Sez he:<\/p>\n
Happy St Patrick\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re Catholic, and you have a Saint Patrick\u2019s Day dispensation from your bishop to eat corned beef on a Friday in Lent, it\u2019s no big deal. Enjoy.<\/p>\n
If six (or five) meatless Fridays and two days of \u201cfasting\u201d and abstinence a year is the extent of ascesis in your life\u2026that\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n
Big sacrifices or small, ascesis should be a regular part of our lives as Catholics, and as Christians. \u201cWhen you fast,\u201d Jesus said, not \u201cif,\u201d and \u201cThe time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away; then [my disciples] will fast.\u201d In context, he meant that this would be an observable, characteristic part of their praxis; he didn\u2019t mean twice a year (and something hardly discernible on those two days).<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t necessarily have to make heroic acts of self-denial (although you can probably do more than you think you can), but WHATEVER you do, it should touch your life frequently. I would recommend some kind of sacrifice at least once a week (on Fridays) throughout the year; during Lent it should have a pervasive character.<\/p>\n
The point isn\u2019t self-denial for its own sake. Fasting is empty unless joined to prayer and almsgiving.<\/p>\n
Every time you think of or crave the thing you\u2019re giving up, turn your heart to the Lord and tell him that you\u2019re happy to give it up for Him. And find some way of helping the needy particularly during Lent. A purely self-centered fast is a deformed fast. True fasting is inseparable from charity, from love of God and active love of neighbor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The trick with all this stuff is to fast and deny ourselves for right reasons and not wrong ones. The wrong one (and immensely popular for us in our pride) is to do it so that we can cast a sideways glance at all those other Catholics and think, \u201cI bet she\u2019s not fasting. Typical lax Catholic.\u201d When we do that, we may starve our bodies, but we are only feeding our pride.<\/p>\n
The right way is spelled out by Isaiah 58:<\/p>\n
\u201cCry aloud, spare not,
\nlift up your voice like a trumpet;
\ndeclare to my people their transgression,
\nto the house of Jacob their sins.
\nYet they seek me daily,
\nand delight to know my ways,
\nas if they were a nation that did righteousness
\nand did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
\nthey ask of me righteous judgments,
\nthey delight to draw near to God.
\n\u201cWhy have we fasted, and you see it not?
\nWhy have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?\u2019
\nBehold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
\nand oppress all your workers.
\nBehold, you fast only to quarrel
\nand to fight and to hit with wicked fist.
\nFasting like yours this day
\nwill not make your voice to be heard on high.
\nIs such the fast that I choose,
\na day for a man to humble himself?
\nIs it to bow down his head like a rush,
\nand to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
\nWill you call this a fast,
\nand a day acceptable to the LORD?<\/p>\n\u00b6\u201cIs not this the fast that I choose:
\nto loose the bonds of wickedness,
\nto undo the thongs of the yoke,
\nto let the oppressed go free,
\nand to break every yoke?
\nIs it not to share your bread with the hungry,
\nand bring the homeless poor into your house;
\nwhen you see the naked, to cover him,
\nand not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
\nThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,
\nand your healing shall spring up speedily;
\nyour righteousness shall go before you,
\nthe glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
\nThen you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
\nyou shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.<\/p>\n\u201cIf you take away from the midst of you the yoke,
\nthe pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
\nif you pour yourself out for the hungry
\nand satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
\nthen shall your light rise in the darkness
\nand your gloom be as the noonday.
\nAnd the LORD will guide you continually,
\nand satisfy your desire with good things,
\nand make your bones strong;
\nand you shall be like a watered garden,
\nlike a spring of water,
\nwhose waters do not fail.
\nAnd your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
\nyou shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
\nyou shall be called the repairer of the breach,
\nthe restorer of streets to dwell in.<\/p>\n\u201cIf you turn back your foot from the sabbath,
\nfrom doing your pleasure on my holy day,
\nand call the sabbath a delight
\nand the holy day of the LORD honorable;
\nif you honor it, not going your own ways,
\nor seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
\nthen you shall take delight in the Lord,
\nand I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
\nI will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
\nfor the mouth of the LORD has spoken.\u201d
\nThe Holy Bible. (2006). (Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition, Is 58:1\u201314). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sez he: Happy St Patrick\u2019s Day! If you\u2019re Catholic, and you have a Saint Patrick\u2019s Day dispensation from your bishop to eat corned beef on a Friday in Lent, it\u2019s no big deal. Enjoy. If six (or five) meatless Fridays and two days of \u201cfasting\u201d and abstinence a year is the extent of ascesis in […]<\/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":[361],"class_list":["post-99588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lent"],"yoast_head":"\n
Deacon Steve Greydanus is Right<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sez he: Happy St Patrick's Day! If you're Catholic, and you have a Saint Patrick's Day dispensation from your bishop to eat corned beef on a Friday in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/03\/deacon-steve-greydanus-right.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deacon Steve Greydanus is Right\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sez he: Happy St Patrick's Day! 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