Eucharistic Congress
A historic event that will feed your soul and inspire your faith in a radical way
The fourth precept ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.
“You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.”
- CCC §2043
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. The words of our Lord have inspired great ascetics, holy men of fasting and abstinence, who have given up the world which once filled them so that they might become poor in spirit and thirst instead for the kingdom of God. The church calls all of us to this same holy way, though mercifully requires only a minor asceticism from most.
Instituted by Christ.
Entering the desert, Christ did not expect comforts but to be tested; willingly he went and so too must we embark to deny ourselves. Lent is the primary season of penance when we, in imitation of Christ, set out to gain mastery over the flesh for 40 days.
During His 40 days, Christ was presented with three temptations that we must also contend with: making the satisfaction of sensual desire the highest good, making ourselves the highest good, and making power over the world the highest good. Let us rather, in giving up those things, honor God as the highest good.
“Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms [of penance,] fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which expresses conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others.”
- CCC §1434
Varied yet Unified in Penance.
Understanding the varied lives of the faithful, the church entrusts us to do penance in our own way; yet we also unite our penances during the lenten season in a special way. We are only required to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays during Lent, and Good Friday; we also fast during each. However, the church exhorts us to fast all throughout lent in our own way.
“The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed […]”
- Code of Canon law c. 1249-1251
