St John Paul II Parish - NB

We know indeed, dearly beloved, your devotion to be so warm that in the fasting, which is the forerunner of the Lord’s Easter, many of you will have forestalled our exhortations. But because the right practice of abstinence is needful not only to the mortification of the flesh but also to the purification of the mind, we desire your observance to be so complete that, as you cut down the pleasures that belong to the lusts of the flesh, so you should banish the errors that proceed from the imaginations of the heart.

There’s an old saying: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” The same is true of human beings. If mere physical safety is your “first priority,” you may avoid certain dangers, in the short run. But there are long-term dangers, far more damaging, in that you are taking a risk of never living a fully human life.