Holy Week Fast

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PietroPaolo

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I was recently thumbing through a bio of Charlemagne by Notker the Stammerer (who, I believe actually knew Charlemagne personally) and I was struck by just how seriously and rigorously our Catholic forefathers took Lent. (if interested in particulars see HERE). So, I’m trying to follow there mighty example for just one week - Holy Week - and thought I’d see if anyone else would care to join me. If not, please pray that I might stick to it for "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt 16:41). God bless!

BTW, are any of you doing anything special for Holy Week? I’d love to hear!
 
BTW, the fast consists of:
  1. No meat
  2. No eating before nightfall (or at least until “the seventh hour” - noon)
 
In all honesty, I thought about giving up caffeine for Holy Week, but that didn’t go so well, so now I’m trying to come up with other penance ideas. 😊

A day will come when I’m ready to give up caffeine, but for now, I need my morning coffee! 😃
 
smichhertz said:
In all honesty, I thought about giving up caffeine for Holy Week, but that didn’t go so well, so now I’m trying to come up with other penance ideas. 😊

A day will come when I’m ready to give up caffeine, but for now, I need my morning coffee! 😃
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That sounds even harder. 😃
 
PietroPaolo said:
BTW, the fast consists of:
  1. No meat
  2. No eating before nightfall (or at least until “the seventh hour” - noon)
Click to expand...
This looks really interesting, and I’m going to do it. Such sacrifice will help me to be better prepared for the Easter season. Definitely not going to be easy, but that’s the joy. 👍
 
PietroPaolo said:
BTW, the fast consists of:
  1. No meat
  2. No eating before nightfall (or at least until “the seventh hour” - noon)
Click to expand...
RuthTherese said:
This looks really interesting, and I’m going to do it. Such sacrifice will help me to be better prepared for the Easter season. Definitely not going to be easy, but that’s the joy. 👍
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I’m not so sure I’ll make it, but I’ll give it a try with you guys!

Maybe each morning we can have an accountability post where we post how things went the previous day? That might help motivate us. 👍
 
smichhertz said:
I’m not so sure I’ll make it, but I’ll give it a try with you guys!

Maybe each morning we can have an accountability post where we post how things went the previous day? That might help motivate us. 👍
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Sounds like a great idea! And I’ll keep all of us in my prayers.

Although I must say that the most difficult bit here is keeping away from meat… not because of my own temptation, but because my Methodist school doesn’t believe in meatless Fridays, let alone meatless any other day. Soooo much salad and grilled cheese do I eat during Lent. 🤷
 
frustratingly, I’ve already organized my family’s weekly menu, or else I’d do this. I can certainly engage with number 2, though.
 
smichhertz said:
I’m not so sure I’ll make it, but I’ll give it a try with you guys!

Maybe each morning we can have an accountability post where we post how things went the previous day? That might help motivate us. 👍
Click to expand...
Great! Its nice not to be trying it solo. I like the idea of the accountability post. Keep me honest!
 
PietroPaolo said:
Great! Its nice not to be trying it solo. I like the idea of the accountability post. Keep me honest!
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Cool!

Well for my accountability today, I’ve already eaten breakfast before I saw this thread, so I’m going to try and skip lunch (we’ll see how that goes!) and eat dinner in the evening.

As a disclaimer, morning coffee doesn’t count! 😛
 
Cool!

Well, Day 1 thus far… I’m a terrible college student who never eats breakfast anyway. And I went to Mass this morning and then got a cup of hot tea before class. Skipping lunch and then… I guess eat dinner late? I am a little concerned at the idea of doing my normal pre-dinner workout after not having eaten anything all day… maybe I’ll go after…
 
smichhertz said:
In all honesty, I thought about giving up caffeine for Holy Week, but that didn’t go so well, so now I’m trying to come up with other penance ideas. 😊

A day will come when I’m ready to give up caffeine, but for now, I need my morning coffee! 😃
Click to expand...
Well I drink lattes morning noon and night. My priest
suggested that through lent I drink only morning coffee
and donate afternoon and evening cups of money saved
to charity. Accountability? I’m napping an awful lot…lol.
 
marywarfield said:
Well I drink lattes morning noon and night. My priest
suggested that through lent I drink only morning coffee
and donate afternoon and evening cups of money saved
to charity. Accountability? I’m napping an awful lot…lol.
Click to expand...
HAHA! So true! I can give up caffeine and be less productive, or be productive and keep the caffeine, your choice, Lord!

A friend told me once that Fulton Sheen used to take coffee in with him to the chapel for his Holy Hour. I have no idea if it’s even true or not, but that’s been my defense. 😛
 
smichhertz said:
HAHA! So true! I can give up caffeine and be less productive, or be productive and keep the caffeine, your choice, Lord!

A friend told me once that Fulton Sheen used to take coffee in with him to the chapel for his Holy Hour. I have no idea if it’s even true or not, but that’s been my defense. 😛
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I must admit to having had a shot of espresso and a cup of black coffee (no milk or sugar this week). I’ve also had some water. Otherwise, I’m tracking pretty well. Wondering how I’ll feel on Saturday.
 
PietroPaolo said:
I must admit to having had a shot of espresso and a cup of black coffee (no milk or sugar this week). I’ve also had some water. Otherwise, I’m tracking pretty well. Wondering how I’ll feel on Saturday.
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Yeah me too. Even if we fail, it’s worth a shot and shows we’re trying! 👍

Holy Saturday is my designated “recovery” day. I usually stop all extra penances and only do the penances I was doing from the beginning of Lent on Saturday. Then after the Easter Vigil, I stop all penances as Lent is over.
 
Family’s eating dinner. Very tempting, but I’m not giving in on day one 🙂 I’ll just have some leftovers in a few hours. It’s not supposed to be fun, right?

“It is written, 'Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4)
 
Well I’ve eaten now. It’s overcast where I am. I thought that I had made it to sunset as it looked darker. But after looking up the time of sunset, looks like I ate too early. 😊

This is gonna get even harder tomorrow, when that will be my first full day of no eating! My goal is sundown, my back up is going to be 3pm. I’m pretty confident I can at least make it past noon. Because I have to get up early for my job, it might be harder to make the whole day. But hey, here’s to a challenge! 🙂
 
smichhertz said:
Well I’ve eaten now. It’s overcast where I am. I thought that I had made it to sunset as it looked darker. But after looking up the time of sunset, looks like I ate too early. 😊

This is gonna get even harder tomorrow, when that will be my first full day of no eating! My goal is sundown, my back up is going to be 3pm. I’m pretty confident I can at least make it past noon. Because I have to get up early for my job, it might be harder to make the whole day. But hey, here’s to a challenge! 🙂
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Great idea, looking up the time. I didn’t realize how late the sunsets this time of year. About 8 pm according to Google for my neck of the woods.
 
TIP:

I’ve found it helpful to “offer up” the day’s fast for some particular intention. Yesterday, it was the conversion of my father. That helped inspire me to stick with it!
 
I’m definitely offering it up… really starting to feel heady since my class schedule made it difficult to eat much of anything after sundown.
 
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