Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 Well, the fact that we're in violet vestments reminds us that the great season of fasting, abstinence and pennants, that holy season of land is approaching fast to help us prepare for a holy lent today. Let's spend some time reviewing the answers to a series of questions. Why is lent 40 days long? What's the point of fasting? What's the point of abstinence? What do we have Easter eggs have lent and requirements changed and what's required? Now? What virtue above all are we specially trying to make progress in during lent and why? And then we'll close with a few points to ponder. So the first question, why is lent 40 days long? St Jerome tells us that the number 40 symbolizes punishment and affliction as a punishment for the sins and crimes of men. During the great flood, the rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights.
Speaker 0 01:06 Moses spent 40 days in fasting and prayer Notre to prepare himself to approach God received the 10 commandments as a penance for their sins. The people of Israel water for 40 years in the desert before they could cross over into the promised land. Of course, we all know that our lord spent 40 days fast in the desert before sitting out on his public ministry coordinator, Saint Leo the Great and Saint Jerome went, goes back to Apostolic Times. So why is lent 40 days long? The 40 days of Penance, shore willingness to suffer in this life, in reparation for our sins and to hold back the just anger of God who's loved us so much and whom we've offended so deeply. Second question, so what's the point of fasting? Where does this come from? The notion of fasting and reparation for sin stretches all the way back to Adam.
Speaker 0 02:09 Why is that? Those great fathers and doctors, the church, Saint Basil, the Great Saint John <inaudible>, St Jerome, Saint Gregory, the great all point up that the commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve was they were supposed to abstain for one particular kind of food. They weren't supposed to eat the fruit from one tree, but in their pride they reached out and took of the fruit and ate it. So it's easy for us to see the symmetry between the first sin, which was not abstaining from food and making reparation for sin by fasting, which is abstaining from food. There's another important aspect of fasting. When we commit a sin, our soul, will's the evil, but typically our body cooperates because of this. Our parents has to have two essential things. We have to have contrition in our soul, mortification of our body, fasting, eating less food than normal in reparation for sin and appease the anger of God as many key bodily mortification ever since the fall of Adam.
Speaker 0 03:19 Third question, so what's the relationship between meat and fasting? There are two important aspects of fasting. The first is depriving ourselves as some portion of our food and the second is abstinence, which nowadays means depriving ourselves to some degree from me. The practice of abstinence hearkens all the way back to the days just after the flood, when two things happened, no first made wine and meat became a regular part of men's diets. According to St Jerome, men had picked and eaten grapes before the flood, but no, it was the first men have made grapes into wine. Saint John Chris System notes that no first made wine for the express purpose of strengthening, cheering the Labour's weakness of men. St Drum points out that no, it didn't realize how powerful wine was, which is why he wasn't guilty of sin when he got drunk on the first batch of wine ever made in the history of the world.
Speaker 0 04:19 That great benedictine, dom Garren shade, the font or the slim congregation points out that since men's lives were weakened and shortened after the flood, God permitted men to eat me in order to give them an additional strength and he inspired Noah to make wine in order to give men additional nourishment is also why since time of the flood fast meant giving up meat to some degree because it's dom Garren shape points out quote, this food was given man by God out of condescension to his weakness and not as one absolutely essential for the maintenance of life. It's privation is essential to the very notion of fasting. Close quote fourth question, but isn't abstinence only from meat? What does wine have to do with anything in the olden days fast and even include the abstinence from wine, but even in the more traditionally minded eastern rights they've dropped this practice by now.
Speaker 0 05:16 Most people probably realize it for many centuries. Eggs and milk products where else abstained from since they're also animal food, even to this day, they're forbid and some of the eastern churches like the Coptic Catholics for example, who basically have a Vegan diet throughout the whole of lint. The reason we give each other Easter eggs because their ancestors could need eggs until Easter. Fifth question. Wait a minute. Father, did he say they couldn't eat eggs until Easter? I thought besides Ash Wednesday, abstinence only pertained to Fridays in recent times. That's true. It only pertains to Fridays, but that's only because we're living in week times. In olden days wasn't true for roughly the first millennium of the Latin Church during lent, only one meal a day was allowed except on Sundays and at this one meal that was allowed meat, eggs, butter, cheese, milk in wine. We're strictly prohibited. Now, these foods were also banned on Sunday.
Speaker 0 06:20 In other words, no meat, no eggs, no butter, no law or no cheese, none at all. None of this was eaten during lent Sunday or not. Then since that wasn't actually tough enough for our ancestors during holy week, they upped the ante. All they would eat during holy week was bread, salt, herbs in water. And finally, as if that wasn't enough, this one meal a day was not allowed until after vespers, which was sung at sunset. So that absence trait to the Easter than an intense century, things started slapping up a bit. The meal time, which used to be after sunset, crept down to three o'clock. How did that happen? What happened is that the time for vespers got moved to make sure a, you know what we're talking about here. Remember all the clerics in the church, uh, guys like father and I, and also all the religious in the church that are bond to the officer, bonded to the pain of mortal sin to say a series of psalms and prayers everyday.
Speaker 0 07:17 It's called the divine office. It's contained in a book called the Breviary divine office is broken up into different sections to be set at different times of the day. Ideally, these different sections of the divine office have a different name. Traditionally there there's a little bit different situation in the, in the new office, but anyway, here's the oldest that we say there's Matins, lods prime tourist sex, known vespers and compline, not traditionally sexy is said at the, at the medium of Senate 12 o'clock known as said about three of us were sit at sundown. Okay. What happens in the 10th century, his office and known starts to be recited right after mid day is past and over the course of time during lent known began to be guarded as began at midday. It's where we get the word noon now means mid day and not three o'clock. The Lenten fast couldn't be broken until vespers, traditionally a route sundown or you know, roughly six but by gradual process vespers crept earlier and earlier today till by the 14th century.
Speaker 0 08:18 Best press could be set during the middle of the day and Lynn and since vespers were set around noon, that meant to the mealtime and now crept down to mid day, so that's where we had the big lacks that he coming in. Huh. Shortly after this development, the practice of taking a small bit of food in the evening called a collation began to gain ground. Finally about 200 years ago, the custom of taking a crusty bread, some coffee in the morning was introduced. Then gradually over time the Holy See loud meat to be during that, but only once a day at the meal. First they allowed meet on Sundays, then grabs the loaded on two week days, then three, then four, then five weekdays in the United States in the early 19 hundreds during lent. The second and last Saturdays in all the Wednesdays and Fridays were days of abstinence in all the weekdays of lent.
Speaker 0 09:08 We're days of fast. Only a hundred years ago here in the US. The second last Saturday's of land in all the Wednesdays and Fridays were days of abstinence and all the weekdays were days of fast that remember there are plenty other days of fast and abstinence during the year. We're only talking went right here finally before 1967 when the current rules came into effect during lent, abstinence had been reduced to ash Wednesday and all the Fridays and fast he was required on all the weekdays except the fees to the non <inaudible>. Now here's the bottom line. In Our sissified times, we now have two two you can count them two days of obligatory fasting in the Latin rate, the Catholic church Ash Wednesday in Good Friday, we now have eight days of obligatory abstinence in Latin rite of the Catholic church, Ash Wednesday, a good fraud and all the Fridays of land. We're only required to keep two days of fasting and eight days of absence.
Speaker 0 10:08 Folks, we live in week sissified times six question, so making reparation for sin is the whole point of fasten and abstinence. Then that's not it at all. One of the most important fruits of a good lent is growth. The virtue of temperance. In order to appreciate this, let's have a short review of why we need temperance and what temperance does for us. Remember before the fall, Adam had the gift of integrity. The gift of integrity gave him perfect and total control of every one of his passions and emotions. For example, imagine from all that Adam looks over there and sees eve doing something wrong, like she's talking to the serpent. He realizes, you know, this particular situation calls for anger. He would have decided to be angry than he would have been exactly as angry, as was reasonable for exactly as long as they're reasonable, and then he would instantly stopped being angry just like that.
Speaker 0 11:11 Instantly. No calming down needed at all. Of course, that's something that you know, we're not talking about the blessed mother, but the rest of us have no experience with the gift of integrity. Gave Adam perfect control or risk passions, total control. Now, when Adam committed the original sin, God told him no, but Adam had his own plans. Right? Since God is infinitely just he let the punishment fit the crime and one of the consequences of loss of the gift of integrity. Take this passion of anger. For example, just to ask yourself, have I ever been more angry than I ought to have been, have ever been angry for no good reason? Have you ever had a hard time calming down? You can't just decide if you really spun up art that stuff in, then you're totally calm. We don't have that experience. Thanks a lot Adam, because none of us have the gift of integrity.
Speaker 0 12:06 We don't have a perfect and complete control of our passions and since we don't, unlike Adam before the fall, we can get a led around by our passions and our emotions if we're not careful. Huh? Now remember how the punishment fits the crime? You can set up a little square in your mind to pitch her this. If you put God in and upper left corner and Adam and the bottom left corner and reason and upper right corner and the passions and the lower right corner, you have this little square, so God over Adam. Reason over passions. Will Adam, who's supposed to be subject to God says no and rebels. So is it just punishment? God takes away the gift of integrity. Self set in the passions can rebel against right reason. Okay. The passions don't simply just obey like Adam did. We've lost that gift of a Tegrity.
Speaker 0 12:54 It's gone. So there's a, there's, we have that rebellion in our flesh now just to the subject, Adam rebelled against the proper authority. God. So also the subject, the passions can rebel against the proper authority, which is right. Reason can see how the punishment in this instance fits the crime. Hopefully we all remember there's a big $4 two logical word that describes this condition of rebellion, of the passions against right reason. It's concupiscence. Can Coupa since means it's rebellion of the sense appetites like our passions and emotions against right reason. Yes. What if our sense appetites like hunger and thirst, for example, our passions like anger or rebellion against right reason. That means that instead of being led by reason, we can be led by our passions and our appetites, doesn't it? I don't think you need the priest to tell you which way they'll lead us.
Speaker 0 13:45 Do you? That's the whole problem with concupiscence inclined sis strongly towards sin. Thanks a lot Adam. So here we are. Since none of us has this gift of integrity, we're all suffering from this inclination towards sin that we call concupiscence. Now for that isn't bad enough. Just pause for a minute and think about society that we currently live in in this society. We're constantly bathed in appeals. COUPA since it's like nothing that's ever happened. No culture and the history of the world appeals, church, central desires for the most part, advertising is geared up to appeal to our fallen nature, chore, Passions and emotions. Just think about it. If you're good looking at car advertisements, why is the half dressed girl in the car all the time? What does that have to do with whether it's got a good engine? Huh? I mean what's that whole, it's an appeal to concupiscence.
Speaker 0 14:42 Okay. All this stuff that's being paraded in front of us, right? Sensual softness, comfort, pleasure, sweetness, softness in all this in spite of the fact that it's been well known since ancient times by the pagan nations as well as the Jews, and it's the constant teaching the church. All the fathers, doctors in the saints are unanimous on this. All of them pagans, Jewish fathers, Catholic church. It's a constant battle for Amanda conquers passions and to bring them onto the rule of right reason to live a life of virtue. The passions simply have to be brought into submission and it's impossible if they're constantly being excited, how can you bring them into submission when you're constantly keeping them spun up? It's totally impossible. Meditate on the world we find ourselves in. So compare all that soft, easy listening that surrounds us with the life of virtue.
Speaker 0 15:48 In order to live a virtuous life, each one of us has to deny himself and take up his cross. We have to fight and struggle in order to bring our century appetites under the rule of reason to deliberately or even in deliberately excite and inflame our passions is extremely dangerous. First, spiritual wellbeing. Remember either we lead, our passions are our passions will lead us, and if in little things we're constantly caving in to our desires. We do that little things. What's going to become of us when big things come hurdling down the path towards us? It's not a pretty thought. So we have either two choices, either our passions and serve us or we serve our passions. Can I submit to you that in our society, the vast majority of our friends and neighbors and our beloved country serve their passions, their passions to not serve them?
Speaker 0 16:57 They're in slave to their passions. We control our passions with the virtue of temperance. Temperance is the virtue which governs rebellious sense appetites by controlling our desire for sensual pleasures. It's the virtue that does battle with concupiscence since it governs our rebellious sense appetites. That means that temperance governance, our desires for food and drink or desires for procreation or desires for revenge. In other words, temperance is a virtue that fights the three deadly sins of lust, gluttony, and anger. So let's get practical. How can we grow? And temperance. Saint Andrew Avalina says that he wants to advanced to perfection. Should it be serious about mortifying as appetite. Saint Francis de sales says that we do this by eating to live, but not living to eat. So we can grow and temperance by modifying our appetite for food and drink. And this is one of the most important things that a good lent can do for us as we're fasting, not only making reparation for our sins, we're also growing in virtue of being strengthened, were being made combat ready to conquer these cravings of concupiscence that we find within us.
Speaker 0 18:16 By growing and temperance, we can travel on all the temptations of the sinful times. We find ourselves in snow. We have a context. We can understand the absolute importance of fastened abstinence. That tradition, the church who mention in passing to other ancient Len practices related to temperance, first theaters were closed, actually closed for the duration at second. The practice of forbidding, uh, marriages during lent reminds us that continents, he used to be mandatory for all during this holy season. So much for history. Here's the current legislation. The church which binds US senator, the pain, a mortal sin, all those or 14 on up have to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday. Good Friday in all six of the Fridays of lent. All those from 18 to 60 half to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday or a pita. All those who are 14 on up have to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday.
Speaker 0 19:25 Good Friday in all the Fridays of lent, all those from 18 to 60 half to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday is binds and or the pain of mortal sin, foreclosing observations of gut canoes and have bad news. The good news is that all those who are 14 on up, uh, only have to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday. Good Friday, no Friday's lent. All those from 18 to 60 only have to fast and ash Wednesday. Good Friday. But the bad news is that all those who are 14 on up, when we have to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Friday's the lint and all those from 18 to 60 only have to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We have to keep the current rules. There's no question of that, but let's get serious. To get into heaven, you have to do pennants. You don't have to kill yourself, but you have to do pennants period.
Speaker 0 20:19 God said, unless you do penance, you will surely perish. There isn't some little drop down thing that says, except of course for Catholics living in the early 21st century to get into heaven, you have to do penance. It's not optional in the bar hasn't been lowered. Furthermore, to get into heaven, you have to have the virtue of temperance that's not optional in the bar, hasn't been more in of penance. The new requirements aren't going to cut it. If you need to develop the virtue of temperance barring an actual miracle, there's absolutely no way that any of us can develop the virtue of temperance. If our penitential practices are limited to two days of fasting and abstinence during the year and six Fridays of simple abstinence, it's just not going to happen. It's a reality. That being said, make sure you run your penances by your confessor.
Speaker 0 21:24 The devil tempts pious people by tempting them to extremes and running your penances past your confessor prevents that. Okay. Second, I'm always struck when I reading old books about how Catholics used to make fun of the Muhammad Ins as being a bunch of a feminist sissies and a wimpy of feet religion. Just compare one of their five pose of their religion. This Ramadan there 29 day fast in which between sunrise and sunset, they have continents and abstain from eating and drinking. The serious ones aren't even gonna swallow their spit till sundown. Just compare that to our modern lit. They haven't changed a lick, but we sure have.
Speaker 0 22:07 Third is dom Garren Jay road almost to 140 years ago. Quote, how few Christians do we meet who strict observers of lent even in it's present mild form. This is 140 years ago. How few Christians do we meet who are strict observers of lent, even in it's present, mild form. It must. They're not result from this ever-growing spirit of him mortification, a general of feminist see of character, which will lead at last to frightful social disorders. Those nations, among his people, the spirit and practice of penance are extinct, are heaping up against themselves, the wrath of God and provoking his justice to destroy them by one or other of these scourges civil discord or conquest. There's an inconsistency which must strike every thinking mind. The observance of the Lord Day on one hand, the in observance of days of penance and fasting on the other. The word of God is unmistakable.
Speaker 0 23:18 Unless we do pennants, we shall perish. Close quote fourth and last, something each one of us should really meditate upon and in cyclical. He wrote in 1741 pope benedict the 14 stated quote, the observance of lent is the very badge of Christian warfare, but we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ, but we avert the scourges, a divine justice by it. We gained strength against the prince of darkness for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of lent, it will be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be of negligence, would become the source of misery to the world of public calamity. In a private wool close quote, the Vicar of Christ that bears repeating the observance of land is the very badge of Christian warfare, but we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. By it, we avert the scourges of divine justice, but we gained strength against the prince of darkness. For it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in our observance of lent, it will be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted. Such negligence would become the source of misery to the world of public calamity and a private role closed. Quote the vicar of Christ. If you love our Lord, you have the holy season of lent to prove it.
