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Fasting and Feasting Handout

The document discusses Catholic traditions around virtue, prayer, liturgy, fasting, feasting, lectio divina, Sunday, and families. It provides teachings from sources like the Catechism, documents from the Vatican and popes, and saints on developing an understanding and practice of these traditions.

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13 views2 pages

Fasting and Feasting Handout

The document discusses Catholic traditions around virtue, prayer, liturgy, fasting, feasting, lectio divina, Sunday, and families. It provides teachings from sources like the Catechism, documents from the Vatican and popes, and saints on developing an understanding and practice of these traditions.

Uploaded by

Sylvanus
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Fasting and Feasting: Learning to Live the Catholic Tradition

John A. Cuddeback, PhD.


Institute of Catholic Culture, August 23, 2012

THE VIRTUE OF RELIGION AND PRAYER


1) “We pay God honor and reverence, not for His sake (because He is of Himself full of glory to
which no creature can add anything), but for our own sake, because by the very fact that we
revere and honor God, our mind is subjected to Him; wherein its perfection consists, since a
thing is perfected by being subjected to its superior, for instance the body is perfected by being
quickened by the soul, and the air by being enlightened by the sun. Now the human mind, in
order to be united to God, needs to be guided by the sensible world, since ‘invisible things . . .
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,’ as the Apostle says (Rm. 1:20).
Wherefore in the Divine worship it is necessary to make use of corporeal things, that man's mind
may be aroused thereby, as by signs, to the spiritual acts by means of which he is united to God.
Therefore the internal acts of religion take precedence of the others and belong to religion
essentially, while its external acts are secondary, and subordinate to the internal acts.” Summa
theologiae II II, Q. 81, article 6: “Whether Religion has an external act?”
2) “Faith, hope and charity are by themselves a prayer of continual longing … we pray to God
with our lips at certain intervals and seasons, in order to admonish ourselves by means of such
like signs, to take note of the amount of our progress in that desire, and to arouse ourselves more
eagerly to an increase thereof.” St. Augustine Letter to Proba 130.9; quoted in S.t. II II 83.14)
3) St. Thomas (commenting on the St. Augustine quotation): “And so it is fitting that prayer
should last long enough to arouse the fervor of the interior desire.” (II II 83.14)

4) Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic (late 13th century): “In learned books, the glorious and
venerable doctor, Brother Thomas Aquinas, and Albert, of the Order of Preachers, as well as William in
his treatise on the virtues, have considered admirably and in a holy, devout, and beautiful manner that
form of prayer in which the soul makes use of the members of the body to raise itself more devoutly to
God. In this way the soul, in moving the body, is moved by it. At times it becomes rapt in ecstasy as was
Saint Paul, or is caught up in a rapture of the spirit like the prophet David. Saint Dominic often prayed in
this way, and it is fitting that we say something of his method. Certainly many saints of both the Old and
New Testament are known to have prayed like this at times. Such a method serves to enkindle devotion
by the alternate action of soul upon body and body upon soul.”

LITURGY
5) Vatican II: The Mass is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” [Lumen Gentium #11, see
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #1324]
6) Catechism of the Catholic Church (quoting Vat. II, SC #10), “The liturgy is the summit towards which
the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows.” #1074
7) CCC: “(Finally), by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy
and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.” #1326
8) Vat II’s Sacrosanctum concilium #11 “In [liturgy] full public worship is performed by the Mystical
Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this it follows that every liturgical
celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred
action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to
the same degree.” (quoted in CCC #1070)
9) CCC: “The mystery of Christ… which we celebrate in the Eucharist… permeates and transfigures the
time of each day, through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, the divine office.” #1174

1
FASTING
10) “…fasting is practiced for a threefold purpose. First, in order to bridle the lusts of the flesh,
wherefore the Apostle says (2 Cor. 6:5,6): "In fasting, in chastity," since fasting is the guardian
of chastity. … Secondly, we have recourse to fasting in order that the mind may arise more
freely to the contemplation of heavenly things: hence it is related (Dan. 10) of Daniel that he
received a revelation from God after fasting for three weeks. Thirdly, in order to satisfy for sins:
wherefore it is written (Joel 2:12): ‘Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in
weeping and in mourning.’” St. Thomas Aquinas S.t. II II q. 147, art. 1.
11) “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one's flesh to the spirit, renders the heart
contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the
true light of chastity.” St. Augustine, Sermon on Prayer and Fasting, quoted in II II q. 147, art. 1.
12) “All Christ’s faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance.
However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of
penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves
to prayer, engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their
obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the
following canons prescribe.” (Code of Canon Law, 1249)
“The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and
the season of Lent.” (Canon 1250)

FEASTING
13) “To celebrate a festival means: to live out, for some special occasion and in an uncommon
manner, the universal assent to the world as a whole.” Josef Pieper, In Tune with the World: A
Theory of Festivity (St. Augustine’s Press, 1999), p. 30.

LECTIO DIVINA
14) “In this context, I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio
divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue
in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting
openness of heart (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the
Church—I am convinced of it—a new spiritual springtime.” Pope Benedict XVI (Address to International
Congress Commemorating 40th Anniversary of Dei Verbum, 16 Sept 2005)
15) CCC #1177 “The lectio divina, where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it
becomes prayer, is thus rooted in the liturgical celebration.” (in section on Liturgy of the Hours)

SUNDAY
16) “Sharing in the Eucharist is the heart of Sunday, but the duty to keep Sunday holy cannot be
reduced to this. In fact, the Lord’s Day is lived well if it is marked from beginning to end by
grateful and active remembrance of God’s saving work.” Bl. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter
“The Lord’s Day”#52

FAMILIES COMING TOGETHER


17) “Many of the problems facing contemporary families, especially in economically developed
societies, result from their increasing difficulty in communicating. Families seldom manage to
come together, and the rare occasions when they do are often taken up with watching television.”
Bl. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, #41

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