Holy Feasting...How do I do it?

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These questions have been on my mind a lot as we approached Easter and now that we are here, (Alleluia, He is RISEN) practical implications of the answers are becoming very real.

Why don’t we do penance all the time? Is it merely a limit of our strength or something else? How do we feast in a virtuous way? Does such a way exist?

For a practical example, please consider Easter candy. I will never need to eat it but eating it will bring me pleasure. Pleasure is not an evil thing in and of itself and therefore there is no reason that I cannot eat. AKA it is not sinful to enjoy candy in moderation. However, by denying my desire for the candy, I strengthen my will and if done with the correct intention win merit for myself as well as grace for myself or others. Therefore while it is not sinful to eat candy, and can even be considered good in a temporal sense, the greater spiritual good seems to be to deny myself.

I am inclined to believe that there very well could be a flaw in my logic given that fact the Holy Mother Church as allotted 50 days of celebration in comparison to only 40 days of penance. She has been forming saints since before I was alive and so there should be a place my logic is wrong, I just can’t find it.

Any help in showing me where I am going wrong and how to reap spiritual fruit from feasting is greatly appreciated, God bless.
 
You can practice penance all year long if that’s what you’re called to do.

But we celebrate because we have the Risen Christ. There is a time for work, but there is also a time for rest.
 
ConMan said:
Why don’t we do penance all the time? Is it merely a limit of our strength or something else?
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How do you know that the guy next to you isn’t doing some kind of penance all the time?
Most people who are doing regular penance are not going to mention to you that they’re doing it. I’m aware of people who have a weekly fasting regimen that they keep up all year round as a devotional practice.
There are also other forms of penance besides fasting.

You can do penance whenever you want, but if it’s some type of self-mortification, like fasting, you need to be careful that you’re doing it in the right spirit, and not to show how tough you are, or to be “better” than everybody else, or because you’re getting some kind of weird thrills from the mortification.

I would also note with respect to your candy example, if you liked to eat some candy in moderation but then denied yourself candy all the time for a long period of time, you would probably lose your desire to eat the candy. As a practical matter of metabolism, if you don’t eat something for a really long time, it often doesn’t taste very good when you have it again and/or you don’t want it like you did before, because you’ve gotten used to eating some other way. Therefore, you’d have to find some other “sacrifice” because going without something you don’t want anyway isn’t much of a sacrifice.

Also, it’s pretty clear that when Holy Mother Church decrees the 50 days of “celebration”, she isn’t expecting you to be a hog wild glutton during that time. Just have a reasonable celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, and enjoy the fruits of the spring and summer growing season when, in an agrarian society, there would be fresh stuff around to eat.
 
ConMan said:
Why don’t we do penance all the time?
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We can, and many do. You can too if you wish.
ConMan said:
the greater spiritual good seems to be to deny myself.
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We are not required to deny ourselves 24/7.
Jesus feasted, celebrated weddings, was a strict Jew so celebrated Jewish festivals.

Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It’s ok to feast on feast days.
 
“when i was young” i did more than a few 3 day “bread & water fasts”

i was praying to find a good, catholic wife; that happened; praise Jesus
i recommend fasting as a form of pennace/prayer

if you are physically up to the task…

good luck
 
Thanks for all the responses.

One quick follow up: When we are performing penance, we are supposed to offer to God our ‘suffering’ in union with Christ on the Cross.

Is there a way to/How do we give glory to God through our feasting?

Thanks again for your replies!
 
Sure. Offer up prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the good and abundant food He has provided and for the relationships with those you are celebrating with. Acknowledge that all good things come from Him and any joy we experience here is a foretaste of the joy we will know with Him in Heaven forever.
 
I can’t speak for the West, but fasting is actually prohibited this week in the Eastern Church.

hawk
 
dochawk said:
fasting is actually prohibited this week in the Eastern Church.
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It’s my impression that the Western Church does not allow fasting on Sundays. At least I’ve always heard we are not supposed to fast on that day. I would presume this also applies to big non-penitential feast days like Christmas.

To my knowledge it is allowed on other days of the week if you choose to do it.
 
Praise and adoration of God is actually a sacrifice: a sacrifice of praise. I like that and I think of it often. God is as honored by your reverent feasting over his glory as he is by your fasting on bread and water during times of penance. Frankly, I find the little moments of irritation and pain we experience all the time plenty of sacrifice each day, to accept them, bite the tongue instead of giving a sharp response, do a small act of charity for someone who irritates you, put up with bad weather, etc. It is more virtuous to accept what comes to us lovingly than to make up your own sacrifices. And, back to the sacrifice of praise–it is a biggy!
 
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