Dom Guéranger on Fasting

As we prepare for the Great Fast, it is well to consider the striking difference between the modern, novus ordo practice and the traditional Lenten fast. Given the state of the modern Church, our current crisis, and the abundance of both confusion and heresy unchecked by our leaders, it is clear that reparation needs to be made. This reparation, however, certainly will not be effected by the woefully lax Lenten observance that has become standard in the mainstream Church. In these tumultuous times, this necessary reparation has been placed by God on the shoulders of the faithful remnant of traditional Catholics. Thus it is imperative for traditional Catholics to seriously consider the season of Lent, and to use this time prior to Lent to prepare ourselves for battle.

Dom Guéranger wrote:

We learn from this magnificent passage of the prophet Joel [the lesson from Mass on Ash Wednesday] how acceptable to God is the expiation of fasting. When the penitent sinner inflicts corporal penance upon himself, God's justice is appeased. We have a proof of it sin the Ninivites. If the Almighty pardoned an infidel city, as Ninive was, solely because its inhabitants sought for mercy under the garb of penance; what will He not do in favour of His own people, who offer Him twofold sacrifice, exterior works of mortification, and true contrition of heart? Let us, then, courageously enter on the path of penance. We are living in an age when, through want of faith and fear of God, those practices which are as ancient as Christianity itself , and on whihc we might almost say it was founded, are falling into disuse; it behooves us to be on our guard, lest we, too, should imbibe the false principles, which have so fearfully weakened the Christian spirit. Let us never forget our own personal debt to the divine justice, which will remit neither our sins nor the punishment due to them, except inasmuch as we are ready to make satisfaction. We have just been told that these bodies, which we are so inclined to pamper, are but dut; ans as to our souls, which we are so often tempted to sacrifice by indulging the flesh, they have claims upon the body, claims of both restitution and obedience.

As the novus ordo establishment continues to indulge the flesh, while at the same time pridefully giving mere lip service to the notion of mortification, we must take upon ourselves the weight of reparation by our practice of the traditional Lenten fast. We may not have chosen this battle, but here we are, and we must take up the call to be faithful soldiers of Christ during these unsettling times.

This Lenten Season let us strive for the full and complete restoration of the Catholic religion by prayer, fasting, frequent examinations of conscience, and an abiding and deep devotion for the Traditional Latin Mass.