Why we must fast

The Lenten Fast

There are some in the Church who would opine that one need not necessarily give something up during Lent, but instead it may be beneficial to add something – usually it is recommended to add either some act of charity for the poor (almsgiving) or to take more time for reading the Bible (prayer). It seems that such persons have scarcely realized that the practices of Lent are three: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It will not do simply to practice one of the three, leaving the others aside.

Indeed, it needs be stressed that, of the three practices, fasting is the most important to consider – for it is the fast which most characterizes the season of Lent. Moreover, while the giving of alms and prayer are necessary always, the Lenten Fast is practiced only for these forty days: How great a folly it would be to miss it!

The Death of the Common Doctor

737 years ago in Fossanova, the death of the Angel of the Schools

On 6 December, 1273, he laid aside his pen and would write no more. That day he experienced an unusually long ecstasy during Mass; what was revealed to him we can only surmise from his reply to Father Reginald, who urged him to continue his writings: "I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears to be of little value" (modica, Prümmer, op. cit., p. 43). The "Summa theologica" had been completed only as far as the ninetieth question of the third part (De partibus poenitentiae).

Sts. Perptua and Felicity, and the Second Eve

March 7^th, Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

First, we consider the words of St. John Chrysostom, who praised the fact that so many of the early Christian martyrs were women. Notice how he writes of these martyrs as second Eve's.

"I feel an indescribable pleasure in reading the 'Acts of the Martyrs'; but when the martyr is a woman, my enthusiasm is doubled. For the frailer the instrument, the greater is the grace, the brighter the trophy, the grander the victory; and this, not because of her weakness, but because the devil is conquered by her, by whom he once conquered us. He conquered by a woman, and now a woman conquers him. She that was once his weapon, is now his destroyer, brave and invincible. That first one sinned, and died; this one died that she might not sin. Eve was flushed by a lying promise, and broke the law of God; our heroine disdained to live, when her living was to depend on her breaking her faith to Him who was her dearest Lord. What excuse, after this, for men, if they be soft and cowards? Can they hope for pardon, when women fought the holy battle with such brave, and manly, and generous hearts?"

The Mystery of Lent

As we approach this holy season, we see Christ our Savior go before us and urge us onward – he who has suffered, bids that we might share in his suffering so as to share also in his glory. The Good Lord desires that we be purified and made wholly acceptable to him, but he will not do this without us, for he wills that we should be true participants in our own sanctification.

Consider the words of the holy Abbot, Prosper Gueranger: “The forty day’s fast, which we call Lent, is the Church’s preparation for Easter, and was instituted at the very commencement of Christianity. Our blessed Lord Himself sanctioned it by fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert; and though he would not impose it on the world by an express commandment (which, in that case, could not have been open to the power of dispensation), yet he showed plainly enough, by His own example, that fasting, which God had so frequently ordered in the old Law, was to be also practiced by the children of the new.”

Can sinners work miracles?, On the Gospel for the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Christ before Caiaphas, who prophesied the Redemption

9^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 7:21-27

Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?” Then I will declare to them solemnly, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.”

When we consider the words of Christ, it appears that even sinners can work miracles. Yet, how can this be? Miracles are worked through prayers, and God does not hear the prayers of sinners. Here we will offer a short reflection on this one aspect of the Sunday Gospel, relying on St. Thomas as our teacher and guide (cf. Vatican II, Optatum Totius 16).

God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, knows all things

That God has lied or deceived, an impious claim

In the recent debate about lying – which began to rage on the Catholic blogosphere less than a month ago, but which has already lost all its momentum (a testament to human fickleness) – several authors, some of whom are even recognized as “theologians,” appealed to Sacred Scripture either to claim that lies are not always wrong or that what the Catechism (following many Popes, theologians, and saints) says is a lie is not necessarily a lie. Such persons appealed most often to various difficult passages in which it seems that the Old Testament saints – notably, Abraham, Jacob, Rahab, and Judith, as well as the midwives of Egypt – lied. We have already discussed these principle stories. They certainly offer no justification for lying.

Some, however, were not content merely to point to the patriarchs and saints of old, but went so far as to impute lying and deception to God himself. The gross impiety of such a claim need hardly be mentioned, for God “can neither deceive nor be deceived” (Dei Filius 3, CCC 156). The very thought of accusing Truth himself of uttering falsehood befits not the mind of a Christian.

These persons pointed, most often, to two “cases” in which it seemed to them that God had lied: First, they bring forward the testing of Abraham (Genesis 22:1-14), for Isaac was not to be sacrificed as it seems God said he would be; then, they turn to Christ’s claim that none know the day or the hour of the Second Coming not even the Son (Mark 13:32), for our Savior most certainly did and does know the exact time of the Parousia. In answering the objections, we will see that there is a marvelous union between these two texts – one which will only be gleaned through reading the Scriptures as a Catholic, as opposed to plucking out “proof-texts” simply to win an argument.

Abraham, Jacob, Rahab, and Judith: Biblical liars?

Rahab protects the Israelite spies

The question of human lies in the Bible

Following the course of our previous article, we will here discuss the “cases” of Biblical lying which some have claimed either to justify the occasion use of lies or to prove that what the Catechism says is a lie is not really a lie.

As Catholics, we will approach these sacred texts in the threefold exegetical method: recalling the unity of the whole Bible, and especially of the Old and New Testaments; reading the text within the living Tradition of the Church, diligently considering the commentaries of the Church Fathers; and being attentive to the analogy of faith, by which various revealed truths are related one to another. (cf. Dei Verbum 12, CCC 112-114)

We will discuss several of the “cases” which have been brought forward by others in order to justify lying. First discussing the cases which involve patriarchs, who are examples of perfect virtue, we will then turn to those cases which involve other biblical figures who seem to have lied.

It is worth noting that there seems to be a great inconsistency in the reasoning of those who have referred to these biblical cases as a defense of lying: For, while they are willing to claim that lying is acceptable in certain circumstances because (as they claim) Abraham, Jacob, and others lied, they do not then proceed to claim that infanticide is acceptable in certain circumstances since it was practiced by the Israelites when they defeated their enemies and was prayed for by David in the 136^th Psalm: Blessed be he that shall take and dash they little ones against the rock. This selective interpretation of the biblical text suggests that such persons are twisting the Scriptures to fit their own argument.