Posted on 03/18/2014 5:57:43 AM PDT by marshmallow
Ask a dozen Catholics drawn at random from a typical American parish, and all twelve will tell you that the faithful are no longer expected to abstain from meat on Fridays, except during Lent. Not so.
“Abstinence from meat, or some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays” except major feast days, says the Code of Canon Law (1251). In 1966, the US bishops ruled that mandatory abstinence from meat would no longer be mandatory, in large part because “renunciation of other things would be more penitential.” Still the American bishops said the faithful should perform some special act of charity or of self-denial on each Friday, and among the possibilities “we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat.”
So how did it become almost universally understood, by Catholics at large, that the Friday fast was simply a thing of the past? It happened, I suggest, through a process of dilution as the original message was passed down. The Vatican said that Catholics should abstain from meat or “some other food.” The US bishops opened up the possibilities much further, allowing the faithful to choose from an unlimited menu of acts of mortification or good works. Pastors, unable to give clear and simple instructions, told their congregations that they were freed from compulsory abstinence, but should do some act of penance on Fridays. And finally the people in the pews, accustomed to hearing vague suggestions that they should do penance, grasped the first part of the message but not the second. At each step, people had an opportunity to interpret a message from Rome, and—human nature being what it is—interpreted it in the way that made things easiest for themselves.
Or to put it just a bit differently, when........
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
Meat of Fridays is the last thing the Catholic Church needs to be worrying about.
Rome says:
“Abstinence from meat, or some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays” except major feast days, says the Code of Canon Law (1251).”
The Bible says:
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:” (Colossians 2:16)
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23)
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 11:15)
Rome says...
“Where would the early church have been if they had put their faith in Rome.”
Here come the prots. I’m reminded of a favorite line from one of the threads with 3K or so entries: “Protestants do everything wrong”.
Actually Lawler doesn’t dig deep enough at all. For one, his communion-the-hand history is very sorely lacking. American ‘bishops’ among other just plain old started doing it and Montini/P6 later tagged along. The Baptist said he wasn’t worthy to loosen Christ’s sandal strap so why do you think you can actually touch Him with your hand?
IB4TNRC
BFL
IB4TNRC?
More like 1.2 billion personal interpretations of the CCC.
YOPIOCCC.
.....Rather, I see my country getting closer to a revolt.
Amen
And Amen!
IB4TNRC ?
OK, I’ll bite; what?
“The Baptist said he wasn’t worthy to loosen Christ’s sandal strap so why do you think you can actually touch Him with your hand?”
Agreed - Just think of some of the folks you shake hands with at the sign of peace...
AMDG
When the Father destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah it has been said that just several thousand were homosexual and aborting their babies.
Look at what “Christians” in the US are doing - maybe something a little bigger than civil war is coming.
AMDG
That is why I have predicted a revolt will come down the road.
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth."For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer."
The Apostle Paul - worth reposting with emphasis.
Really? Chapter and verse where abortion was mentioned as one of the reasons that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?
Why not? Jesus touched people all the time.
He didn't come to this earth, be born, eat, drink, walk, help, heal, etc, without touching people.
He's not out of anybody''s reach.
It's a distortion of who He is and what He came to do to make Him seem to be beyond our ability or right to touch Him.
Luke 8:42-48 As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.
She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”
When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”
And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
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