. Some think they ought to fast for one day, some for two, others for still more; some make their ‘day’ last 40 hours on end. Such variation in the observance did not originate in our own day, but very much earlier, in the time of our forefathers” (Eusebius, History of the Church, V, 24).
Although Lent existed from the time of the Apostles, it would not be until the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313 that its practice became set at 40 days and made more uniform throughout the Church. The disciplinary canons of the Council of Nicea (325) made note of the “40 days of Lent” and in the same century, St. Athanasius (d. 373) was known to have implored his congregation to make a 40-day fast prior to the more intense fasting of Holy Week. St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) also made note of both the practices and duration of Lent. Pope St. Leo (d. 461) preached that the faithful must “fulfill with their fasts the Apostolic institution of the 40 days,” again noting the apostolic origins of Lent.

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Students “Cower and Pray” During School Shooting

Students under fire by a 19 year-old gunman at a South Florida high school yesterday were left to “cower and pray” for their lives in what Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski called “another act of senseless violence and horrifying evil” that left 17 people dead.

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DOE Will No Longer Investigate Transgender Cases

A year after President Donald J. Trump suspended the Obama Administration’s “Dear Colleague” position on transgender students, the Department of Education has confirmed that it will no longer investigate civil rights complaints from students who identify as the opposite sex and who have been barred from using the private facilities of their choice.

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Modern Mortification: Thinking Outside the Box

I used to think mortification during Lent was something that belonged to the dark ages. Giving up chocolate (which I rarely eat) and fish on Fridays (I love fish) was my speed. Anything rougher than that? Not so much. And then one year the Lord taught me a lesson . . .

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Young Women of Grace: Saints in the Making!

Anna and Julianna are Young Women of Grace who meet at the Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and they just learned “How to Be a Saint in Six Easy Steps” from Chapter Three in the Study Guide.

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