Precept 4: You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
A full Christian life will involve a rhythm that includes both feasting and fasting.
To really get as much as we can out of the Eucharistic feast, we need to have times of emptying ourselves so that God can fill us up.
We know how this works on the natural level; if we are going to a Chinese buffet, we don’t want to snack before we go because we won’t have the same appetite or delight when we get to the Crab Cheese Rangoon.
The same goes for our experience with the Eucharist.
When we are stuffed to the gills with food, images, and all sorts of other things, we will not be able to taste and see that the Lord is good in quite the same way.
That’s why all of Christian life is punctuated by fasts and feasts.
While few Christians seem to know this, the Church is very clear through her gift of Canon Law that the days of fasting are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
She also makes clear that the days of abstinence from meat are Fridays of the entire year, except when a solemnity (a high feast day) falls on a Friday or when an episcopal conference states otherwise (see Code of Canon Law 1251).
Since November 27th, 1966, in the dioceses of the United States, abstinence from meat has not been binding under pain of mortal sin.
Don’t let this not fool you, though.
In the very letter that dispensed us from abstinence from meat on pain of mortal sin, the council specifically stated:
Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified
…Even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat.
We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law.
(Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, United States Council of Catholic Bishops, 1966)
For Christians in the United States, abstinence from meat on Fridays of the entire year has been given pride of place so that the faithful may continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly they did in obedience to Church law.
Who knows this?
You do now.
In addition to the two days of fasting and penance on Fridays throughout the year, in the season of Lent, we are urged to take on more serious forms of penance.
In this formation pack, we are studying and reflecting on the precepts of the Church—the bare minimum requirements that keep us from falling away from living a Christ-like life.
As we follow the precepts and faithfully due the minimum, we hope to gain the desire to do even more penance— more emptying of ourselves so that God can fill us—as our journey with Christ continues.
While many people think that fasting, abstinence from meat, and other voluntary forms of giving things up or taking things on show that the Church has a gnostic hangover—that she thinks things of this earth and pleasure itself are wicked—the reality is quite the opposite.
The Church knows that these things are so good that we need to give them up, at least for a little bit, lest we cling to created things instead of the creator—the source of all goodness.
The cycle of fasting and feasting is meant to reorder our desires so that we can experience God in the ordinary pleasures of this world in a manner similar to the way we experience him in the Eucharist.
Ultimately, everything in this world is going to be an idol or an icon.
An idol is a thing that purports to be a god.
If we treat it as such, we will soon find out that it is only a created thing that cannot be the source of life, joy, or peace for us.
An icon is a window through which God gives us parts of his life, joy, and peace.
Fasting and abstinence teach us the difference.
As you enter into prayer today, consider your relationship with fasting and abstinence.
Do you understand their role in your life, or do you avoid them like the plague?
Are you ready to receive the graces Christ is extending to you through a regular life of fasting and abstinence, or will you allow the pleasures of this world to prevent you from receiving the graces Christ knows you need?
