Hermitage Notes - The Antithesis of the World's Normal

We are a week deep into Lent.

Ash Wednesday, a week ago today, was one of the two days during the year when Catholics are obligated to fast and abstain. At our age, I will be 66 this month, we are no longer required to fast.

We are obligated to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and on all Fridays during Lent.

Not only during Lent.

Unless Catholics voluntarily perform some other acceptable form of penance on Fridays, Catholics are still obliged to abstain from meat on every Friday throughout the year. Educate yourself.

Go read the document in its entirety. Pay particular attention to paragraphs 22-28.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/us-bishops-pastoral-statement-on-penance-and-abstinence.cfm

Simply put: Fridays throughout the year remain Penitential Days that require some type of penitential observance. Returning to abstaining from meat on Fridays is the simplest and most easily sustainable way to honor the obligation.

Why? What is the purpose?

The very simplest answer is that fasting and abstinence are biblical norms to be followed … found in both the context formed by the Old Covenant under the Law of Moses and in the New Covenant birthed by Christ. An expanded answer is that everything we do as devotional practices sets us up for personal growth and development [Benedict's Conversatio Morum].

Remember that the fully human Jesus practiced and modeled everything that he was and taught as the fully divine Jesus. Jesus, though God in the flesh, had to rigorously subject his human nature to his divine nature in order to accomplish his Atoning Sacrifice on the Cross.

Paul writes of this subjective obedience in Philippians 2:5-11.

“Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In Matthew 6:16-18 [part of the Sermon on the Mount] Jesus said, “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Jesus did not say “if”. He said “when”. The assumption is that we “do” fast as part of our faith relationship with Christ. All of us, regardless of who we are, can perform some type of fast as an expression of our faith.

One of the beautiful things about being Catholic is the way the Church has, from its infancy in the 1^st Century, always worked to ensure that her followers of Christ have the tools to assist them in holding at bay the encroaching influences of the world. We, as Catholics, have a treasure trove of time tested liturgical and devotional traditions that are supported by Scriptural principles and the Traditions that are both part of the Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Church.

It is all too obvious that the world is working hard to blur the lines of distinction. The infiltration and progression of modernism into the Church is having a dire effect on the lines of distinction that show us to be doctrinally and morally different from the world around us. Embracing and wallowing in the sinful norms of the world is not what we are called to as Catholic followers of Christ.

Our norms are not the norms of the world.

Romans 12:1-2 is an appeal to accept and enter into a life and lifestyle that is lived as the antithesis of what the world promotes as normal.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Older translations render "spiritual worship" as "REASONABLE SERVICE". 

It is so easy in the here and now to make excuses for my weaknesses. It is so easy in the here and now to justify my failings. I often remind myself that one day, sooner or later, I will unavoidably stand before Christ to give account for the life I have lived, the works I have done, and the works I have failed to do. [Matthew 25:31-46] 

Gathered there in that audience will be all the Saints and Martyrs of the ages.

Will I be so inclined to make excuses and defend myself in the company of those who became food for lions and human torches lighting the streets of Rome?