When the chief priests and officers cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him” (Jn 19:6), they called for Jesus to die the most abhorrent type of death known to the world at that time. Over the years, Romans crucified thousands of men. Each “miserable procedure,” as Josephus called it, was as terrifying and brutal as the next.
Theology
Lent, Fasting and Abstinence For Catholics Part 3
Fasting and Abstinence. Are they important? Are they necessary? The Church, as a caring mother, is providing us a specific means and season for completing acts of penance, such as fasting and abstinence. Her goal is to see to it that her children attain eternal life. Her precept on fasting, then, is for our spiritual benefit.
Finding the Truth in Jesus Christ
St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, citing Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, said “veritas est adaequatio rei et intellectus” which means “truth is the equation of thought and thing.” It is crucial to be able to say “the truth is outside of me, it does not depend on me; and all I’m doing is discovering it, not making it.
Lent, Fasting, and Abstinence Part 2: The Benefits of Fasting According to St. Thomas Aquinas
The spiritual benefits of fasting are many. Not only is it an excellent means of engaging in penance, as Christians are required to do, but it confers other benefits such as helping to build self-mastery, the control of the soul over the desires of the flesh.
Lent, Fasting, and Abstinence Part 1
It’s the sacred season of Lent. The three disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. One of the questions people frequently have about Lent pertains to fasting.