"Old-style" preparation for Communion, anyone?

[Proletarian]

Vat II reduced the required amount of fasting before Communion to an hour. I’d like to know if anyone here freely chooses to abstain from food and water from midnight until receiving?

Thank you!
Danica

Doesn’t it really defeat the purpose of a fast if we eat breakfast before Mass? As long as we stop eating 15 minutes before we leave for Mass were OK; not much of a sacrifice.

Personally I make sure I stop drinking (or eating for that matter) at 12.00 o’clock on Saturday nights.

 

[Jennifer_G]

It’s simple enough to do if you go to an early enough Mass an hour after waking up, I would think. Where there any other “old-style” preperations? Like 24 hours or something? After midnight seems short if you’re sleeping through 80% of the fast.

 

[LilyM]

It’s simple enough to do if you go to an early enough Mass an hour after waking up, I would think. Where there any other “old-style” preperations? Like 24 hours or something? After midnight seems short if you’re sleeping through 80% of the fast.

Good heavens! It’s not enough for you to go to Mass hungry? I think that’s kinda the main point, regardless of whether a three-hour or midnight fast will achieve that.

I nearly passed out a few months ago because I neither ate nor drank water, and it was the height of summer.

 

[BobP123]

Doesn’t it really defeat the purpose of a fast if we eat breakfast before Mass? As long as we stop eating 15 minutes before we leave for Mass were OK; not much of a sacrifice.

It is if you take breath mints or chew gum and you’re breath-conscious.

 

[lak611]

It is if you take breath mints or chew gum and you’re breath-conscious.

I just brush my teeth before I leave for Mass.

 

[Convert_in_99]

I marked sometimes. But that might not be acurate. I never go without water. I know drinking water used to break the fast. Also, I don’t fast very much until mass anymore…but I used to do it lots more when I was healthier. I usually fast one hour before mass would start, unless it’s Easter Vigil or Christmass at midnight. Then I eat right before I go, knowing there will be plenty of time before communion.

 

[Ann_Nonymous]

Good heavens! It’s not enough for you to go to Mass hungry? I think that’s kinda the main point, regardless of whether a three-hour or midnight fast will achieve that.

I nearly passed out a few months ago because I neither ate nor drank water, and it was the height of summer.

I believe that would depend on your definintion of “hungry.” Do you just “think that’s kinda the main point”? Or do you know why we fast?

See CCC #1387 and CCC #2043.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

I marked sometimes. But that might not be acurate. I never go without water. I know drinking water used to break the fast. Also, I don’t fast very much until mass anymore…but I used to do it lots more when I was healthier. I usually fast one hour before mass would start, unless it’s Easter Vigil or Christmass at midnight. Then I eat right before I go, knowing there will be plenty of time before communion.

Fasting from food from midnight before Mass if very easy if you go to the 8 AM Mass – but I don’t think I would try it if I was going to 7:00 PM Mass.

And I am in agreement about fasting from water. I don’t do it, period. For some of us, fasting from water crosses a line, to where we would be endangering our health (I know; for some people, that’s true of food, too). I always have a water bottle with me in the choir loft, but I don’t bring one into the pews when I’m not singing with the choir (we don’t sing during the summer; the loft gets too hot). So in the summer, if I can’t make the 8 AM Mass (for which the church is still relatively cool); I’ll go to Mass at our twinned parish church, which is air-conditioned.

I passed out once during Mass because of dehydration; it’s not an experience I’m eager to repeat.

 

[LilyM]

I believe that would depend on your definintion of “hungry.” Do you just “think that’s kinda the main point”? Or do you know why we fast?

See CCC #1387 and CCC #2043.

‘To prepare for worthy reception of the Sacrament’ - and again I ask, how is three hours of fasting less adequate for this goal than fasting from midnight? Or indeed, fasting for one hour?