![]() (CCC 1438)Įvery Ash Wednesday, social media is flooded with cries of only remembering the abstinence “after I finished the last piece of chicken on my plate!” There will be complaints about how hard it is to skip the meat and to fast (we’re only asked to endure two very small meals, along with one ordinary meal!), questions about what constitutes a small meal, and more. ![]() The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works). The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: Tomorrow, the Catholic Church kicks off the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence. We deny ourselves comforts, and suffer through hunger and cold showers and hard floors, because our misery becomes company when it draws us to Christ, when we are joining our sufferings to his for the sake of the world and our own souls. We fast to strip away the things that keep us from the One whom we truly desire to meet, to imitate, and to love. ![]() Maybe, but it shines the light on the person making such an effort. Some of them wouldn’t be able to sit long during class because of aching backs from trading the comfort of mattresses for their hardwood floors. They would wake up to screams in the morning because a handful of them gave up hot water and couldn’t hold back their wailing during that icy morning wake-up call. A friend in seminary once shared how all of the students would try to “outdo” one another during Lent.
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