Spiritual Life: December 2012 Archives

Sing the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the past year and the Veni Creator for new year, and gain a plenary indulgence.

In the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, 26:

§ 1. A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who, in a church or in an oratory, are present [take part] in a recitation or solemn chant of: ... 

1° the hymn Veni Creator ... on the first day of the year, imploring divine assistance for the whole of the coming year...

2° the Te Deum hymn, on the last day of the year, in thanksgiving to God for the favors received in the course of the entire year.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Fasting to prepare for Christmas

| | Comments (0)
The Four Men in the Fiery Furnace. Три отрока ...
Latin Catholics are accustomed to fasting once a year at Lent. Historically speaking, there was a time when the tradition of fasting was proposed a few more times a year than merely Lent, e.g., the Assumption fast, the Saints' fast and the Advent fast.

Liturgically speaking the time before any great feast of the Lord (i.e., Christmas & Easter), the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and also of Mary (Assumption of the BVM) was preceded by a distinct time of preparation: prayer, fasting almsgiving.

In time, Catholics have relaxed some traditions and now they have become virtually obsolete. Think of the practice of Ember Days. Today, in fact, is the first of the three Advent Ember Days. You may have heard that the US bishops are encouraging the reinstitution of abstinence on Fridays. Fasting and abstinence are different; do you know the difference? What can we do to restore a reasonable practice of the Catholic faith that includes expanding our utilization of spiritual disciplines such as fasting? Can Catholics reinstitute the Ember Days in the praying of the Novus Ordo Liturgy?
Enhanced by Zemanta

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

Categories

Archives

Humanities Blog Directory

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Spiritual Life category from December 2012.

Spiritual Life: November 2012 is the previous archive.

Spiritual Life: January 2013 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.