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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Fast Way to Heaven

By:   David Martin
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The Fast Way to Heaven

Christ calls us to fast from the things of this world and to feed on the Bread of Life. Our entire religion is based on sacrifice, with the Sacrifice of Christ being the foundation and model for all we do. This same Sacrifice is reenacted during Holy Mass, of which the Eucharist is the fruit, therefore fasting before Communion is an essential part of our religion.

Fasting starves out the demon of impurity, as opposed to over eating, which fuels impurity of heart and mind, especially, our spiritual directors tell us, when this is done before bed. The Church under divine guidance has rightfully maintained the rule of fast through the ages for our preservation and so that we may worthily receive Christ in Communion.

 

Unfortunately the church in modern times refuses to be guided from above, and now that age-old fast has been broken. The secular currents of the world are what have generated the change, i.e. the discarding of the traditional fast, and that of Friday abstinence, liturgical discipline, modesty of dress, reverence, head coverings, holy water, sacramentals, the old Mass, the traditional prayer to St. Michael, and the whole of tradition which the Almighty in His goodness had bestowed upon us for our liberty and sanctification. The clergy today are slumbering, and it seems that very few are keeping the Faith.

Hence faithful Catholics can no longer necessarily expect to receive from the pulpit the counsel to fast, to do penance, and to make reparation to the outraged heart of Christ in order to mitigate the wrath of the Almighty. Perhaps, then, each Catholic should take this upon himself and adopt a program of penance and sacrifice in accord with tradition. The one hour fast before Communion is a joke and an insult to our Eucharistic King.

A wholesome Lenten resolution is to fast, really fast!, and return to the rule of fast as practiced in the time of Pius XII. The 1917 Code of Canon Law was still the law at that time, which required that no food or drink be taken after midnight until the time of Communion. And whereas the Holy Father relaxed this ruling in March 1957 by reducing the Communion fast to three hours, he nonetheless urged that the traditional fast after midnight (terminus a quo) be maintained by all.“We strongly exhort priests and faithful who are able to do so to observe the old and venerable form of the Eucharistic fast before Mass and Holy Communion. All those who will make use of these concessions must compensate for the good received by becoming shining examples of a Christian life and principally with works of penance and charity.”  

What has happened to us? What have we become? Where have all the Catholics gone?