SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806 EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS: Celebrant Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching
March 6, 2011 Quinquagesima Sunday
Epistle: 1 Cor. 13, 1-13
Gospel: Luc. 18, 31-43
Mass schedule March 7 through March 11
Monday-Saint Thomas Aquinas; Confessor & Doctor-NO LATIN MASS
Tuesday-Saint John of God; Confessor
Wednesday-Ash Wednesday; NO LATIN MASS
Thursday-Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Friday-Friday after Ash Wednesday
We will have our monthly pot-luck dinner immediately following Mass on March 6th.
Note that Saint Agnes Cathedral has scheduled a Mass for Ash Wednesday at the regularly scheduled Mass time for the Latin Mass (12:15pm). I will be in Mansfield and Mountain Grove for Ash Wednesday Masses; therefore there will be no Latin Mass on Ash Wednesday.
Laws of Abstinence:
-Complete abstinence is defined as abstaining from meat and soup or gravy made from meat.
-Partial abstinence is defined as allowing meat and soup or gravy made from meat, only once a day at the principal meal.
-Abstinence applies to all those over seven years.
Laws of Fast:
-On days of Fast, only one full meal is allowed, two other meatless meals are allowed in addition to the principal meal but the total quantity of food for these two small repasts should not equal the amount taken at a full meal.
-Partial abstinence is required on all days of Fast, except on days of COMPLETE abstinence.
-Eating between meals in not permitted though liquids may be taken.
-Days of Fast apply to all those over 21 and under 59 years of age.
-Laws of fasting and abstinence are not binding on those with medical conditions or those whose ability to work would be impaired.
-There is no obligation for fast or abstinence on a Holy Day of Obligation even though it may fall on a Friday.
In the new Code of Canon Law, USCCB usage, fasting and complete abstinence are limited to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Complete abstinence is obligatory on all Fridays of Lent. Abstinence applies to those over the age of 14. Fasting is obligatory for those between the ages of 18 and 59, inclusive.
Saint Paul emphasizes the fact that the virtue of charity is so important that without it all other gifts make no sense. Charity towards our neighbor is an expression of our love for God Himself. Love is enduring. Love will never fade away. This is why charity is greater than all God’s other gifts to man. Saint Paul is constantly reminding us to actively pursue the virtue of charity. All the saints teach us the very same message.
Faith, hope and charity are the most important virtues in the Christian life. These are called the “theological” virtues. God infuses them into our hearts together with sanctifying grace. Charity is superior to both faith and hope because charity is the virtue that most directly unites one to good. In the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas: “Faith and hope attain God in so far as we derive from Him the knowledge of truth or the acquisition of good; whereas charity attains God Himself that it may rest in Him, not that something else should come to us from Him (Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 23, a. 6).
In Christ,
Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching
