Our discussion last night included the question, "Is water included in the one hour fast?" Well, brothers and sisters, here's the quote from Canon 919, in the book of Canon Law:
Can. 919 #1 Whoever is to receive the Blessed Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before Holy Communion from all food and drink, with the sole exception of water and medicine. #2 A priest who, on the same day, celebrates the Blessed Eucharist twice or three times may consume something before the second or third celebration, even though there is not an hour's interval. #3 The elderly and those who are suffering from some illness, as well as those who care for them, may receive the Blessed Eucharist even if within the preceding hour they have consumed something.
Now, for those of you who had to do the fasting from midnight on before Sunday Mass prior to the change in Canon Law, rejoice! Our fathers and shepherds are trying to remove unnecessary restrictions for people to come and receive Jesus in the Eucharist. It's a pastoral change they are able to make and rightly so, given the implications medically, spiritually and even emotionally that comes from too harsh of restrictions.
For those who are irritated at the change, why are you irritated? Permit me to list several questions to help you see what applies to you to help you through this:
1. Have you someone you care about suffered enormously in the past because of the previous restrictions and are needing some soul care?
2. Are you angry that people nowadays don't have to go through the trouble you went through when you were younger? You want them to go through what you went through?
3. Do you have too high an expectation that changes like this should never have to occur? The shepherds should have gotten it right in the first place and eliminate the needless suffering?
4. You have seen people leave the church over what you consider silly rules, and therefore harbor a grudge or grievance for them?
5. You misunderstand the presence of a hierarchy of teachings in the Catholic Church, where disciplinary rules such as this are lower on the list?
6. Are you afraid that changes like this means that there is no infallibility in the Church, or that infallibility is a joke?
7. Do you feel like you're kept in the dark and because of this, feel set up?
Feel free to enter into the discussion. Let's open it up, so that if there are roots of bitterness that have been unearthed in the cultivation of our souls in the Four Pillars class, let's identify them and get rid of them! Life is hard enough without this stuff distracting us from our mission. Right?
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3 comments:
I too looked it up last night at the Vatican's website. I have never read the Canon Laws. I now have them saved to my favorites.
I think some people don't know about certain changes because either they didn't hear about it in their church, they didn't read about it in their bulletin, the announcement wasn't made too loudly, etc. But to know that this is a law that the priests are allowed to change to suit the congregations' needs is important. It's not that a priest or laity are sinning before our eyes. I also think that older members of the church fast after midnight becasue that's the way their parents were raised and no one told them differently. We tend to have faith in our parents and don't question them, at any age.
Also, there is nothing wrong with fasting more than an hour. I think what many people are missing, myself included, is our personal preparation prior to going to Mass. It's not just fasting but preparing our minds and hearts for what we are about to partake in.
Blessings!
Thanks for your comments, Michelle! You are so right. We need to be saying to ourselves, not what is the minimum requirement, but, where is the very center of your will, Lord, and PARK there. Amen? Oh, yeah!
FYI, "Undergroundlogician" is my other blogsite name. No worries.
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