[From the Fons et Culmen Liturgy Summit last week at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park:]
Archbishop Cordileone issued a clear call to those of us who care to follow him: bring back the Eucharistic Fast. In the homily Archbishop Cordileone gave at the National Eucharistic Congress, he mentioned fasting twice as part of the ten ingredients for Eucharistic revival.
On the Eucharistic fast, he told us “We should not see an hour of fasting, though, as an ideal or the standard to aim for. It’s more like the minimum standard. Again, this is coming from a place of love. We want to prepare already before we go to church. We’re preparing to receive our Lord. So we should strive for more, when possible even to keep the fast from midnight, which is of ancient origin, or if not, at least a three-hour fast whenever that is possible.”
And then Archbishop Cordileone returned to the subject:
“I spoke about the Eucharistic fast, but what about fasting in general? Again, the observance of Friday fasting is also of ancient origin. We do penance on Friday because it’s the day of the week that our Lord died. But we need to do it with the right spirit. I can understand the concerns at the time. A priest in the diocese I am from [San Diego], who is about ten years older than I, once told me a story about a bishop’s housekeeper who, when the Church’s penitential practices were revised and it was popularly thought that the Church had lifted the requirement of Friday abstinence from meat, the housekeeper remarked: “Oh, the bishop will be so disappointed. He so enjoyed his Friday lobster dinners.” Yes, there was a need to implement a more serious, responsible and sincere observance of penitential practices at the time—and even more so now!”
Keeping the full Eucharistic fast from midnight the night before: What does this spiritual practice do? It asks us to set our bodies “apart” in preparation receiving for the Lord bodily. Sacred means what is set apart for worship of God. It’s not really a moral issue so much as it’s a question of respecting the boundaries of the sacred, distinguishing ordinary digestion from the consumption of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The pangs of hunger also serve as a visceral reminder of our willingness to make small sacrifices for the Lord and also of our desire to hunger for Him in the Eucharist more intensely. Along with eating one meatless meal on Fridays (yes I know the Church says something about two small meals that don’t add up to more than one meal, but that’s just confusing to me anyway) these are ancient spiritual practices of the Church stretching back to the time of the Fathers. Please pray and consider the Archbishop’s spiritual advice on this?
– email from Maggie Gallagher at Benedict XVI Institute sent on July 7.
The one-hour fast before Communion is little more than symbolic now. One could have a sandwich 5 minutes before Mass starts and still meet that minimum requirement at most parishes. So, why bother? And with evening Mass being more common on both Saturday (vigil) and Sunday, fasting from midnight may be more onerous than for those at a morning Mass. My own opinion is that restoring the 3-hour fast, which was in effect for a relatively short time in the Church’s history, would be a good standard. Without being overly burdensome, it would cause us to stop and think about Who we are to receive, and to think of preparation for that for a reasonable amount of time beforehand.
Fasting from midnight was fine for monastics and others who could attend Mass at dawn or shortly thereafter, in days when parishes had 5-6 morning Masses (and none on Saturdays). When the earliest Mass is 9:00 or later, it gets to be a problem for folks who may last have eaten more than 12 hours back. Three hours should be doable in any case, however, with the obvious health exceptions.
All through the 1960s, everyone I knew, still fasted when getting up, and ate breakfast after Sunday morning Mass (regardless of either the three-hour or later, one-hour Eucharistic fast) with their families/extended families. Sat. Confession, examination of conscience and good preparation for reception of Holy Communion was very important. Anyone who went to see Church-condemned, bad movies— or worse!– on Sat. nights— no Communion for you, at Mass, tomorrow. Go to Confession! Miss the old Legion of Decency– badly needed, today!
I knew of many people who experienced a loss of Catholic identity when Pope St. Paul VI removed the Friday abstinence obligation. In England and Wales in the UK, the bishops decided in recent years, to resume this common penitential practice. I think it is a good idea. It is also a powerful, visible sign of our shared Faith, to the world.
Having to eat baked or fried salmon for Friday can be a sacrifice if what you really want is to eat the leftover stew from the day before. At other times sardines from a can, not as healthy nor tasty, or creamed tuna over rice, toast or pasta is more of a sacrifice. Now melted cheese in a tortilla, WITHOUT the salsa, would be a REAL sacrifice. But as far as lobster, I love the taste but rarely buy it as I do not like “fighting” with my food to eat it. I make my husband take it out of its shell, so I guess a real sacrifice would be having to take it out of its shell myself. (Laughter.)
I do not eat meat on Fridays and I fast during Lent and Advent. I am mindful that gluttony is not only about how much you eat, but it is also about how, what, and when you eat. I eat foods that I don’t like as a sacrifice and to grow in the virtue of temperance. I am able to lose weight and to avoid the health issues that normal people have. Catholic teaching can help someone stay healthy.
Exactly! As St. Paul the Apostle said, “Moderation in all things.” Too much of anything, whether food, drink, clothes, cars, jewelry becomes an addiction. Then we need to give away to those in need, or we become like the Rich Young Ruler. Not always easy to do. Sometimes “my cup overflows and out the door” as in Psalm 23. Sometimes when I want to live a simpler life, it becomes more complicated than ever.
Lord, help me to be poor in spirit.
Wow. That’s quite a self-satisfied statement, that you think your lifestyle enables you to avoid the health issues that “normal” people have. Many “normal” people live a healthy lifestyle yet manage to, most likely via their DNA, contract cancer, auto-immune diseases, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, lupus, etc. I can attest to it.
If only those suffering from such diseases could be as devout a Catholic as you, then maybe through more fasting and temperance their diseases would have been cured.
I agree with “No meat on Friday” because many a person that was unhealthy, including myself, returned to being healthier by a better diet, exercise, moderate living and proper use of medication. The only objection I have to his/her post is that he used the term “normal people” instead of “some people” in his last line.
But as the saying goes, “If two people agree on everything, one of them is not needed.” (Laughter.)
There are those in the Church who hate piety, devotion, and reverence. They tend to have divisive personalities. They often start quarrels and contentions over things such as liturgies, devotions, and reverence. They always have to be right and everyone else always have to be wrong. They make everyone else around them miserable. They tend to tear down people who live to higher standards when it comes to adhering to Catholic teaching. They are so divisive in the Church that Catholics are not able to freely enter into discussions about the merits of fasting and temperance without someone else coming along to start a quarrel.
Banning Latin Masses will not eliminate this cause of division in the Church. Banning Latin Masses will only punish the victims and reward the perpetrators.
Don’t talk about how much you fast or deprive yourself of worldly things. Keep those things private so as not to be perceived as a vaunter or hypocrite.
Yes, hide your light underneath a bushel basket so that no one will see it. No one should be allowed to know that Jesus was ever alive.
Some Catholics are holier than thou spiritual Karens and spiritual Bette Midlers.
Yes, and some Catholics are unholier than thou.
I will not support an archbishop who is promoting and celebrating the preconicilar Mass. The point is that form of the Mass should be phased out. He has bad taste in liturgical music as well. Glad I’m not in his diocese.
The TLM will be around and thriving in the Church long after your boomer generation which wrecked everything has turned to dust. We are undoing all of Vatican 2 whether you like it or not…
“Glad I’m not in his diocese.” But if there are Catholics who find great profit in the preconciliar Mass, and these Catholics happen to live in Archbishop Cordileone’s diocese, is not the archbishop tending to the care of these sheep?
If there are Catholics in his diocese who find great profit in homosexual relations, and there are many more of those in San Francisco than who find profit in the old Mass, shouldn’t the archbishop tend to their care by affirming and supporting them in their homosexual relationships?
Of course not. You see, just because someone likes something doesn’t mean it’s good for them to like it. Prefering the old Mass to the new Mass is one of those things that is not good to like. Everyone must like the new Mass in preference to the old Mass. Pope Francis ordered that all bishops must eventually lead their flocks away from the old Mass to the exclusive celebration of the new Mass. Cordileone is being disobedient by pretending that the old Mass should and will continue to be celebrated in perpetuity.
Did you watch Cordileone celebrate the old Mass at the Guadalupe shrine? It was an example of just why the old Mass needed to be reformed and why we now have the new Mass. It was a medieval play.
I am glad that your trolling comment did not succeed in provoking a quarrel over the Vatican 2 council. You are not as good a troll as you think. If someone is paying you to be a troll, they should get a refund.
Burke and Cordileone, in their liturgical preferences, embody an “ostentatious vanity” shaped more by the excesses of a decadent medieval aesthetic than by the spirit of the Gospel.
In contrast, the “noble simplicity” affirmed by Vatican II is not innovation but recovery — a return to the more ancient, biblical, and prayerful roots of Christian worship.
One hopes they might rediscover that deeper beauty which lies not in embroidered spectacle but in humble fidelity to the mystery being celebrated. That would truly feed the faithful, not displays of medieval pageantry.
Nobody should find profit in the pre-Vatican II Mass. It’s obsolete and outdated and passe by order of Vatican II.