Penitential Fridays

Fridays have never stopped being a required day of penance in the Catholic Church. When some bishops' conferences allowed a substitution for the meatless Fridays penance, it was never meant to be an elimination of the obligation to perform some form of penance every Friday of the year. Catholics are obligated to perform some form of penance every Friday. Unfortunately, this obligation has been forgotten, ignored, or never learned by some Catholics.

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It should not be difficult to understand why this obligation remains in force in the Catholic Church today since Jesus suffered and died for us on a Friday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document, Penitential Practices for Today's Catholics, is well worth reading for those who need a refresher or those who have never learned why we are called to do penance. The document states, "Recalling our Lord's Passion and death on Good Friday, we hold all Fridays to have special significance. Jesus' self-denial and self-offering invite us to enter freely into his experience by forgoing food, bearing humiliations, and forgiving those who injure us."

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For our own good and the good of the Church, most of us need to be more penitential. Children need to be taught the spiritual value of penance. All Catholics need to hear more from the pulpit about why penitential practices are important for personal spiritual growth and for the building up of God's Kingdom on earth. In addition to making reparation for our own sins, we all need to make contributions to the spiritual treasury of the Church through the offering of penance.

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The Saints knew the importance of penance and look where they ended up--in heaven! We are all called by God to be saints, so it would serve us well to read their lives and the many ways they made love offerings to God because, in the final analysis, it's all about love, love of God and neighbor--just as Jesus taught us! Sacrifices done out of love for God and neighbor--including our priests--can reap a rich spiritual harvest.

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Fridays could be a day of penance offered up especially for priests (above and beyond the Friday penance of obligation). The USCCB document mentioned above--regarding penitential practices--states, "Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the principal agent of all spiritual transformation, this can be done with a spirit of quiet joy. For Christians, suffering and joy are not incompatible."

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It can be a joy to know that our sacrifices can aid a priest in need. All priests are in need in some way--the strong in faith to remain strong, the weak to become strong. The rest of us Catholics are in need also--in need of holy, dedicated priests to guide and spiritually enrich us, our children, and our grandchildren. It is a privilege, and should be a joy, to know that God has provided us with the means to aid his beloved priests in their ongoing spiritual transformation into other Christs, desired so much by Jesus. To Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, Jesus said,

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"Only a priest transformed into Me can transform souls; and the proportion of his transformation into Me will be what souls receive. Ah! This is a point that ought to make my priests tremble because in proportion that they are sanctified, they will sanctify; and in the proportion that they are transformed into Me they will have the virtue for transforming."

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.