The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-03-12
The Duty of Fastinq.

Right Rev. DR.. Hedley, O.. S. B..
Bishop of Newport, England. in his
Lenten pastoral says:
Catholics are accustomed to speak
as if Lent were in these DAYS thing
of the past. Even those who keep the
modern Lent, we hear it said. are only
playing with the discipline that char
acterized a sterner and a more murti-
fled age. Lent had better be given I'D
altogether. they tell you, for it is little
more than pretence. Such ideas are
profoundly unfilial, and even un-Cath-
ohc The real Catholic spirit neither
blames the mitigations of the modern
Lent nor fails in exact observance o.
all that is still enjoined. For it is quite
clear than an institution like the Lent
en- fast must necessarily be subject to
change. If it is to be of any utility to
the human spirit it must be adapted to
the human body. The inhabitants OIL
Palestine of Syria. Of Egypt of Greece
and of Italy, differed from one another
IN the days Of the church's commence
-ment, in their habits of food and in
their power of fasting. Still more did
all these people differ from the races
who dwell on this side of the Alps, in
the lands of the North. and in the great
continents Of whose existence no man
dreamed when the Church began. One
vi llle CIllHl CAUSES OF the IllIlRdIlOn OIL
fasting has been the necessity of adapt
ing it to each and all of the populations
which make up the Universal Church.
Another is certainly this-that men
and women, as life and limb have be-
come more secure, as arts have pro-
crossed and comfort increased, are
less and less able to fast like their fore
fathers. Moreover, it may truly DE said
that in the modern Church there is less
need of fasting. Not that the sins of
men are lighter or rarer than they
used to be, or that the justice of God
is not as adorable and as terrible as in
the past. But the world has grown
more spiritual" 1t may not have be-
come much better; but whether better
or worse, the masses of men and women
are less rude and primitive; they think
more, are more sensitive in feeling ard
Imagination, have a wider range of |
sympathy, and are more influenced b 7 |
ideals. The effect of this gradual mon
tai development on religion and devo- |
ton cannot be doubted. Interior and |
spiritual religion has always been the |
mark of a true Christian; but as the |
world has progressed. interior religion |
mas become-not more genuine-but |
more exercised, more practised, more !
sustained, even among the most unedu-
acted. We have more of what is called |
NV OAlOlls VI DIclg lIldl 10 10 SdO- we |
enter more fully and more particular
ly into what our religion means, and |
We are more easily touched by the
goodness and tenderness of Almighty |
Cod. Thus, there has grown . up |
throughout the Church more explicit
appreciation of the incarnation. of the
blessed sacrament. and of Our Blessed
Lady. This sacrament of penance,
whilst still the plank in shipwreck
f1Fl# L., y.1
Church. has grown to be more and
more of a mental stimulus and light
Of life Our churches and affairs have
tended to become more and more the
houses and temples of "a reflective and
emotional piety, whre the mind ex-
poets to dwell upon the teachings of
God, and the heart to find scope not
only for petitions and good resolutions, +
but for alteration and thanksgiving
for filial affection, and the studied eK-
preston of sincere contrftion- In
every age the mercy of God gives good
gifts according to the needs of His
children. Our fathers had their graces
and we have ours-and the Church to
the END of time Will always be able I
to thank her Divine Spouse not only
for the triumphs and the heroism of
her beginnings, but also, as in the
prophecy of the Psalm. for the eXubeT-
ant fertility Of her maturity and her
age psalm Xci, III ~ /
When we say, then, that severe fast
ing is not needed in these days to thel
same extent as il was in the past. we
are only saying that fasting is a
means to an end, and that there are
other means of drawing near to our
Heavenly Father. which. in the course
of Providence. are. now more easily
practised. The devotional life of the
modern Church powerfully leads men :
to repentance, to amendment. and to !
the love of God. above all things. This 5
is one reason why the penitential s
codes and discipline OF former days have {
been to so great an extent abrogated
or mitigated
But Catholic, whether he vigorously {