Hmm.. what is correct?

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Kathrin

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  1. What do we exactly “celebrate” on Ash Wednesday? Is it “just” the beginning day of Lent?
  2. Is it supposed to be a “sad” day like Good Friday? Is it wrong to do anything you enjoy on Ash Wednesday? Is it wrong e.g. to read a novel for relaxation, to work on a project you enjoy, etc?
  3. Does the fast go from midnight to midnight?
  4. Does anybody know what is considered a meal? I tend to eat really small meals anyway. For me a roll and a banana might well be a meal, but maybe for somebody else not? Is a banana ok for one of the small snacks if you’re feeling weak?
  5. When does a drink become a meal?
    If OJ is ok, is milk? If milk is ok, is milk with ovaltine?
Thanks for any replies!
🙂

Kathrin
 
Kathrin said:
  1. What do we exactly “celebrate” on Ash Wednesday? Is it “just” the beginning day of Lent?
  2. Is it supposed to be a “sad” day like Good Friday? Is it wrong to do anything you enjoy on Ash Wednesday? Is it wrong e.g. to read a novel for relaxation, to work on a project you enjoy, etc?
  3. Does the fast go from midnight to midnight?
  4. Does anybody know what is considered a meal? I tend to eat really small meals anyway. For me a roll and a banana might well be a meal, but maybe for somebody else not? Is a banana ok for one of the small snacks if you’re feeling weak?
  5. When does a drink become a meal?
    If OJ is ok, is milk? If milk is ok, is milk with ovaltine?
Thanks for any replies!
🙂

Kathrin
Click to expand...
Hope this helps.

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/ASH_WED.htm

and

adoremus.org/0201lent.html

As far as your banana question , yes. A fruit is not a whole meal so you can have that as one of the small meals. Milk and orange juice are fine for Latin Rite Catholics. Ovaltine would be fine. The main thing is not to compensate for the fasting from food by keeping your stomach full of liquids all day. You should feel a little hunger. That’s one of the points of fasting. So if Ovaltine makes you feel full don’t use it that day more than at one of your small meals.
 
My fiance is going through RCIA and was told that he only had to fast on Ash Wednesday… My family and I have always fasted on every friday of Lent…

So my question is, what are the fasting guidelines now-a-days? For the record, I will still fast every friday, but has the church changed in its fasting rules? Is this something new, or has it been around for a while? His class doesn’t explain things AT ALL, so I was wanting some help teaching him about this. Any good reading materials about Lent?

Thank you. =]
 
One fasts on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, one abstains from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent.

Deacon Ed
 
Thank you for the links, yes they do help.🙂

And no, I am not asking the liquids question because I don’t want to feel hunger, just because I want to know what I am allowed to do in case I run out of energy at work or so…
 
Kathrin said:
  1. Does the fast go from midnight to midnight?
Click to expand...
Yes.
Kathrin said:
  1. Does anybody know what is considered a meal? I tend to eat really small meals anyway. For me a roll and a banana might well be a meal, but maybe for somebody else not? Is a banana ok for one of the small snacks if you’re feeling weak?
Click to expand...
Eat whatever you consider to be a “regular sized” meal. As long as the two snacks, combined, do not equal the amount of food in the full meal, then you can eat whatever you like.
Kathrin said:
  1. When does a drink become a meal?
    If OJ is ok, is milk? If milk is ok, is milk with ovaltine?
Click to expand...
Drinks are never meals. I could, for that matter, drink high-calorie protein shakes all day long and consider that a fast. While that is within the letter of the law, however, it is not within the spirit of the law, and so it wouldn’t be right to do that. If you find yourself drinking more milk or Ovaltine than you usually would, then you should cut back.

It is only a single day. 😉

God bless!
 
I have another question.
I gave a woman who was asking people for help for food an apple. She started eating it right away. I hadn’t thought of Ash Wednesday. I am not sure if she knew, if she is a practising Catholic. I feel somehow guilty about this now, because maybe I helped her commit a sin… is this overly scrupulous or not? I thought about going back to her later and remind her it’s Ash Wednesday, but then I let it be. I might not have found her anymore anyway.

p.s. I did ok with fasting.
It’s evening here now.
 
Kathrin said:
I have another question.
I gave a woman who was asking people for help for food an apple. She started eating it right away. I hadn’t thought of Ash Wednesday. I am not sure if she knew, if she is a practising Catholic. I feel somehow guilty about this now, because maybe I helped her commit a sin… is this overly scrupulous or not? I thought about going back to her later and remind her it’s Ash Wednesday, but then I let it be. I might not have found her anymore anyway.

p.s. I did ok with fasting.
It’s evening here now.
Click to expand...
Those who are begging for food have done their fasting.
 
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