Fasting for the Sanctification of the Church….
With the latest directives from County Supervisor Dr. Sam Page and with all the discussion in the news about wearing masks or not wearing masks, it seems like there is a need to speak of the common good and what is best for all to get a grip on this Covid- 19 virus.
The way our country does democracy is so often based on individual rights and suspicion of big government involvement in our daily lives. Normally that works for us. However, during certain times in our history, the need to consider the common good and a more unified approach to deal with the crisis is the only way to go. Such was the case during World War I and World War II. Individual states or counties or cities could not fight a war independently. We needed a unified effort to combat the enemy. Such is the case with this invisible, yet very real, enemy - the enemy that respects no man-made boundaries or ordinances or laws. We need to combat this enemy with a common good approach and a unified effort. I pray that most of our common-sense citizens will see it that way as it is the only way to defeat this enemy...wear a mask, social distancing, and hand sanitizing often.
May I also propose another effort…fasting and prayer for the sake of ending Covid-19 in our midst. I propose a rosary a day in honor of Our Lady of Undoer of Knots. In addition, listed below are fasting possibilities that could be done every day to end this crisis in our world and in our beloved land.
Simple Fare…
I ask you to examine your diet and resolve to make the necessary changes if it is not healthy. Try vegetarian meals. Learn to cook and serve the foods that the poor eat. Tasty and healthful meals can be made from lentils, rice, grains and legumes, which when eaten together offer the protein that we need. You may want to invest in a simple Indian or Mexican cookbook.
Make a collection box to set on the family table. Label it: The fasts of the Rich are the Feasts for the poor. The money you save by eating sparingly, not dining out and forgoing meat, can be graphically transferred into alms for the poor for the sanctification of the Church and its renewal.
Not Only Food…
Besides forgoing food and otherwise eating more simply and more consciously, consider other ways of fasting. We ask ourselves: What does my baptism in this Church cost me? Surely it requires that we fast from wasteful behaviors. Here are a few suggestions: Fast from guzzling gas. Drive the speed limit without air conditioning. Take public transportation. Ride a bicycle or walk when you can.
Fast from compulsive consumerism. Check your closets, cupboards, storage rooms and garage. How many items have you collected that you thought you needed – until you brought them home and had “buyer’s remorse”? So choose some of those areas in your house to clean out. Fix, clean, and deliver these items to those who need them more than you do...and fast from holding on to them.
Examine the ways in which you consume – and perhaps waste – nature’s resources. So...shorten your showers; save the warm-up water for your garden or houseplants. Recycle religiously. Refuse to use plastic and fast from using it. Use instead your own fabric shopping sack. Write on both sides of a piece of paper; recycle paper used on one side of a scratch pad. Fast from really comfortable temperatures in your home...lower your thermostat in winter and raise the thermostat in summer and add or subtract clothing in layers to keep comfortable.
Fast from Wickedness…
Leo, bishop of Rome from 440 to 461, wrote: “The sum total of our fasting does not consist in merely abstaining from food if we do not withhold our heart from wickedness and restrain our lips so that they speak no evil. We must so moderate our rightful use of food that our other desires may be subject to the same rule. They therefore who desire to do good works, let them not fear that they shall be without the means; since even for giving two pennies, the generosity of the poor widow of the gospel was glorified!”
Fasting is a means by which we find the energy to “withhold our hearts from wickedness and restrain our lips so that they speak no evil.” Whether you refrain from eating altogether or you simplify your meals, use some time at the table to write letters to our political senators and representatives about issues of justice and peace; health care for the poor; immigration reform; responsible gun legislation to help end the violence on our streets; the conservation of the earth’s resources. Send copies of your letters to the local newspapers. Let your letters be the two pennies of the widow in the gospel. And let them be for the sanctification of the Church.
Let us continue to pray for each other during these challenging times, for health care workers, first responders, teachers, grocery store workers, and over-the-road truck drivers bringing goods to market for us and all those on the front lines of fighting this enemy. Take care, folks, and be safe and stay healthy. I’ll see you in church…in person or on livestream.
Monsignor Jack
0822
This week's bulletin is attached below. Hard copies of this weekend’s bulletin are available on the shelf in the vestibule of the rectory office.