Debbie, my newest visitor (although everyone is a new visitor at this point) writes:
I've been in your shoes, after a fashion. I was raised Protestant, church-hopping for most of my youth. Got baptized in a Methodist church at 15, and came into full communion with Rome at 21. Three years later, I'm still happy here, but so far from being everything I should be.
The short answer is, everyone is far from being everything he or she should be, which is why Lent is such a good thing.
Of course, I'm not going to stick with the short answer. Instead, I'm going to talk about meatless Fridays.
Huh?
Now, I understand that it was a requirement of the Church to forego red meat on Fridays - every Friday, not just Lent (it still is required for a great many Catholics, often depending on whether or not their local Bishop requires it, and many people of a certain age observe it regardless of whether it is required). As a matter of fact, it was this prohibition of red meat that led McDonald's to come up with the Filet-O-Fish™ sandwich for its Catholic customers.
Until just a couple weeks ago (the beginning of Lent, actually), this was one of those things that mystified me. I knew from everything I'd read and learned that the Church has reasons for doing things. It's not a case of "do this, don't do that, just because we told you and for no other reason." As one of our RCIA instructors told the class early on, "If you don't like or can't appreciate symbols and visible reminders, you might have a problem in the Catholic faith, because the Church relies on them pretty heavily to get its points across."
So I knew there was a reason for it, I just didn't know what that reason was. Those of you who are Catholic or otherwise already know the answer may be tempted to skip ahead, but please, don't leave the tour group just yet.
It is a case of fasting and abstaining - not like we think of it, depriving ourselves completely of food and drink, but a reduction and restriction in what we eat, in order to bring ourselves and our appetites under control. I like the way it is stated at FishEaters.com - fasting and abstaining are
designed to make one mindful of Christ's sacrifice, to put the world into perspective, and to discipline the body ... We fast for many reasons. Even if there were no other reason to fast, we fast out of obedience: Our Lord and His Apostles tell us to. We also fast to discipline the body so that we can focus more intently on the spiritual. And we fast to do penance.So what does any of this have to do with what Debbie was talking about, not being all she should be?
Everything. For you see, it is our uncontrolled appetites that do a lot of the work in keeping us from being all that God asks of us. I'm not even talking about things we might think of as sinful. After all, we need our appetites and our desires to remind us to eat, drink, rest, and procreate; they are gifts from God to keep his people alive, healthy, and continuing into the next generation.
But we must also be reminded that our appetites are not there to rule us, but vice versa. As one who recently went on a diet to lose thirty pounds, I can say authoritatively that appetites are awful bossy and difficult to keep quiet. And most of us are used to obeying them whenever they speak, unaware that they are driving what we do. But they are just tools that are given us by God for us to control.
(Bring it on home, Tim!)
And even if you do not observe meatless Fridays the rest of the year, the Church gives them to you during Lent, partly as an opportunity to learn how to control your appetites, so that you can be all you should be.
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