Lent Vent

[Kage_ar]

Why is it that the same people who tear their hair that Pope Francis is "da debbil" over some things go all gooey over the internet list of "Ten Things Pope Francis says to do for Lent instead of giving up chocolate"?

Also, I have decided to add my own flowery fluffy puppy thing to that list:

Pope Fluffy says "Instead Of Giving Up Something Good At Lent":

Fast from glaring at people who do NOT know how to drive and embrace high deductables

Fast from spellcheck and embraze freedom

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Also, Pope Francis never said or wrote that. I know the USCCB (and many other places) say he did, but to them I say: Prove it.

https://fauxtations.wordpress.com/2021/02/

[Doom]

What on Earth makes you think that is being posted primarily by people who don't like Francis? That assumption seems odd, to say the least, it is a little like assuming that all the people who are talking about what a great president Biden is are all Trump supporters.

[Stella]

Also, Pope Francis never said or wrote that. I know the USCCB (and many other places) say he did, but to them I say: Prove it.

https://fauxtations.wordpress.com/2021/02/

Yes I did a quick bit of googling and the prayer and versions of it have been circulating since before Pope Francis was elected. The references to it that I found attribute it to "anonymous - Latin America". This one from 2007 http://www.southhurstville.anglican.asn ... _07_L1.pdf

[aussie_aussie_oi_oi]

Bishop Barron on Lent:
Two items came across my radar screen this week, as we commence the holy season of Lent. The first was a short video of a disco rave that took place (I’m not making this up) in Canterbury Cathedral in England. The clip showed hundreds of young people gyrating to throbbing dance music, cups of beer in their raised hands, as lights flashed all around them. You could plainly see above them the gorgeously decorated ceiling of the cathedral and receding into the background the hauntingly beautiful gothic nave. Having visited Canterbury Cathedral a number of times, I knew that not at all far from where this nightclub scene was playing out was the site where St. Thomas Becket was murdered by agents of King Henry II in 1170. In other words, the present-day managers of the cathedral felt it was just fine that very near the place where one of England’s greatest saints gave his life for the faith a disco should break out. The dean of the cathedral, Dr. David Monteith, said, “Whether people choose to come to Canterbury Cathedral primarily as worshippers, sightseers, or attendees at our events—which include classical concerts, light and sound installations, and craft workshops—it’s always joyous to see them discover this incredible place anew and on their own terms.” For Pete’s sake . . .

The whole point, of course, is that cathedrals are not meant to be experienced “on our terms.” They are meant to draw us out of ourselves into the contemplation of a higher world. They are designed to disorient us and to compel us to see things differently. When we allow a disco celebration to take place inside a sacred space, we, quite literally, desecrate the place, we render it un-holy, for “holy” means “set apart.” The thousands upon thousands of pilgrims who came to the Canterbury Cathedral over the centuries to visit the tomb of St. Thomas Becket were seeking access to the mystical dimension that lies beyond this world. They came from the ordinary realm of shopping, farming, entertainment, and family, and they knew that they would return to that realm after their pilgrimage. But they also knew that the church was something else, something strange and alluring, and they most certainly did not want it transformed into farm fields or village streets or a bawdy dance hall.

Not everything has to be chirpy and upbeat in the religious order.

St. John of Damascus said that prayer is “raising the mind and the heart to God,” and the Church teaches that Lent is, par excellence, a time of prayer. So let us, during this holy season, cultivate “cathedral space” in our lives; please let us not permit the secular and the ordinary to dominate that space.

The second item that I chanced upon was an advertisement in a Catholic Church for Ash Wednesday. Next to a symbol representing ashes in the sign of the cross, it said, “Ashes say you belong.” Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure those who put up that ad had nothing but good intentions, and there is certainly nothing in the world wrong with making people feel welcome. But once again, for Pete’s sake . . . When the priest or minister applies the ashes to someone’s forehead, he says either “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe the Good News.” In other words, the ashes are not meant as a sign of welcome. They are meant to be the starkest possible reminder that we will die and that our bodies, even if they are young and beautiful, will inevitably return to the dirt of the earth and that we are sinners who have rebelled against God and who need to radically turn our lives around. In a word, the ashes are dark, alarming, somber—and meant to be so.

The Church in which I came of age—which is to say, the Church of the immediate postconciliar period—was, if I can put it this way, relentlessly positive. Joy, peace, God’s love and forgiveness, the goodness of all things, eternal life—these were what we exclusively talked about, sang about, insisted upon. And all of those are indeed central to the Bible and the great spiritual tradition. But so are suffering, loss, God’s judgment and demand, the fallenness of the world, deep and painful resistance to God, etc. I would challenge you to read any two pages of the Bible, Old Testament or New, and not encounter this darker side of our religion. Lent is a privileged time during the liturgical year when we are encouraged to come to grips with our sin, our mortality, our moral frailty, and our need for forgiveness. I guess I found that advertisement so off-putting because it obfuscated the message of Lent and interfered with the proper spiritual dynamic of the season. Not everything has to be chirpy and upbeat in the religious order. In point of fact, I believe that one reason so many have opted out of the Church is that our presentation of the faith has become superficial, unreal, nicey-nicey.

So, as we enter into these forty days, I say, “Let Lent be Lent!”

[Kage_ar]

Also, Pope Francis never said or wrote that. I know the USCCB (and many other places) say he did, but to them I say: Prove it.

https://fauxtations.wordpress.com/2021/02/

I know.

So, yesterday, Deacon read it in his homily. There is a ladies group who met after, they all wanted photocopies of that list and I said "just so you know, Pope Francis never said that". A lady climbed down my throat!! I actually said "you can check out a blog 'fauxtations' and read it for yourself". You keep getting me in trouble, it is a plot I tell you!!!

[Kage_ar]

What on Earth makes you think that is being posted primarily by people who don't like Francis? That assumption seems odd, to say the least, it is a little like assuming that all the people who are talking about what a great president Biden is are all Trump supporters.

I'm talking about people I know in real life. Humans at my parish.

[Kage_ar]

My new favorite:

https://www.facebook.com/ttfergu

Fr Timothy Ferguson, Diocese of Marquette

Your annual reminder.

Lent starts on Wednesday. Ash Wednesday, like Good Friday, is a day of fast (for all Latin Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59) and, like all the Fridays of Lent, is a day of abstinence from meat (for all Latin Catholics over the age of 14). That's what's required. That's all that's required.
You may think that modern fasting rules for the Latin Church are weak, lame, pathetic. Whatever. The rules used to be stricter. The rules are stricter in the Eastern Churches (Orthodox and Catholic). Yay!
You may personally opt to follow stricter fasting rules. You may choose to abide by the former Latin rules, or by some set of the Eastern rules. You may observe the lent of St. Servatius the Odious, who ate one half of a bean on the third Wednesday of Lent and quenched his thirst by sucking on a dirty dishrag every other Saturday. You may be doing Exodus 90 and scrubbing yourself each morning with ice from the freezer. You may be doing the medieval only-beer Lent. You may be shaming the angels by how penitential and self-sacrificing you are for the next forty days. Good for you.
...
but
...
If you talk openly about how much you're sacrificing and penancing, you're losing all the credit you may have gotten from that sacrificing and penancing.
...
and
...
If you spend the next 40 days complaining about how weak-sauce the current rules are and how pathetic those Catholics who are following the rules are because they're simply observing the rules, not only are you losing any credit you may be getting, you're adding heaping coals of sin on your own soul through pride, detraction, and arrogance.

Cut. It. Out.

eyes on your own paper, people. Eyes on your own paper.

[peregrinator]

I don't think people are pathetic for following the rules, but the rules are very weak sauce.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Mmmmmmmmm … weak sauce.

[aussie_aussie_oi_oi]

417406579_379274011393961_7645512489719832703_n.jpg

[Stella]

I don't think people are pathetic for following the rules, but the rules are very weak sauce.

I view what is happening in this way. In the evolution of the Catholic faith it was inevitable that the harsh nature of Church obligation was going to give way to the rule written on our heart and conscience over time? Referencing Romans 2 15 as proof that we have that capacity. Not saying that there's no need for an authoritative hierarchy and rules but that those rules assist us in growing in relationship with God rather than failing the hierarchy and putting us outside the communion.

I know that some reading that will think I'm a flaming progressive but it's how I understand the practical application of Gods mercy in our hands and the notion of synodality and 'todos, todos, todos' in the words of Pope Francis.

[Doom]

I don't think people are pathetic for following the rules, but the rules are very weak sauce.

i don't think anybody is saying that, but simply that if one chooses to follow a stricter fast than is necessary, one shouldn't brag about it.

[Doom]

What on Earth makes you think that is being posted primarily by people who don't like Francis? That assumption seems odd, to say the least, it is a little like assuming that all the people who are talking about what a great president Biden is are all Trump supporters.

I'm talking about people I know in real life. Humans at my parish.

I've seen people complain that the quote seems to imply there is nothing wrong with violating abstinence. Although it doesn't say that, it only says that there are higher virtues that are more important, which seems consistent with the scriptures 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice', of course, that isn't literally true, God commanded sacrifice, but what it means is 'mercy is more important than sacrifice."