Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre: On Fasting and Abstinence 14 February 1982by Adrienne |
Taken
from a post on Crusaders of The Immaculate Heart Website:
Apologia
pro Marcel Lefebvre - Volume 3, Chapter LXII
Fasting
and Abstinence
14
February 1982
My
dear brethren,
According
to an ancient and salutary tradition in the Church, on the occasion of the
beginning of Lent, I address these words to you in order to encourage you to
enter into this penitential season wholeheartedly, with the dispositions willed
by the Church and to accomplish the purpose for which the Church prescribes
it.
If
I look in books from the early part of this century, I find that they indicate
three purposes for which the Church has prescribed this penitential time:
*
first, in order to curb the concupiscence of the flesh;
* then, to facilitate the elevation of our souls toward divine realities;
* finally, to make satisfaction for our sins.
* then, to facilitate the elevation of our souls toward divine realities;
* finally, to make satisfaction for our sins.
Our
Lord gave us the example during His life, here on earth: pray and do penance.
However, Our Lord, being free from concupiscence and sin, did penance and made
satisfaction for our sins, thus showing us that our penance may be beneficial
not only for ourselves but also for others.
Pray
and do penance. Do penance in order to pray better, in order to draw closer to
Almighty God. This is what all the saints have done, and this is that of which
all the messages of the Blessed Virgin remind us.
Would
we dare to say that this necessity is less important in our day and age than in
former times? On the contrary, we can and we must affirm that today, more than
ever before, prayer and penance are necessary because everything possible has
been done to diminish and denigrate these two fundamental elements of Christian
life.
Never
before has the world sought to satisfy - without any limit, the disordered
instincts of the flesh, even to the point of the murder of millions of innocent,
unborn children. One would come to believe that society has no other reason for
existence except to give the greatest material standard of living to all men in
order that they should not be deprived of material goods.
Thus
we can see that such a society would be opposed to what the Church prescribes.
In these times, when even Churchmen align themselves with the spirit of this
world, we witness the disappearance of prayer and penance-particularly in their
character of reparation for sins and obtaining pardon for faults. Few there are
today who love to recite Psalm 50, the Miserere, and who say with the psalmist,
Peccatum meum contra me est semper-"My sin is always before me." How can a
Christian remove the thought of sin if the image of the crucifix is always
before his eyes?
At
the Council the bishops requested such a diminution of fast and abstinence that
the prescriptions have practically disappeared. We must recognize the fact that
this disappearance is a consequence of the ecumenical and Protestant spirit
which denies the necessity of our participation for the application of the
merits of Our Lord to each one of us for the remission of our sins and the
restoration of our divine affiliation [i.e., our character as adoptive sons of
God].
In
the past the commandments of the Church provided for:
*
an obligatory fast on all days of Lent with the exception of Sundays, for the
three ember days and for many vigils;
* abstinence was for all Fridays of the year, the Saturdays of Lent and, in numerous dioceses, all the Saturdays of the year.
* abstinence was for all Fridays of the year, the Saturdays of Lent and, in numerous dioceses, all the Saturdays of the year.
What
remains of these prescriptions-the fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and
abstinence for Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent.
One
wonders at the motives for such a drastic diminution. Who are obliged to observe
the fast? -adults from age 21 to 60. And who are obliged to observe abstinence?
-all the faithful from the age of 7 years.
What
does fasting mean? To fast means to take only one (full) meal a day to which one
may add two collations (or small meals), one in the morning, one in the evening
which, when combined, do not equal a full meal.
What
is meant by abstinence? By abstinence is meant that one abstains from meat.
The
faithful who have a true spirit of faith and who profoundly understand the
motives of the church which have been mentioned above, will wholeheartedly
accomplish not only the light prescriptions of today but, entering into the
spirit of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will endeavor to make
reparation for the sins which they have committed and for the sins of their
family, their neighbors, friends and fellow citizens.
It
is for this reason that they will add to the actual prescriptions. These
additional penances might be to fast for all Fridays of Lent, abstinence from
all alcoholic beverages, abstinence from television, or other similar
sacrifices. They will make an effort to pray more, to assist more frequently at
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to recite the Rosary, and not to miss evening
prayers with the family. They will detach themselves from their superfluous
material goods in order to aid the seminaries, help establish schools, help
their priests adequately furnish the chapels and to help establish novitiates
for nuns and brothers.
The
prescriptions of the Church do not concern fast and abstinence alone but the
obligation of the Paschal Communion (Easter Duty) as well. Here is what the
Vicar of the Diocese of Sion, in Switzerland, recommended to the faithful of
that diocese on 20 February 1919:
1.
During Lent, the pastors will have the Stations of the Cross twice a week; one
day for the children of the schools and another day for the other parishioners.
After the Stations of the Cross, they will recite the Litany of the Sacred
Heat
2. During Passion Week, which is to say, the week before Palm Sunday, there will be a Triduum in all parish churches, Instruction, Litany of the Sacred Heart in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction. In these instructions the pastors will simply and clearly remind their parishioners of the principal conditions to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily.
3. The time during which one may fulfill the Easter Duty has been set for all parishes from Passion Sunday to the first Sunday after Easter.
2. During Passion Week, which is to say, the week before Palm Sunday, there will be a Triduum in all parish churches, Instruction, Litany of the Sacred Heart in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction. In these instructions the pastors will simply and clearly remind their parishioners of the principal conditions to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily.
3. The time during which one may fulfill the Easter Duty has been set for all parishes from Passion Sunday to the first Sunday after Easter.
Why
should these directives no longer be useful today? Let us profit from this
salutary time during the course of which Our Lord is accustomed to dispense
grace abundantly. Let us not imitate the foolish virgins who having no oil in
their lamps found the door of the bridegroom's house closed and this terrible
response: Nescio vos-"I know you not." Blessed are they who have the spirit of
poverty for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The spirit of poverty means the
spirit of detachment from things of this world.
Blessed
are they who weep for they shall be consoled. Let us think of Jesus in the
Garden of Olives who wept for our sins. It is henceforth for us to weep for our
sins and for those of our brethren.
Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst for holiness for they shall be satisfied.
Holiness-sanctity is attained by means of the Cross, penance and sacrifice. If
we truly seek perfection then we must follow the Way of the Cross.
May
we, during this Lenten Season, hear the call of Jesus and Mary and engage
ourselves to follow them in this crusade of prayer and penance.
May
our prayers, our supplications, and our sacrifices obtain from heaven the grace
that those in places of responsibility in the Church return to her true and holy
traditions, which is the only solution to revive and reflourish the institutions
of the Church again.
Let
us love to recite the conclusion of the Te Deum: In te Doming, speravi; non
confundar in aeternum-"In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped. I will not be confounded
in eternity."
+
Marcel Lefebvre
Sexagesima
Sunday-14 February 1982
Rickenbach,
Switzerland
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