#Abstinence-from-Meat (during Lent) IS NOT God's Command (#Keep It because You Want to) @catholicism @CatholicBishops #Abstain
I see this meme describing 'how Catholics abstain (from a meal-and-a-half on a couple days of Lent & -from 'flesh meat' on those days and on Fridays in Lent) ...
... and I think of Jesus' infamous dismissal of rules for
eating (I think it was something about 'a hand-washing ritual required before eating a meal') ...
"What goes into the mouth does not defile ..." (Matthew 15:11)
So what made the Roman Catholic Church think that 'forbidding certain foods' would honor Jesus' life? I ask my 'research assistant,' and they point me to a report of 'what church-leaders tell people' ("abstaining-from-flesh-meat is a way of honoring Christ's flesh-sacrifice,""... symbolically a rejection of carnal behavior," "... meat was not a regular food-item on the dinner table like it is in the modern era,") ...
But that doesn't tell me 'when they decided on it'—one of their famous Councils, maybe? (The Council of Trent? of Nicea? etc) ... Directing my search more-along-the-line-of "When," I find that the earliest "official writing" of such a declaration was from the Second Vatican Council's Sacrosanctum Concilium:
The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the paschal mystery. This twofold character is to be brought into greater prominence both in the liturgy and by liturgical catechesis. Hence: a) More use is to be made of the baptismal features proper to the Lenten liturgy; some of them, which used to flourish in bygone days, are to be restored as may seem good. b) The same is to apply to the penitential elements.
As regards instruction it is important to impress on the minds of the faithful not only a social consequences of sin but also that essence of the virtue of penance which leads to the detestation of sin as an offence against God; the role of the Church in penitential practices is not to be passed over, and the people must be exhorted to pray for sinners. During Lent penance should not be only internal and individual, but also external and social. The practice of penance should be fostered in ways that are possible in our own times and in different regions, and according to the circumstances of the faithful.
In short, I think this is a distraction from the point-&-purpose of Lord Jesus' life—a point-&-purpose that was best summed-up in The Ecclesiastes (attributed to King Solomon):
(the King James Version translates the New
International Version (NIV)'s 'meaningless' as "Vanity")
'Fear (one of the possible translations of יְרָא֙) God (... of הָאֱלֹהִ֤ים) and keep (שְׁמ֔וֹר) his commandments (מִצְוָה), for this is "the duty of all mankind" (the interlinear translation calls it "the whole of man")'
... weird how the interlinear translation is (to my non-'Hebrew speaking' mind) 'all mixed up'—how I have to post that link to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Yahoo!/Google-etc. in order to see it 'in the right order': "The end of the whole matter let us hear: -- 'Fear God, and keep His commands, for this is the whole of man." (I scroll down and see that that's the way Young's Literal Translation puts it.)
... weird how the interlinear translation is (to my non-'Hebrew speaking' mind) 'all mixed up'—how I have to post that link to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Yahoo!/Google-etc. in order to see it 'in the right order': "The end of the whole matter let us hear: -- 'Fear God, and keep His commands, for this is the whole of man." (I scroll down and see that that's the way Young's Literal Translation puts it.)
The word "|Keep|" is built on the same Foundations as "to |Seize, |Hold; |Seek after, Desire, Observe or carry out in Practice; Look out for, |Regard, pay Attention to."
The word "|Abstain|" is built on "|Off, Away from (|Ab-) + to |Hold (Stretch)."
But my point here is ... what (I think) Catholics' reason for 'following these rules'? It's 'a cross we bear together'—affirming that the closest companions are those who suffer together (co-alumni suffering through a sentence of classtime-&-studying, cell-mates suffer through a sentence of imprisonment, survivors of common injuries, comrades serving in the military, other various causes that bring together support-groups).
We actually do 'bear the same cross' (we meet on Ash Wednesday, when the celebrant (Priest, Bishop, Deacon) uses ash to draw 'a cross' on each of our foreheads).
A Facebook-post from one of my fellow Catholics encapsulated the idea: He commented (with the attached picture), "Let's Do this!"
However, I feel compelled (much like Martin Luther felt compelled to write his 95 Theses & nail them to the doors of the Wittenburg church) to research the roots of the words religionists use ... perhaps to reveal that their true meanings are far-distant from 'what people think they mean.'
For instance, "Sin" ... it literally means 'miss the mark' (in the sense 'fail to hit the target you're aiming-for,' not 'lack the ashes on your forehead').
I suppose Christians today think 'Sin' means "intentional actions done to hurt people" ... echoed in our Jewish commandments mostly being "Thou Shalt Not"s.
Jesus did improve on them a little when He condensed them all into two "Thou Shalt"s:
Other words that Christians might be getting wrong (not a complete list):
We actually do 'bear the same cross' (we meet on Ash Wednesday, when the celebrant (Priest, Bishop, Deacon) uses ash to draw 'a cross' on each of our foreheads).
A Facebook-post from one of my fellow Catholics encapsulated the idea: He commented (with the attached picture), "Let's Do this!"
However, I feel compelled (much like Martin Luther felt compelled to write his 95 Theses & nail them to the doors of the Wittenburg church) to research the roots of the words religionists use ... perhaps to reveal that their true meanings are far-distant from 'what people think they mean.'
For instance, "Sin" ... it literally means 'miss the mark' (in the sense 'fail to hit the target you're aiming-for,' not 'lack the ashes on your forehead').
I suppose Christians today think 'Sin' means "intentional actions done to hurt people" ... echoed in our Jewish commandments mostly being "Thou Shalt Not"s.
Jesus did improve on them a little when He condensed them all into two "Thou Shalt"s:
... thou shalt love the Lord thy God out of all thy heart, and out of thy soul, and out of all thine understanding, and out of all thy strength ... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ...But for some reason Christians still think 'sin' is only "if thou dost something Our Father said 'Thou Shalt Not'"!
Other words that Christians might be getting wrong (not a complete list):
Penance (which is what 'this blog-post' might be for me ... a step in the Sacrament of Reconciliation—also-known-as Satisfaction (satifaction of the balance-due), done with a Prayer like The Act of Contrition in mind; following the Greeting/Blessing, Sign of the Cross, Confession (so central that it's often used as the name for the whole sacrament); followed by Absolution), Ash, Fasting, Abstinence (I know I mentioned- and will probably link to-it above), Comrade
Comments
Post a Comment
I appreciate your comment, and I'll probably approve it & publish it soon (give me about a week before you try to post it again when it doesn't publish immediately ... thanks)