Do we fast on Sundays?

[Monica4316]

Hi

I don’t know where to find out about this… let’s say you gave up chocolate for Lent. Are Sundays included in this? I’m getting mixed info…

thanks!

 

[juliamajor]

Hi it isa

I don’t know where to find out about this… let’s say you gave up chocolate for Lent. Are Sundays included in this? I’m getting mixed info…

thanks!

No fasting on Sunday.Sunday is a day of celebration. It’s a feast day not a fast day.From the earliest church Sunday was a day of rejoicing-fasting is inappropriate to that one day out of the week.

Observing the Lord’s Day
Ignatius has told us that we ought to “observe” the Lord’s day, and Barnabas has told us that the early Christians “keep” that day. In what way did they do this?

The key is in Barnabas’ comment that they kept the eighth day “with joyfulness.”

The first day was the day upon which Christ rose. Therefore it was to be celebrated. Tertullian tells us that it was considered unlawful to fast or kneel on the Lord’s Day. Clement adds that a person keeps the Lord’s day when he “abandons an evil disposition.”

 

[baltobetsy]

You’re getting mixed info because there is no official rule. Your lenten sacrifices are completely voluntary and may be done on any day(s) that you wish.

There are two schools of thought: (1) Every Sunday is a little Easter, and no sacrifices are appropriate. (2) The entire season of Lent is penitential, so one should continue one’s sacrifices on Sundays.

Pick the one that resonates with you.

Betsy

 

[AMDGtoo]

I too was taught that there was no fasting on Sundays in Lent. Sundays were a time of celebration. So imagine my surprise when my priest told the congregation that Sundays were included in the fast and those who didn’t do so were “cheating”. I asked him about it after Mass and he said that not counting Sundays in Lent as part of the fast, was the “old” way. He also said something about the forty days of Lenten fast does not include the Tridium. Then he said that either way was okay.

Frankly, this is confusing to me. I think I’ll hold to what I was always taught–that Sunday is a day of celebration because that’s the day Jesus rose from the dead and so it’s not included in the Lenten fast.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Instead of giving something up for Lent, I decided to add something: a daily spiritual reading. I feel it’s inappropriate for me to skip Sundays. Although it takes a lot of discipline for me to do the readings everyday, to skip Sunday seems to say: “These readings are so onerous that it’s great to go a day without having to do them.” That just doesn’t feel right to me.

 

[Big_Ro]

I’m a cradle Catholic and for most of my life believed that there were no “breaks” or “exceptions” during Lent. Then a couple of years ago a family member told me that Sundays do not count. they basically amde the whole day of celebration argument. This really perplexed me. I did a little research and I think BaltoBetsy is right. I’m amazed but unfortunately not surprised by the post concerning the Priest. I attended a parish for a while where the priest reguarly got things wrong. I was very upsetting and I’m glad to not be part of that parish anymore. While there are many opinions. the officical position of the Church, as I understand it, is in line with Besty’s explanation. I would be happy to entertain an alternate view so long as it is backed up with offcicial documentation not just someone’s opinion or what their abuelita told them. No offense meant to the abuelitas out there.

 

[Bookcat]

up to you

 

[Joe_5859]

You’re getting mixed info because there is no official rule. Your lenten sacrifices are completely voluntary and may be done on any day(s) that you wish.

There are two schools of thought: (1) Every Sunday is a little Easter, and no sacrifices are appropriate. (2) The entire season of Lent is penitential, so one should continue one’s sacrifices on Sundays.

Pick the one that resonates with you.

Betsy

I concur!

For more info, CAF apologist Jimmy Akin has blogged about these issues quite a bit:

jimmyakin.org/2006/03/annual_lent_fig.html

 

[Monica4316]

Thanks everyone

 

[BVM_1221]

Hi

I don’t know where to find out about this… let’s say you gave up chocolate for Lent. Are Sundays included in this? I’m getting mixed info…

thanks!

My TAN BOOKS Daily Planner makes it quite clear that Sundays in Lent are NEVER days of fasting and/or abstinance. This also applies to any Solemnaties that fall into the Lenten season. This is also the case with the Confraternity of Penitents.

 

[Joe_5859]

I think it bears considering that penance and joy are not mutually exclusive.

Certainly Sundays are “little Easters”. But the Church also mandates certain liturgical “fasting” (for lack of a better word) on Sundays during Lent: we don’t sing the “Gloria”, we don’t sing “Alleluia”, the sanctuary and altar are only minimally decorated, etc.

So we are celebrating the Resurrection, but in a more subdued and penitential way.

If the Church does this through the liturgy, there’s no reason we can’t do similarly in our own practices of personal piety.

 

[lizaanne]

We will be doing a combo approach.

Some things we are sacrificing for Lent will stay in place - like going on Facebook or having a glass of wine with dinner, and eating out for dinner. But we have decided that we will celebrate Sunday by having breakfast together after Mass, and we will have coffee and tea which we are giving up for Lent during the week.

~Liza