Should we fast today?

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Zenkai said:
I read it was encouraged to do so, however.
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Well then. Since you asked should we fast, and you’ve heard that we’re encouraged to do so, I think you can flip this question back on yourself and answer it. 🙂

Do you think it will help your personal spiritual growth to fast today on Holy Saturday?
After all, it is not required, so it’s your decision to make!

Not sure if that’s helpful at all, but do what feels right for you today. God Bless…Easter is almost here!
 
Thank you for replying.

Also, my Confirmation and First Communion are tonight. How long do I need to fast beforehand? I’ve read that it’s one hour. Is it the same for people receiving Confirmation and First Communion?
 
HS is not a day of fast or abstinence. Lent is, in fact, over.

Depending on where you are in your faith “walk”, however, you may not want to drop you Lenten practices quite so fast. You can. However, eat meat.

ICXC NIKA
 
Zenkai said:
Should we fast on Holy Saturday?
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Sure.👍

It’s called the Paschal Fast and Catholics are encouraged to fast on Holy Saturday.

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II :
“Let the paschal fast be kept sacred. Let it be observed everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged throughout Holy Saturday, as a way of coming to the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection with uplifted and welcoming heart.” (# 110)
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You don’t have to, but it is encouraged.
This is a “paschal” fast, the Easter fast. The two words don’t seem at first to go together at all. This is not the Lenten fast for that has ended as Lent ended before the evening liturgy of Holy Thursday. It is paschal, that is, “Passover” fasting that we are invited to do here. Something is being left behind. Something is beginning. And it sounds like a serious fast, not just a no-eating-between-meals sort of thing. It sounds serious because of what it is meant to accomplish: “a way of coming to the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection with uplifted and welcoming heart.” Such a fast that has its good effects on mind and heart, as well as body, is a solemn and very infrequent undertaking.
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What kind of a fasting is this? It comes from the same past of us that has us fast before momentous events in our lives. Few of us are hungry on the morning of our wedding day! It is that kind of fast, the fast of excitement, the fast of being so full of what is to come that food is almost forgotten. A Friday and Saturday like that will give us hearts uplifted and ready to welcome the Vigil.
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The fasting is not only from food. Even more important may be the fasting from our normal work, the fasting from seeking ways to be entertained, the fasting from anger and harsh words. In all of this is the way we pass the first two days of these Three Days. There are the liturgies on Holy Thursday night and Good Friday, but the special character of these days cannot be restricted to these more formal times. All the ways we fast bring us into the Triduum, make it ours, let is shape our lives. Triduum is too important to be left to its liturgies alone.
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Such a fast is what any self-respecting tribe would be engaged in before daring to enter into its sacred rites of initiation. People seem to know that the whole person has to be made ready and that does not happen without engaging the body, the mind and the heart. Fasting, we can’t pretend that the initiating work of the Vigil is up to someone else. We know it belongs to us. The space that is created by our fast makes room for the watching and praying that lead the church through Good Friday and Holy Saturday and into the night of the Vigil.
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Source: Supplement, St. Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; March, 2010
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Zenkai said:
Thank you for replying.

Also, my Confirmation and First Communion are tonight. How long do I need to fast beforehand? I’ve read that it’s one hour. Is it the same for people receiving Confirmation and First Communion?
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Welcome into the Church.👍

Refrain from food for one hour before communion - though to enter into the spirit and not just the law I wold refrain from any food for an hour before the Liturgy starts.
 
triumphguy said:
Welcome into the Church.👍

Refrain from food for one hour before communion - though to enter into the spirit and not just the law I wold refrain from any food for an hour before the Liturgy starts.
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Thanks 🙂

Water is alright though, right?
 
Back when people used to love Jesus, the fast of Good Friday continued into Holy Saturday until after the Easter Vigil. It is certainly laudable and theologically sensible to fast today, although it is not required.
 
triumphguy said:
Welcome into the Church.👍

Refrain from food for one hour before communion - though to enter into the spirit and not just the law I wold refrain from any food for an hour before the Liturgy starts.
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One hour before Communion is frankly laughable. You could order a pizza during the prophecies, eat it during Litany of the Saints, wash it down with a Coke, and have dessert during the confirmations, and still observe the Communion fast.
 
Zenkai said:
Thanks 🙂

Water is alright though, right?
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Yes!

BTW The “Paschal Fast” right now is like not giving a kid cookies before his birthday feast - not to punish the kid, but so he will eat all his cake 😉
 
I found this while browsing another thread:
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Here is what is in the RCIA ritual text:

Preparation Rites on Holy Saturday
  1. In proximate preparation for the celebration of the sacraments of initiation:
  2. The elect are to be advised that on Holy Saturday they should refrain from their usual activities, spend their time in prayer and reflection, and as far as they can, observe a fast.
  3. When it is possible to bring the elect together on Holy Saturday for reflection and prayer, some or all of the following rites may be celebrated as an immediate preparation for the sacraments: the presentation of the Lord’s Prayer, if it has ben deferred (see nos. 149, 178-10), the “return” or recitation of the Creed (nos. 193-196), the ephphetha rite (nos. 197-199), and the choosing of a baptismal name (ns. 200-202).
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forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=750288
 
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