Krzysztof Bronk – Vatican
These words appear in the Polish summary of the catechesis from March 21, 1979. Its recording has been preserved in the Vatican archives, and today, after 47 years, we are making it available to the Polish audience. In the catechesis delivered on that day, John Paul II recalled that Lenten practices were significantly relaxed in 1966. On this matter, Paul VI left many decisions to local episcopates.
Fasting is necessary
Lamenting the decline of Lenten practices, John Paul II emphasized, however, that fasting is “necessary” for man “precisely because of his humanity.” “Man cannot be himself, he simply cannot be himself, he is not worthy of his name, if he cannot say ‘no’ to himself.”
To say ‘no’ to oneself
The Pope emphasized that it is precisely in this “no” that the meaning of Lenten practices is expressed. “To be able to refuse oneself forbidden things, one must also be able to refuse oneself permitted things,” said the Holy Pope. He also admitted that “in our Polish Lenten practice, the need for sobriety is particularly evident. This ‘no’ is necessary, indispensable, to preserve human dignity and to serve the common good of the family, the nation, the Homeland.”
The Bridegroom has been taken from us
John Paul II explained the meaning of fasting in more detail in the catechesis itself. He recalled that the main reason for fasting was given by Jesus Himself, when asked by the Pharisees why His disciples did not fast, He replied: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” “The time of Lent,” said the Polish Pope, “reminds us that the Bridegroom has been taken from us. Taken, arrested, imprisoned, slapped, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified… Fasting during Lent is an expression of our solidarity with Christ. This has been the meaning of Lent throughout the centuries and remains so to this day.”
Resistance to consumer civilization
The Pope noted that fasting, however, takes on new meaning in a consumer civilization. “Man oriented towards material goods, various material goods, very often abuses them. This is not just about food and drink. When man is oriented exclusively towards possessing and using material goods, i.e., things, then the entire civilization is measured by the quantity and quality of things it can provide to man, and not by a measure appropriate for man. This civilization provides material goods not only to serve man in performing creative and useful activities, but increasingly, to satisfy the senses, the excitement resulting from it, momentary pleasure, an ever-greater variety of sensations.”
Audiovisual media hinder children’s development
Already in 1979, John Paul II warned against the influence of media on younger generations. “The excessive influence of audiovisual media in rich countries does not always favor the development of intelligence, especially in children; on the contrary, it sometimes contributes to hindering development. The child lives only by sensations, constantly seeking new impressions… And in this way, without realizing it, becomes a slave to this modern passion. Satiated with impressions, he often remains intellectually passive; the intellect does not open up to the search for truth; the will remains bound by habit, which it cannot resist.”
Refrain from sensory stimulation
“It follows from this,” concluded John Paul II, “that modern man must fast, that is, refrain not only from food and drink, but also from many other means of consumption, stimulation, and gratification of the senses. To fast means to refrain, to give up something.”
Give a chance to deeper layers of personality
The Pope, who as a philosopher dealt precisely with anthropology, recalled that man develops properly when the deeper layers of his personality find sufficient expression, when the scope of his interests and aspirations is not limited only to external and superficial layers, related to human sensuality. “To facilitate such development,” said John Paul II, “we must sometimes consciously detach ourselves from what serves the gratification of sensuality, that is, from those external, superficial layers. We must therefore give up everything that feeds them. (…) Giving up sensations, stimuli, pleasures, and even food and drink is not an end in itself. It is only, so to speak, to pave the way for deeper contents, by which the inner man is ‘fed’. Such renunciation, such mortification, must serve to create in man conditions for living higher values, which he, in his own way, ‘desires’.”
