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Catholic Home Study Service: Fast and Abstinence

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(Congregation of the Mission) and the Missouri Knights of Columbus.
Reprinted with permission.

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Abstinence from food was recognized in the Old Testament as a means of penance and reparation, propitiation (1 Sam 7:6), petition (Bar 1:5), mourning (1 Sam 31:31), and grief. "When I heard this report, I began to weep and continued mourning for several days; I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Neh 1:4).

Fasting was undertaken as a preparation for a great work (1 Esd 8:21), to secure victory (Jud 8:6), and to receive divine light. "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Dan 9:3).

Among the Hebrews the Day of Atonement and almost all other fasts were observed from sunset to sunset (Jdgs 20:26). No food or drink was taken on these days. If the fast lasted longer than a day, a little nourishment, enough to sustain life was allowed. These longer fasts were of three days, or seven days, or many days, or forty days (Ex 24:18), or perhaps for life (Jud 8:6).

As in the Old Law so in the New Law of Christ, fasting continues as a means of atoning for sin, controlling disordered desires, and obtaining divine assistance. To be acceptable to God, fasting must be performed out of love for God and be accompanied by true sentiments of sorrow for sin and charity towards others.

Early Christians seem to have made no distinction between fasting and abstinence. It took time for the theological distinctions we have today to come into existence. In the early Church the reference was more often to the general term "fasting" and this term could mean no food at all, or very little food, or restricted kinds of food. At the present time, abstinence refers to the quality (what kind) of food that may not be eaten; and fasting is primarily concerned with the quantity (how much) food may be eaten.

The sixth precept of the Church is to do penance, including abstaining from meat and fasting from food on appointed days.

Fasting

Everyone between the ages of 18 years completed and 59 years completed is bound to observe the laws of fasting.

The days of fasting are two: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On these two days only one full meal is allowed. Two other meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one's needs, but together they should not equal another full meal.

Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk and fruit juices, are allowed.

When health or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige. In doubt concerning fast or abstinence, a parish priest or confessor should be consulted.

Abstinence

All members of the Church 14 years of age or over who have the use of reason are obliged to observe the abstinence days of the Church, unless they are excused or dispensed.

The days of abstinence are: Ash Wednesday and each of the Fridays of Lent. The general law (Canon 1251) designates all the Fridays of the year as days of abstinence. By special exception this observance of Fridays outside of Lent is left optional for American and Canadian Catholics. The law of abstinence forbids the eating of meat, and soup, gravy or sauces made from meat.

Why refrain from meat and not some other food on days of abstinence? The reason is probably the fact that historically meat was always considered something of a special food--as it is today-- and giving up this food is consequently something significant. Abstinence from meat has value to the extent that it is an act of self-denial, of giving up of something pleasurable. If one is to reach any kind of emotional maturity, self-denial is a prime necessity. What the Church has in mind, however, is not simply human maturity, but likeness of the Christian to Christ whose life was one of habitual self-denial. For the conscientious Christian, the period of abstinence is also a time of more intense awareness of his dependence upon God and his obligation of sharing the world's goods with his fellow men. With this in mind, he will not fall into the trap of simply substituting expensive seafood's in place of meat, pharisaically observing the letter of the law while dodging the self-denial which is its spirit.

Christ died for our salvation of Friday. From time immemorial, Catholics have set Friday for special penitential observances by which they gladly suffer with Christ that they may one day be glorified with Him. Even when Catholics are obliged to abstinence only on Fridays of Lent, they are exhorted to make each Friday of the year a special day of penance.

"It would bring great glory to God and good to souls if Fridays found our people doing volunteer work in hospitals, visiting the sick, serving the needs of the aged and the lonely, instructing the young in the Faith, participating as Christians in community affairs, and meeting our obligations to our families, our friends, our neighbors and our community, including our parishes, with a special zeal born of the desire to add the merit of penance to the other virtues exercised in good works born of living faith" (On Penance and Abstinence, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Nov. 18, 1966).

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