Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 212 (1/2)

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 G.o.d 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 l.u.s.ts 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 t.i.thes should be paid of things, so we strive to pay G.o.d a t.i.the of days, for since a year is composed of three hundred and sixty-six days, by punis.h.i.+ng ourselves for thirty-six days” (namely, the fasting days during the six weeks of Lent) ”we pay G.o.d a t.i.the 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 G.o.d, 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 t.i.tus. In the seventh month which we call October, G.o.dolias 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. x.x.xvi) ”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.”

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SIXTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 147, Art. 6]

Whether It Is Requisite for Fasting That One Eat but Once?

Objection 1: It would seem that it is not requisite for fasting that one eat but once. For, as stated above (A. 2), fasting is an act of the virtue of abstinence, which observes due quant.i.ty of food not less than the number of meals. Now the quant.i.ty of food is not limited for those who fast. Therefore neither should the number of meals be limited.

Obj. 2: Further, Just as man is nourished by meat, so is he by drink: wherefore drink breaks the fast, and for this reason we cannot receive the Eucharist after drinking. Now we are not forbidden to drink at various hours of the day. Therefore those who fast should not be forbidden to eat several times.

Obj. 3: Further, digestives are a kind of food: and yet many take them on fasting days after eating. Therefore it is not essential to fasting to take only one meal.

_On the contrary,_ stands the common custom of the Christian people.

_I answer that,_ Fasting is inst.i.tuted by the Church in order to bridle concupiscence, yet so as to safeguard nature. Now only one meal is seemingly sufficient for this purpose, since thereby man is able to satisfy nature; and yet he withdraws something from concupiscence by minimizing the number of meals. Therefore it is appointed by the Church, in her moderation, that those who fast should take one meal in the day.

Reply Obj. 1: It was not possible to fix the same quant.i.ty of food for all, on account of the various bodily temperaments, the result being that one person needs more, and another less food: whereas, for the most part, all are able to satisfy nature by only one meal.

Reply Obj. 2: Fasting is of two kinds [*Cf. A. 1, ad 3]. One is the natural fast, which is requisite for receiving the Eucharist. This is broken by any kind of drink, even of water, after which it is not lawful to receive the Eucharist. The fast of the Church is another kind and is called the ”fasting of the faster,” and this is not broken save by such things as the Church intended to forbid in inst.i.tuting the fast. Now the Church does not intend to command abstinence from drink, for this is taken more for bodily refreshment, and digestion of the food consumed, although it nourishes somewhat.

It is, however, possible to sin and lose the merit of fasting, by partaking of too much drink: as also by eating immoderately at one meal.

Reply Obj. 3: Although digestives nourish somewhat they are not taken chiefly for nourishment, but for digestion. Hence one does not break one's fast by taking them or any other medicines, unless one were to take digestives, with a fraudulent intention, in great quant.i.ty and by way of food.

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SEVENTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 147, Art. 7]