The never-shy Ann Barnhardt recently posted a piece of reader mail on the question of fasting. I am linking to that post here and I encourage all to check it out if they have not already seen it. She lays it out there in pretty clear terms. Fasting is necessary and fasting should be strict. This is in stark contrast to the V2 Novie crowd who want us all “fat and happy”. Think about it. Our Lord explicitly instructed His followers to fast telling them that some demons can only be driven out by this practice. He set the example by fasting in the desert for 40 days. Catholics fasted for almost two millennia until we were inexplicably told that what constituted fasting was now three meals a day, two days a year, if you’re between 18 and 59, and if your poor wittle body can handle the wigor.
Look, obviously there are people who are going to have go about fasting slightly differently than everyone else. In a similar manner, though, there are always people who will be excused from the Sunday obligation if there is an outbreak of flu and their immune systems are compromised. But the Church never cancelled the Sunday obligation and locked all the churches because of them. Oh wait…
The point is, as I mentioned recently borrowing from a sermon I heard, we are under assault from many sides right now. We need to be the soldiers of Christ we were confirmed to be, pick up our armor and every weapon at our disposal (including and especially fasting), and fight to defend His bride, the Church.s
My we all have a fruitful (and difficult) Lent.
God bless us and the Virgin protect us!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 