I failed to fast today!

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Arnold1N2D

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To fast was part of my plan for today, but I failed because I got hungry. What should I do? I ate one full meal then two smaller meals but I got hungry. Should I confess that I failed to fast?
 
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A, it is early, so you can fast the rest of the day.
B, Catholic fasting allows you to eat up to three small meals on a fast day
C, the obligation to fast is lifted for any serious health concern
C, the church does not define a meal, leaving it to the faithful’s reasonable discretion. I am not certain how you could have eaten more than a multi-part breakfast meal!
 
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If you intentionally broke the fast and didn’t have any of the dispensation such as health or old age, it would be good to confess to a priest. You might also consider ferrying the fast tomorrow as I’d imagine a decent chance that penance would include a fast day.
 
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I think you should confess. It is a disappointment but not a grave matter, so do not worry about it for long. Fasting is difficult for some people, and me too. Try again on Good Friday. In addition, if you wish, you could try fasting at other times this Lent. It may get easier with practice.
 
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He could, but on a US centric site, the burden is on him to say so.
 
Huh? He said he already ate one full meal and two smaller meals for the day so how does doubling the food for the day meet the fast requirement?
 
That is an overly legalistic way of looking at it. The spirit of fasting would be that we fast, not that we eat two meals like we normally would and one even bigger one.
Plus I’d argue a full meal is defined in regards to normal intake. Not by only what you eat on a fast day.
 
Yes, we lay people sometimes are very weak.
In Eastern Orthodoxy, by the way the lent begins next week.
In the area where I live on western Ukraine there are several monasteries.
The first and last week of lent, the monks do not eat anything.
I am impressed by such dedication.
In one of the monasteries are hard work, they harvesting firewood.
In another monastery, the huge rural economy and animal farms.
I can’t imagine how they can work and at the same time to sacrifice themselves.
The monks strengthen their spirit by constant awakening and worship.
 
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With what you said, they would intend to break the fast and then ‘rectify’ it which wouldn’t prevent someone who broke the fast in the first place from having sinned. Kind of like saying a person did no wrong in stabbing someone because they cleaned the wound. Not to mention it’s a silly idea that the way to keep the rules of a fast is by eating more.

If I ate 7 lbs of mac 'n cheese for one meal, 3 grilled cheeses for a second, and then had a third with 15 lbs of vegetable lasagna followed by a grilled salmon: that’s two meals that don’t equal the third but it’s definitely not fasting.
 
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Sure confession would be good. You committed to do a spiritual exercise and you didn’t do it. It would be one thing if you didn’t fast for health reasons or weren’t committed to do so. Myself, I’m half through the day, so a bit grumpy. 😉
 
Let’s take my example that ended with 15 lb vegetable lasagna and a salmon. Do you honestly think anyone could truly discern that as a regular-sized meal?

And again, the notion that eating more is how you keep a FAST, a period where you eat less, is truly silly.

We are to discern and I will grant that there are reasonable variances in what constitutes a smaller meal vs. a full meal. A person who usually has 3 eggs, 2 slices of toast, and a banana for breakfast could legitimately call 2 eggs and a piece of toast a small meal even though that would constitute a regular meal for others. But that’s discernment within reason. A person should use common sense to determine what fasting is, not stretch the rules beyond logic.
 
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TheOldColonel said:
The only limiting factor might be whether he could stomach that amount of food in one day.
Click to expand...
Quoting for emphasis. One shouldn’t be coming away from a fast day with a bellyache from eating too much.
 
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My two cents: The OP screwed up in planning and probably should go to confession. If he continued to eat after meal number three he was violating the fast. If he ate the three meals in the space of a couple hours I would say that was just one meal.

Our eating patterns have become so screwed up we don’t know what we are eating and how much. Some people eat a lot more than others and some people are a lot more active. I have had trouble working on fast days because of the limit on the number of meals.

I am now over the age limit. I ate only 600 calories and did fine. (I had had the stomach flu.)
 
Ok, so I ended up eating too much as well. In my defense it was Valentine’s day. It was a tough one this year.
 
So A few things. 1: Giving up is saying, “Bye, God, Your ways are too hard.” We all fall, but we also need to then reform ourselves.

2: I disagree with your tangent that last post. But curiosity has me wondering why you list Albert Einstein as a High Necromancer. Again, I disagree, but it’s curious.
 
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