Days of Penance

Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

I would also add a quote from the USCCB blog:

6. Don’t do too much. It’s tempting to make Lent some ambitious period of personal reinvention, but it’s best to keep it simple and focused. There’s a reason the Church works on these mysteries year after year. We spend our entire lives growing closer to God. Don’t try to cram it all in one Lent. That’s a recipe for failure.

Read the rest of Bishop Ricken’s ten things to remember for Lent.

Let us enter faithfully into Lent.

“And maybe it is deliberate to drive the Church into the sanctuary, and the sanctuary alone. But is an appalling assault on our religious liberty.”

- Bishop Daniel R. Jenky (Peoria, IL)

“I’m just hoping people aren’t deceived by the quote accommodation or compromise, that they see that this is still very problematic.”

- Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades (Fort Wayne-South Bend, IN)

Join the cause! Fight against the tyranny of the plumber brothers.

Hat tip to the Geek Art Gallery, where you can view all nine of the campaign posters.

Regulars at my Facebook page will know that I have been posted daily on developments that continue to unfold around the issues of marriage, contraception and abortion. Even as the bishops lead the charge in the national battle over the contraception mandate (with Catholic institutions pitching in), here in Washington we face an extension of that mandate which will force all employers to provide for abortions (HB 2330). There is not even a whisper of religious exemption.

Two days old now is the law signed by Governor Gregoire that recognizes two men or two women as being able to ‘marry’. Referendum 74 has already been filed and must collect 120,577 signatures by June 6th to come to ballot in November in opposition of this radical redefinition of matrimony. Expect the same kind of harassment that came to those who stood for marriage in California’s Proposition 8 work, to the point of of creating a map of the names of those who supported it – which (surprise!) led to all sorts of personal vindictiveness.

Two weeks ago, word hit the internet that Susan G. Komen for the Cure would not be offering further grants or donations to Planned Parenthood. Within days, donations to SGK were up by 100%. The pro-life community was ecstatic.

Two weeks after that news initially broke, SGK abruptly reversed course following an Planned Parenthood-led attack the likes of which have not been seen since 1990. 26 senators – all Democrats – publicly lobbied Susan G. Komen while Planned Parenthood flooded the internet as it attempted to bully the foundation into compliance. Not only did they succeed, but created a firestorm that cost Karen Handel – vice president of SGK – her job, making her the focus of their ire until she resigned.

The end of neutral

Emboldened by their recent victory, Planned Parenthood just yesterday began a campaign to pressure Paul’s Pantry – an outreach arm of Saint Vincent de Paul in Green Bay, Wisconsin – because it refused to send a delivery truck to pick up a donation from Planned Parenthood to avoid being associated with the abortion group.

This is not the last time Catholics will be publicly bullied for uphold the tenets of their faith.

There three descriptions of the Church that have too-long languished in the wake of the this generation’s desire to avoid rocking the boat: the Church Militant, the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant. The latter will only be realized in heaven. The Church Suffering are those in purgatory. And we are the Church Militant. Militant not in physical combat, but spiritual opposition to the corruption of the world, our own desires and the devil. Too long we have been unaware of just how much we need to be engaged in spiritual combat.

How do we combat the world, our desires and the devil? Its simple: prayer, fasting and involvement. Pray through the celebration of Mass and worthy reception of the Eucharist. Fast from the pleasures of the world – meat, sweets, small pleasures and so on. Involvement in voting according to your faith, engaging those who don’t share our faith and inviting those who have fallen away.

If we will ever be the Church Triumphant in heaven, we need the Church Militant here on earth – and in our time. We have tools, now its time to use them: praying, fasting and getting involved for the salvation of souls – including our own.

I spend a great deal of my free time reading the news online, posting on Facebook and corresponding with family & friends. With all that has been going on, I’ve had a great deal to post about, especially in spreading the word to pray, fast and contact state & government legislatures.

One of the responses I got on Facebook caught my attention. Upon posting encouragement to resist the tyranny of this mandate, one friend posted a simple response: “Whats the point?”.

And what is the point? Whether we voted for them or not, politicians seem determined to do whatever they want. And even those who are Catholic have sacrificed their faith on the altar of modern values. I doubt that any of us could deny that despair at having any effect has at least occurred to us, if not set in from time to time.

Today we see this leper approach Jesus, and its not hard to imagine the conversation that we hear. “If you wish, you can make me clean.” … but what’s the point? We’ve all heard in the first reading how awful it is to have leprosy. Not only does the disease take its toll on you physically, but you had to live as an outcast for the rest of your life. Tearing your garments in mourning and yelling ‘unclean, unclean’ so as to set yourself apart from those who have not been touched by the disease.

Imagine the weight this man carried as he made his request: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Its not hard to imagine the despair in his voice, a lack of hope as he thinks to himself “whats the point?”.

And Jesus responds. “I do will it. Be made clean.” No sooner has He said these words than He has healed the man, touching him as He does. Imagine the shock of hearing these words, of feeling – perhaps for the first time in years – the touch of another person. And then looking down at your hands and seeing them clear of any of the wounds and sores of leprosy!

Jesus goes on to give what should be a simple direction – “tell no one anything”. And yet, who can blame this man for telling anyone – if not everyone! I wouldn’t blame this poor man for not only telling, but telling for weeks, months and even years of what had been done for him. “I do will it” indeed!

So we too make our appeal to God, and have said as much as we offered our psalm: “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.” We’ve turned to God, and en masse. It is time now to open ourselves to the joy of salvation.

It isn’t that we’ve finished our work (au contraire!) or that we will even see it finished soon. Yet God wills nothing but the good. God will make good of this, and more!, if only we will place our faith – as the leper – in Him. Let us take heart that as followers of Christ, His brothers & sisters and His friends, He does will the good for us. Let us keep working – and be joyful doing so – because we’ve got something even great to share with the world.