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Friday, August 17, 2012

The Friday of penance

                                     
It is Friday today and thus we are called to treat it as a day of penance for the preparation of the Lord's day on Sunday. Many of us abstain from meat today, yet many of us forget, or fail to do this as well. There are many we could practice penance on Fridays, this ways include what make up penance, praying, fasting, and alms giving.

We must first come to know what penance is, this way we could practice it. Penance is a sacramental mean instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sins. During Lent we practice penance and are also called as baptised Catholics to renew our baptismal commitment. Friday is ought to be our weekly Lent, and thus Friday is meant to be our weekly Lent.

Praying

Prayer is one of the most important aspects of penance. we are to pray a decade of the rosary, and to read scripture. We thus surrender ourselves to pray and to read scripture. We should do our best to pray when we can, and to read even a small passage of scripture.

Fasting

We are called to fast from certain periods of time, and should fast certain foods. We are told not only to abstain from food, but from certain activities as well. There are many foods that you can abstain from for the Friday penance. One thing that I do, is to abstain from candy and soda. These are thing that I eat and drink a lot, thus fasting from these things are a big offering for me.

abstaining from meat is something we should all do more, including me. I usually fail at this. We could substitute eating red meat and instead eat fish for example. If we are running late and need to get fast food, instead of getting a hamburger, substitute it for a fish taco instead.

Alms giving

The last thing we ought to do for penance is to give alms. The giving of alms is meant for us to share the given to us by God with others. Giving alms doesn't just include money, but sharing our time, and our talents with others as well.

After all penance is not only refraining from sin, but also includes the conversion of our hearts to Christ.

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