Intro to Fast and Abstinence 101

Concord Pastor ^ | February 25, 2009 | Concord Pastor

[NYer]

There are particular days of fast and abstinence in Lent when the whole Church participates in this Lenten practice as a community of believers. But individual Christians are invited to fast in ways that each determines from his/her own experience and circumstances. The following reflections might be helpful to all of us as we consider fasting in the season ahead of us.

Here's what the Lord says of fasting through the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 58:

Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed,
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own...
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted...

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.

+ + +

In the same spirit, the following advice is convincing and compelling as we face a Lenten fast:

Lent is a season that calls us:

to fast from discontent and to feast on gratitude;
to fast from anger and to feast on patience;
to fast from bitterness and to feast on forgiveness;
to fast from self-concern and to feast on compassion;
to fast from discouragement and to feast on hope;
to fast from laziness and to feast on commitment;
to fast from complaining and to feast on acceptance;
to fast from lust and to feast on respect;
to fast from prejudice and to feast on understanding;
to fast from resentment and to feast on reconciliation;
to fast from lies and to feast on the truth;
to fast from wasted time and to feast on honest work;
to fast from grimness and to feast on joy;
to fast from suspicion and to feast on trust;
to fast from idle talk and to feast on prayer and silence;
to fast from guilt and to feast on the mercy of God.

(Based on a version often attributed to William Arthur Ward)

+ + +

Still not convinced? Spiritual writer Thomas Merton fillets some of our standard Lenten practices with a very sharp blade:

Such exercises as fasting cannot have their proper effect unless our motives for practicing them spring from personal meditation. We have to think of what we are doing, and the reasons for our actions must spring from the depths of our freedom and be enlivened by the transforming power of Christian love. Otherwise, our self-imposed sacrifices are likely to be pretenses, symbolic gestures without real interior meaning. Sacrifices made in this formalistic spirit tend to be mere acts of external routine performed in order to exorcise interior anxiety and not for the sake of love. In that case, however, our attention will tend to fix itself upon the insignificant suffering which we have piously elected to undergo, and to exaggerate it in one way or another, either to make it seem unbearable or else to make it seem more heroic than it actually is. Sacrifices made in this fashion would be better left unmade. It would be more sincere as well as more religious to eat a full dinner in a spirit of gratitude than to make some minor sacrifice a part of it, with the feeling that one is suffering martyrdom.

-Thomas Merton in The Climate of Monastic Prayer

+ + +

The reflections above speak to our individual choices regarding fasting in Lent. Here are the laws regarding our communal fasting as a Church:

ASH WEDNESDAY and GOOD FRIDAY*
are days of FAST and ABSTINENCE

What does that mean?

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,
Catholics over 14 years of age
are expected to abstain from eating meat on this day.
Catholics 18 years of age
and up to the beginning of their 60th year
are expected to fast on these days:
taking only one full meal and two other light meals,
eating nothing between meals.
(liquids between meals, however, are allowed).

*Holy Saturday is a day of fast for the elect,
those who are to be baptized at the Easter Vigil.
While fasting is not required of all the faithful,
this is an ancient tradition on this day and a great way
to support those who are to be baptized.

All the FRIDAYS of Lent are days of ABSTINENCE

What does that mean?

Catholics over 14 years of age
Are expected to abstain from eating meat
on the Fridays of Lent.

+ + +

Health concerns and “doctor’s orders”
should take precedence over the practices of fast and abstinence.
Fast and abstinence should never jeopardize one’s physical health.

DISPENSATIONS?

Pastors often receive requests from parishioners asking to be “dispensed” from fast and abstinence for particular social occasions. Of course, it is precisely on such occasions that the self-denial of fast and abstinence might be most meaningful. Such a “dispensation” is not a pastor’s to give. The Church tells us that in this matter individuals have freedom to excuse themselves but that, “no Catholic will lightly hold himself/herself excused from so hallowed an obligation as this penitential practice.”

-ConcordPastor 2009LentPostCollection

[diamond6]

Please see my Lenten recipe!

[Mad Dawg]

Thanks. Printing, keeping, drooling.

I’m over 59 so I’m excused. But I’m fasting anyway. Just had my “meal”. I was getting hypoglycaemic at Mass. My body is falling apart. Remember, Man, that you are dust — and in your case, pretty old dust. Then I told Fr Scordo, who became a Navy Chaplain after his we provincial prior and is even older than I that with my face putting ashes on my head is an improvement.

[diamond6]

Rarely do I ever rave about a recipe (I’m very critical of my cooking) but this was so good and so easy. I’ll be making it alot during Lent and beyond. If you make it let me know how you like it?

This is almost as good as Claim Jumper clam chowder. Can’t wait till dinner time.

[Mad Dawg]

Unfortunately, I prolly won’t be allowed to have any. If I say the word “butter” too loudly my cholesterol numbers get all funky.

[narses]

Why must there be a strict Biblical instruction for the specific Lenten acts of penance, prayers or for almsgiving? All three sets of pius practices and spiritual exercise are themselves clearly Biblical, no?

[Mad Dawg]

Maybe you ought to say what you think Lent is and why you think we Catholics observe it.

[diamond6]

Have you tried taking Niacin? It brought my cholesterol down significantly?

You could substitute the cream for whole milk, right there you’re removing much saturated fat.

[Mad Dawg]

Yep. This old corpse is really turning out to be a problem. I had majorly bad reactions to two statins and just normally bad reactions to Niacin. It would be interesting if it weren’t a real drag.

[Salvation]

This Lent, live as if Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of your life
Reconciliation, forgiveness, hope – and Lent
Intro to Fast and Abstinence 101
Lent: Why the Christian Must Deny Himself (with Scriptural references)

40 Ways to Improve Your Lent
Everything Lent (Lots of links)
The Best Kind of Fasting
Getting Serious About Lent
Lent Overview

Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ [Devotional]
On Lent... and Lourdes (Benedict XVI's Angelus address)
Lent for Newbies
Lent -- 2008 -- Come and Pray Each Day
Lent: Why the Christian Must Deny Himself

Lenten Workshop [lots of ideas for all]
Lent and Reality
Forty Days (of Lent) [Devotional/Reflections]
Pope Benedict takes his own advice, plans to go on retreat for Lent
GUIDE FOR LENT - What the Catholic Church Says

Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2008
40 Days for Life: 2008 Campaigns [Lent Registration this week]
Vatican Web Site Focuses on Lent
Almsgiving [Lent]
Conversion Through Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving [Lent]

Feasting on Purple [Lent]
Lent: A Time for Prayer, Reflection and Giving
Denver Archbishop’s Lenten Message: “Restore us as a culture of Life”
Where does Ash Wednesday get its ashes?
Catholic Caucus: Daily Rosary Prayer for Lent

On the 40 Days of Lent General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI
Lenten Stations -- Stational Churches - visit each with us during Lent {Catholic Caucus}
Something New for Lent: Part I -- Holy Souls Saturdays
Reflections for Lent (February, March and April, 2007)
Lent 2007: The Love Letter Written by Pope Benedict

Pre-Lent through Easter Prayer and Reflections -- 2007
Stations of the Cross [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
For study and reflection during Lent - Mind, Heart, Soul [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fast-Family observance Lenten season [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Pre-Lenten Days -- Family activities-Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
40 Ways to Get the Most Out of Lent! [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]

Lenten Fasting or Feasting? [Catholic Caucus]
Pope's Message for Lent-2007
THE TRUE NATURE OF FASTING (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
The Triduum and 40 Days
The Three Practices of Lent: Praying, Fasting. Almsgiving

Why We Need Lent
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2006
Lent a Time for Renewal, Says Benedict XVI
Why You Should Celebrate Lent
Getting the Most Out of Lent

Lent: A Time to Fast From Media and Criticism Says President of Pontifical Liturgical Institute
Give it up (making a Lenten sacrifice)
The History of Lent
The Holy Season of Lent -- Fast and Abstinence
The Holy Season of Lent -- The Stations of the Cross

Lent and Fasting
Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots [Shrove Tuesday]
Kids and Holiness: Making Lent Meaningful to Children
Ash Wednesday
All About Lent

[Mad Dawg]

I LOVE Lent!

[Salvation]

Me too!

When we suffer now, we can expect our reward later.

Fasting
Prayer
Almsgiving

[Mad Dawg]

Bless you.

Have a great Lent and an Easter that exceeds all your hopes.

[Campion]

A 40 day period of fasting and spiritual preparation was practiced by Moses (Ex 34:28), Elijah (1 Kgs 19:8), and the Lord Jesus (Matthew 4:2).

Do you seriously want to claim that something practiced by Moses, Elijah, and Jesus "isn't Biblical" because we call it "Lent"?

If we called it the "Moses-Elijah-Jesus 40-day fast," would that make it sufficiently "Biblical"?

[Salvation]

LitKeeper:

What part of this Gospel don't you understand? Christ's own words!

Gospel
Lk 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples:
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"

[LiteKeeper]

What in the world does that passage have to do with Lent? What you quoted ought to be true of the life of the believer every day. How do you translate that into a 40 day season (for some of obligation) preceding Easter? That is absurd! You are bordering on eisegesis, and that is unacceptable.

[Salvation]

He must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Imitate Christ — for forty days he fasted, prayed.

What’s not biblical about that?

[Salvation]

I’m quoting directly from the Bible and I believe that is acceptable.

[narses]

Why must there be a strict Biblical instruction for the specific Lenten acts of penance, prayers or for almsgiving? All three sets of pius practices and spiritual exercise are themselves clearly Biblical, no?

{{{I ASK AGAIN}}}}

[Mad Dawg]

What you quoted ought to be true of the life of the believer every day.

But is it? Is it true of the life of every believer every day? And what are we to make of its not being true of every believer every day?

What am I to make of its not being true of me every day? If I choose to join my brothers and sisters around the world, or for a time to devote more attention to prayer, acts of discipline, and alsmgiving, what is that to you? If when I do so I think a little of Moses, Elijah, Nineveh and Jonah, the Israelites in the wilderness, and our Lord himself fasting and praying (his whole life was eleemosynary) where is the harm in that?

Paul himself took a vow (Acts 18:18,) which seems to have involved a temporary spiritual discipline (and a coiffure!)

Or is this yet another long way around the barn to get to the "Catholics follow traditions of men" contention, why be indirect?

I note that you have not yet said what you think Lent is, nor what you find objectionable about it. Why don't you lay down your cards and converse as a free adult among free adults?

I am (leaving aside the mystery of election for a minute) voluntarily a Catholic Christian. Voluntarily I take up the obligation to a certain rededication. If this troubles you, I regret your discomfort, but I see nothing wrong in Lent, though of course some who have not yet digested (even a little) the idea of God's gracious love may think they must somehow earn it through things like Lent. So some people have yet to be evangelized. This is news?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Where can the words Bible, Trinity and Incarnation be found in Scripture?