Daily Archives: March 11, 2023

I was looking for a topic to post tonight when I came across the following video.

I do not know these monks but I like what I’m hearing. I hate to beat a dead horse but I am convinced this is a missing key to growth in personal holiness. I’ve been paying careful attention to the orations at daily Mass and they bear witness to this.

We must be fasting during Lent. It isn’t easy. But it is not only worth it but also a command. The spiritual benefits I have already seen have caused me to wonder why I haven’t done this before. Also, I have a tendency to look to the early Church and see what they were doing and how I could imitate these our forefathers. They fasted every day of Lent. Many were also martyred.

The new crowd? Well, my mother-in-law and I had a conversation a few days ago about all the craziness in the world and in the Church. At one point she said, “They don’t want any remnants of the past.” Boy is she right. They hate tradition. We already know that. But they have to destroy every vestige of the past because the past is our heritage and our pillar. It is our foundation.

Why would anyone fast today? Seriously. I have heard people tell me, “The Church doesn’t really want us to fast anymore,” or “You’re overdoing it. Don’t you know we’re supposed to do something positive instead of just giving stuff up,” or “Hey man, it’s Sunday. That’s not part of Lent.” On that last point the implication is that Sundays are apparently for gluttony.

Let me issue a challenge. Since there is no prohibition of fasting; why not give it a shot. Men among this readership – be men. Go hard. Make it hurt. Do it for your sins. Do it for your wives and children. Unite the pain to the cross. It’s only for a short while. If you don’t notice the same things I’m noticing in my fast, then go back to your Ash Wednesday/Good Friday-one big and two small meal thing. What have you got to lose?

“Grant that our fasting may be beneficial to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so that by chastising our flesh we may obtain strength for our souls.”

Collect for Saturday, Second Week of Lent, copied from Divinum Officium

St. Bernadette, pray for us!