Lent
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"We adore Thee O Christ, and we praise Thee."
From Catholic Life-
Lent is a fast of apostolical tradition, which in all ages has been observed throughout the Church of God. It was instituted- (1) To honour and imitate our Saviour's fast in the desert. (2) That the faithful might prepare themselves by prayer, penance, and fasting for duly celebrating the adorable mysteries of His Passion and Resurrection. (3) To consecrate to God by a penance of forty days the tenth of our lives, as an acknowledgment that our whole lives ought to be so spent. The fast is obligatory on all those who have completed their twenty-first year, and who are not exempt through delicate health, hard work, old age, poverty, dispensation, ect. It consists in taking only one full meal (dinner), with a collation or other slight meal not exceeding eight ounces of solid food. Custom permits the taking of a cup of tea or light drink and a couple of ounces of bread at some other time during the day. As to what may be eaten at collation and dinner, the Bishop's Pastoral, published at the beginning of Lent, is our guide. Those who are not bound to fast ought to enter into the spirit of the Church and perform penance in a way suitable to their condition, such as depriving themselves of some innocent pleasure, giving alms, ect. All can fast spiritually by abstaining from sin and its immediate occasions. Penance is necessary for all, both just and sinners. It is necessary for the just, as no one can be certain of his perseverance to the end, no one is totally exempt from sin, and ever one is liable to fall. It is necessary for sinners, as a satisfaction to God for their guilt; as a punishment, self-inflicted, to avert Divine punishment; and as a spiritual remedy, healing the wounds of sin and preventing future falls. Daily Mass, evening devotions at church, and family night prayers said in common, should be special practices of this holy season. All should prepare for the worthy reception of the Sacraments. In fine, all should endeavour to reap a spiritual harvest by making such a provision of graces and virtues as may lat the whole year. The Stations of the Cross ought to be made once a week. Our alms ought to be more generous than usual, as it is the spirit of the Church that part of what we save by abstinence should be given to the needy. "The feast of penance! Oh so bright With true conversion's heavenly light, Like sunrise after stormy night! Full long in sin's dark ways we went, Yet now our steps are heavenward bent, And grace is plentiful in Lent." Example.- Martyrdom of Elezar Antiochus, having made himself master of Jerusalem, raged with all the fury of a tyrant against its miserable inhabitants. Amongst those who gloriously confessed the true God was Eleazar, a chief scribe, whose piety and grey hairs rendered him truly venerable. Being apprehended by the King's officers, and, in contempt of the law, being thrust into his mouth, he vigorously resisted, and preferred a glorious death to the dishonorable terms of life. He went on cheerfully to the place of execution, when they who accompanied him, being moved with compassion and respect for his age, took him aside, and begged he would consent to let some legal meat be set before him, the by eating of that, at least he might seem to comply with the King's order, which would be enough to save his life. The venerable old man was not to be imposed upon by such pretexts of friendship. He considered the unblemished character he had hitherto maintained through life, the testimony he owed to truth, and the respect due to the Law of God in those particular circumstances, and rejected their proposal with a nobleness of soul that was natural to him. "I would rather die," said he, "Than do what you counsel me. Such dissimulation becomes not these grey hairs. God forbid that I should ever sully the purity of my former life by such a stain, and thereby give occasion to the young men to imagine that Eleazar, at the age of four score and ten, has renounced the religion of his forefathers, and consented to the superstitions of pagans. Miserable should I be indeed if the poor remains of declining life could tempt me to prevaricate in so shameful a manner. For, although I were to escape the judgments of men for the present, yet neither alive nor dead should I escape the hand of the Almighty. It is better, therefore, for me to die courageously at once than by a disgraceful compliance appear unworthy of my old age. So by example I shall teach my fellow-citizen that the laws of God are to be preferred to those of men; that the duties of religion are to take precedence of worldly interest, and even of life itself" (2 Mac. vi. 18,31). This noble and generous answer was attributed to a stubborn pride by his pretended friends, who thereupon turned their professions of kindness into injuries. Elazar was forthwith carried to the place of execution, where by glorious death he left, not to the young men only, but to the whole nation, an example of the most heroic fortitude. From Catholic Life-Feasts, Fasts & Devotions |
