by Pam Brink

Created on: February 14, 2011   Last Updated: May 01, 2012

Fasting for Lent is a very old Christian custom. It was a way of joining with Jesus in the desert (Mt 4:1-11) when he spent forty days fasting and praying after his baptism and before he began his mission. Jesus expected his disciples to fast (Mt 6:16-18, Mt 9:14-15). Jesus disciples followed him, doing what he did. If he fasted, then his disciples fasted. When he feasted, his disciples feasted. As the descendants of those first disciples, Christians try to follow their example. Fasting and abstinence have been part of Church tradition from the earliest times. Only the severity of the fast has changed.        

Fasting versus abstinence

Many people confuse fasting with abstinence. Abstinence refers to the avoidance of meat whereas fasting means a reduction in the amount of food eaten in a day. The customs that grew up around these two concepts tended to differ from country to country and from century to century.
 
In many countries, it was customary to abstain from all meats during Lent as well as on all Fridays of the year (in commemoration of Jesus death on Friday). All meat and meat products (including milk, cheese, eggs) were avoided during lent. Abstinence included all forms of alcohol. The rule on abstinence from meat lead to the custom of Carnival (Latin meaning meatless) the day before Ash Wednesday, of eating all meats and meat products in the house.

The Catholic Friday abstinence custom was so widespread it influenced restaurant menus by offering fish on Fridays.

Fasting customs are an attempt to discipline the body. Fasting always prepared for a feast, it cleanses the body and it supports the practice of prayer. In addition, the amount of money saved by not spending so much money on food, was to be used in almsgiving. In some cases, the rule for fasting applied to all persons over the age of seven, but not to the aged or the infirm. Individuals were to reduce, significantly, the amount of food they ate during lent. One common rule was to eat only one full meal a day with the other two meals not equaling, in amount, the third meal. Some countries specified that the main meal was to be eaten in the evening; other countries specified the noon meal.

Fasting from all food and drink, except water, was required for at least eight hours prior to receiving communion.

The rules for fasting were changed by Vatican II.

Current Lenten regulations on fasting and abstinence

Lent continues to be the Church’s way of solemnly uniting itself every year with the mystery of Jesus in the desert. (CCC No. 540). It is a time of voluntary self-denial, as in fasting and almsgiving, to prepare for the great feast of Easter by “helping to acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.” (CCC No. 2043). Lent remains a penitential period, a time of preparation through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

“The Code of Canon Law, is that all Fridays of the year are days of abstinence unless the local bishops’ conference has made other provisions with the approval of the Holy See. The American bishops’ conference has decreed that abstinence is required only on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. ” (http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0511qq.asp)

Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence for all persons over the age of fourteen excepting the aged and infirm. Fasting is voluntary and may be replaced by another act of self-denial such as giving up something to which one is especially attached during this period.

References

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition. 1997.

Greg Dues. Catholic Customs and Traditions. 2009.

http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyw ord/Lent/page3

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