[xsmommy]

i do not think it is bragging so much as just discussion. perhaps the "admiration" you posit is offset somewhat by the derision which so many non-Catholics accord Catholics in these discussions?

[P-Marlowe]

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:16-18 KJV)