Fasting

[Sarahforgiven]

I have searched this site & am also looking in the CCC for the “standard” guidance on how to fast.
It sound like if one is fasting, you are to have one full meal a day & then 2 snacks (collations) that together would not be equal in size to a full meal. Plus you are only to have water.
Since portion sizes are so large in the US, one could go pretty comfortably on one meal a day.
Are there any guides as to the “size” of a full meal?

Also, during Lent do we fast every Wed & Friday?
Thanks,
Sarah

 

[Spirithound]

I have searched this site & am also looking in the CCC for the “standard” guidance on how to fast.
It sound like if one is fasting, you are to have one full meal a day & then 2 snacks (collations) that together would not be equal in size to a full meal. Plus you are only to have water.
Since portion sizes are so large in the US, one could go pretty comfortably on one meal a day.
Are there any guides as to the “size” of a full meal?

Also, during Lent do we fast every Wed & Friday?
Thanks,
Sarah

We fast only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
You have the correct definition of fasting. I would say the full meal would be something that would be a comfortable lunch for you, but not overly large. I think the Church is intentionally vague on this point.

 

[Lancer]

For your information.

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church

2043 The** fourth precept** ("You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church") ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and** help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.85 **

1434 The** interior penance of the Christian** can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving,31 which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Alongside the radical purification brought about by Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: effort at reconciliation with one’s neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one’s neighbor, the intercession of the saints, and the practice of charity "which covers a multitude of sins."32

1. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
   THE 2011 LENTEN SEASON

usccb.org/lent/index.shtml (Home page…well done…check out subsequent pages from this home page…very informative)

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
usccb.org/lent/fast.shtml (How We Live–Fasting…page)
Let us offer a reminder on the** Church’s fasting and abstinence teachings**:

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of universal fast and abstinence. Fasting is obligatory for all who have completed their 18th year and have not yet reached their 60th year. Fasting allows a person to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may be taken, not to equal one full meal. Abstinence (from meat) is obligatory for all who have reached their 14th year.
If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the “paschal fast” to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.

Fridays in Lent are obligatory days of complete abstinence (from meat) for all who have completed their 14th year.

We encourage you to make use of the site. Through our works of prayer, fasting, and abstinence, let us heed the prophet Joel’s exhortation to return to God with our whole heart (2:12).

1. Holy Father’s Lenten Message (opening paragraph…recommend reading the whole message…it is simply beautiful and a great help to get the best focus on Lent)http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/b...nts/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101104_lent-2011_en.html

***MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS ***
BENEDICT XVI

FOR LENT 2011
“You were buried with him in baptism,

***in which you were also raised with him.” ***(cf. Col 2: 12)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
**The Lenten period, which leads us to the celebration of Holy Easter, is for the Church a most valuable and important liturgical time, in view of which I am pleased to offer a specific word in order that it may be lived with due diligence. As she awaits the definitive encounter with her Spouse in the eternal Easter, the Church community, assiduous in prayer and charitable works, intensifies her journey in purifying the spirit, so as to draw more abundantly from the Mystery of Redemption the new life in Christ the Lord (cf. Preface I of Lent). **

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101104_lent-2011_en.html

Hope this is helpful.

Pax Christi

 

[Maureen1125]

Fasting is required for adults in good health on Ash Wednesday - the day after tomorrow - and Good Friday. In addition to fasting you are also to abstain from meat on these days as well.

On all Fridays of Lent you are required to abstain from eatting meat. Seafood is allowed.

Fasting. Eat 1 normal meal. Nothing extravgant. No Large protions as the US is so fond of. Then for your other 1 meals, basically you eat a snack. Have a small salad, or some other light fare. There is no rule about which meal is your “normal” meal, so you can choose. I prefer to make my normal meal - dinner. I have tried making my normal meal Lunch, but then I wake up in the morning lightheaded and nasaus from the low blood sugar that results from the fast. I will tell you, I tend to get really bad headaches on Fasting days

 

[Sarahforgiven]

Thanks everyone for the great information