Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Abstinence

All of the posts under the "Abstinence" category.

TradSpeak Episode 2

On the second episode of TradSpeak, I talk with Rachel Claire, one half of the YouTube show Your Face Is Catholic! We discuss Catholic Identity, specifically in regards to veiling from a woman’s perspective, kneeling to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and we even discuss Friday abstinence.

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Currently, you can download or listen from SoundCloud. Due to some technical difficulties and lack of foresight on my part, this is the only way you can listen to it. I am working on getting iTunes and self-hosted working soon.

Enjoy and thanks for listening!

Jeff January 6, 2015 Leave A Comment Permalink

Friday Abstinence and the Fourth of July

For all of you who are in the United States, this Friday, July 4th is the day that we celebrate our independence.

Many of us will be grilling, drinking, and lighting off those oh so much fun fireworks. Nothing says freedom more than blowing something up.

Fireworks

But, this year, the Fourth of July falls on a Friday. And seeing as Fridays are days of abstinence, the question arises: Am I allowed to eat meat this Friday, seeing as its a national holiday, and an important one at that.

Father Z wrote up a fairly lengthy post on the subject here. To summarize though, it appears that:

1. It is up to the bishop of your diocese to decide whether there will be a dispensation from the obligatory penance in his diocese.

2. The USCCB has determined that the faithful can decide what sort of penance they would like to substitute on Fridays. You are permitted to give up any other food or item you feel would work, or can add an extra rosary or some form of additional prayer.

You will want to check with your diocesan bishop to see if he has relaxed the need for penance. If not, I would abstain from meat if you can. Just think how much tougher it will be. Penance is not supposed to be easy. The harder your penance is, the more grace you obtain.

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If you feel the desire to give up something else, that is up to you, but, try to keep with Catholic tradition and identity by giving up meat.

Have a blessed Fourth of July.

Jeff July 1, 2014 3 Comments Permalink

Friday Penance and Catholic Identity

About a year ago, the USCCB issued a statement that would help American Catholics to rediscover their Catholic identity in the public square.

It has been a year since this has been issued and I have heard that it has been renewed for 2014. Regardless, this is something that even if it isn’t renewed, we should be practicing.

Our Catholic identity is an important aspect of our faith. If we proclaim to believe something, we should practice that. Here are 5 items that the USCCB would like for us as Catholics to rekindle.

A Friday in Lent
  1. Starting with the Sunday after Christmas (Feast of the Holy Family) and continuing on or near the last Sunday of every month through Christ the King Sunday, November 2013, cathedrals and parishes are encouraged to hold a Eucharistic Holy Hour for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty.
  2. Families and individuals are encouraged to pray a daily Rosary, especially for the preservation of Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty in the nation.
  3. At Sunday and daily Masses, it is encouraged that the Prayers of the Faithful include specific intentions for respect for all human life from conception to natural death, the strengthening of marriage and family life, and the preservation of religious liberty at all levels of government, both at home and abroad.
  4. Abstinence from meat and fasting on Fridays are encouraged for the intention of the protection of Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty, recognizing the importance of spiritual and bodily sacrifice in the life of the Church.
  5. The celebration of a second Fortnight for Freedom at the end of June and the beginning of July 2013 is being planned. This Fortnight would emphasize faith and marriage in a particular way in the face of the potential Supreme Court rulings during this time. The Fortnight would also emphasize the need for conscience protection in light of the August 1, 2013 deadline for religious organizations to comply with the HHS mandate, as well as religious freedom concerns in other areas, such as immigration, adoption, and humanitarian services.

As Catholics, we truly believe in the physical presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. We should spend time in Adoration with Him. The Rosary is a powerful prayer against evil. It also comes with 15 Graces as promised by Our Mother. And most importantly, we should abstain from meat and fast on Fridays. This was never outdone by Vatican 2. We were just given the option of what we wanted to abstain from.

It would be nice if the USCCB would make this mandatory as opposed to encouraged, but, I digress…

If you’ve already had meat today, give up something else, and start again next Friday.

Jeff December 13, 2013 1 Comment Permalink

Ash Wednesday and Lenten Offerings 2013

Reminder. Today is Ash Wednesday. A day of fasting and abstinence. Fasting as in 2 small meals and 1 normal meal. Abstinence as in no meat.

For Lent, I am doing very similar to what I did last year. I am doing the 17 Day Diet (no sugar, pop, red meat, non-whole grain, etc). I wrote about it more in depth last year. I am also doing P90-X again.
Sadly, after the wedding, I never got back into the groove of being healthy, and I so miss the energy I had. Not to mention, I didn’t realize it until around Christmas, but I hadn’t had a migraine in a very long time and my headaches had pretty much gone away. I also wasn’t nearly as sick either. Clearly, it worked, and this time I intend to stay healthy. I won’t be one of those health nuts where I won’t even touch sugar (hopefully (I just want to be able to consume within moderation), but, I feel that I need to be much healthier.
Stay strong and vigilant this Lent. Offer something up, and stick to it. Don’t cheat. You can do it.
St. Michael the Archangel, Defend us in battle…

Jeff February 13, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

Lent Starts Wednesday

I was going to write this up originally as my main article this week. But, bigger news more or less bumped this one down to less priority (though still somewhat urgent).

So, for those of you who have forgotten, or maybe were hoping to not remember, or just trying to not even think about, Lent begins this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.

As a reminder, this is a day that we are called to fast and abstinence. I write about this every year, but here’s my best write up of it. In short, fasting is when you only have 2 small meals and 1 normal size meal. We are also to abstain from meat. Like I said, I go into more detail at the above link.

I’ll post what I’m giving up for Lent tomorrow or on Ash Wednesday. Obviously, Pope Benedict’s retirement is going to be taking up quite a bit more time.

Jeff February 11, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

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