Fasting on Sunday's during Lent

[texan20]

What is the churches teaching on fasting on Sundays during lent. I have had friends tell me in the past 6-8 years that we don’t have to fast on Sundays during lent. I am not looking for the interpretation of a priest or anyone else. I am only interested if the church requires us to fast for the entire season of lent or if they only ask we fast for 6 days then on sundays we don’t fast then back to fasting the next 6 days. I don’t recall Jesus fasting for 6 days then coming back to town and loading up on food and drink etc… then going back out into the desert to fast for another 6 days. I feel that this is a lazy societies response to fasting.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

There are two days of required fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

If you’re talking about the idea of giving something up for Lent, that is a voluntary practice and you can choose to practice it in any way you like. If you want to give something up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but not the other days, that is your choice. If you want to give it up Monday through Saturday but not Sunday, that is your choice. If you want to give it up everyday, that is also your choice.

Frankly it seems a bit backwards to me. If you took up a different Lenten practice like adding more prayer time, would you stop praying on Sundays?

Here are some links from the Ask an Apologist forum:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=754359
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=103073

 

[vjnycguy]

What is the churches teaching on fasting on Sundays during lent. I have had friends tell me in the past 6-8 years that we don’t have to fast on Sundays during lent. I am not looking for the interpretation of a priest or anyone else. I am only interested if the church requires us to fast for the entire season of lent or if they only ask we fast for 6 days then on sundays we don’t fast then back to fasting the next 6 days. I don’t recall Jesus fasting for 6 days then coming back to town and loading up on food and drink etc… then going back out into the desert to fast for another 6 days. I feel that this is a lazy societies response to fasting.

I was just informed a while ago that on Sunday there is no fasting or avoiding meats. Although if you want to you can it is not a sin if you want to continue with what you’re doing during this Lent.

 

[babochka]

What is the churches teaching on fasting on Sundays during lent. I have had friends tell me in the past 6-8 years that we don’t have to fast on Sundays during lent. I am not looking for the interpretation of a priest or anyone else. I am only interested if the church requires us to fast for the entire season of lent or if they only ask we fast for 6 days then on sundays we don’t fast then back to fasting the next 6 days. I don’t recall Jesus fasting for 6 days then coming back to town and loading up on food and drink etc… then going back out into the desert to fast for another 6 days. I feel that this is a lazy societies response to fasting.

There is an ancient canon which prohibits fasting on Sundays. Remember that, in past times, people used to actually fast (go without any food for a specified period of time) for the entire 40 days of lent. We tend to use the word “fasting” when we actually mean “abstaining”.

In the Eastern tradition, we don’t fast on Saturdays or Sundays. This, however is in the context of the traditional fast: no meat, fish, eggs, dairy, wine or oil throughout fasting periods. On Saturdays and Sundays, fish, wine and oil are permitted.

This whole concept that Sundays are exempt from whatever you have given up for lent is new to me. When I was growing up, if you gave something up for lent, you gave it up. No candy until Easter Sunday.