How to Fast on Fridays if you're a Vegetarian?

[kieron123]

Hi Everyone,

Until a few days ago, I wasnt aware that fasting on Fridays was required (meat etc).
Now I am a vegetarian, I eat absolutely no meat as well as other things which require fasting, so then how does fasting apply to me an my diet, and how should I attempt doing it?

Please advise
Thanks

 

[PatriceA]

Hi Everyone,

Until a few days ago, I wasnt aware that fasting on Fridays was required (meat etc).
Now I am a vegetarian, I eat absolutely no meat as well as other things which require fasting, so then how does fasting apply to me an my diet, and how should I attempt doing it?

Please advise
Thanks

Well first off, you’re talking about abstaining from meat, not fasting. Fasting is not eating, perhaps only having one main meal and only sustaining food the rest of the day such as a piece of toast or a small snack for the other meals of the day and not eating or drinking between meals. And since you are talking about abstaining, you can abstain from your favorite drink or food of choice, OR some people abstain from the computer or technology or TV, in place of abstaining from meat on Fridays.

 

[in_servitude]

Well first off, you’re talking about abstaining from meat, not fasting. Fasting is not eating, perhaps only having one main meal and only sustaining food the rest of the day such as a piece of toast or a small snack for the other meals of the day and not eating or drinking between meals. And since you are talking about abstaining, you can abstain from your favorite drink or food of choice, OR some people abstain from the computer or technology or TV, in place of abstaining from meat on Fridays.

Does fasting have to mean only “not eating”?

I know some people that are not able to go without eating for health reasons. So, they choose to eat food they find undesirable as a way to “fast”. This seems like more than abstinence since a person is going without all food that they find desirable. They refer to it as “fasting” anyway - perhaps they are in error.

Some people will have just bread and water on Fridays - those people call that “fasting” - but maybe it is only abstinence.

 

[garn9173]

Hi Everyone,

Until a few days ago, I wasnt aware that fasting on Fridays was required (meat etc).
Now I am a vegetarian, I eat absolutely no meat as well as other things which require fasting, so then how does fasting apply to me an my diet, and how should I attempt doing it?

Please advise
Thanks

If you are in the United States, you are under no obligation to abstain from eating meat on non-Lenten Friday’s and Good Friday. Instead you can offer some sort of penance, but my bet is 90% of Catholics (including yours truly) don’t even do that.

 

[Rich_C]

I know you meant abstinence, not fasting, so I’ll go from there.

For the best answer, you should consult a priest, but my advice is to acknowledge that you’re fulfilling the letter of the law, and try to give up something else in addition to fulfill the spirit of the law, too.

 

[thistle]

Does fasting have to mean only “not eating”?

I know some people that are not able to go without eating for health reasons. So, they choose to eat food they find undesirable as a way to “fast”. This seems like more than abstinence since a person is going without all food that they find desirable. They refer to it as “fasting” anyway - perhaps they are in error.

Some people will have just bread and water on Fridays - those people call that “fasting” - but maybe it is only abstinence.

Fasting is about eating. It means cutting down the quantity of food you intake and has nothing to do with the type of food you intake.
Abstinence means giving up something specific.

By the way in the USA you are not required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays outside Lent. You are required to perform a penance which you may choose, including abstaining if that is your preference.

 

[Rejoice_Always]

Abstain from fish and have tofu instead!

 

[andrewstx]

Acctualy the Code of Canon Law says that any act of penance can be substituted for abstaining from meat on Fridays.

 

[Hesychios]

Abstain from fish and have tofu instead!

I like how you think!

I am still looking for that … [sign]“All You Can Eat Tofu Fry”[/sign]

Yumm!

 

[tee_eff_em]

Until a few days ago, I wasnt aware that fasting on Fridays was required (meat etc).
Now I am a vegetarian, I eat absolutely no meat as well as other things which require fasting, so then how does fasting apply to me an my diet, and how should I attempt doing it?

By continuing to refrain from eating meat on Fridays. Nothing more is required.

tee

 

[AthenaC]

I like how you think!

I am still looking for that … [sign]“All You Can Eat Tofu Fry”[/sign]

Yumm!

Hehe - many restaurants in hipster neighborhoods have some interesting varieties of tofu. I was just at a burrito place (I noticed the gay pride flag as I was walking out the door) that had barbequed tofu as a burrito base. I thought it tasted fine, but my coworker was grossed out by the texture.

 

[Cowboy2012]

What Rich C recommended has merit. For me, a meat eater, a vegetable close to meat, at least to me, is eggplant when cooked by an old school Italian grandma that I am so fortunate to be aquatainted with. It is almost like eating veal parm with the way she makes it. So, if there is a food that you like very much, be consistent in abstaining from the on the meatless days. In your case, maybe a penance would be more in line.
Good that you are looking into this when you strictly(being a vegetarian) do not have to.

CB

 

[ConstantineTG]

Fasting is about eating.

No. Fasting is about giving something up. Even from the ancient Church there is talk about fasting from other things than food, like sex for example.

 

[thistle]

No. Fasting is about giving something up. Even from the ancient Church there is talk about fasting from other things than food, like sex for example.

You are wrong. In the Catholic Church it is about food and drink.

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

FASTING. A from of penance that imposes limits on the kind or quantity of food or drink. From the first century Christians have observed fasting days of precept, notably during the season of Lent in commemoration of Christ’s passion and death. In the early Church there was less formal precept and therefore greater variety of custom, but in general fasting was much more severe than in the modern Church. In the East and West the faithful abstained on fasting days from wine as well as from flesh-meat, both being permitted only in cases of weak health. The ancient custom in the Latin Church of celebrating Mass in the evening during Lent was partly due to the fact that in many places the first meal was not taken before sunset.

The modern Church regulations on fasting, until 1966, prescribed taking only one full meal a day, along with some food for breakfast and a collation. Days of fast and abstinence for the universal Church were Ash Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, Ember days, and the vigils of certain feasts. Days of fast only were the rest of the days of Lent, except Sundays. Special indults affected different nations and were provided for by canon law.

With the constitution Paenitemini of Paul VI in 1966, the meaning of the law of fasting remained, but the extent of the obligation was changed. Thus “the law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, while observing approved local custom as far as quantity and quality of food are concerned.” To the law of fast are bound those of the faithful who have completed their eighteenth year and up until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Prescribed days of fast and abstinence for the whole Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Nevertheless, as with abstinence, so with fasting or other forms of penance, “It is up to the bishops, gathered in their episcopal conferences, to establish the norms . . . which they consider the most opportune and efficacious” (Paenitemini, III). In the Eastern rites it is the right of the patriarch, together with the synod or supreme authority of every rite, to determine the days of fast and abstinence in accordance with the decree of the Second Vatican Council for Eastern Churches.

 

[RosalieM]

Abstain from fish and have tofu instead!

Vegetarians don’t eat fish or seafood either.
That would be pescatarians (sp?), people who eat seafood but no meat.

 

[ConstantineTG]

You are wrong. In the Catholic Church it is about food and drink.

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

FASTING. A from of penance that imposes limits on the kind or quantity of food or drink. From the first century Christians have observed fasting days of precept, notably during the season of Lent in commemoration of Christ’s passion and death. In the early Church there was less formal precept and therefore greater variety of custom, but in general fasting was much more severe than in the modern Church. In the East and West the faithful abstained on fasting days from wine as well as from flesh-meat, both being permitted only in cases of weak health. The ancient custom in the Latin Church of celebrating Mass in the evening during Lent was partly due to the fact that in many places the first meal was not taken before sunset.

The modern Church regulations on fasting, until 1966, prescribed taking only one full meal a day, along with some food for breakfast and a collation. Days of fast and abstinence for the universal Church were Ash Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, Ember days, and the vigils of certain feasts. Days of fast only were the rest of the days of Lent, except Sundays. Special indults affected different nations and were provided for by canon law.

With the constitution Paenitemini of Paul VI in 1966, the meaning of the law of fasting remained, but the extent of the obligation was changed. Thus “the law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, while observing approved local custom as far as quantity and quality of food are concerned.” To the law of fast are bound those of the faithful who have completed their eighteenth year and up until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Prescribed days of fast and abstinence for the whole Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Nevertheless, as with abstinence, so with fasting or other forms of penance, “It is up to the bishops, gathered in their episcopal conferences, to establish the norms . . . which they consider the most opportune and efficacious” (Paenitemini, III). In the Eastern rites it is the right of the patriarch, together with the synod or supreme authority of every rite, to determine the days of fast and abstinence in accordance with the decree of the Second Vatican Council for Eastern Churches.

Just because Fasting was used in the context of food in one document, it doesn’t mean that is the only context of Fasting. St. John Chrysostom has extensive homilies on fasting where he writes:

*Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations.

Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers?*

And finally:

Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast.

 

[thistle]

Just because Fasting was used in the context of food in one document, it doesn’t mean that is the only context of Fasting. St. John Chrysostom has extensive homilies on fasting where he writes:

*Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations.

Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers?*

And finally:

Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast.

Its how the Church defines it and not what an individual (albeit Church Father) considers it.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Its how the Church defines it and not what an individual (albeit Church Father) considers it.

Right, so the Modern Catholic Dictionary, which is not an infallible document, trumps the homily of a man considered a Church Father in the East and a Doctor of the Church in the West and undoubtedly one of the greatest theologians in Church history.

 

[thistle]

Right, so the Modern Catholic Dictionary, which is not an infallible document, trumps the homily of a man considered a Church Father in the East and a Doctor of the Church in the West and undoubtedly one of the greatest theologians in Church history.

Fasting is a discipline and not a doctrine so neither an infallible nor a non-infallible teaching is required.

 

[Rich_C]

CTG,

I think our lives should be informed by tradition, but we need to acknowledge that there are interpretations that are binding and those that deserve our attention but are non-binding today.

This is not the first time you have argued against the Church’s laws with the writings of the Church Fathers. I am sympathetic to your arguments, but you can’t hold the writings of the CF as laws over our heads, as wise and correct as they are. Believe me, sometimes I could you could but it isn’t so.