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I’m seeing a meme on social media which quotes Pope Francis as discouraging fasting, recommending people to “eat whatever you want” and instead seek “a better relationship with others” during Lent. The quote, as far as I can tell, is false. I can find no evidence that the Holy Father said any such thing.
However, somebody said it. It reflects a popular sentiment among Catholics. And it raises some important questions. Why fast? Why do penance? Isn’t more important to just love one another?
Perhaps penance is important because we need it if we want to get better at loving.
Last time, we talked about our covenant relationship with God — how he gave and gives himself to us completely, down to the very last drop of blood, and how following him means that we offer our very selves to him in return, as our response to this mutual covenant.
And what does he ask of us? To simply follow his example, to love him, and to love those around us whom he created.
It can seem difficult to understand where giving up pizza would fit into that. Can’t we just skip that and go straight to loving our neighbor?
Well, the problem lies in our understanding of what “loving our neighbor” really means. Different people see it in different ways:
Continued below.
denvercatholic.org
However, somebody said it. It reflects a popular sentiment among Catholics. And it raises some important questions. Why fast? Why do penance? Isn’t more important to just love one another?
Perhaps penance is important because we need it if we want to get better at loving.
Last time, we talked about our covenant relationship with God — how he gave and gives himself to us completely, down to the very last drop of blood, and how following him means that we offer our very selves to him in return, as our response to this mutual covenant.
And what does he ask of us? To simply follow his example, to love him, and to love those around us whom he created.
It can seem difficult to understand where giving up pizza would fit into that. Can’t we just skip that and go straight to loving our neighbor?
Well, the problem lies in our understanding of what “loving our neighbor” really means. Different people see it in different ways:
Continued below.
Lent: A time of weeding, a time for love
I’m seeing a meme on social media which quotes Pope Francis as discouraging fasting, recommending people to “eat whatever you want” and instead seek “a better relationship with others” during Le
denvercatholic.org
