Catholic Question - How do you decide what to fast for Lent?

[Xavierlives]

Over the past 8 years I have practiced Lent (as best as I can for a protestant). I’ve never really asked a Catholic how they decide what to give up for Lent or really what is involved in the Catholic practice. Would anyone care to share about the practice?

Also I don’t know if it is a private thing, but could you also share what you are giving up?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

You ask about fasting, but there are two other components that can be included in your Lenten plans: prayer and almsgiving. So it’s not necessarily a matter of what you give up but what you do overall.

Probably one of my most successful Lenten plans was the year I decided to attend Mass on Fridays. It worked in the sense that I continued it after Lent was over, and started adding more days until I became a daily Mass goer.

Overall I make my own plans and then talk with my spiritual director. After our conversations about what I’m hoping to achieve during Lent and how best to do that, I often end up changing my original plans.

 

[crazzeto]

Over the past 8 years I have practiced Lent (as best as I can for a protestant). I’ve never really asked a Catholic how they decide what to give up for Lent or really what is involved in the Catholic practice. Would anyone care to share about the practice?

Also I don’t know if it is a private thing, but could you also share what you are giving up?

You really don’t necessarly have to Give something up… You could instead decide to start doing something, make a positive life change. I’ve made changes regarding to my health and fitness in the past. This year I’m not sure what I’m going to do, I’ve already made a lot of changes regarding faith. But no doubt I have more to make. I’d say start by examining where your life is now, and see what neeeds the most adjustment. If you really can’t think of anything, then maybe start looking for things you can fast from.

 

[rskempf]

I try to simply eat less during lent. It helps keep my weight down and the fasting is gratifying when combined with prayer and almsgiving. I focus mainly on fasting during lent however. Here is my routine.

I eat oatmeal with walnuts for breakfast. For lunch I have a healthy granola bar and a V8-juice followed by some exercise. In the evening I eat a normal meal but avoid meat as much as possible. On Sunday, I eat a little more to celebrate and even some eggs or pancakes for breakfast.

Regarding prayer, I attend daily mass and recite the rosary. On Friday I complete the Stations of The Cross.,On Saturday I go to confession and receive the Sacrament of Penance.

For almsgiving, I try to find a cause that is most local and worthy. Subsidiarity is the key on this front. I look for causes that support the whole family, not just one gender or age group.

I hope this helps.

 

[Xavierlives]

Hmm… see and all this time (in my protestant ways) I’ve found it a time of sacrifice and renewal of sorts. I’ve really focused on finding something in my life that with its removal, I would be reminded of Christ’s sacrifices and then able to enter into prayer. One year was meat (so three times a day, not only was I figuring out how to eat, but then I was able to reflect and pray). It has been a wonderful experience almost every single year (although now it seems my practice is completely unlike the Catholic one).

 

[puzzleannie]

Faith without works is dead, and works without faith is vain. These are some of the “works” James is speaking of (in contrast with “works of the [old] Law” contested by Paul).

Fasting, prayer and almsgiving go together, they are done in, with and through Christ as are all our good works, most especially in union with his suffering, upon which we meditate most deeply during Lent. They are also done in acknowledgement of and just penance for our sins, upon which we also concentrate on Lent, in the spirit of purification from the tendency to sin.

Fasting and abstinence entail eating less of normal food, or refraining from eating particular foods, usually meat. This is not done to the point of a threat to our health, but in the spirit of sacrifice and in union with Christs’ 40 days in the desert. Fasting can also be extended to giving up other habits of pleasure, such as TV, movies, parties and the like. Some people also use it as motivation to give up harmful habits like smoking or gossip, in hopes this will help them make this change permanent by giving it a spiritual component.

Almsgiving means not only gifts of money and material possessions, but also service to the Church and God’s poor. This is done in the spirit of the beatitudes cultivating especially poverty of heart and solidarity with the poor.

Prayer is of course something we are supposed to do always, but in Lent we pray closely in contrition for our sins, in thanksgiving for the very things from which we fast, for the needs of the poor and others, and most especially in union with the Christ in the Gospels, concentrating on his Passion and Death.

 

[Joe_5859]

As SMD pointed out, there are three components: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

There is no universal specific practice that is mandatory for all Catholics beyond the fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and the abstinence from meat on those two days and every Friday during Lent.

The rest is up to each Catholic to discern how best to keep to the penitential nature of the season of Lent (as well as every Friday, even those Fridays outside of Lent). This makes sense because, what might be a sacrifice for one person might be no big deal for the next person (for example, I give up coffee every Lent, which is easy, because I never drink coffee anyway ).

In the fasting department, I usually tend to give up candy and/or all snacking in between meals. That is the biggest culinary sacrifice I can make for myself. You can also fast from non-food things. I’ve given up listening to music before. Giving up TV would be another one. Giving up the internet (or even just giving up certain time-sucking websites like Facebook or even CAF) would be another option.

Lent is not about simply checking boxes and adding to our list. The most important thing to consider is what things in our life are keeping us from God and to try to detach ourselves from those things. Detachment from earthly things frees us up to become attached to the One who matters most.

 

[Teneas]

I don’t eat meat on Fridays. Which was a HUGE deal at the time due to the fact I didn’t like fish. I do now btw though.

But, I don’t tend to give up anything other than myself. What I mean is, I start something new that requires my time and energy.

Perhaps it’s saying the rosary daily, or an extra prayer.

Could be going to mass once a week, besides Sundays, or days of obligation.

This year, I decided I would get back into apologetics. Hence, I am here. I also decided to get off my butt again, and start teaching in the Church again. My wife and I have found a new parish that we love, and I have offered whatever of myself to them.

The phone calls have already started as to what they need from me…

So…I give more of myself. For most of humanity, that is the biggest gift ever, not to mention sacrifice.

 

[Xavierlives]

As SMD pointed out, there are three components: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

There is no universal specific practice that is mandatory for all Catholics beyond the fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and the abstinence from meat on those two days and every Friday during Lent.

The rest is up to each Catholic to discern how best to keep to the penitential nature of the season of Lent (as well as every Friday, even those Fridays outside of Lent). This makes sense because, what might be a sacrifice for one person might be no big deal for the next person (for example, I give up coffee every Lent, which is easy, because I never drink coffee anyway ).

Well then, under that reasoning, this year I am going to give up grand theft auto.

Shouldn’t it be something that is actually applicable to life?

In the fasting department, I usually tend to give up candy and/or all snacking in between meals. That is the biggest culinary sacrifice I can make for myself. You can also fast from non-food things. I’ve given up listening to music before. Giving up TV would be another one. Giving up the internet (or even just giving up certain time-sucking websites like Facebook or even CAF) would be another option.

Well I am thinking about giving up something somewhat hard for me, the news. Thats to and from work, at home, etc. I’m a pretty big news junky (which I also include the news comedies in my “news intake”).

Lent is not about simply checking boxes and adding to our list. The most important thing to consider is what things in our life are keeping us from God and to try to detach ourselves from those things. Detachment from earthly things frees us up to become attached to the One who matters most.

Oh I never thought that or assumed that. I think it is a very personal time but over the years I have been able to share my faith because of Lent. (People sometimes ask questions about not eating meat).

 

[Teneas]

Well then, under that reasoning, this year I am going to give up grand theft auto.

.

While I am a fellow GTA fan, I would say that giving it up would actually serve you well in life. It’s not exactly the most holy of games. Unless you count how many holes you can put into someone else.

 

[revert_jen]

Mostly I decide what to do for Lent by praying about it beforehand.

To me, it is important that the primary goal of whatever I give up is sacrifice. So for example, it may be good for my health to give up all eating after 8pm. In the context of a diet, it wouldn’t matter if I had sugar-free mints or sugar-free jello or diet soda or something. But in the context of sacrifice, it would lessen the sacrifice if I made it easier on myself by low-cal snacks. So if I give up eating after 8pm (a bit of a hardship as I almost never go to bed before midnight), then that means NOTHING passes my lips except water from 8pm until whenever I get up in the morning. Hunger reminds me to pray, and that Jesus didn’t eat from the arrest through the crucifixion.

Or when I gave up meat, I also gave up “fake meat” like the textured-vegetable-protein “chicken” nuggets (which are pretty good, BTW), and also things that have unexpected meat products in them, like the broccoli-cheese soup made with chicken broth. I reminded myself to pray when I was scrutinizing the labels of unknown soups.

I always say a daily rosary in Lent. You’d think that it would by now have caught on to the rest of the year, but not yet. Also there are other intentions that I include in my daily prayers in Lent which I pray about less often (e.g. weekly) outside Lent.

In our diocese (at least) there is a collection for the Holy Land on Good Friday. I usually save up money throughout Lent and put it in this collection.

There are some other things I do as well. Some years it’s more than others. One year, I allowed myself $20 a week for food (I live alone) including all eating out, etc. That helped with the whole “solidarity with the poor” thing (and incidentally reminded me of some periods in my own past!). But as adults it should be a re-ordering of your life (to some extent anyway), not just the “giving up chocolate” that we all did at some point when we were children.

One thing about the Catholic practice is that Sundays during Lent are NOT part of Lent. Sundays throughout the year (even in Lent) are days on which we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection. And if you count it out, it is 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday only if you do not count the Sundays in between. So although you should of course still engage in the extra prayer parts of your Lenten practice, it is entirely up to you if you choose to do the fasting part on Sundays. In some ways, not performing the fasting on Sundays makes the rest of the week harder (which is partly the point!), so sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t, continue the fasting on Sundays.

Best wishes,
–Jen

 

[Xavierlives]

While I am a fellow GTA fan, I would say that giving it up would actually serve you well in life. It’s not exactly the most holy of games. Unless you count how many holes you can put into someone else.

Err… I meant the crime not the game. I’ve never played the game.

It was stated that coffee was given up and it was easy since he didn’t drink coffee.

I don’t commit the crime of grand theft auto, so I’ll just give that up, it should be easy.

In hindsight, maybe we are actually making the same point. I can’t tell if his “coffee-fast” is in reference to himself or a generalization.

 

[puzzleannie]

The traditional practice of fast and abstinence during Lent, at least for last few hundred years (it used to be stricter, and still is in the Eastern Churches) is to eat one meal a day, although one or two smaller meals if needed to keep us strength could be added. Abstinence meant refraining from meat of warm blooded animals (this interpretation could be rather loose depending on where you lived). These applied every day of Lent except Sundays. Now in most dioceses of the US the fast called is only for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence from meat is obligated only on those days and the other Fridays of Lent (Friday is always a penitential day to commemorate Christ’s passion and death).

Many of us older Catholics adhere to the pattern we learned in our youth. Many still abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year, as formerly was required.

Fasting never obligated anyone who could not do it because of health, and still does not.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Err… I meant the crime not the game. I’ve never played the game.

It was stated that coffee was given up and it was easy since he didn’t drink coffee.

I don’t commit the crime of grand theft auto, so I’ll just give that up, it should be easy.

In hindsight, maybe we are actually making the same point. I can’t tell if his “coffee-fast” is in reference to himself or a generalization.

When I was a kid we talked about giving up liver or spinach for Lent. And that reflected a kid’s understanding.

Someone above mentioned that Lent is a time for reflecting more on Jesus’ sacrifice. I think that’s a good aim to have. With that goal in mind you can think about what would help you do that.

My own view is that I want Lent to be a time when I deepen my relationship with God. With that as my aim I think about what kinds of things will help me do that NOW (as opposed to thinking about what I did last year or the year before and how well it worked).

 

[Xavierlives]

Mostly I decide what to do for Lent by praying about it beforehand.

To me, it is important that the primary goal of whatever I give up is sacrifice. So for example, it may be good for my health to give up all eating after 8pm. In the context of a diet, it wouldn’t matter if I had sugar-free mints or sugar-free jello or diet soda or something. But in the context of sacrifice, it would lessen the sacrifice if I made it easier on myself by low-cal snacks. So if I give up eating after 8pm (a bit of a hardship as I almost never go to bed before midnight), then that means NOTHING passes my lips except water from 8pm until whenever I get up in the morning. Hunger reminds me to pray, and that Jesus didn’t eat from the arrest through the crucifixion.

Or when I gave up meat, I also gave up “fake meat” like the textured-vegetable-protein “chicken” nuggets (which are pretty good, BTW), and also things that have unexpected meat products in them, like the broccoli-cheese soup made with chicken broth. I reminded myself to pray when I was scrutinizing the labels of unknown soups.

Yeah, my meat-fast was basically “the entree: Meat” I ate eggs and animal products like milk. Most of the meat broth soups had meat in them so I gave them up too, but if there was a Vegetable Soup without meat but with beef stock, I am sure it slipped by.

I always say a daily rosary in Lent. You’d think that it would by now have caught on to the rest of the year, but not yet. Also there are other intentions that I include in my daily prayers in Lent which I pray about less often (e.g. weekly) outside Lent.

Since I am protestant, I know nothing of the “rosary prayer” but always seem to do a lot more praying during Lent.

In our diocese (at least) there is a collection for the Holy Land on Good Friday. I usually save up money throughout Lent and put it in this collection.

There are some other things I do as well. Some years it’s more than others. One year, I allowed myself $20 a week for food (I live alone) including all eating out, etc. That helped with the whole “solidarity with the poor” thing (and incidentally reminded me of some periods in my own past!). But as adults it should be a re-ordering of your life (to some extent anyway), not just the “giving up chocolate” that we all did at some point when we were children.

I like the “$20 a week idea,” but honestly, I think I personally probably live pretty close to that now. My family is another story. Maybe I can sell the idea to them.

One thing about the Catholic practice is that Sundays during Lent are NOT part of Lent. Sundays throughout the year (even in Lent) are days on which we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection. And if you count it out, it is 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday only if you do not count the Sundays in between. So although you should of course still engage in the extra prayer parts of your Lenten practice, it is entirely up to you if you choose to do the fasting part on Sundays. In some ways, not performing the fasting on Sundays makes the rest of the week harder (which is partly the point!), so sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t, continue the fasting on Sundays.

Best wishes,
–Jen

It is funny that you mention the Sunday exclusion, because I’ve always timed my personal protestant Lent around the Catholic one (starting Ash Wednesday). The first year I really didn’t pay attention to the “timing,” I was just happy to be doing it. The meat-fasting year I suddenly said to myself, "Whoa, cowboy! This is the longest 40 days! Then I went back and counted and realize… err… it isn’t 40 days. I sat perplexed as to the timing and I don’t think I asked anyone until the next year. Personally, I go Ash Wednesday until Easter, no breaks. I’ll tell you what, that Sunday becomes a celebration! That is one of the reasons I was trying to move away from something consumed. I don’t want it to be… WOO-HOO! Jesus has risen, pass the roast beef. I not saying that was my exact feelings, but when we went out to eat that Sunday, I remember ordering a steak.

 

[Xavierlives]

My own view is that I want Lent to be a time when I deepen my relationship with God. With that as my aim I think about what kinds of things will help me do that NOW (as opposed to thinking about what I did last year or the year before and how well it worked).

Thank you. I will try to take that especially to heart this season.

 

[Joe_5859]

Err… I meant the crime not the game. I’ve never played the game.

It was stated that coffee was given up and it was easy since he didn’t drink coffee.

I don’t commit the crime of grand theft auto, so I’ll just give that up, it should be easy.

In hindsight, maybe we are actually making the same point. I can’t tell if his “coffee-fast” is in reference to himself or a generalization.

Sorry, the “coffee-fast” was my attempt at humor. I was just trying to illustrate the point that what is a great personal sacrifice for one person might be no big deal for the next person. And thus we should make efforts to give up things that are really a sacrifice for us. It seems to me that you are already striving to do this, so my comments were meant to be more general rather than advice directed specifically to you.

 

[Xavierlives]

Sorry, the “coffee-fast” was my attempt at humor. I was just trying to illustrate the point that what is a great personal sacrifice for one person might be no big deal for the next person. And thus we should make efforts to give up things that are really a sacrifice for us. It seems to me that you are already striving to do this, so my comments were meant to be more general rather than advice directed specifically to you.

Yeah, upon reflection, I guessed it was the case. I have always treated it as a need for sacrifice. If I don’t notice it than it wasn’t the right choice.

Things that I would notice would be things like a computer or a TV. I’ve given up TV before, but was somewhat disappointed with the outcome because all I really did was read more (or use the computer). I really think the no news-fast is going to be the most interesting because what is more worldy than us keeping up with the world?