Fasting.

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Nelka

New member
Hello,

Is it better to fast on a wednesday or a friday? I don’t think I can do both.

Should I take my medication still?

Thanks.
 
Nelka said:
Hello,

Is it better to fast on a wednesday or a friday? I don’t think I can do both.

Should I take my medication still?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
the day is irrelevant, if you have a medical issue ask your doctor
 
Taking necessary medication doesn’t count as breaking a fast. In fact if fasting can be dangerous to your health in any way the church encourages you not to participate in it, even during lent.
 
If you are choosing between Friday and Wednesday choose Friday. Medication does not count as food and does not break the fast so you are fine to keep taking it as long as there is no medical reason not to. You don’t have to fast on every Wednesday and Friday of the year you only have to fast two days of the year which are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is good to fast more than this if you are able.

Canon 1250 – All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church.

Canon 1251 – Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1252 – All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.
 
You should note that if your medication requires you to have a food intake higher than would be expected if you fasted and/or you are required to take the medication with a meal, you automatically get a dispensation from the requirement to fast - even on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Your medical needs always come first.

That doesn’t mean you can’t substitute the fasting with something else: works of mercy and charity, for example, if you want to make a special effort.

Even if your medication isn’t related to food intake, taking the medication itself does not count towards fasting whatsoever. It’s not food!
 
Nelka said:
Hello,

Is it better to fast on a wednesday or a friday? I don’t think I can do both.

Should I take my medication still?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Medication is OK during a fast.

Friday is preferable to Wednesday.

Friday is the most traditional day of fasting. Wednesday is traditional too – but Friday is the day of Our Lord’s Passion. It is good to remember on Fridays particularly the 12 o’clock hour and the 3 o’clock hour because of this.
 
Shin said:
Medication is OK during a fast.

Friday is preferable to Wednesday.

Friday is the most traditional day of fasting. Wednesday is traditional too – but Friday is the day of Our Lord’s Passion. It is good to remember on Fridays particularly the 12 o’clock hour and the 3 o’clock hour because of this.
Click to expand...
I didn’t know Wednesday was traditional (except for Ash Wednesday). Can you explain more about that? I just added a second day for myself and I picked Tuesday (because of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary), but maybe I should rethink that.
 
Whatever you do, make sure you OK your planned fasting with your doctor. Some medications need to be taken with food, for example, so you want to make sure you’re not doing anything that will harm your health.

You can ‘fast’ in other ways. Some of them may even be more meaningful to you than fasting from food. I have real problems with watching too much tv, so I find a great benefit from fasting from THAT for a day or two.
 
sungirl said:
I didn’t know Wednesday was traditional (except for Ash Wednesday). Can you explain more about that? I just added a second day for myself and I picked Tuesday (because of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary), but maybe I should rethink that.
Click to expand...
The Three days of the week particularly suitable for fasting are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

These are the days when the traditional fasts are carried out on Ember days (quattuor anni tempora ) which occur four times a year,
 
sungirl said:
I didn’t know Wednesday was traditional (except for Ash Wednesday). Can you explain more about that? I just added a second day for myself and I picked Tuesday (because of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary), but maybe I should rethink that.
Click to expand...
If it helps you to pray that Rosary – FWIF I think do not be too concerned about changes. I think the idea of fasting on the day one prays the Sorrowful Mysteries quite a good devout thought.

What’s most important is to gain the devotion, to do it from the heart, and to keep it.

I don’t know much about the reasons for Wednesday myself, I just recall Ash Wednesday.

The Ember Days are a beautiful tradition.
 
I will have to tell my wife about fasting. Will I lose the grace?

I don’t want to tell her to look good or anything but I don’t want her to cook a meal for me for when I return home from work.

Also, what does ‘fwif’ mean? The post above wrote it.

Thanks.
 
Nelka said:
I will have to tell my wife about fasting. Will I lose the grace?

I don’t want to tell her to look good or anything but I don’t want her to cook a meal for me for when I return home from work.

Also, what does ‘fwif’ mean? The post above wrote it.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
For what it’s worth. FWIW

Necessities shouldn’t cause problems. It should be fine.
 
Thanks for the additional info and for the helpful feedback. I did know about the Ember Days, but I hadn’t extrapolated from that concept to general fasting. The coordination of the fasting and the Rosary is helping me with both, so I think I’ll stick with that at least until the next Ember Days (coming up soon!)
 
Also, I really like the info on the health issues and fasting from other things (I didn’t mean to hijack the thread away from that good advice). 🙂
 
Hi, is fasting a 6 hour, or a 24 hour?Unsure.

Does the fast also mean no fluids of any kind throughout that time?
As a job may be manual, should one take that in consideration?
R
 
Riccardo said:
Hi, is fasting a 6 hour, or a 24 hour?Unsure.

Does the fast also mean no fluids of any kind throughout that time?
As a job may be manual, should one take that in consideration?
R
Click to expand...
If it is a 24 hour fast, fluids are permitted as often as needed.

Two small vegetarian meals and a small snack are also permitted. A person doing manual labour should certainly partake of these, as well as drinking fruit and vegetable juices throughout the day, to keep up his strength.

Fasting is only required on two days of the year - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. If possible, one should arrange one’s schedule to either have these days off, or to have a reduced work load on these days. It is also possible to get a dispensation from the fast, if you explain the circumstances to the priest ahead of time. 🙂

Pregnant women and people who are ill are dispensed automatically from the fast.
 
While Church discipline only requires a little fasting to properly observe holy days, we are as Christians for moral reasons required to do much more fasting than that.

One can fast for any length of time, depending on the reasons…

If you don’t fast, unless you’re prevented from fasting because of health (and there are always ways to mortify your eating barring extreme invalids)… you’re surely in spiritual trouble because of the lack of it.

One has to learn the habit, if you make it a habit, then you’ll be doing well. Normally it takes a few weeks of regularly doing anything to create any kind of habit.
 
Thanks.
I’m aware that Monks seem to fast on Weds and fridays of each week, either to noon or 3pm, is that something one should look at?
R
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top