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Summary of today\u2019s show: Fasting is one of the three pillars of Lent and of the whole Christian life, including prayer and almsgiving. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O\u2019Connell talk with Andy LaVallee of LiveTheFast.com and Msgr. Charles Murphy, author of the book \u201cThe Spirituality of Fasting\u201d, to talk about rediscovering the practice, the spiritual fruits it provides, the practical aspects of fasting, and a one-day retreat this weekend open to all.\nListen to the show:\n\nWatch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: \nToday\u2019s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O\u2019Connell\nToday\u2019s guest(s): Msgr. Charles Murphy, Andy LaVallee\nLinks from today\u2019s show:\n\n\n\n\n\nToday\u2019s topics: Rediscovering spirituality of fasting\n1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O\u2019Connell to the show. He said it was a big day at the Pastoral Center where Cardinal Se\xe1n celebrated the Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter to reflect on the ministry of Pope Benedict and of all popes and to reflect on his own ministry. The homily from the Mass will be posted on tonight after 9pm. Cardinal Se\xe1n said we\u2019ll be learning from Pope Benedict\u2019s speeches and writings for lifetimes to come. Fr. Mark said he knows that the attention placed on Cardinal Se\xe1n weighs on him and embarrasses him. Scot noted that every Boston media outlet was present for the Mass today. Scot said there will be 116 cardinal-electors in the conclave, where one Indonesian cardinal is too ill to travel to Rome to participate.\n2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andy LaVallee and Msgr. Charles Murphy, from the Diocese of Portland, Maine, to the show. Msgr. Murphy had formerly been rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. They talked about how Pope John Paul II visited the college on this date many years ago after he was first elected pope. Msgr. Murphy talked about how the pope stayed for dinner and he was instructed to serve on bread and soup for Lent. He talked about their conversation over dinner. Among other things they discussed why fasting and abstinence has gone away. Since that time, Msgr. Murphy has written a book on the topic .\n\nThe short answer to the change was that before Vatican II, fasting came under canon law and moral law and was connected to the idea missing the fast as a sin. Pope Paul VI tried to make it more positive and connected it to charity, but that ended up losing the sense of its importance.\nOn the types of fast, Msgr. Murphy said there is total fast and partial fast. We used to fast from all food and drink from midnight before Sunday Mass to totally empty ourselves to prepare to receive the Lord. Jews fast like this for Yom Kippur. Partial fasting is abstaining from some food and drinks for a more extended period. This has to do with having our sins forgiven in confession, but having the effects remaining in us. Fasting counteracts the selfishness and other effects of sin in us.\nAndy didn\u2019t appreciate the power of spiritual fasting until a few years ago and since then he founded LiveTheFast.com to promote fasting. He said fasting is the remedy we want for our society, whether it be addictions or abortion or what\u2019s happening to our family. The website promotes the prayer of fasting together through nutritional breads and a spirit of community. Fasting is something that happens in all faiths, but in the Catholic Church fasting has become a lost art. On the website they promote books about fasting and send out emails every Wednesday and Friday to help people. They now send books and bread to 28 different states.\nScot talked about the decline in Catholic identity and culture which correlates with the decline in fasting. Msgr. Murphy has been asking how do we bring this back in the Church. Pope Benedict has been strong on fasting and integrating body, mind, and experience as all parts of our existence. Families need to make a decision to do this together or a parish or even a whole diocese can call people to practice fasting. He doesn\u2019t think it will happen in the whole Church through canon law.\nAndy said people are telling him that for the first time ever they can fast without feeling ill because of the nutritional fasting bread. They even had one man who ran the Boston Marathon while fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays.\nScot said he\u2019s heard fasting described as praying intensely with your whole body. Andy said you should always start in prayer and then always have an intention you\u2019re praying for. He also said one should drink plenty of water while on a fast. He said you can\u2019t drink enough water. And it\u2019s always easier to do this when being done with others.\nMsgr. Murphy said in his book\u2019s sixth chapter he uses the Eastern Church\u2019s model of fasting. Two Sundays before Lent, they give up meat for all of Lent and the Sunday before they add dairy. Wednesday is a fasting day because it\u2019s the day that Judas betrayed the Lord and Friday because it\u2019s the day of the crucifixion.\nAndy said there aren\u2019t enough modern teachings on fasting and the Church\u2019s need for it. He often hears questions from people who are looking for recipes or who have questions related to health issues, like diabetes. He recommends people talk to their doctor and spiritual director. Msgr. Murphy said the biggest obstacle is that people\u2019s lives are in disorder. People aren\u2019t sharing meals together like they used to, so he asks people to eat a family meal together at least one night per week. Eating has to become a thoughtful exercise. Andy said when one eats fasting bread it\u2019s important to chew for 60 seconds or more to get the fullest effect of the nutrition in the bread.\nAndy said a fast day starts with prayer, a roll in the morning, plenty of water, go to Mass. He has two or three more rolls or 6 to 8 ounces of bread total in a 24 hour fast.\nMsgr. Murphy said families can fast together by designating Wednesday and Friday as days to fast together. They can do it together as a mutual commitment. He thinks fasting has to be a whole regime of putting order in life.\nFr. Mark asked what age should one start fasting. Andy said one can fast from other things like giving up TV or something else until they\u2019re old enough to fast from food. They talked about kids fasting from things they really enjoy and offer it up to God. Andy said fasting is all about sacrifice and controlling our desires.\nMsgr. Murphy said prayer, fasting, and charity are three pillars of our faith that comes to us from Judaism and talked about by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. He thinks it leads to a mystical experience of God. Andy said through his fasting he became a daily Mass communicant, started praying the rosary and was able to have what he calls a maximum re-conversion.\nTomorrow, they are having a retreat called Equip for the Wilderness at St. Mary Parish in Waltham. Andy said they ran a similar retreat in Advent. It\u2019s about bringing back awareness of prayer and fasting through four speakers. The speakers are Msgr. Murphy, Fr. Michael Sevigny, and Mother Olga Yaqob. Find a link to the retreat at the top of this page. Andy said you won\u2019t be forced to fast. LaVallee\u2019s Bakery is providing cookies and special croissants among other things. He talked about how the first retreat had only a few people had fasted before, but at the end of the retreat they signed up 60 people with fasting kits.\nMsgr. Murphy related how he met some Buddhist monks who were trying to encourage the Japanese people to bring their faith into their homes. They started a skip-a-meal program in which they pick a day to skip a meal, to spend the time praying, and to give the money saved to charity.\nAndy said you get so much joy from fasting that you start to look forward to the next fast day.\nScot asked Msgr. Murphy about his many encounters with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his work on the Catechism of the Catholic Church before he was elected pope and asked him about his thoughts on the recent news. He recalled seeing the Holy Father a few years ago and told him how proud he was to have worked with the Holy Father on the project. the Holy Father became very animated and said he was proud of that work too. Scot asked what he will be remembered most for. Msgr. Murphy said it will be his first encyclical, God is Love (Deus Caritas Est). Its message was that our faith is a positive message, not condemnatory. Andy said the Pope\u2019s 2009 Lenten message is an incredible message on fasting in which he said fasting is a great aid in avoiding sin. Andy said the second encyclical \u201cCharity in Truth\u201d is also great for Catholic businessman especially.\n\n\n\n\n\n3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading.\n\nFirst Reading for the Second Sunday of Lent (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18)\n\n\nThe Lord God took Abram outside and said, \u201cLook up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,\u201d he added, \u201cshall your descendants be.\u201d Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.\nHe then said to him, \u201cI am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.\u201d \u201cO Lord GOD,\u201d he asked, \u201chow am I to know that I shall possess it?\u201d He answered him, \u201cBring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.\u201d Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.\nWhen the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: \u201cTo your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.\u201d\n\n\nGospel for the Second Sunday of Lent (Luke 9:28b-36)\n\n\nJesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, \u201cMaster, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.\u201d But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, \u201cThis is my chosen Son; listen to him.\u201d After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.\n\nScot said the moment of the transfiguration was important for the Apostles to experience even if they didn\u2019t understand it at the time so they would know who Jesus was. Msgr. Murphy talked about being at Mount Tabor on a pilgrimage, sleeping on the mountaintop and experiencing a cloud that covered the mountain like in the Gospel. The goal of the Christian life is to be transformed. In eastern spirituality, it\u2019s divinization in which we take on God\u2019s divinity. That\u2019s the goal of prayer, fasting, and charity. That transformation of Christ is something that should happen in our lives as well. While Jesus predicts the Passion, he also reassures them by showing them what will happen on the other side of the Passion.\nScot said you can sum up Christian discipleship by repeating, \u201cListen to Him.\u201d Andy said we need to put down the phones, get in silence, and listen to Him. He recalled the Wedding Feast at Cana where our Lady says, Do as He tells you. Fr. Mark said the readings have journeys that aren\u2019t easy that lead to a powerful experience of God, which goes well with the discussion on fasting.