Unfortunately the church in modern times refuses to be guided from above, and now that age-old fast has been broken. The secular currents of the world are what have generated the change, i.e. the discarding of the traditional fast, and that of Friday abstinence, liturgical discipline, modesty of dress, reverence, head coverings, holy water, sacramentals, the old Mass, the traditional prayer to St. Michael, and the whole of tradition which the Almighty in His goodness had bestowed upon us for our liberty and sanctification. The clergy today are slumbering, and it seems that very few are keeping the Faith.
Hence faithful Catholics can no longer necessarily expect to receive from the pulpit the counsel to fast, to do penance, and to make reparation to the outraged heart of Christ in order to mitigate the wrath of the Almighty. Perhaps, then, each Catholic should take this upon himself and adopt a program of penance and sacrifice in accord with tradition. The one hour fast before Communion is a joke and an insult to our Eucharistic King.
A wholesome Lenten resolution is to fast, really fast!, and return to the rule of fast as practiced in the time of Pius XII. The 1917 Code of Canon Law was still the law at that time, which required that no food or drink be taken after midnight until the time of Communion. And whereas the Holy Father relaxed this ruling in March 1957 by reducing the Communion fast to three hours, he nonetheless urged that the traditional fast after midnight (terminus a quo) be maintained by all.“We strongly exhort priests and faithful who are able to do so to observe the old and venerable form of the Eucharistic fast before Mass and Holy Communion. All those who will make use of these concessions must compensate for the good received by becoming shining examples of a Christian life and principally with works of penance and charity.”
What has happened to us? What have we become? Where have all the Catholics gone?