MESSAGE
from ARCHBISHOP SIMON POH
Dear brothers and sisters,
Celebration and Penance – Chinese New Year and Ash Wednesday
Many would have noted that the dates of the Chinese New Year (CNY) and Ash Wednesday are always very close to each other. The focus of both celebrations is really different. CNY is about thanksgiving and family reunions while Lent calls us to the discipline of fasting, abstinence, sacrifice, prayer and almsgiving.
However, the underlying similarity is that both CNY and Lent follow the lunar cycle which marks the time of spring. It is thus not surprising that:
• CNY is known as the lunar Spring Festival.
• The word “Lent” is derived from an old English word meaning “springtime”, a time of new and fresh beginning in life.
Ash Wednesday and Fridays during the CNY Celebrations
For 2024, we breathe a sigh of relief that CNY comes four days before Ash Wednesday which is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence. Within the 15 days of CNY celebrations, there are also two Fridays (15 and 22 February) when Catholics are required to observe Fridays as Days of Penance.
Why do we do penance on Fridays?
Just as every Sunday celebrates the Resurrection of Christ as Jesus rose from the tomb early on Sunday, the first day of the Jewish week (John 20:1), every Friday recalls the saving death of Jesus on the Cross on this first Good Friday.
For Catholics, every Friday is thus lived as an occasion for special penance in union with Christ who died for us. Mother Church requires that “all Christ’s faithful are obliged by divine law to do penance.” (Church Canon Law n.1249). “The days and time of penance of the universal are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent” (Canon 1250). Every Catholic is required to do penance every Friday by doing an act of love and offering to our Lord Jesus.
Penance is more than Abstinence from Meat on Friday
Since 1960s, Catholics tend to equate doing penance on Friday as simply not eating meat. And on Friday, some would go out to eat seafood consisting of prawns, crabs etc, which in fact is tastier and expensive. Such “abstinence” would not be counted as doing penance. Thus, in the Lent of 2007, the Catholic bishops of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei explain the meaning of “Friday as a day of Penance” and offer additional forms of penance besides abstaining from meat.
How do we do penance on Fridays?
First and foremost, Catholics are called to do penance as our act of love, not as a law or obligation to be fulfilled. Any form of penance has to be done with willingness and joy. The Church declares that it is not a sin to eat meat on Friday. When one is unable to abstain from eating meat on a given Friday (at one’s own judgement), one can choose another form of penance. Penance can either be “negative penance” (giving up something) or “positive penance” (performing an act of mercy or kindness).
Examples as below:
Negative forms of penance:
• Abstaining from another enjoyable food (besides meat)
• Abstaining from alcohol, smoking
• Abstaining from shopping, gossiping
• Giving up a favourite television show
• Sacrificing something that one likes
Positive forms of penance:
• Giving alms and donations to the poor
• Spending time with someone who is sick or lonely
• Serving someone who is poor or disadvantaged
• Visiting the Blessed Sacrament in Church
• Participating in weekday Mass
• Praying the Rosary
• Praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent
• Praying with the family
• Acts of kindness toward family, friends, strangers
• Doing the works of mercy, etc
Doing penance with a Sincere Heart
Ultimately, penance will vary from person to person and from one Friday to another. Whether one performs penance by giving up something enjoyable or by doing an act of mercy, the final aim is to grow in the life of Christ, with a desire to turn away from sin, with a conversion of heart to follow Jesus more closely in his relationship with his Heavenly Father, with our family and our neighbours, especially those in need.
Fridays during Chinese New Year season?
With this understanding of penance, every Catholic even when celebrating CNY with family and friends can always do penance during the Fridays of CNY. As an alternative to abstinence from meat, choose other forms of penance like participating in the Stations of the Cross Service, daily Mass, making a trip to pray in Church before the Blessed Sacrament, gather the family to pray the Rosary at home, and other acts of kindness and love as our offering to our Lord Jesus.
Money saved from our penance is for Almsgiving
Remember that our penance should be at some cost to us, an effort or sacrifice. Thus, money saved from doing our abstinence and fasting during Lent should be donated as part of our Lenten almsgiving for the poor and needy.
CNY and Lenten blessings from Archbishop Simon Poh
I wish all our Catholics and friends of goodwill a Blessed and Happy New Year. Let us welcome this season of thanksgiving and family reunions as we celebrate Lent in the spirit of Matthew 6:1-18 by FASTING, PRAYING and ALMSGIVING. Have a Spirit-filled Lenten Season – a new SPRINGTIME of life as we journey with our Lord through these 40 days of Lent to the joy and new life of Easter.
