Previous abstinence regulations required Catholics as young as seven, but there were many exceptions. Large classes of people were considered exempt from fasting and abstinence, not only the sick and those with physically demanding jobs, but also travelers and students. The regulations were tailored to each nation, and so in most dioceses in America, no abstinence from meat was required on the Friday after Thanksgiving to ingest meat left behind by this American national holiday. The fruits and benefits of fasting can be easily detected. And first; Fasting is very useful for preparing the soul for prayer and contemplation of divine things, as the angel Raphael says: „Prayer is good with fasting“. Thus Moses prepared his soul by fasting for forty days, before presumed to speak with God: thus Elijah fasted forty days, that he might speak with God as far as human nature permitted; Thus, by a three-week fast, Daniel was ready to receive God`s revelations: this is how the Church established the „fast“ on the eve of the great feasts. [43] St. Robert Bellarmine writes about the benefits of fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory Saturdays of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays in Lent are mandatory days of abstinence. Members of the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches are required to follow the discipline of their particular Church.
While some Eastern Catholics try to follow the stricter rules of their Orthodox counterparts, the actual canonical obligations of Eastern Catholics to fast and abstain are generally much more lenient than those of the Orthodox. [10] Today, many Catholics fast and abstain from the Lord`s Passion only on Ash Wednesday and Friday, and abstain from meat on other Fridays of Lent, which is the minimum required by the Church`s commandments. In ancient times, however, the forty-day fast sometimes included prolonged and stricter periods of fasting, as some Catholics practice today. For example, some Catholics fasted each of the forty days (except Sunday and sometimes Saturday) until the ninth hour, or 3:00 p.m., the hour when Christ gave His Spirit on the cross (Matthew 27:50). The intention was to unite one`s own suffering with the Passion of Christ through fasting. Since our Lord`s suffering ended at the ninth hour, the fast also ended at that hour. St. Athanasius recommended in his feast letter (331 A.D.) that Christians observe a forty-day fast before a stricter fast during Holy Week. Lent is a 40-day period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Maundy Thursday at sunset. It is a time of preparation to celebrate the Lord`s resurrection at Easter.
During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; And we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to renounce luxury during Lent, but also to a true interior conversion of heart, seeking to follow Christ`s will more faithfully. We remember the water of baptism, in which we too were baptized into the death of Christ, died of sin and evil, and began a new life in Christ. As a reminder, during Lent, we are called to abstain from meat on Friday to remind ourselves that our Lord offered a sacrifice of flesh to His body for our sins. We also abstain from meat and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Here, fasting means eating only one full meal a day, which is enough to maintain strength. Two other meatless meals are allowed, but are said to be light and Pentecostal. Anyone aged 14 and over is bound by the law of abstinence, and anyone aged 18 but not yet 60 is bound by the law of fasting. Of course, you need to pay attention to your own physical condition.
These physical sacrifices help each of us be spiritually aware that our Lord suffered and died for our sins. The Congregation of the Immaculate Queen Mary (CMRI), a Roman Catholic congregation of the Sedavacantists, requires its members to fast during the forty days of Christian penance, Lent (except Lord`s Day). [40] Fasting is also obligatory on the days of embers and vigils of Pentecost, Immaculate Conception and Christmas Day. [40] – With regard to fasting, the age of those who participate is generally between 18 and 59 years, with the exception of people who cannot participate because of health problems, such as the sick, pregnant women or those who perform manual work. Paenitemini and the 1983 Code of Canon Law allowed Episcopal Conferences to propose adjustments to the laws on fasting and abstinence for their territories of origin. In some countries, the Episcopal Conferences in Rome have succeeded in replacing pious or charitable acts with abstinence from meat on Fridays except Good Friday. Others abstain from meat on Lenten Friday. [6] In addition to the fasts mentioned above, Catholics must also observe the Eucharistic fast, which in the Latin Church implies that nothing but water or medicine is absorbed into the body for an hour before receiving the Eucharist. [29] The first recorded regular practice was to eat at home before the sacrament when hungry (1 Corinthians 11:34).
The next known old practice was to fast from midnight until Mass that day. Pope Pius XII reduced this in 1957 to fasting (from solid food and alcohol) for three hours before receiving communion, which paved the way for the celebration of evening Masses. Another reduction occurred in 1964, when Pope Paul VI reduced the Eucharistic fast to one hour, let alone for priests who celebrated more than one Mass on the same day.