Fasting it’s an exercise

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other. (Saint Peter Chrysologus)

The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent. (Code of Canon Law 1250)

From Catholic memes

What is Fast?
“Properly speaking fasting consists in abstaining from food, but speaking metaphorically it denotes abstinence from anything harmful, and such especially is sin.” (IIa IIae, Q147, a.2 ad.1)

Why do we Fast?
According to Saint Thomas Aquinas for three reasons: “ First, in order to bridle the lusts of the flesh, wherefore the Apostle says (2 Cor. 6:5, 6): “In fasting, in chastity,” since fasting is the guardian of chastity(…)  Secondly, we have recourse to fasting in order that the mind may arise more freely to the contemplation of heavenly things (…) Thirdly, in order to satisfy for sins: wherefore it is written (Joel 2:12): “Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning.”"(IIa IIae, Q147, a.1)

Extracts of the Apostolic constitution Paenitemini (February 17, 1966)

“Abstinence is to be observed on every Friday which does not fall on a day of obligation, while abstinence and fast is to be observed on Ash Wednesday.” (Chapter III, II, 2)

“The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom.” (Chapter III, III, 1-2)

From Catholic memes

A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine. (Code of Canon Law 919)

Fasting in the Old Testament:

in the aftermath of sin to placate the wrath of God
1 Sam. 7:6;
1 Kings 21:20-21, 27;
Jer. 3:3, 7, 9;
John 1:2; 3:4-5

on the occasion of grave calamities
1 Sam. 31:13;
2 Sam. 1:12; 3:35;
Baruch 1:2, 5;
Judith 20:25-26

when special dangers are imminent
Judith 4:8, 12; 8:10-16;
Esther 3:15; 4:1, 16;
Psalms 34:13;
2 Chron. 20:3

in any case to obtain benefits from the Lord
1 Sam. 14:24;
2 Sam. 12:16, 22;
Esd. 8:21

external penitential practices are accompanied by an inner attitude of “conversion,”
1 Sam. 7:3;
Jer. 36:6-7;
Baruch 1:17-18;
Judith 8:16- 17;
John 3:8;
Zach. 8:9, 21.

Lent and the Number 40

On the early days the church celebrated only Easter, and the whole liturgical year was time to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. As the time passed the church felt the urge to have a special time to celebrate this happening that changed the course of history. It was on the council of Nicaea (325) that the Catholic church established a date for Easter. And it wasn’t a fix date. As the Jewish calender was lunar and the resurrection of the Lord happened on a passover, we should celebrate it on a similar basis. It is now that Lent appears  for two main reasons on pratical  as the date moves, it was a way to prepare the faithful to the Holy celebrations, but this wasn’t the main reason. The Church saw it as a great opportunity to prepare the newly converted to baptism, and a very good way to start anew, renewing the promises of the Baptism. So this time of 40 days begun to be lived on the very beginning of the history of the Catholic faith as a mirror of the 40 days that the lord spent in the desert.

Saint Thomas Aquinas says about the temptations of the Lord:

“Christ wished to be tempted; first that He might strengthen us against temptations. Hence Gregory says in a homily (xvi in Evang.): “It was not unworthy of our Redeemer to wish to be tempted, who came also to be slain; in order that by His temptations He might conquer our temptations, just as by His death He overcame our death.”

Secondly, that we might be warned, so that none, however holy, may think himself safe or free from temptation. Wherefore also He wished to be tempted after His baptism, because, as Hilary says (Super Matth., cap. iii.): “The temptations of the devil assail those principally who are sanctified, for he desires, above all, to overcome the holy. Hence also it is written (Ecclus. 2): Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.”

Thirdly, in order to give us an example: to teach us, to wit, how to overcome the temptations of the devil. Hence Augustine says (De Trin. iv) that Christ “allowed Himself to be tempted” by the devil, “that He might be our Mediator in overcoming temptations, not only by helping us, but also by giving us an example.”

Fourthly, in order to fill us with confidence in His mercy. Hence it is written (Heb. 4:15): “We have not a high-priest, who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.” (Ia IIIae Q41 a1)

Now lest get to the number fourty. After the text you can see a list of references to the number and I don’t want to meditate about every one of them here. But it is good to notice tha it is romaly related to penitence, to a path of becoming a better follower of God. The main reason is the time that the Lord spent in the desert. But this is also the number of years that the people of God was in the desert before entering the promised Land. And the days of penance annouced by the prophet Jonah. Periods of purification, times to review the way the people were living and change the direction back to God. I cherish the story of the prophet Elijah, he had had a great victory aganist the false prophets just before, now he is in the desert wishing death… after forty days fed by heavenly food (impossible not to think about Eucharisty) he goes up to the mountain of God to discover that God hides in the tiny wispering sound… I invite you to read the chapters 18 and 19 from the first book of Kings and meditate about what is realy success and what is failure in a Faithful’s life.

40 days – Jesus as on the desert to be tempted.
40 years – The people of God in the desert
40 days – Deluge
40 days to the destruction of Nineveh
40 days the spies were in the promised land (Nb 13:24)
40 days Moses was in the mount and received the law of God, (Ex 24:18)
40 days Moses was in the mount after the sin of the Golden Calf, (Dt 9:18,25)
40 days of Elijah in Horeb, (1Kings 19:8)
40 Days Jesus was seen before ascension

Shalom Community thanks Pope for approval of statutes

Holy Week of Love

And Love once again prevails. He walks toward his destination, renews his arrival and reaffirms its permanence. And Love once again happens. He fulfills his mission, reaching who was far, nearing who was close by. And Love once again confuses. He puts the world upside down in his madness to go insane until the end. And Love once again reveals his name, his address, His way of love. And Love once again dies to give life, to heal the wound and proclaim victory over the pain. And Love once again shocks, shocks with the courage of not giving up, of trying once more and another time again. And Love once again rises, renews our hope and encourages us in the struggle of every day. It is the extraordinary Mystery allowing the experience of the ordinary. And Love once again restores, opens a new path and certifies our faith as true. And Love once again enters, reinvents, suffice, and faces the indifference of what was once lost. And Love once again defies understanding and thought, going beyond the limits of reason. The path has already been made, the doors have been opened, Love has been done and did it once again, so you are all welcome to the Holy Week of Love …

Translated from my dear friend Denise Landim from her post: “A Semana Santa do Amor“

Pope to Young Couples: “By burning certain stages, you risk burning love”

I’m sorry Amy

This is another translation from Denise Landim’s blog once more she said exactly what I was feeling, I ended it with tears in my eyes…

Amy,

I do not know where you are now, but I want this letter to be a prayer to God for you.

You did not know me nor I knew you beyond, of course, of what I saw appear in newspapers, magazines and photos about your life. Lies and truths of a story full of speculation; overexposure of an intimacy devastated. However, I know that your life touched the lives of many, in other hand, for me, your death touched me deeply.

But I’m not here to judge you, to throw rocks on your “falls” or to play guess the day of your death, as many did. I’m no better than you at all. Also I am not here to investigate your death or trying to figure out how it happened, many others have it upon themselves to do this.

I’m here to apologize, because you passed away without knowing that while you sang “No, no, no ..”, God said “Yes, yes, yes ..” ‘ to the decision to love you until the last consequences. While you believed you were not good, Someone saw the best you had to offer. While you were throwing yourself  in the pit, He waited for an opportunity to hold you. God ran against time, but He stopped on your freedom. And even if you made the decision to sink, freely, yet I need to apologize, because perhaps no one has told you that there was a much better life with Him and a much better song than the one that your life sang.

We were the same age, but I had an opportunity that you did not, even if you have had the opportunity to be much more famous and infinitely richer than me. I had the chance to meet the love of God, did not need drugs to fill my emptiness, this is our only difference, I had the opportunity and grabbed it.

Far from the bad taste jokes and relentless speculation, I join the suffering of God’s heart and the heart those who truly loved you. I ask God to make you hear, wherever you are, the song of His love for you.

The music of God’s love will never stop playing, even if one day your music, Amy, stop selling. The music of God’s love will never stop playing, even if no one sings, no one hears, it will never cease.

And I ask God for the grace to sing it stronger with my life so that others like you can hear it in time …

Sell ​​it all, again?!?

Jesus said to the crowds:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Mt 13:44-46)

Whenever I read this passage, I get strongly questioned. That Jesus is my pearl, I have no doubt. What wonder is if I’m ever selling my other goods to keep the One who’s good.

Yes, because it is past time that I had a sweet idea that you had to leave everything once for all. And at the beginning of the way, leave everything to God is so exciting! An almost certain consequence of an inflamed heart by the first love.

But when time passes and the Pearl begins to give us treasures and the challenges to stay on the path becomes very concrete and leaving all is no longer something that is only driven by emotion, reason gained more weight and the heart, that has been tested and proven by the fire of purification, seems a little more weak …

So I ask myself today: Would I sell it all again to be with Jesus and all that His holly Will chose for me? At this time, I remember what St. Teresa of Avila said, “If I had a thousand lives, Lord, you give a thousand lives.” But today, would I sell everything? would I leave everything? Would I resume the search for the Single Treasury?

Of course! No more through my strength, no longer driven by the lure of first love, no longer by persons or structures, no longer up for the benefits received by him on the way …But only for Him

Because until now, everything is gaining a price, a value, a weight. It seems that time has its ways of giving parameters and value to what we have. But today, the only priceless thing, countless and invaluable in my life is still God. The Pearl.

Today the decision costs more. It is less flowery. But it is more concrete. And even firmer. Even more impressive is that the crushed heart and reason without illusions seem to love God, more today than yesterday. Funny the way that God uses to enchant, to conquer … It is even true Perl, nothing to do lose their luster. Neither  time nor pain.

this post was translated from Denise Landim’s Blog read the original in Portuguese here.

Did you see “Zeitgeist”? I din’t believe, neither this Guy.

Making a difference (friendship)

I know it’s been a long time since my last post… I need to be friends with the time… Once again a post without preparation or thinking ahead (If I do that I wont write).

Well what is this post about? I thought about making a difference in peoples lives. These couple weeks I’ve been deepening my friendships, opening my heart and trying to make a difference in the lives of people around me, and you know what? It’s working

Sometime ago on my birthday one of my friends spoke that one of  my gifts to the circle of friends was that I make the difference into peoples lives, that it’s difficult for me to pass unnoticed. Well since then I was thinking and praying and a couple birthdays ago I’ve finally realized why was that. I let people make the difference in my life.

Actually I do that by putting myself in other peoples shoes, I put myself on that person’s place and I think:  If it was me on that situation what would I do?  Or: How would I like to be treated? What can I do to make sure he/she  is feeling comfortable around me?

I’ve seen that some people don’t want you to solve their problems they just want you to listen to them. I’ve experienced true friendship, with girls. Yes it is possible for a man to have real friends of the opposite sex (I don’t like the definition but I’ll go with that). It’s true people talk, we were joking about bets of how long it was going to take or which one I was dating, I had to answer clearly to one of my friends (a man BTW) that I wasn’t dating one of them.

Denise and Juliana in Fortaleza and another Juliana in Vienna, they have been examples of good, healthy and godly friendships the Lord gave me to live. I am thankful for them in my life. When we’re together we just openheartedly share our experiences of prayer, of offerings, of humiliations for the Kingdom of God, of God’s love in our hearts this way just looking at each other we can know what we mean and we support each other in His ways…

Thanks for reading, the goal of this post was only to make you a little more open to listen to people, let them into your life, the make a difference in putting yourself in their places, letting them change the way you see them. You are going to change peoples lives in letting them change yours. Big challenge. God asks us big things through His love. I’ll be happy in making people happy. Believe me that’s the way I do.
shalom!
God Bless you!

Feeling bad for not having a boy/girlfriend?

Today we celebrate St Anthony’s, in north america we pray for him in order to find stuff we’ve lost but here in Brazil we pray to “find” a husband/wife. That’s why the day we celebrate those who are in love is on the 12th of June and not on the day before St. Valentine.

So, these last couple weeks people were talking about their boyfriends and girlfriends, about what they were going to give as a present, but I’ve seen some people feeling bad because they didn’t have a boyfriend (sorry girls but it was mostly a girl thing). I’ve found a phrase, which I published on my Facebook wall that says something like this (it was in Portuguese): “I’m not spending that day with a girlfriend, I never look for an Indian on Indian’s day or for a tree on tree’s day” That may sound like I’m trying to find some consolation around, which wasn’t the point. After that remembered, through a post of a friend, of a saying I’ve found a long time ago on  Jacilyn Rae’s blog that says “A woman’s heart should be so lost in God, that a man must seek Him to find her.” I’ve found it so true that I started praying right away, when I say praying I don’t mean making an elaborate prayer with a lot of words, I mean just the quiet feeling of God’s presence and peace.

That’s what I’m looking for in a woman. Maybe this is my dream of a “Princess charming” and I must accept a not-so-close-to-God king of girl and walk with her towards Him. But it gave me a lot of consolation remembering of the passage where Jesus says: “seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides”(Lc 12, 31). That’s why I don’t bother at all not having a girlfriend on this day, because I Know the one I want is very close to God’s heart and He’ll show me when its the good moment.

Talking with two of my girl friends, we came to the point of differences between sexes and I have to admit beauty attracts men but that’s not the only thing that attracts us. They were saying that sometimes(it happened more than once) when getting into a party they drew attention and men came to ask them if they were “believers” (!), as they answered yes, those same guys told them to go away cause they deserved better than what they were going to find there. That was of course an opportunity to evangelize but it shows that even those guys that were only looking for a girl to spend the night with, value women with content specially Christian ones. (Of course I’m talking about Brazilians, we still are a very Christian Country)

I can say the same for me; if I find a “princess” and I see she’s not even looking for God, if she’s not interested in prayer she’ll push me away without noticing. For that very reason I’ll not look for the “woman of my dreams” in a pub or a club. So as I know there are a lot of Catholic women looking for their “prince charming” here’s my advice for you: While caring for your beauty care for your spiritual life. Go out and have fun, but engage yourselves in the church and you’ll find the guy you’re looking for… but please leave the seminarians alone! Last but not least ask yourselves about celibacy for the Kingdom of God, even if that’s not your vocation that will make you pray and that will bring the right guy.

Shalom!