Replies

This reminds me of the old joke about the two Jesuit seminarians who wanted to smoke.

Timothy: I asked Faddah O'Flaherty whether it was OK to smoke while I was praying, and he said no, it's a sacrilege.

Kevin: Oh? He told me the opposite....but of course, you have to know how to ask.

Timothy: Oh?

Kevin: Yeah. I asked him if it was OK to pray while I was smoking.

To answer your question, though: the Catholic definition of fasting has gotten considerably slacker over the centuries. At this point, a religious "fast day" means a day in which only one full meal is eaten. There can be two smaller snacks, which togther are not supposed to add up to a meal. The other thing is abstinence, which means: no meat.

Fasting is a lot, LOT stricter amongst the Eastern Churches. We used to observe the traditional Russian Orthodox liturgical calendar, which had approx. 180 fast days per year, and whoa, it was rigorous.

At this point, a religious "fast day" means a day in which only one full meal is eaten. There can be two smaller snacks, which togther are not supposed to add up to a meal.

I do that most every Sunday. Usually running too late for Sunday School in the mornings to get anything to eat. So, after church I'm starving. Have a big meal with family at an all-you-can eat buffet. Get too stuffed to really eat anything besides a snack that night. All this time I've been fasting and didn't even know it? haha!