To the Band of Brothers: February 22, 2021
Good morning!
It seems that every year during Lent I write this kind of email. I do so only because every year, without exception, I get this kind of question. Does my Lenten sacrifice include Sundays? Once again, the answer is “no.” You have read correctly. The answer is “no.”
In other words, if you gave up chocolate sundaes with whip cream, different colored sprinkles, and without a cherry because who wants fruit on their sundaes anyway, on Sundays you can head over to Swenson’s on U.S. 1 next to the Bakery Center (or is it Sunset Place?) and eat one or maybe even two just to tie you over for a week. If you gave up carbs for Lent, then on Sundays you can have tostadas with café con leche for breakfast, thick crust pizza for lunch, and bistec empanizado for dinner. You may not be able to get up on Monday morning, but you can have it on Sunday.
Trust me… this is not a Jesuit mind trick. You know the kind that can theologically prove things others can’t, like why God loves the Miami Dolphins more than any other team in the NFL, especially the Jets. Ask any person from any religious congregation (even a Franciscan) who has any inkling of theology (even a Franciscan) and he will verify that Sundays do not count in your Lenten sacrifice.
Watch, I will prove it. Open up the calendar app on your iPhone and count the number of days from Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins, to Holy Saturday, just before Easter Sunday, and you will get 46 days. Those are six days over the 40 days of Lent. Why is that? Well, I will give you one guess as to how many Sundays there are during Lent (just in case you guess incorrectly… there are six Sundays).
Do you want theological reasoning for this as well?
Sundays are always referred to as the day of the Lord. In other words, it is the day of the week that we celebrate the life, death, and, especially, resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what the liturgical season, no matter what the occasion, at the center of the celebration on Sunday is the resurrection of Jesus. It is for this reason that we celebrate such an awesome occasion with a meal, the Eucharistic feast. So happy is the occasion that we have to necessarily put aside all mourning, all suffering, all sacrifice so that we can share in the joy of the risen Lord.
Do you want further proof?
In the synoptic gospels, the disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus a question: “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast” (Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18, Luke 5:33)? Jesus responds by asking them if it made sense for the groomsmen to mourn and fast while the groom was with them. On the contrary, he says, there will be a day when the groom will be taken away and, on that day, they will fast.
So, if the Church celebrates the real presence of Jesus on Sundays with the Eucharist, then how can we fast? How can we walk around gloomy because we can’t eat chocolate sundaes or eat carbs? You can go to Swenson’s, you can order your pizza without batting an eye or arousing any guilt. Just don’t forget that on Monday you’re back to the Lenten grind, back to sugar and carb withdrawal and, all of it, for the greater glory of God.
Auspice Maria,
Fr. Willie ‘87
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.