St Claude de la Colombiere
Source: carnet-de-careme-2017-vf-1-lg.pdf (sacrecoeur-paray.org)
Ash Wednesday
“Blow the trumpet. Prescribe a holy fast. Announce a solemnity. Gather the people. Hold a holy assembly ”
“ This 40-day fast was instituted to solemnize the memory of the pains of Jesus Christ and to be like a public confession of the belief where we are that he died for save us… It is obvious that fasting has not been established for the mere atonement of sins or for the mortification of the flesh, but again to be a mark of the faith that we stand as a public testimony of the religion we profess… ” St. Claude urges us to enter resolutely into Lent: in communion with Christ who goes towards his Passion to die for us. To convert us with the “ health remedy ” prescribed by the Church our Mother: to be a sign of our attachment to Christ and to the Church
Thursday after Ash Wed
Fasting and almsgiving.
“Gentlemen, however good fasting in itself is, it is nonetheless not for fasting in itself that the Church commands us to fast. Among the motives she had in instituting Lent, she claimed, say the Fathers, let the Christians cut off something from their eating , in order to save, through abstinence, enough to assist the poor in their need. This is why some doctors assure that the works of corporal mercy are of no less obligation, in this holy time, for those who have good, that the actions of penance, for those who have strength and health; and that it is in vain that one tries to weaken the body by the subtraction of meats, if the members of Jesus Christ are not fed at the same time and helped by our alms. »
Friday Ash Wednesday
Union with Jesus
“ Lent is like a continual solemnity of the Passion and Death of our Saviour. what! My son, Jesus, our master, was crucified, and I could bring myself to eat ! »
Saturday after Ash Wed
Communion with the Church.
“ My lovable Redeemer… Inspire them with a little of that love with which you have filled the hearts of so many illustrious penitents, who take exquisite pleasure in everything that mortifies the flesh. This love will give courage to the most timid and strength to the weakest.”