The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-02-24
SEASON
Time For Prayer and Fasting
New Approaching.

Raster. and What the Great
Solemnity Sig1iiles.
the last day of the present month.
Almost any Catholic child can tell
that Lent Is Il fast of forty days, kept
In imitation Of our Saviour's fast in
the desert. and to prepare us by pen-
ance to celebrate the memory of his
passion. thereby disposing us to rise
from the spiritual death of sin to a
new life, that we may partake of the
JOY of his resurrection at the end of
this holy season. But the number of
Catholics who know how Lent is fixed
each year is extraordinarily small,
says the Kentucky Irish-American.
Easter Sunday is the feast of the
resurrection. the browning act of man.
kinds redemption. 1t is this particu-
lar day that closes the long fast of
Lent, and IL! is from this particular
day each year that the church dates
her calendar. The church provides
that Easter is to be celebrated an
nually on the fourteenth day of the
| moon following the spring equinox.
Take the almanac for the year 1906
and you will note that the vernal
equinox occurs on March Fl. The fol-
lowing moon appears on March "a
and the Sunday following the next
fourteen days brings us to April 15
Hence we know that April Is is to
be Easter Sunday. Now count back
forty days. Sundays omitted. and we
find that Ash Wednesday will fall on
Feb. IS. Easter or Pasch is one of the
greatest festivals of the year. The
word "Pasch'' has come down through
more than thirty centuries. The Jews
have llo:r Pasch as We have ours.
Pasch means passage. In the old law
it signified the passage of the Angel
OF our Lord over the land of Pharao
during the night when was slain the
first born of every house on which
he did not see the blood of a lamb.
Pharao then allowed the Jews to de-
part from Egypt. To Christians in
the new law the Pasch signifies the
glorious passage of our Saviour from
death to life.
On the very threshold of Christian
ity the Apostles and Disciples began
to commemorate this passage, and
whenever it was possible they as
scnbled in Jerusalem for it's observ-
ance. Hence it can be maintained that
the celebration of Easter is Of apostle
lie institution.
But the church grew and waxed
strong and the Apostles and Disciples
spread over the Eastern hemisphere.
All agreed on the celebration of the
socmnity OF the Pasch. but in the
middle of the second century a con-
trnverSy arose between the Christians
of the East and West. The Christians
of the West insisted on holding the
feast on the Sunday after the four
tecnth day of the moon that follows
the vernal equinox in order not to
keep with the Jews in their celebra-
ton OF the Pasch. On the other hand
the Christians OF the East asserted
that it was necessary to celebrate
Easter on the fourteenth day of the
moon after the spring equinox. This
controversy continued with more or
less vigor until the year 2S4. when the
first Council of Nice by an irrevocable
decree fixed the date of the solemnity
for the whole Christian world. The
decision was in accordance with the
custom OF the Christians of the West.
Great doctors of the church tell us
that the general ends of fasting and
self-denial are to render homage to
God. to give the soul command over
the senses. 20 strengthen virtuous
habits. to atone for sin and to turn
away the scourges of the divine JUS
tice. These same great teachers in.
struct US that the soul influences the
body, so Lent, by curing the moral
man. must necessarily promote the
welfare Of the physical man. Physi-
clans. even those who are not Catho-
lies. will tell that spring is the most
favorable season of the year to repair
the disorders of health. Chemists and
botanists show that everything that
vegetables undersoes Il kind OF fermen-
tatiolL Fresh herbs in the spring
supply more wholesome juices than at
any other season. Therefore physi-
clans and scientists as we'll as doctors
of the church assure US that the chief
personalities against the best remedy
for most diseases is undoubtedly alb
stinence and Il selection of vegetable
food.
Hy no means does our holy mother
church expect any Of us to starve our
| selves to death. II Is pointed out to
us that by continual fasts many of the
ancient fathers Of the desert preserved
u vigorous and uniform physical and
| ,,,n,,to1 health hovOOd tho ordinary