Meatless

[CathLifeHacker]

If we only spent as much time praying or reading Scripture as we did debating dumb topics like this…

 

[ignatius777]

If we only spent as much time praying or reading Scripture as we did debating dumb topics like this…

I understand and agree with the sentiment but I don’t know that id use the word “dumb”. I am not sure how we as catholics ended up with this perverse sense of guilt.

 

[Jennifoo]

We come together to pray on , but our penance is private. Do people get up at Mass during Lent to announce what they are doing as penance? There are penitential days, and we pray together, but our individual fasting is done in private.

We ARE fasting and abstaining together on certain days. Did I say anything about individuals announcing it minute detail? Nope. Observing penance together gives mutual support and good example. I’ve often been edified by the penitential spirit of some holy Catholics and was inspired by it and strengthened in my resolve to do penance. These people didn’t announce it in a prideful way- they lived it. I’ve even asked these people about their practices to get ideas for myself. I’ve seen threads here on CAF during Lent about what we’re giving up, how we’re going to observe Lent.

The light that we are called to shine before men is the light of the Gospel and the works are acts of charity and love towards others. This does not include penance.

Actually penance IS a part of charity. We sometimes go with less food so as to give it to others. We make do with less to give more to the poor. Penance is about interior conversion and becoming less self-centered which is vital to our call to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Specifically on fasting, Jesus said “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Did I say we should make an outward show of our penance as Jesus warned against? NO, I didn’t. But we get our ashes on Ash Wednesday- I leave mine on as long as possible and my co-workers notice. I don’t do it to be prideful but because of my reverence for Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season. I’ve seen many Catholics do the same. My co-workers know I’m a devout Catholic because I live and talk about my faith, and so yes, they sometimes know when I’m doing penance. I don’t do it to show off, I certainly don’t ‘disfigure my face to make an appearance of holiness’, but it’s a part of who I am and how I live my faith. YES the majority of my penance is secret.
Jesus did not fast for 40 days in public, he did so in private. He did not do this so that others might see his fast and give glory to God.

Jesus’s fast was a supernatural fast. He went into the desert as did the scapegoat in the Old Testament and to do battle with Satan.

Please, for the love of God, do not treat me like I’m stupid. I was away from CAF for several months because of how mean, petty and quarrelsome posters can be. I just came back, but I’m not totally comfortable because I’m still seeing such mean-spiritedness from the posters. If I’m driven away a second time, I most likely will not be back.

 

[Brendan_64]

Please, for the love of God, do not treat me like I’m stupid. I was away from CAF for several months because of how mean, petty and quarrelsome posters can be. I just came back, but I’m not totally comfortable because I’m still seeing such mean-spiritedness from the posters. If I’m driven away a second time, I most likely will not be back.

Hang on a minute. There is nothing in my post that treats you as being stupid. There is nothing in my post that is mean-spirited. All I am doing is engaging in a debate with you and disagreeing with a point that you have made.

The whole point of internet forums such as this is to debate and discuss. I am just as entitled to my point of view as you are. Nobody is driving you away. If you choose to leave then that is your choice, but nobody is driving you away.

My point is reasonable and certainly not personal in any way. I am entitled to respectfully disagree with you.

 

[clem456]

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c2a4.htm

1428 Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, "clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal."18 **This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a “contrite heart,” **drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.19

IV. INTERIOR PENANCE

**1430 Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.23 **

1431 Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart).24

1432 The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart.25 Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!"26 God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God’s love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced:27

 

[jmr_1985]

Wow, I never expected this thread to get 44 responses… I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 when I posted it. Perhaps the moderator can close it? I never meant for this…

JMR

 

[Brendan_64]

Wow, I never expected this thread to get 44 responses…

Have your questions been answered though?