Two Easy Questions to Fasting/Abstaining

[Beckett]

Having been raised in a N.O. environment, I never learned the proper rules in regards to fasting and abstaining from meat(or food in general). It was always thought of something “they did in the old days” and wasn’t really encouraged. It is something I would like to start. I have a couple of beginner questions I would like to ask, they may seem a little silly…

1. Is there a good online source about fasting and abstaining that I can read? Something aimed at the beginner?
2. Thursdays and Fridays of every week, I work from 7pm to 7am. What times would someone like me follow a fasting/abstaining observance?

 

[Timidity]

Is there a good online source about fasting and abstaining that I can read? Something aimed at the beginner?

I assume you don’t really need a book that tells you how not to eat meat–that seems pretty basic. So I suggest a pamphlet from the USCCB called “Penitential Practices for Today’s Catholics.” Click the link and you can read it online.

Thursdays and Fridays of every week, I work from 7pm to 7am. What times would someone like me follow a fasting/abstaining observance?

Canon Law states that a day is defined as starting at midnight and ending the next midnight. So, for Friday penance you could eat a cheeseburger at 11:45 Thursday night, but if it’s 15 minutes later make it a cheese pizza instead.

Likewise, on Friday, you go to work. If you eat before midnight you abstain from meat. If you eat at 12:00:01 or later, it’s Saturday–have that cheeseburger. Doesn’t matter that it still “feels” like Friday–it’s not. It’s Saturday.

 

[Beckett]

Thank you so much. That was exactly what I was looking. I was making a simple thing complicated.

God bless.

 

[ethelzguy]

Having been raised in a N.O. environment, I never learned the proper rules in regards to fasting and abstaining from meat(or food in general).

What does being “raised in a NO environment” have to do with not learning the “proper rules” in regards to fasting and abstaining?

Are you saying that Catholics who attend the NO Mass do not know the “proper rules” regarding fast and abstinence?

Sounds like it to me.

 

[eelpis]

Yes that’s the fact, most don’t know the rules because they almost never fast nor abstain. " Twice a year is not a habit.

 

[ProVobis]

What does being “raised in a NO environment” have to do with not learning the “proper rules” in regards to fasting and abstaining?

Are you saying that Catholics who attend the NO Mass do not know the “proper rules” regarding fast and abstinence?

In Pre-Vatican II days, most fish restaurants were making tons of money on Fridays. It seems most of them went out of business soon after that. I guess all Catholics are doing other penances now. Is this what you believe?

 

[thistle]

Yes that’s the fact, most don’t know the rules because they almost never fast nor abstain. " Twice a year is not a habit.

I totally disagree with you. I attend the NO Mass and regularly our priests talk about this subject.

Fasting for a day is only required twice a year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting is also required at least one hour before receiving Communion. There are no other rules for fasting. Any fasting outside these times is simply a private thing and not subject to rules.
As for abstaining we are only required to abstain from eating meat during the Fridays of Lent. Abstaining from meat on other Fridays is not required in the majority of countries. What is required is some form of penance be done, with abstaining being one choice.

There are no other rules on fasting and abstaining

 

[eelpis]

I totally disagree with you. I attend the NO Mass and regularly our priests talk about this subject.

Fasting for a day is only required twice a year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting is also required at least one hour before receiving Communion. There are no other rules for fasting. Any fasting outside these times is simply a private thing and not subject to rules.
As for abstaining we are only required to abstain from eating meat during the Fridays of Lent. Abstaining from meat on other Fridays is not required in the majority of countries. What is required is some form of penance be done, with abstaining being one choice.

There are no other rules on fasting and abstaining

OK you seem to be an exception.Most people in my parish don’t know. Some even think chicken is allowed on days of abstinence.

 

[bpbasilphx]

You should discuss these matters with your confessor. Fasting is ambiguous; remember, demons never eat at all, and they are still demons.

Our fasting should not be self-willed, but obedient. That’s why you should discuss it with your confessor.

 

[ethelzguy]

In Pre-Vatican II days, most fish restaurants were making tons of money on Fridays. It seems most of them went out of business soon after that. I guess all Catholics are doing other penances now. Is this what you believe?

I am simply asking what a “NO environement” has to do with whether you learned the rules on fasting and abstinence.

I found that post to be just another cheap shot directed at the NO. Some people will use any excuse to take cheap shots at the NO Mass or the post V2 Church in general.

It’s like saying that anyone who owns a gun must be a criminal.

 

[EasterJoy]

It is like keeping kosher. It is easy to keep it easy, if easy is what you want, but it can get complicated if you decide to make it that way. (Does milk count as a solid or a liquid? How about eggnog? Does chicken stock count as meat? What if I ask the waitress if the clam chowder has bacon in it, and she says “no”, and then it comes with bacon in it?..)

I am simply asking what a “NO environement” has to do with whether you learned the rules on fasting and abstinence.

I found that post to be just another cheap shot directed at the NO. Some people will use any excuse to take cheap shots at the NO Mass or the post V2 Church in general.

It’s like saying that anyone who owns a gun must be a criminal.

The irony being that the big-time crooks use white collars and exploited trust, but go to a nicer jail.

 

[jmcrae]

Yes that’s the fact, most don’t know the rules because they almost never fast nor abstain. " Twice a year is not a habit.

I converted seven years ago, which is well into “N.O.” time, and I was given to understand that we normally abstain from meat once a week (Fridays); not twice a year. Outside of Lent, we may substitute other acts of penance, such as the Stations of the Cross or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, or some form of charitable works like going on a food drive, or something, but all Fridays of the year except for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, or other Solemnities if they happen to land on a Friday, are days of penance.

Was I misinformed?

 

[EasterJoy]

I converted seven years ago, which is well into “N.O.” time, and I was given to understand that we normally abstain from meat once a week (Fridays); not twice a year. Outside of Lent, we may substitute other acts of penance, such as the Stations of the Cross or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, or some form of charitable works like going on a food drive, or something, but all Fridays of the year except for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, or other Solemnities if they happen to land on a Friday, are days of penance.

Was I misinformed?

From the 2008 Lenten regulations posted on the web site of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, it is clear that, in contrast with Ember Days, the Lenten days of fasting and abstinence are obligatory. As you note, other forms of penance may be substituted for non-Lenten Fridays.

These regulations are published every Lent in the Catholic Sentinel, in the bulletins of every parish I’ve ever been in, and usually in the announcements at the conclusion of Mass on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, as well. Anybody who doesn’t know them isn’t listening.

**Fasting and Abstinence Regulations **
All Catholics 14 years and older must abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday.

All Catholics between ages 18 and 59 are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

To fast means to eat one full meal; the other two meals that day should be less than the normal amount unless they are already at a minimum for good health. Eating between meals is not permitted; however, liquids including coffee, milk and fruit juices are allowed.

March 5 is an Archdiocesan Ember Day. Traditionally, Ember Days are days of prayer and fasting. The intention of this Ember Day is for the healing of victims of child sexual abuse and their reconciliation with the Church… Observance of the Ember Day is encouraged but not obligatory.

 

[laudamus_te]

I am simply asking what a “NO environement” has to do with whether you learned the rules on fasting and abstinence.

I found that post to be just another cheap shot directed at the NO. Some people will use any excuse to take cheap shots at the NO Mass or the post V2 Church in general.

It’s like saying that anyone who owns a gun must be a criminal.

Frankly, I see your posts as just another opportunity to start a grumpy bicker-fest. The OP was a simply posed, innocent question. You need to learn to step back and just say “no” to posting sometimes.

 

[ethelzguy]

Frankly, I see your posts as just another opportunity to start a grumpy bicker-fest. The OP was a simply posed, innocent question. You need to learn to step back and just say “no” to posting sometimes.

The OP was NOT a “simply posed, innocent question”.

It was another in a long line of “bait and bash” posts, designed to denigrate the NO Mass or the post Vatican II Church.

I stand by, and repeat my question. What does “being raised in a NO environment” have to do with “not learning the rules about fasting and abstinence”?

First of all, the Mass (in either form) does not teach the rules of fast and abstinence. Second of all, if you didn’t learn the rules, place the blame where it belongs…your parents, your CCD teachers, your RCIA director, or better yet, the person in the mirror.

And speaking of “grumpy”. Who are you to tell me when I should and shouldn’t post? After reading some of your posts in your profile, it strikes me that perhaps the SSPX issue of this week might be getting under your skin a bit.

 

[laudamus_te]

The OP was NOT a “simply posed, innocent question”.

It was another in a long line of “bait and bash” posts, designed to denigrate the NO Mass or the post Vatican II Church.

Oh, come on! It was no such thing, at least not until you decided to make it so. The OP’s question was answered in the second post; in the third post the OP thanked that person and was happy to go his/her merry way. But then you had to find some dark, hidden, unhappy motive on the part of the OP. Talk about charity! Funny how that word “charity” is bandied about on this forum like a badminton birdie, but so very rarely used.

 

[EasterJoy]

Oh, come on! It was no such thing, at least not until you decided to make it so. The OP’s question was answered in the second post; in the third post the OP thanked that person and was happy to go his/her merry way. But then you had to find some dark, hidden, unhappy motive on the part of the OP. Talk about charity! Funny how that word “charity” is bandied about on this forum like a badminton birdie, but so very rarely used.

It is fair to make the assumption that no offense was intended. It isn’t fair to say that there was no unfair prejudices hidden in the post, whether the OP was aware of it or not.

The OP got the idea* somewhere* (gee, where could that be? ) that those who frequent the NO are so poorly catechized that the mere fact of being in that environment would account for a Catholic having not learned the most simple rules of fasting and abstinence. I don’t know where s/he is from, but that is not true in our archdiocese. A Catholic who attends any Mass here who doesn’t know the rules of fasting and abstinence hasn’t been listening, reading their bulletins, or reading the archdiocesan newspaper. The OP also may be under the impression that if the NO crowd can teach it in a paragraph of two, they must be giving the rules the short shrift. (Again, I don’t know *where *they could have gotten the idea that our obligations are all that complicated. )

Having said that, I will admit that there are Catholics here in my neck of the woods who have been told what the Church teaches over and over and for some reason don’t choose to believe it. I know it is blamed on Vatican II, but I think this “the rules are for suckers and saints, and I’m neither” attitude has roots in a certain cynical individualism that takes it upon itself to decide where and when authority and moral principle will be respected, on a case-by-case basis. You could just as well blame Watergate. In the end, I think this is no more nor less than the current tactic of Old Scratch.

But hey, let’s not play into Old Scratch’s hand. Let charity prevail. If we start fighting over whose fault this is, then we put him in a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose position, don’t we?