Chinoys exempt from February 16 abstinence

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-Chinese Catholics are exempted from observing abstinence on Feb. 16, the first day of the Lunar or Chinese New Year.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle recently issued Circular no. 2018-01 on the “Dispensation From the Lenten Discipline of Abstinence on Feb. 16, 2018.”

Tagle said that since the Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 16, which coincides with the Friday after Ash Wednesday, Filipino-Chinese Catholics are not required to practice abstinence on this day.  

“In view of the celebration of the Chinese New Year, its cultural and spiritual importance and the traditional practices associated with it, we therefore grant dispensation from the Lenten discipline of abstinence to our Chinese-Filipino and Chinese Catholics in the Archdiocese of Manila and their guests on Feb. 16, 2018,” Tagle said. 

In return, those who would be availing of the dispensation “must engage in some other forms of penance, acts of mercy and charity, especially to the poor and those who suffer, in keeping with the penitential spirit of the season of Lent,” he added. 

This year, Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, is on Feb. 14 and Catholics are required to observe abstinence every Friday during Lent.

With the start of the month of love, February, Tagle also reminded the faithful that love and suffering sometimes go hand-in-hand.

In his homily on the Feast Day of Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon, the archbishop said that the love of Christ serves as a best example of love with suffering.

“Have no fear…When you love you will have the strength to suffer. People who love but are afraid of suffering do not know how to love. It is love that gives us the strength even today,” Tagle said.

He cited parents’ love for children as another example. As parents, their mission is to make sacrifices for their children. “You embrace that suffering because your mission is for them.”