J
JesuXPIPassio
Guest
I have a question going into this Lenten season. Why does the Church prescribe mortification and suffering?
Now, I’ve done quite a bit of reading on this, and I’ve seen the usual answers: Jesus said to take up our Crosses and follow Him. But, the tone of those portions seem to imply that we are to follow Him, but not try to go out of our way to suffer. Rather, it seems like He is telling us that following Him has its consequences, and when that means we have to suffer for it, that’s just part of being a Christian.
For example, the old custom of fasting was meant to help the poor. We’d help the poor by buying fish instead of the more expensive meat, and the money saved would go to feed the poor. In other words, helping out the poor had that one consequence of sacrifice. But nowadays, some argue that this custom may be out-of-date, as prices for food are not the same, and in some places, fish outcosts meat. Yet we are still called to do this.
Is the purpose of suffering to atone for sins? If so, why should we atone for our and others’ sins when Jesus already did that better than we ever could? Saint Faustina wrote that one drop of Jesus’ Blood could do the job an infinite times over. Even if I lost all my blood and all my nerves were in extreme pain, it wouldn’t reach even a fraction of that Good Friday sacrifice.
Furthermore, we constantly enact the Good Friday Sacrifice again in the Mass. Most of us do it every week. Some of us do it every day. This Sacrifice is in fact constantly being enacted throughout the world through every moment. So, all in all, it isn’t as if there’s a shortage of Jesus’ atoning Blood.
We seem to be called to suffer with Jesus. But (protestants will argue), why suffer with Him when he already suffered so that we wouldn’t need to suffer?
Let me stress that I’m not challenging anything. I’m sure that the customs are right, and I won’t disagree with them. I’d just like to know why these things are. I’d like to fast this coming Wednesday and the Fridays following it for a good reason, understanding why we do what we do. Frankly it’s hard to live in America without hearing anti-Catholic arguments from protestants, and one’s head gets easily polluted. Help me clean up the pollution in my own head!
Now, I’ve done quite a bit of reading on this, and I’ve seen the usual answers: Jesus said to take up our Crosses and follow Him. But, the tone of those portions seem to imply that we are to follow Him, but not try to go out of our way to suffer. Rather, it seems like He is telling us that following Him has its consequences, and when that means we have to suffer for it, that’s just part of being a Christian.
For example, the old custom of fasting was meant to help the poor. We’d help the poor by buying fish instead of the more expensive meat, and the money saved would go to feed the poor. In other words, helping out the poor had that one consequence of sacrifice. But nowadays, some argue that this custom may be out-of-date, as prices for food are not the same, and in some places, fish outcosts meat. Yet we are still called to do this.
Is the purpose of suffering to atone for sins? If so, why should we atone for our and others’ sins when Jesus already did that better than we ever could? Saint Faustina wrote that one drop of Jesus’ Blood could do the job an infinite times over. Even if I lost all my blood and all my nerves were in extreme pain, it wouldn’t reach even a fraction of that Good Friday sacrifice.
Furthermore, we constantly enact the Good Friday Sacrifice again in the Mass. Most of us do it every week. Some of us do it every day. This Sacrifice is in fact constantly being enacted throughout the world through every moment. So, all in all, it isn’t as if there’s a shortage of Jesus’ atoning Blood.
We seem to be called to suffer with Jesus. But (protestants will argue), why suffer with Him when he already suffered so that we wouldn’t need to suffer?
Let me stress that I’m not challenging anything. I’m sure that the customs are right, and I won’t disagree with them. I’d just like to know why these things are. I’d like to fast this coming Wednesday and the Fridays following it for a good reason, understanding why we do what we do. Frankly it’s hard to live in America without hearing anti-Catholic arguments from protestants, and one’s head gets easily polluted. Help me clean up the pollution in my own head!