Expert: Sal - 2/20/2010

Question
QUESTION: Where in the bible is Lent constituted and why is meat not eaten on Fridays during Lent?  I understand that Fish is allowable, what about birds/foul, are they considered edible during Lent?  Why is it that Fish are excluded as meat?

ANSWER: Dear Scott:

Lent is not constituted  (did you mean instituted?) in the Bible. Meat is not eaten as a sacrifice. Fish is allowed because it was the meat of the poor. So eating it was a sacrifice for most. Chicken is not allowed either. If you are a vegetarian then not eating meat is not a sacrifice for you so you would need to give up something else as a sacrifice. As you can see it is not a hard and fast rule. The important thing is that we sacrifice as Jesus sacrificed for us.

God Bless,
Sal

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Instituted is the right way to say it.  My follow up question is this.  Is it difficult to follow Jesus' example of sacrifice?  To be in the face of world, listen, respond, and to give everything.  To stand blameless in the place of the unjust.  No matter who or what the unjust has in their lives.  To honestly be able to look every person in their eye and say 'I forgive you'.  My father said to me... For God so loved the world that he gave.  He told me that's all I needed to know.  For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but the world, through him, might be saved.  Which leads me to ask, Where in the Bible does it say to pray to Mary?  I don't understand.  Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the father but through me.  So why even pray to Mary when you can go directly to the Father through Jesus.

Answer
Dear Scott:

Catholics see Mary as the “Queen of the Saints”. She is the greatest of the saints. This is so not just because she is the only mother of the only God, but because of her great faithful obedience to the will of God. “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She is the humble servant that God has exalted. “For He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness; all ages to come shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). Catholics view the Virgin Mary as the most powerful intercessor of all the saints. We believe that she sits at her Son’s right hand (the place of honor, cf. Luke 22:69; Acts 7:56; Hebrews 8:1; 10:12) in heaven and from there makes intercession for her other children (Revelation 12:17; cf. John 19:26-27).

While this belief is not explicitly taught in the New Testament we do have strong support for it in Old Testament typology. Bible scholars agree that the kingdom of David was a type of the heavenly kingdom. The king was a type of Christ. The kingdom of David always had a queen mother who possessed power and authority only second to her son, the king. The queen mother was a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1 Kings 2:19-20 we read how the queen mother was honored above all others by her son. The king bowed to her in a show of great respect. He commanded that a throne be set up at his right for the queen mother. From there she would intercede for the people of the kingdom with her son. So we can logically expect that Mary as the king of kings’ mother to be in heaven at her Son’s right hand interceding with unique power for her other children, the people of God. We can also expect that her Son will say, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

Mary’s intercessory powers are graphically shown in John 2:1-11. Here we see Mary intercede for the groom at a wedding feast when the wine ran out. She gives us, what could be the most important advice in the Bible, “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5). Even though his hour has not yet come (v. 4), Jesus cannot refuse his mother’s request (v. 7f). Our Lord’s statement in v. 4 indicates that when his hour does come his mother can intercede with great power.

God Bless You,
Sal