Whether the Times for the Church Fast Are Fittingly Ascribed?
Objection 1: It would seem that the times for the Church fast are
unfittingly appointed. For we read (Matt. 4) that Christ began to
fast immediately after being baptized. Now we ought to imitate
Christ, according to 1 Cor. 4:16, "Be ye followers of me, as I also
am of Christ." Therefore we ought to fast immediately after the
Epiphany when Christ's baptism is celebrated.
Obj. 2: Further, it is unlawful in the New Law to observe the
ceremonies of the Old Law. Now it belongs to the solemnities of the
Old Law to fast in certain particular months: for it is written
(Zech. 8:19): "The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the
fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall
be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness and great solemnities."
Therefore the fast of certain months, which are called Ember days,
are unfittingly kept in the Church.
Obj. 3: Further, according to Augustine (De Consensu Evang. ii, 27),
just as there is a fast "of sorrow," so is there a fast "of joy." Now
it is most becoming that the faithful should rejoice spiritually in
Christ's Resurrection. Therefore during the five weeks which the
Church solemnizes on account of Christ's Resurrection, and on Sundays
which commemorate the Resurrection, fasts ought to be appointed.
_On the contrary,_ stands the general custom of the Church.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (AA. 1, 3), fasting is directed to
two things, the deletion of sin, and the raising of the mind to
heavenly things. Wherefore fasting ought to be appointed specially
for those times, when it behooves man to be cleansed from sin, and
the minds of the faithful to be raised to God by devotion: and these
things are particularly requisite before the feast of Easter, when
sins are loosed by baptism, which is solemnly conferred on
Easter-eve, on which day our Lord's burial is commemorated, because
"we are buried together with Christ by baptism unto death" (Rom.
6:4). Moreover at the Easter festival the mind of man ought to be
devoutly raised to the glory of eternity, which Christ restored by
rising from the dead, and so the Church ordered a fast to be observed
immediately before the Paschal feast; and for the same reason, on the
eve of the chief festivals, because it is then that one ought to make
ready to keep the coming feast devoutly. Again it is the custom in
the Church for Holy Orders to be conferred every quarter of the year
(in sign whereof our Lord fed four thousand men with seven loaves,
which signify the New Testament year as Jerome says [*Comment. in
Marc. viii]): and then both the ordainer, and the candidates for
ordination, and even the whole people, for whose good they are
ordained, need to fast in order to make themselves ready for the
ordination. Hence it is related (Luke 6:12) that before choosing His
disciples our Lord "went out into a mountain to pray": and Ambrose
[*Exposit. in Luc.] commenting on these words says: "What shouldst
thou do, when thou desirest to undertake some pious work, since
Christ prayed before sending His apostles?"
With regard to the forty day's fast, according to Gregory (Hom. xvi
in Evang.) there are three reasons for the number. First, "because
the power of the Decalogue is accomplished in the four books of the
Holy Gospels: since forty is the product of ten multiplied by four."
Or "because we are composed of four elements in this mortal body
through whose lusts we transgress the Lord's commandments which are
delivered to us in the Decalogue. Wherefore it is fitting we should
punish that same body forty times. Or, because, just as under the Law
it was commanded that tithes should be paid of things, so we strive
to pay God a tithe of days, for since a year is composed of three
hundred and sixty-six days, by punishing ourselves for thirty-six
days" (namely, the fasting days during the six weeks of Lent) "we pay
God a tithe of our year." According to Augustine (De Doctr. Christ.
ii, 16) a fourth reason may be added. For the Creator is the
_Trinity,_ Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: while the number _three_
refers to the invisible creature, since we are commanded to love God,
with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with our whole mind:
and the number _four_ refers to the visible creature, by reason of
heat, cold, wet and dry. Thus the number _ten_ [*Ten is the sum of
three, three, and four] signifies all things, and if this be
multiplied by four which refers to the body whereby we make use of
things, we have the number forty.
Each fast of the Ember days is composed of three days, on account of
the number of months in each season: or on account of the number of
Holy orders which are conferred at these times.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ needed not baptism for His own sake, but in
order to commend baptism to us. Wherefore it was competent for Him to
fast, not before, but after His baptism, in order to invite us to
fast before our baptism.
Reply Obj. 2: The Church keeps the Ember fasts, neither at the very
same time as the Jews, nor for the same reasons. For they fasted in
July, which is the fourth month from April (which they count as the
first), because it was then that Moses coming down from Mount Sinai
broke the tables of the Law (Ex. 32), and that, according to Jer.
39:2, "the walls of the city were first broken through." In the fifth
month, which we call August, they fasted because they were commanded
not to go up on to the mountain, when the people had rebelled on
account of the spies (Num. 14): also in this month the temple of
Jerusalem was burnt down by Nabuchodonosor (Jer. 52) and afterwards
by Titus. In the seventh month which we call October, Godolias was
slain, and the remnants of the people were dispersed (Jer. 51). In
the tenth month, which we call January, the people who were with
Ezechiel in captivity heard of the destruction of the temple (Ezech.
4).
Reply Obj. 3: The "fasting of joy" proceeds from the instigation of
the Holy Ghost Who is the Spirit of liberty, wherefore this fasting
should not be a matter of precept. Accordingly the fasts appointed by
the commandment of the Church are rather "fasts of sorrow" which are
inconsistent with days of joy. For this reason fasting is not ordered
by the Church during the whole of the Paschal season, nor on Sundays:
and if anyone were to fast at these times in contradiction to the
custom of Christian people, which as Augustine declares (Ep. xxxvi)
"is to be considered as law," or even through some erroneous opinion
(thus the Manichees fast, because they deem such fasting to be of
obligation)--he would not be free from sin. Nevertheless fasting
considered in itself is commendable at all times; thus Jerome wrote
(Ad Lucin., Ep. lxxi): "Would that we might fast always."
_______________________