Forwarded from ChristianTactics
Privyet Hermano in Christ, may the Grace of Christ Victor be upon you. Friendly tomorrow that Lent has started. It is time to purge yourself of all earthy attachments and pursue sanctity. Or die trying. Train in mind, body, and soul. The Enemy is hunting you. Don’t let him snag you into the abyss. Suffer with great joy and pursue God above all else. Deus Vult
A Golden Key to Paradise - Act of Perfect Contrition.pdf
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Remember, in order to supernaturally merit for your fasting you must be in a state of grace. An act of perfect contrition will be able to restore you to grace provided you meet all the conditions if you cannot receive the sacrament of penance at this time.
May God grant you the grace to repent of your sins!
May God grant you the grace to repent of your sins!
From Challoner's Meditations:
ASH WEDNESDAY
ON ASH-WEDNESDAY
Consider first, how God calls upon us, by his Prophet, in the lesson of this day: 'Be converted to me,’ saith he, 'with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning - and rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God,’ Joel ii. 12,13. Christians, hearken to this summons from heaven. O let it sink deep into your souls; and if this day you hear the voice of God sweetly inviting you, turn to him in good earnest; now at this holy season harden not your hearts, lest provoked by your impenitence he turn away from you, and you die in your sins. O let us repeat and amend, as we are admonished by the Church on this day, whilst we have time, lest being overtaken by death, which is ever following at our heels, we should seek for time of penance, and not be able to find it.
Consider 2ndly, the meaning of the ashes which are put on our heads this day with these words: 'Remember that thou art dust; and into the dust thou shalt return.’ Sackcloth and ashes were the ancient habit of penitents. The Ninevites by fasting in sack-cloth and ashes found mercy. Let these ashes then, which we receive on our heads at the beginning of this penitential fast, be a lesson to us to enter upon it with the like penitential spirit. They are an emblem of contrition and humility; let us receive them with a contrite and humble heart. They are also a remembrance of our mortality, of our frail composition, and of our hasty return to our mother earth. O let us think well on this, and renounce henceforward our unhappy pride and presumption; O let us make good use of this our time, and prepare for that moment which shall ere long send away our souls into another region, and turn our bodies into dirt and dust.
Consider 3rdly, Christian soul, those words, as if, they were addressed to thee: ‘Yet forty days and Nineve shall be destroyed,’ Jonas iii. 4. Alas have not thy sins, like those of Nineve, called to heaven this long time for vengeance? And hast thou not too much reason to fear, lest the mercy which thou hast so long abused should now quickly give place to justice, and should suffer thee to die in thy sins? Perhaps this is the last reprieve that God will grant thee. In all appearance the good use, or the abuse of these forty days, may determine thy lot for an eternity.
Conclude then to spare no pains to avert the judgment that hangs over thy head, and so spend these forty days of reprieve in suing for mercy, after the manner God has appointed, that is, by fasting, weeping, and mourning, that thou mayest effectually find it.
ASH WEDNESDAY
ON ASH-WEDNESDAY
Consider first, how God calls upon us, by his Prophet, in the lesson of this day: 'Be converted to me,’ saith he, 'with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning - and rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God,’ Joel ii. 12,13. Christians, hearken to this summons from heaven. O let it sink deep into your souls; and if this day you hear the voice of God sweetly inviting you, turn to him in good earnest; now at this holy season harden not your hearts, lest provoked by your impenitence he turn away from you, and you die in your sins. O let us repeat and amend, as we are admonished by the Church on this day, whilst we have time, lest being overtaken by death, which is ever following at our heels, we should seek for time of penance, and not be able to find it.
Consider 2ndly, the meaning of the ashes which are put on our heads this day with these words: 'Remember that thou art dust; and into the dust thou shalt return.’ Sackcloth and ashes were the ancient habit of penitents. The Ninevites by fasting in sack-cloth and ashes found mercy. Let these ashes then, which we receive on our heads at the beginning of this penitential fast, be a lesson to us to enter upon it with the like penitential spirit. They are an emblem of contrition and humility; let us receive them with a contrite and humble heart. They are also a remembrance of our mortality, of our frail composition, and of our hasty return to our mother earth. O let us think well on this, and renounce henceforward our unhappy pride and presumption; O let us make good use of this our time, and prepare for that moment which shall ere long send away our souls into another region, and turn our bodies into dirt and dust.
Consider 3rdly, Christian soul, those words, as if, they were addressed to thee: ‘Yet forty days and Nineve shall be destroyed,’ Jonas iii. 4. Alas have not thy sins, like those of Nineve, called to heaven this long time for vengeance? And hast thou not too much reason to fear, lest the mercy which thou hast so long abused should now quickly give place to justice, and should suffer thee to die in thy sins? Perhaps this is the last reprieve that God will grant thee. In all appearance the good use, or the abuse of these forty days, may determine thy lot for an eternity.
Conclude then to spare no pains to avert the judgment that hangs over thy head, and so spend these forty days of reprieve in suing for mercy, after the manner God has appointed, that is, by fasting, weeping, and mourning, that thou mayest effectually find it.
Forwarded from Anthony
PENANCE
The Principal means of Satisfaction for sin are FASTING , PRAYER and ALMSGIVING .
By Fasting the sinner chastises his body for the sins of the body.
In Prayer he turns to God his soul which had deserted God in sin.
When he gives Alms, the sinner freely deprives himself of those external possessions through whose pursuit or abuse he had forsaken God.
The works of Satisfaction (Penance) are effective only when they are acceptable to God. The sinner must be in the state of grace, and his act of penance must be informed by Charity. When a man in the state of grace performed acts of Penance for sin, he pays the debt of his sins and strengthens himself against future sin .
Because all the members of the Church are one in Christ, it is even possible for men to make satisfaction for the sins of the others. They cannot, of course, furnish a remedy to others against future sin. One man's fast does not tame another man's body.
But a man can pay debt of punishment for another man's sin. This possibility is based on the bond of charity which makes all members of the Church members of one family. As members of one spiritual family, they can help one another to pay the debt of sin.
~St Thomas Aquinas Doctor of the Church
The Principal means of Satisfaction for sin are FASTING , PRAYER and ALMSGIVING .
By Fasting the sinner chastises his body for the sins of the body.
In Prayer he turns to God his soul which had deserted God in sin.
When he gives Alms, the sinner freely deprives himself of those external possessions through whose pursuit or abuse he had forsaken God.
The works of Satisfaction (Penance) are effective only when they are acceptable to God. The sinner must be in the state of grace, and his act of penance must be informed by Charity. When a man in the state of grace performed acts of Penance for sin, he pays the debt of his sins and strengthens himself against future sin .
Because all the members of the Church are one in Christ, it is even possible for men to make satisfaction for the sins of the others. They cannot, of course, furnish a remedy to others against future sin. One man's fast does not tame another man's body.
But a man can pay debt of punishment for another man's sin. This possibility is based on the bond of charity which makes all members of the Church members of one family. As members of one spiritual family, they can help one another to pay the debt of sin.
~St Thomas Aquinas Doctor of the Church
Meditations for Lent - St. Thomas Aquinas.pdf
7.7 MB
Meditations for Lent - St Thomas Aquinas
From Challoner's Meditations:
THURSDAY AFTER ASH-WEDNESDAY
ON FASTING
Consider first, how much fasting is recommended to us in the word of God by the great example of Christ and of his Saints, as well of the Old as of the New Testament; how we are there called upon to turn to God with fasting, Joel ii.; how the greatest sinners have there found mercy by fasting, Jonas iii.; how we are there taught that all Christ’s children are to fast during his absence from us, St. Matt. ix. 15; and that the devil is not to be cast out but by prayer and fasting, St. Mark ix. 28. Man fell from God originally by intemperance; he returns to him by fasting. The gratifying of our sensual appetite betrays us both to the flesh and to the devil; we overcome them both by fasting; by which (as the Church daily inculcates in the preface for Lent) God restrains our vices and passions, elevates our souls to himself and bestows upon us his heavenly gifts and graces. O happy fasting which drivest away all our evils, healest both soul and body, and bringest us to our Sovereign God!
Consider 2ndly, that there are three great advantages found in fasting. First, it appeases the wrath of God provoked by our sins; inasmuch as by fasting for them we acknowledge our guilt, and take part with his justice, in condemning and punishing ourselves. For there is nothing sooner moves God to show us mercy than the homage we pay to his justice, by exercising a wholesome severity against the wretch that has dared to offend God. O let us conceive a just indignation against this sinful flesh! Let us not spare the traitor that has so often betrayed us into sin! Let a penitential fast be our regular exercise.
Consider 3rdly, that another great advantage of fasting is that we are enabled by it to overcome our passions and concupiscences. Fasting, when performed with a due spirit, humbles the soul exceedingly, and consequently restrains the irregular motions of all the passions that are the daughters of pride. It keeps the flesh in subjection, by depriving it of the principal nourishment of its rebellions and disorders, and obliges it to submit to the spirit. And, which is a third advantage, in proportion to its weakening the passions of the flesh, it gives strength and vigour to the soul; sets it at liberty from the clogs that hinder its free application to heavenly truths; and enables it to fly upwards towards God, by purer prayer and contemplation.
Conclude to set a due value on this wholesome exercise, which has been the favourite of all the Saints, and has greatly contributed to make them the favourites of heaven. But take care that your fasting be accompanied with its proper attendants, that it may be such a fast as God hath chosen.
THURSDAY AFTER ASH-WEDNESDAY
ON FASTING
Consider first, how much fasting is recommended to us in the word of God by the great example of Christ and of his Saints, as well of the Old as of the New Testament; how we are there called upon to turn to God with fasting, Joel ii.; how the greatest sinners have there found mercy by fasting, Jonas iii.; how we are there taught that all Christ’s children are to fast during his absence from us, St. Matt. ix. 15; and that the devil is not to be cast out but by prayer and fasting, St. Mark ix. 28. Man fell from God originally by intemperance; he returns to him by fasting. The gratifying of our sensual appetite betrays us both to the flesh and to the devil; we overcome them both by fasting; by which (as the Church daily inculcates in the preface for Lent) God restrains our vices and passions, elevates our souls to himself and bestows upon us his heavenly gifts and graces. O happy fasting which drivest away all our evils, healest both soul and body, and bringest us to our Sovereign God!
Consider 2ndly, that there are three great advantages found in fasting. First, it appeases the wrath of God provoked by our sins; inasmuch as by fasting for them we acknowledge our guilt, and take part with his justice, in condemning and punishing ourselves. For there is nothing sooner moves God to show us mercy than the homage we pay to his justice, by exercising a wholesome severity against the wretch that has dared to offend God. O let us conceive a just indignation against this sinful flesh! Let us not spare the traitor that has so often betrayed us into sin! Let a penitential fast be our regular exercise.
Consider 3rdly, that another great advantage of fasting is that we are enabled by it to overcome our passions and concupiscences. Fasting, when performed with a due spirit, humbles the soul exceedingly, and consequently restrains the irregular motions of all the passions that are the daughters of pride. It keeps the flesh in subjection, by depriving it of the principal nourishment of its rebellions and disorders, and obliges it to submit to the spirit. And, which is a third advantage, in proportion to its weakening the passions of the flesh, it gives strength and vigour to the soul; sets it at liberty from the clogs that hinder its free application to heavenly truths; and enables it to fly upwards towards God, by purer prayer and contemplation.
Conclude to set a due value on this wholesome exercise, which has been the favourite of all the Saints, and has greatly contributed to make them the favourites of heaven. But take care that your fasting be accompanied with its proper attendants, that it may be such a fast as God hath chosen.
Forwarded from ↟ Modernists Go To Hell ↟ (Racist Catholic)
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Saint Thomas Aquinas For Lent, Catholic Audiobook
In the Roman Rite, the definition of Lent varies according to different documents. Lent ends on either Holy Thursday or Good Friday. While the official document on the Lenten season, Paschales Solemnitatis, says that "the first Sunday of Lent marks the beginning…
Forwarded from ↟ Modernists Go To Hell ↟ (Racist Catholic)
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The Church Fathers For Lent, Catholic Audiobook
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are ancient and generally influential Christian theologians, some of whom were eminent teachers and great bishops. The term is used of writers or teachers of the Church…
Forwarded from Alítheia's Archive
Fasting is not the suppression of desire but the intense pursuit of it. We fast because we want something more than food. We say 'No' to food for a season only to fill ourselves with something far more tasty, far more filling, far more satisfying. That is to say, if one suppresses the desire for food it is only because he or she has a greater and more intense desire for something more precious – something of eternal value.
“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 18 so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)