The\u00a0rules\u00a0for\u00a0fasting and abstinence\u00a0in the United States are:<\/p>\n
Every person 14 years or older must abstain from meat (and items made with meat) on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of\u00a0Lent. Every person between the age of 18 and 59 (beginning of 60th year) must\u00a0fast\u00a0on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Them\u2019s the rules.\u00a0 But of course whenever the Church has to start talking about rules, what we are always looking at is the way a parent talks to a child who is too young to understand what is going on.\u00a0 In other words, rules are always a concession to weakness, not an ideal.<\/p>\n
When you have very little children, abstractions are beyond them.\u00a0 You aren\u2019t going to get very far with explaining the abstract concept of the common good to a small child. What kids want is rules.\u00a0 In a child\u2019s mind, it\u2019s a big confusing world and we all do things as a family that I don\u2019t really understand and it would never occur to me to ask the Deep Reasons why we do it.\u00a0 Christmas presents?\u00a0 It\u2019s what we do.\u00a0 Fireworks only on the Fourth.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we do.\u00a0 Tonight I get to stay up till midnight because it\u2019s what we do on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s what we do.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u201d means \u201cmy immediate family\u201d when we are little.<\/p>\n
Later the circle widens to include others and we start to realize that the protocols and customs may vary depending on who you ask.\u00a0 But for very small children, the question is about Doing the Correct Thing. What am I supposed to do?\u00a0 How do I avoid looking dumb?\u00a0 What\u2019s the protocol?\u00a0 So you tell the child, \u201cPick up 30 toys and put them in your toybox before you brush your teeth.\u201d\u00a0 The rules are established and the kid feels safe.\u00a0 He has a clear idea of what to do and does not have to worry about accidentally transgressing the boundaries of a mysterious universe where the Powers might be offended.<\/p>\n
The Church\u2019s rules answer those kinds of questions for very simple folk and give people a framework they can function in.\u00a0 Lent is when we Christians fast and abstain.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
But sooner or later, a person eventually reaches the age where they start to ask \u201cWhy<\/em> are we doing these things?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s at that point we can either start transcending mere rules or, like the jailhouse lawyer, set about the project of trying to game the system.<\/p>\n
If the former, then growth in discipleship to Jesus can proceed in a healthy way and we can start to see Lent as the Church hopes we will: as a participation in the fasting and self-denial and God-centeredness of Jesus in the desert.\u00a0 We can start offering our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as a unity in union with him who prayed and fasted and poured himself out for us to the Father in love.\u00a0 After that, keeping the rules scarcely matters, because we are no longer thinking about the rules:\u00a0 we are thinking about him and trying to imitate him.\u00a0 We don\u2019t keep rules out of fear of breaking them, but out of desire to be with him and like him and please him.<\/p>\n
If the latter, then what is nearly always done is to assume a Minimum Daily Adult Requirement approach to Lent\u2013and to everything else pertaining to the Christian life.\u00a0 If you\u00a0 approach the rules in the spirit of \u201cWhat\u2019s the absolute least I can get away with and still technically observe Lent?\u201d you will have the same reward as the woman who asks the priest, on her wedding day, \u201cHow often do I have to kiss my husband?\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s not a relationship of love. That\u2019s a contract.\u00a0 The marriage is doomed, because there is no marriage to speak of.<\/p>\n
Lenten rules are given by the Church to give a bare minimum framework to work in.\u00a0 They are the floor, not the ceiling of Lenten observance.\u00a0 They are like dance steps drawn on the floor so that people with no clue of what to do can start practicing something<\/em>.\u00a0 But the point of the dance step drawings is not the drawings.\u00a0 The point of the dance steps is to learn the dance so well that the drawings are forgotten in the freedom of the dance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0rules\u00a0for\u00a0fasting and abstinence\u00a0in the United States are: Every person 14 years or older must abstain from meat (and items made with meat) on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of\u00a0Lent. Every person between the age of 18 and 59 (beginning of 60th year) must\u00a0fast\u00a0on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Them\u2019s the rules.\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1078,361],"class_list":["post-115458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fasting-friday","tag-lent"],"yoast_head":"\n
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