Catholics would do well – and the environment would benefit – by paying greater attention to certain “pauses” in their everyday lives, including a more faithful observance of Friday abstinence from meat and the Sabbath rest.
That was the suggestion of a bishop who chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak, together with Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, addressed the bishops' conference’s annual fall meeting in Baltimore November 13 on implementing Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on care for creation, Laudato Sí.
The two spoke to the body of bishops to give them food for thought on how best to mark the encyclical’s 10th anniversary next year.
Archbishop Gudziak is also the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, while Bishop Zaidan leads the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, based in Los Angeles.
Sabbath rest
The Ukrainian Catholic archbishop acknowledged that in a world full of pressing concerns, such as war and politics, “it can be tempting to let care for creation become less prominent.” But because “creation is connected to everything human, our efforts around Laudato Sí need not be weighed down by many new programs and tasks. Rather, Laudato Sí can be integrated into our core mission of evangelization.”
He made a couple of suggestions for the bishops to begin individual table discussions. The first proposal concerned care for creation and the Sabbath.
“The crowning of God’s creation was not action, but rather marveling and rejoicing over creation on the seventh day. We live in a world of constant work and stimulation, with ever-present phones, screens and gadgets. In essence, our world does not rest and struggles with leisure,” the archbishop said. “Christian care for creation is nourished by the Sabbath precept of rest for the land, forgiveness, restoration, festivity, and freedom. … Our hyperactive world yearns for the Sabbath, which is expressed in the Sunday Eucharist when the Lord makes ‘all things new.’”
“I would suggest efforts centered on contemplation of creation, leisure, and celebration,” the archbishop continued. “This could lead to a pilgrimage to a significant local shrine, basilica or ecological site in your diocese or eparchy that evokes the marvel of God’s creation.”
Archbishop Gudziak also suggested renewal of the tradition of Friday abstinence from meat, saying it “would be good for the soul and for the planet, … uniting our devotion to the Lord and reverence for the Lord’s creation.”
Better for Christian unity too
In addition to fasting for the environment, he suggested that fasting could be a way for Latin and Eastern Catholics to become more aware of the ancient practices from each other’s traditions: ember days in the West and the four fasts throughout the year in the East, including the Nativity Fast, which was set to begin two days after Gudziak’s talk.
The Church never totally abolished abstinence from meat on Fridays. In the Code of Canon Law, Canon 1251 says, “Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.”
