Fasting and Abstinence Today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DatGangstaStuff
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DatGangstaStuff

Guest
I’ve heard that the Vigil of the Immaculate Conception is to be a day of fasting and abstinence- is this so? If so, have I ruined it by eating part of a cracker (by complete accident) after midnight? Can I eat my one small meal today that I am entitled to in a fast, or have I ruined that?

Also- is it best to fast three hours before Mass or seek to do the whole midnight before Mass thing? Should this even apply if you go to Mass at a weird time (like 10 P.M.?)?

Thanks
 
Current practice of fast and abstinence is regulated by Canons 1250-1253. They specify that all Fridays throughout the year, and the time of Lent are penitential times throughout the entire Church. All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence on all Fridays unless they are solemnities. All adults are bound by law to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday until the beginning of their sixtieth year.

The current regulations concerning Lenten fasting and abstinence for Catholics in the United States generally are as follows:

Abstinence from all meat is to be observed by all Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent.
Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59.

So the answer to your question is, no, today is not a day of fast and abstinence. It was prior to the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Paenitemini, which changed the regulations to their current form.
 
Yeah… But I like being old school. Just answer me this: If I had a cracker after midnight, (pretend this is a day of fasting- I like to fast cuz its good for me spiritually) can I still have like a bagel or something for lunch?
 
Oops, forgot to answer the second part of your question:

Concerning the Eucharistic fast, current regulations require a Eucharistic fast of one hour. (In the past it was from midnight, then three hours, now one) That said, if you personally feel compelled to prayerfully fast for a period longer than one hour in order to prepare yourself for the Eucharist, there is no reason why you cannot do so.
 
When a Solemnity falls on a Friday we are automatically discpenced from our Friday penance. So we are not required to do any forms of penance tomorrow, unless you would like to. So if March 19th or March 25th falls on a Friday and its not Holy Week, we are not required to abstain from meat.
 
Okay, pretending this were a fast day:

To fast means to eat only one full meal during the day. Current Roman Catholic law allows up to two small meals or snacks, known as “collations”, to be taken as well. Taken together these two smaller meals cannot be greater than a full meal. Fasting only relates to solid food, not to drink, so any amount of water or other beverages may be consumed. Liquified food is contrary to the spirit, but not the letter of the regulations on fasting.

So if you ate a cracker, you could still have a bagel, because taken together, these two collations are still less than one normal meal.

Abstinence from meat requires avoiding flesh meat and poultry for the entire day. (Meaning fish is allowed)
 
this harks back to the “olden days” when I was a kid, and vigils of great feasts were days of fast and abstinence. This included Christmas, which is why many families still have a custom of eating fish chowders or other non-meat meals on Christmas eve. good news is you could eat right up until you left for Midnight Mass, because you would be receiving communion shortly after midnight, and fasting for communion at that time was from Midnight.
In my dad’s family Christmas eve meal was clam chowder, corn fritters, and apple cobbler.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top