Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but aren’t Fridays in Lent days of Abstinence and Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of Fast and Abstinence. Abstinence means, generally, no meat. Fast means one full meal, two smaller meals and no snacks.
And as always doing more is great but Fridays in Lent are not days of Fast as far as I know.
I read this on the apologist forum, under a thread called “What is the Lenten Fast”.
FROM THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION PENITEMINI (PAUL VI):
III. 1. The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat.
- The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom.
A NOTE ABOUT MEAL SIZES ON DAYS OF FAST:
People often hear informal summaries of the law of fast that say you can eat one full meal plus two smaller meals as long as they don’t add up to a second meal. Many find this guideline unhelpful as they have no standard size for a meal, making it hard to figure out whether two snacks add up to a meal or not. Fortunately, the law does not contain this guideline. It simply says that you can have “some food” two other times besides your full meal. “Some food” is clearly less than a full meal (and the less it is, the more in keeping with the spirit of fasting it is), but the law does not encourage people to scruple over what two instances of “some food” add up to.
MORE INFO:
jimmyakin.org/2005/02/annual_lent_fig.html
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.***************************
Anyway, I figured, a little breakfast (like a mini bagel or an English muffin with some cream cheese or peanut butter) and a little lunch (a cheese sandwich or a couple cheese sticks and some raw veggies), then a nice fish dinner (but not lobster which seems to NOT be in the spirit of the thing) and no snacks would be good.
