CATECHISM LECTURE 1

GOOD MORNING BOYS………….. 

Welcome back!!!!!!!!!!

How are you all???

Having good friends who love and support you is essential for your well being. God created man to be in community with others who encourage and strengthen them in their relationship with God. During this Lenten season we all are at home and experiencing God’s love and mercy through the blessings of good health and staying safe with our dear ones. Attending holy mass, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer are at the heart of the forty days of Lent. Here are some strategies for helping you get involved in these traditional penitential practices.

Let’s take a brief look at what is lent.

1. ·         The roots of Lent go back to the early Church, when those who wished to become Christians underwent a period of preparation before their baptism. Once limited to catechumens (those preparing to enter the Church), eventually the whole Church adopted the practice of renewing one’s baptism through a period of penitence and recommitment to the Christian life.
2. ·         Today, Lent is a time when “all the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment,” according to the U.S. Catholic bishops. “The key to fruitful observance of these practices is to recognize their link to baptismal renewal. We are called not just to abstain from sin during Lent, but to true conversion of our hearts and minds as followers of Christ. We recall those waters in which we were baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.” 
3. ·         The traditional practices of Lent, drawn from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, are almsgiving (Mattew 6:2–4), prayer (Matthew 6:5–15), and fasting (Matthew 6:16–18).

Fasting and abstinence are the practice of giving up something in order to turn away from sin and draw closer to God. The thing we give up (food or meat) might be good in itself, but we relinquish it in order to obtain a greater good…God. Fasting is not only a form of penance, but a spiritual discipline that helps us make room for God, strengthens our will, prepares us for mission, and puts us in solidarity with the suffering of Christ and suffering people around the world.

Here are some of the spiritual benefits of fasting:

1. ·         It’s a form of penance. Throughout the Old Testament, people covered themselves in ashes, took off their fine clothes, and fasted in order to express their repentance from sin. Fasting serves a similar purpose today.
2. ·         It makes room for God. By emptying ourselves, even if just a little bit, we make room for God to enter our lives more fully. When fasting and abstinence are hard, we are moved to turn to God in prayer for help.
3. ·         It strengthens the will. Fasting is a spiritual discipline; just as physical exercise makes our body stronger, fasting strengthens our will. Practicing self-denial in small things strengthens our will to resist sin in other areas of our lives.
4. ·         It prepares us for mission. Fasting imitates the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert. Just as Jesus used this time to prepare for his public mission, fasting prepares us to continue his mission in the world.
5. ·         It puts us in solidarity with the suffering Christ. Whatever small suffering we experience when we fast brings us closer to the suffering Christ—and all people who suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and abuse on a daily basis.

Only adults (ages 18-59) are obligated to fast (although teens 14 and older are obligated to abstain from meat on Fridays). In addition to this obligation, everyone is invited to choose additional penitential practices during Lent. “The fasting that all do together on Fridays is but a sign of the daily Lenten discipline of individuals and households: fasting for certain periods of time, fasting from certain foods, but also fasting from other things and activities Beginning at about age five or six, children can be encouraged to “give something up,” or to adopt a positive practice, as a way of entering into the spirit of Lent.

The next time we will focus on what all can children fast from for lent.

Good morning and thank you boys.

That’s all for today.