Poenitemini : apostolic constitution on fast and abstinence,February 17, 1966.


^ cZcA-^liol'C CZkufck Pcp<^ {

_ (Tb »ny -/«-^^'0 cxpc'^iol'CCA /i’.e>n.fc?)^/>i i . <fy\c^l< ^

POENITEMINI

Apostolic Constitution on

Fast and Abstinence

February 17, 1966

National Catholic Welfare Conference





Apostolic Constitution on

Fast and Abstinence

February 17, 1966

National Catholic Welfare Conference
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20005





Apostolic Constitution,

on

Fast and Abstinence

“Be converted and believe in the Gospel.”^

It seems to us that we must repeat these words of the Lord

today at a moment when—with the closing of the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council—the Church continues along its path with
more vigorous steps. Among the grave and urgent problems
which in fact summon our pastoral concern, it seems to us that
not the least is to remind our sons—and all religious men of our
times—of the significance and importance of the divine precept
of penitence. We are prompted to this by the fuller and more
profound vision of the Church and its relationship with the world

given us recently by the supreme ecumenical assembly.

During the Council, in fact, the Church, in an effort to arrive

at a more profound meditation on the mystery of itself, examined
its own nature in all its dimensions and scrutinized its human
and divine, visible and invisible, temporal and eternal elements.

3



By first of all examining more thoroughly the link which binds
it to Christ and His salvific action, it has underlined more clearly

how all its members are called upon to participate in the work
of Christ and therefore to participate also in His expiation.^

In addition, it has gained a clearer awareness that, while it

is by divine vocation holy and without blemish,^ it is defective

in its members and in continuous need of conversion and re-

newal,^ a renewal which must be implemented not only interiorly

and individually but also externally and socially.®

Lastly, the Church has considered more attentively its role
in the earthly city,® that is to say, its mission of showing man
the right way to use earthly goods and to collaborate in the
“consecration of the world.” But at the same time it has con-

sidered more attentively its task of prompting its sons to that
salutary abstinence which will forearm them against the danger

of allowing themselves to be delayed by the things of this world

in their pilgrimage toward their home in heaven.^

For these reasons we should like today to repeat to our sons
the words spoken by Peter in his first speech after Pentecost:

“Repent ... for the forgiveness of your sins.”® And at the same
time we want to repeat once more to all the nations of the earth
the invitation of Paul to the Gentiles of Lystra: “Turn ... to
the living God.”^



I

The Church—which during the Council examined with great-
er attention its relations not only with the separated brethren but

also with non-Christian religions—has noted with joy that almost
everywhere and at all times penitence has held a place of great

importance, since it is closely linked with the intimate sense of

religion which pervades the life of most ancient peoples as well as

with the more advanced expressions of the great religions con-

nected with the progress of culture.^®

In the Old Testament the religious sense of penitence is re-

vealed with even greater richness. Even though man generally
has recourse to it in the aftermath of sin to placate the wrath of

God,^^ or on the occasion of grave calamities'^ or when special

dangers are imminent, or in any case to obtain benefits from

the Lord,^^ we can nevertheless establish that external penitential
practices are accompanied by an inner attitude of “conversion,”

that is to say of condemnation of and detachment from sin and

of striving toward God.^^ One goes without food or gives away
his property [fasting is generally accompanied not only by prayer

but also by alms^®] even after sins have been forgiven and inde-

pendently of a request for graces. One fasts or applies physical
discipline to “chastize one’s own soul,”^^ to “humble oneself
in the sight of his own God,”^® to “turn one’s face toward Je-
hovah,”^® to “dispose oneself to prayer,”^® to “understand” more
intimately the things which are divine,^^ or to prepare oneself

for the encounter with God.^^

Penance therefore—already in the Old Testament—is a re-
ligious, personal act which has as its aim love and surrender to
God: fasting for the sake of God, not for one’s own self.^^ Such
it must remain also in the various penitential rites sanctioned by
law. When this is not verified, the Lord is displeased with His
people: “Today you have not fasted in a way which will make
your voice heard on high . . . Rend your heart and not your
garments, and return to the Lord your God.”^^

5



The social aspect of penitence is not lacking in the Old Testa-

ment. In fact, the penitential liturgies of the Old Covenant are

not only a collective awareness of sin but constitute in reality

a condition for belonging to the People of God.^®

We can further establish that penitence was represented even
before Christ as a means and a sign of perfection and sanctity.

Judith, Daniel,^^ the prophetess Anna and many other elect
souls served God day and night with fasting and prayers, and
with joy and cheerfulness.^®

Finally, we find among the just ones of the Old Testament

those who offered themselves to satisfy with their own personal
penitence for the sins of the community. This is what Moses

did in the 40 days when he fasted to placate the Lord for the

guilt of his unfaithful people.®® This above all is how the char-
acter of the Servant of Jehovah is presented, who “took on our
infirmities” and in whom “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all.”®^

All this, however, was but a foreshadowing of things to

come.®® Penitence—required by the inner life, confirmed by the
rehgious experience of mankind and the object of a particular

precept of divine revelation—assumes “in Christ and the Church”
new dimensions infinitely broader and more profound.

Christ, who always practiced in His life what He preached,
before beginning His ministry spent 40 days and 40 nights in

prayer and fasting, and began His public mission with the joyful

message: “The kingdom of God is at hand.” To this He added
the command: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”®® These words

constitute, in a way, a compendium of the whole Christian life.

The kingdom of God announced by Christ can be entered
only by a “change of heart” (“metanoia”), that is to say through

that intimate and total change and renewal of the entire man

—

of all his opinions, judgments and decisions—which takes place
in him in the light of the sanctity and charity of God, the sanctity

and charity which were manifested to us in the Son and com-

municated fully. ®^

6



The invitation of the Son to “metanoia” becomes all the

more inescapable inasmuch as He not only preaches it but Him-
self offers an example. Christ, in fact, is the supreme model for

those doing penance. He willed to suffer punishment for sins
which were not His but those of others.^®

In the presence of Christ man is illumined with a new light
and consequently recognizes the holiness of God and the gravity
of sin.^® Through the word of Christ a message is transmitted to

him which invites him to conversion and grants forgiveness of

sins. These gifts he fully attains in Baptism. This sacrament,

in fact, configures him to the passion, death and resurrection of

the Lord,®^ and places the whole future of the life of the baptized

under the seal of this mystery.

Therefore, following the Master, every Christian must re-

nounce himself, take up his own cross and participate in the suf-
ferings of Christ. Thus transformed into the image of Christ’s

death, he is made capable of meditating on the glory of the resur-
rection.®® Furthermore, following the Master, he can no longer

live for himself,®® but must live for Him who loves him and gave
Himself for him.^® He will also have to live for his brethren, com-
pleting “in his flesh that which is lacking in the sufferings of

Christ ... for the benefit of his body, which is the church.

In addition, since the Church is closely linked to Christ, the

penitence of the individual Christian also has an intimate relation-

ship of its own with the whole ecclesial community. In fact, not
only does he receive in the bosom of the Church through Baptism
the fundamental gift of “metanoia,” but this gift is restored and

reinvigorated in those members of the Body of Christ who have
fallen into sin through the sacrament of Penance. “Those who
approach the sacrament of penance receive from the mercy of

God forgiveness for offenses committed against Him and at the
same time become reconciled with the Church on which they have
inflicted a wound by sinning, and the Church cooperates in their
conversion with charity, example and prayer. And in the
Church, finally, the little acts of penitence imposed each time in

the sacrament become a form of participation in a special way

7



in the infinite expiation of Christ to join to the sacramental satis-

faction itself every other action he performs, his every suffering

and sorrow.^^

Thus the task of bearing in his body and soul the death of

the Lord^^ affects the whole life of the baptized person at every

instant and in every aspect.

II

The pre-eminently interior and religious character of peni-

tence and the new wondrous aspects which it assumes “in Christ

and in the Church” neither excludes nor lessens in any way the

external practice of this virtue, but on the contrary reaffirms its

necessity with particular urgency^® and prompts the Church

—

always attentive to the signs of the times—to seek, beyond fast
and abstinence, new expressions more suitable for the realization,

according to the character of various epochs, of the precise goal

of penitence.

True penitence, however, cannot ever prescind from physical

asceticism as well. Our whole being, in fact, body and soul,

[indeed the whole of nature, even animals without reason, as

Holy Scripture often points out^®] must participate actively in

this rehgious act whereby the creature recognizes divine holiness

and majesty. The necessity of the mortification of the fiesh also

stands clearly revealed if we consider the fragility of our nature,
in which, since Adam’s sin, flesh and spirit have contrasting de-

sires.^^ This exercise of bodily mortification—^far removed from
any form of stoicism—does not imply a condemnation of the
flesh which sons of God deign to assume.^® On the contrary,
mortification aims at the “liberation”^® of man, who often finds
himself, because of concupiscence, almost chained®® by his own
senses. Through “ corporal fasting”®^ man regains strength and
the “wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by intemperance
is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence. ”®^

8



Nevertheless, in the New Testament and in the history of
the Church—although the duty of doing penance is motivated
above all by participation in the sufferings of Christ—the neces-
sity of an asceticism which chastises the body and brings it into

subjection is affirmed with special insistence by the example of

Christ Himself.®^

Against the real and ever recurring danger of formalism and

Pharisaism the Divine Master in the New Covenant openly con-
demned—and so have the Apostles, Fathers and supreme pontiffs
—any form of penitence which is purely external. The intimate
relationship which exists in penitence between the external act,

inner conversion, prayer and works of charity is affirmed and

widely developed in the liturgical texts and authors of every

era.®^

Ill

Therefore the Church—while it reaffirms the primacy of the
religious and supernatural values of penitence [values extremely

suitable for restoring to the world today a sense of the presence

of God and of His sovereignty over man and a sense of Christ
and His salvation®®]—invites everyone to accompany the inner
conversion of the spirit with the voluntary exercise of external

acts of penitence:

A.—It insists first of all that the virtue of penitence be exer-
cised in persevering faithfulness to the duties of one’s state in

life, in the acceptance of the difficulties arising from one’s work

and from human coexistence, in a patient bearing of the trials
of earthly life and of the utter insecurity which pervades it.®®

B.—Those members of the Church who are stricken by in-
firmities, illnesses, poverty or misfortunes, or who are persecuted
for the love of justice, are invited to unite their sorrows to the

suffering of Christ in such a way that they not only satisfy more
thoroughly the precept of penitence but also obtain for the

brethren a life of grace and for themselves that beatitude which

is promised in the Gospel to those who suffer.®^

9



C.—^The precept of penitence must be satisfied in a more
perfect way by priests, who are more closely linked to Christ
through sacred character, as well as by those who in order to
follow more closely the abnegation of the Lord and to find an

easier and more efficacious path to the perfection of charity prac-

tice the evangelical counsels.®*

The Chmch, however, invites all Christians without distinc-

tion to respond to the divine precept of penitence by some volun-

tary act, apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of

everyday life.®®

To recall and urge all the faithful to the observance of the
divine precept of penitence, the Apostolic See intends to re-

organize penitential discipline with practices more suited to our

times. It is up to the bishops—gathered in their episcopal con-
ferences—to establish the norms which, in their pastoral solicitude
and prudence, and with the direct knowledge they have of local

conditions, they consider the most opportune and efficacious.

The following, however, is established:

In the first place. Holy Mother Church, although it has al-

ways observed in a special way abstinence from meat and fasting,
nevertheless wants to indicate in the traditional triad of “prayer

—fasting—charity” the fundamental means of complying with
the divine precepts of penitence. These means were the same

throughout the centuries, but in our time there are special reasons

whereby, according to the demands of various localities, it is

necessary to inculcate some special form of penitence in prefer-

ence to others.®® Therefore, where economic well-being is greater,

so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given in
order that the sons of the Church may not be involved in the
spirit of the “world,”®^ and at the same time the witness of charity

will have to be given to the brethren who suffer poverty and
hunger beyond any barrier of nation or continent. ®^ On the other
hand, in countries where the standard of living is lower it wiU

be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the mem-
bers of the Body of Christ if Christians—while they seek in every

10



way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in
prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ.

Therefore, the Church, while preserving—where it can be
more readily observed—the custom [observed for many centuries
with canonical norms] of practicing penitence also through

abstinence from meat and fasting, intends to ratify with its pre-

scriptions other forms of penitence as well, provided that it seems

opportune to episcopal conferences to replace the observance of

fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity.

In order that all the faithful, however, may be united in a

common celebration of penitence, the Apostolic See intends to

establish certain penitential days and seasons®^ chosen among

those which in the course of the liturgical year are closer to the

paschal mystery of Christ®^ or might be required by the special

needs of the ecclesial community.®®

Therefore, the following is declared and established:

1. 1. By divine law all the faithful are required to do
penance.

2. The prescriptions of ecclesiastical law regarding penitence

are totally reorganized according to the following norms:

II. 1. The time of Lent preserves its penitential character.

The days of penitence to be observed under obligation throughout

the Church are all Fridays and Ash Wednesday, that is to say
the first days “Grande Quaresima” [Great Lent], according to

the diversity of the rites. Their substantial observance binds

gravely.

2. Apart from the faculties referred to in VI and VIII re-
garding the manner of fulfilling the precept of penitence on such

days, abstinence is to be observed on every Friday which does

not fall on a holy day of obligation, while abstinence and fast is

to be observed on Ash Wednesday or, according to the various
practices of the rites, on the first day of “Grande Quaresima”

[Great Lent] and on Good Friday.

11



III. 1. The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but

not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal

fat.

2. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but

does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening,

observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—ap-
proved local custom.

IV. To the law of abstinence those are bound who have
completed their 14th year of age. To the law of fast those of
the faithful are bound who have completed their 21st year and
up until the beginning of their 60th year.

As regards those of a lesser age, pastors of souls and parents
should see to it with particular care that they are educated to a

true sense of penitence.

V. All privileges and indults, whether general or particular,

are abrogated with these norms, but nothing is changed either

regarding the vows of any physical or moral person or regarding

the constitutions and rules of any approved religious congrega-

tion or institute.

VI. 1. In accordance with the conciliar Decree Christas

Dominus regarding the pastoral office of bishops, number 38, 4,
it is the task of episcopal conferences to:

A.—Transfer for just cause the days of penitence, always
taking into account the Lenten season;

B.—Substitute abstinence and fast wholly or in part with
other forms of penitence and especially works of charity and

the exercises of piety.

2. By way of information, episcopal conferences should
communicate to the Apostolic See what they have decided on the

matter.

VII. While the faculties of individual bishops of dispensing,

according to the Decree Christas Dominas, number 8B, remain

unchanged, pastors also for just cause and in accordance with

12



the prescriptions of the Ordinary may grant to individual faithful

as well as individual families dispensation or commutation of

abstinence and fast into other pious practices. The superior of

a religious house or clerical institute enjoys the same faculties

for his subjects.

VIII. In the Eastern Rites it is the right of the Patriarch,

together with the synod or supreme authority of every rite, to-

gether with the council of hierarchs, to determine the days of

fast and abstinence in accordance with the conciliar Decree on

the Eastern Rites, number 23.

IX. 1. It is strongly desired that bishops and all pastors

of souls, in addition to the more frequent use of the sacrament

of Penance, promote with zeal, particularly during the Lenten

season, extraordinary practices of penitence aimed at expiation

and impetration.

2. It is strongly recommended to all the faithful that they

keep deeply rooted in their hearts a genuine Christian spirit of

penitence to spur them to accomplish works of charity and

penitence.

X. 1. These prescriptions which, by way of exception, are

promulgated by means of L’Osservatore Romano, become effec-
tive on Ash Wednesday of this year, that is to say on the 23rd
of the present month.

2. Where particular privileges and indults have been in force
until now—whether general or particular of any kind—“vacatio
legis” [suspension of the law] for six months from the day of

promulgation is to be regarded as granted.

We desire that these norms and prescriptions for the present
and future be established and effective notwithstanding—inasmuch
as is necessary—apostolic constitutions and regulations issued by
our predecessors and all other prescriptions, even if worthy of

particular mention and revocation.

Given at Rome, St. Peter’s, February 17, 1966, the third
year of our pontificate.

13



NOTES
iMark 1:15.
2 Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Nature of the Church (Second

Vatican Council), no. 2, and no. 8; and Decree on the Lay Apostolate,
no. 1.

3 Cf. Ephesians 5:27.
4 Cf. Constitution on the Nature of the Church, no. 8 and Decree on

Ecumenism, nos. 4, 7 and 8.
5 Cf. Constitution on the Liturgy, no. 110.
® Cf. Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, throughout,

but especially no. 40.
^ Cf. I Cor. 7:31; Romans 12:2; Decree on Ecumenism, no. 6; Dog-

matic Constitution on the Nature of the Church, nos. 8 and 9; Constitution
on the Church in the Modern World, nos. 37, 39 and 93.

8 Acts 2:38.
9 Acts 14:14; Cf. Pope Paul VPs speech to United Nations of Oct. 4,

1965: AAS 57 (1965), p. 885.
10 Ct. Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Re-

ligions, nos. 2 and 3.
11 Cf. I Samuel 7:6; I Kings 21:20 and 21:27; Jeremiah 3:3, 7 and

9; John 1:2; 3:4-5.
12 Cf. I Samuel 31:13; II Samuel 1:12 and 3:35; Baruch 1:2 and 5;

Judith 20:25, 26.
13 Cf. Judith 4:8 and 12; 8:10 and 16; Esther 3:15; 4:1 and 16;

Psalms 34:13; n Chron. 20:3.
1^ Cf . I Samuel 14:24; II Samuel 12:16 and 22; Esdras 8:21.
13 In reference cited above, need for interior penitence is clearly

illustrated: Cf. I Samuel 7:3; Jeremiah 36:6-7; Baruch 1:17-18; Judith
8:16-17; John 3:8; Zach. 8:19 and 21.

16 Cf. Isaiah 58:6-7; Tob. 12:8-9.
17 Cf. Levit. 16:31.
18 Cf. Dan. 10:12; Esdras 8:21.
19 Cf. Dan. 9:3.
20 Cf. ibid.
21 Cf. Dan. 10:12.
22 Cf. Exodus 34:28.
23 Cf. Zach. 7:5.
24 Isaiah 58:4; Joel 2:13. Cf. Isaiah 58:3-7 throughout; Cf. Amos 5

throughout; Isaiah 1:13-20; Jeremiah 14:12; Joel 2:12-18; Zach. 7:4-14;
Tobias 12:8; Psalms 50:18-19; etc.

25 Cf. Lev. 23:29.
26 Cf. Judith 8:6.
27 Cf. Dan. 10:3.
28 Cf. Luke 2:37; Eccles. 31:12, 17-19; 37:32-34.
29 Cf. Dan. 1:12 and 15; Judith 8:6 and 7; Matt. 6:17.
30 Cf. Deut. 9:9 and 18; Exodus 24: 18.
31 Cf. Isaiah 53:4-11.
32 Cf. Hebrews 10:1.
33 Mark 1:15.
34 Cf. Hebrews 1:2; Col. 1:19 and throughout; Ephesians 1:23 and

throughout.
35 Cf. St. Thomas, Summa TheoL, p. Ill, q. XV, a. 1, ad. 5.
36 Cf. Luke 5:8 and 7:36-50.
37 Cf. Romans 6:3-11; Col. 2:11-15; 5:1-4.

14



38 Cf. Phil. 3:10-11; Romans 8:17.
39 Cf. Romans 6:10; 14:8; II Cor. 5:15; Phil. 1:21.
40 Gal. 2:20; Cf. Constitution on the Nature of the Church, no. 7;

also Gal. 4:19; Phil. 3:21; II Tim. 2:11; Ephes. 2:6; Col. 2:12, etc.;

Romans 8:17.
41 Cf. Col. 1:24; Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity, no. 36;

Decree on Seminaries, no. 2.
42 Cf. Constitution on the Nature of the Church, no. 11; James 5:14

and 16; Romans 8:17; Col. 1:24; II Tim. 2:11-12; I Peter 4:13; Decree on
Priestly Life and Ministry, nos. 5 and 6.

43 Cf. St. Thomas, Quaestiones Quodlib., Ill, q. XIII, a. 28.
4 4 Cf. II Cor. 4:10.
45 For example: a) with regard to priests, cf. Decree on Priestly Life

and Ministry, no 16; b) regarding spouses, cf. Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World, no. 49; also cf. same Constitution, no. 52; cf. Pius
XII, speech to cardinals, archbishops, bishops, etc., of Nov. 2, 1950: AAS
17 (1950) pp. 786-788; cf. Justin, Dialogue with Triphon, 141: 2-3 (MG
6: 797-799).

46 Cf. John 3:7-8.
47 Cf. Gal. 5:16-17; Romans 7:23.
48 Cf. Roman Martyrology for the Vigil of Christmas; I Tim. 4:1-5;

Phil. 4:8; Origen, Against Celsus 7:36 (MG 11: 1472).
49 Cl Lenten Liturgy, throughout; and footnote no. 53 of this docu-

ment, part B.
30 Cf. Romans 7:23.
31 Cf. Roman Missal, Preface for Lent: “corporal! jejunio vitia com-

primis, mentem elevas, virtutem largiris . .
32 Cf. ibid., Collect for Thursday after first Sunday of the Passion

(Passion Sunday).
33 A) In the New Testament: 1) words and example of Christ: Matt.

17:20 (cf. Mark 9:28); Matt. 5:29-30; 11:21-24; 3:4; 11:7-11; and
4:2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:12; cf. Matt. 8:18-22; 2) witness and doctrine of
St. Paul: I Cor. 9:24-27; Gal. 5:16; II Cor. 6:5; ibid. 11:27; 3) In the
Early Church: Acts 13:3; ibid. 14:22; etc.

B) Among the Fathers: several references arranged according to order
of time: Didache 1:4 (F. X. Funk, Patres Apostolici, ed. 2, Tubingen,
1901, 1: 2); Clement of Rome, I Cor. 7:4 and 8:5 (Funk 1: 108-110);
II Clement 16:4 (Funk 2: 204); ibid. 8:1-3 (Funk 1: 192-194); Aristides,
Apologia 15:9 (Goodspeed, Goettingen, 1914, 21); Hermas, Pastor, Sim.
5:1, 3-5 (Funk 1: 530); cf. ibid. Sim. 7:2-5 (Funk 1: 554); Tertullian,
De Paenitentia 9 (ML 1: 1243-1244); Tertullian, De Jejunio 17 (ML 2:
978); Origen, Homeliae in Lev., Horn. 10:2 (MG 12: 528); St. Athanasius,
De Virginitate, 6 (MG 28: 257); ibid., 7, 8 (MG 28: 260, 261); Basil,
Homeliae, Horn. 2:5 (MG 31: 192); Ambrose, De Virginitate, 3: 2, 5
(ML 16: 221); idem, De Elia et Jejunio 2:2, 3:4, 8:22 and 10:33 (ML 14:
698, 708); Jerome, Epistola 22: 17 (ML 22: 404); idem, Epistola 130:
10 (ML 22: 1115); Augustine, Sermo 208: 2 (ML 38: 1045); idem,
Epistola 211: 8 (ML 33: 960); Cassian, Collationes 21: 13, 14, 17 (ML 49:
1187); Nilus, De Octo Spiritibus Malitiae 1 (MG 79: 1145); Diadochus
Photicensis, Capita Centum de Perfectione Spirituali 47 (MG 65: 1182);
Leo the Great, Sermo 12: 4 (ML 54: 171); idem, Sermo 86: 1 (ML 54:
437-438); Leonine Sacramentary, Preface for Autumn (ML 55: 112).

34 A) In the New Testament: Luke 18:12; Cf. Matt. 6:16-18 and
15:11; Hebrews 13:9; Romans 14:15-23.

B) Among the Fathers: cf. footnote no. 53, B.

15



Cf. Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, nos. 10
and 41.

56 Constitution on the Nature of the Church, nos. 34, 36 and 41;
cf. Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, no. 4.

Ibid., no. 41.
58 Cf. Decree on Priestly Life and Ministry, nos. 12, 13, 16 and 17;

Constitution on the Nature of the Church, no. 41; Decree on Missionary
Activity of the Church, no. 24; Constitution on the Nature of the Church,
no. 42; Decree on Renovation of the Religious Life, nos. 7, 12, 13, 14
and 25; Decree on Seminaries, nos. 2, 8 and 9.

59 Cf. Constitution on the Nature of the Church, no. 42; Constitution
on the Liturgy, nos. 9, 12 and 104.

60 Cf. ibid., no. 110.
61 Cf. Romans 12:2; Mark 2:19; Matt. 9:15; Constitution on the

Church in the Modern World, no. 37.
62 Cf. I Cor. 16:1; Romans 15:26-28; Gal. 2:10; II Cor. 8:9; Acts

24:17; Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, no. 88.
63 Cf. Constitution on the Liturgy, no. 105.
64 Cf. ibid., no. 107. Regarding the Lenten season as a preparation

for celebrating the Paschal Mystery, cf. ibid., no. 109. Concerning the
celebration of the Paschal Mystery each week, cf. ibid., no. 102 and 106;
Eusebius, De Solemnitate Paschali, 12 (MG 24: 705); idem, ibid., no. 7
(MG 24: 701); John Chrysostom, In Epistola I ad Tim. 5:3 (MG 62:
529-530).

65 Cf. vg. in Acts 13:1-4 (on fasting of the Antioch Church, when
Paul and Barnabas were sent to announce the Gospel to the Gentiles).

16