Beer on Ash Wednesday

[Paul2274]

Is this really an appropriate response to a new Catholic who has an honest question? The OP does not sound like he has an alcohol problem or wants to go out and get wasted.

Sometimes I’m really stunned by the tendency of people on these boards to believe the worst about everyone.

Point taken… I apologize for the alcohol comment. But the OP does not say anything about being a “New” Catholic.

Paul

 

[ChristinaM]

Point taken… I apologize for the alcohol comment. But the OP does not say anything about being a “New” Catholic.

Paul

Scroll up a bit:

This is my first Ash Wednesday since entering the Church

I’m not trying to be argumentative, but really, this sounds like one of those things that Holy Mother Church leaves to our consciences. I’ve said I wouldn’t and stated my reasons for doing so. But I think our OP is free to discern differently provided he stays within the bounds of temperance.

I would really like to get a priest’s opinion on this.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Is beer permitted during the Ash Wednesday fast?

I’m supposed to go to a small party tonight. I’m not planning on getting drunk, but I was wondering whether I could nurse a beer or two during the night. This would be late at night, close to but probably before midnight.

I read online that all liquids that aren’t meal-like (i.e. milkshakes, smoothies) are acceptable while fasting, but I wasn’t sure about alcohol. I’m guessing it’s OK if the intent isn’t to get drunk, but I’m not really sure.

Thank you,
Jesse

You can drink any liquids (juice, water, beer, milk, coffee, tea, etc.) all day long, they do not break the Fast.

 

[Seeking12]

I think it would be all right if it was a small gathering, say for a friend’s birthday. But I would definitely avoid a big, wild party with lots of drinking on Ash Wednesday.

Shouldn’t that be avoided all the time?

 

[JD88]

To answer some points people have brought up…
I’m not an alcoholic, and I am confident that I don’t have any sort of drinking problem. As I stated several times, I was asking about having one or two beers tonight, which isn’t enough to get me drunk or even “buzzed.” I was invited to a special event tonight by a friend who brews beer. I’m fasting for all of Lent, so though my question was specifically about Ash Wednesday, I was keeping the rest of my fast in mind. I am new to the Church, and sometimes I have questions that “cradle Catholics” may see as simple or unimportant. There have also been a few digs at my level of “piousness” - how is that necessary or helpful?

Thanks for the thoughts and answers.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Is this really an appropriate response to a new Catholic who has an honest question? The OP does not sound like he has an alcohol problem or wants to go out and get wasted.

Sometimes I’m really stunned by the tendency of people on these boards to believe the worst about everyone.

I am sometimes stunned by people on these boards wanting to impose their own conscience on others and place extra burdens on people where none is called for. Jesus had some choice words about that. The Church says nothing about having or not having a beer on Ash Wednesday, and we do not need to go beyond what the Church says, except by our own choice, and try to make others feel bad or guilty about theirs.

But perhaps we are all a little hungry, which can predispose us to not being as charitable as we should be.

 

[RSD]

I am sometimes stunned by people on these boards wanting to impose their own conscience on others and place extra burdens on people where none is called for. Jesus had some choice words about that. The Church says nothing about having or not having a beer on Ash Wednesday, and we do not need to go beyond what the Church says, except by our own choice, and try to make others feel bad or guilty about theirs.

But perhaps we are all a little hungry, which can predispose us to not being as charitable as we should be.

QFT

Never ask advice of a good Catholic on Ash Wed.

I have a riding student who usually has a lesson on Mondays, but this week could not come on Mon. She asked to change to Wednesday. I said ok, but I told her I would be hungry. Last night I got a message that she wants to change to Fri. I don’t know if it was because she did not want to deal with me hungry. If I knew how to put in those little smiley faces I would put one here.

 

[JD88]

Thanks, RSD.

 

[Cat]

…If ya celebrated Mardi Gras properly yesterday you would not be wanting any beer at all today…

Could you explain this, please?

I thought that drunkenness was a sin, according to both the Bible and the Catechism.

Is there another way to drink to the point where you don’t want any more beer other than becoming drunk? (I don’t drink at all and never have, so I truly don’t know the answer to this question.)

 

[Cat]

I have been involved on CAF in many discussions about alcohol.

It seems to me that if, as so many of you have pointed out to me (I’m a lifelong teetotaller from a family of teetotallers) alcoholic beverages are merely a pleasant-tasting beverage, not a drug, that the Lord God gives us to make us jolly and there is absolutely no sin whatsoever in having a drink of alcohol, and over in Europe EVERYONE drinks alcohol at every meal even the children–then there shouldn’t be any doubt or question as to whether it’s appropriate on Ash Wednesday to have a beer. Water, milk, coffee, tea, soda, and alcoholic beverages are fine on Ash Wednesday. Right?

I really don’t understand why there’s even a question, unless someone has decided that giving up alcohol for Lent will be their personal sacrifice. That’s an individual choice, though, and between that person and God. For everyone else, if it’s really not a sin to drink alcohol, then why question its consumption on Ash Wednesday or any day.

 

[Paul2274]

Scroll up a bit:

I’m not trying to be argumentative, but really, this sounds like one of those things that Holy Mother Church leaves to our consciences. I’ve said I wouldn’t and stated my reasons for doing so. But I think our OP is free to discern differently provided he stays within the bounds of temperance.

I would really like to get a priest’s opinion on this.

I stand corrected. I’ll go stand in the corner now.

Paul

 

[JD88]

No problem, Paul.

 

[Among_Strangers]

**You can drink **any liquids (juice, water, beer, milk, coffee, tea, etc.) all day long, they do not break the Fast.

WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO I’m gonna pop my first pop-top at 10 am

 

[SwizzleStick]

I guess the question I have is about the appropriateness of “partying” on Ash Wednesday in the first place.

~Liza

That was my first question.

 

[SwizzleStick]

I personally would abstain from the beer.

Me too.

 

[pnewton]

The answer is that yes, you may have a beer.

If someone is going to say that is wrong, then show from Church teaching where it is so. Otherwise, what is not prohibited as a fast and abstinence, is permitted and all the judgmentalism not withstanding, it is best to give the OP the benefit of the doubt and do as the Church does, let everyone decide for themselves.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Depends how much beer you’ll have. I never heard it prohibited in the Roman Catholic Church. But as a period of fasting, don’t you think its one of the things you’d give up?

 

[laszlo]

The principle is: potum non frangit jejunium = drink does not breaks the fast.

The reason goes back to time when water was not drinkable, so people drank wine or beer.

Partying does not break the letters of the fast, but breaks the spirit of that.

 

[roveau]

I confess…

On the 8th I went for my daily run and decided to make it a time to decide what to do for Lent and how I would do it. I had it all worked out and was looking forward to Mass in the morning to recieve my ashen cross and Holy Communion.

It was an unusual but loving Mass where the priest introduced the new liturgy as a ‘penitential rite’. Lots of mistakes were made by priest and people. I received communion and received the ash on my forehead.

When back at home I was so hungry and I had a bowl of museli for breakfast and that’s it till about 1 o’clock when I met up with three friends to have lunch. It had been planned for three weeks.

But guess what? The idea that it was a fast day totally escaped my mind all day despite my planning for Lent days beforehand.

The lunch was unintentionally very modest, three prawns, three tiny pieces of salmon and two thin chicken sausages, two small pieces of French bread, one and one quarter glass of white wine, and, alas, a small bowl of very rich dessert.

For the rest of the day nothing else to eat but a peanut butter sandwich and a full dinner.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I have been trying to make the best of my tragic Ash Wednesday in retrospect. The ash on my forehead did lead to me to witness my faith to my friends (who later asked questions about my faith in detail). The other thing is that I will never, ever make the same mistake again.

So it goes to show that even with the best intentions one can fall.

 

[centurionguard]

You can drink any liquids (juice, water, beer, milk, coffee, tea, etc.) all day long, they do not break the Fast.

You could drink beer all day long on Ash Wednesday, but you’d also be drunk.

So drinking beer in moderation would be in order otherwise being in a drunken stupor the sincere intention of the Fast would be lost and one would also sin for getting drunk.