FASTING

In my house growing up, Friday dinners were one of two varieties. We either had baked macaroni and cheese, bread crumbs sprinkled on top and Catalina salad dressing added as a garnish (I later learned that tabasco sauce made it much more manly), or what my mother called "tuna-fish wiggle." It was tuna with peas in a white sauce poured over toast. If it was Friday, we were eating one of these two. That was because it was a Church law that every Catholic had to abstain from meat on Fridays. Friday is the day on which Jesus died so it was appropriate for Christians to do some kind of fast in remembrance. Often in resent years I have been asked why the Church did away with fasting. It did not.

In the revised Code of Canon Law of 1983 the Church says: "All Christians are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe." Canon 1249

Canon 1250 - "The days and times of penance...are each Friday for the whole year and the season of Lent."

Canon 1251 - "Abstinence from meat, or some other food, as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday."

Canon 1252 - "The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, (18 in our Conference) until the beginning of their sixtieth year..."

Canon 1253 - The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed."

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has decided that on Fridays through out the year, the faithful should do some form of abstinence or fasting. It is no longer required that the faithful abstain from meat. On Fridays during Lent abstinence from meat is obligatory, as it also is on Ash Wednesday, along with fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

So what is the Conference saying about Fridays outside of Lent? The bishops recognize that abstaining from meat does not necessarily mean sacrifice. Americans often eat non-meat dishes that are very sumptuous. When I was at St. Patrick’s in Binghamton we got a phone call during one Lent from a local banquet hall. The person calling informed us that a big dinner was being served on Friday and could there be a dispensation from the law of abstinence for those attending so they could have the prime rib on the menu. When asked what else was on the menu we were informed that baked sole was also available. Dispensation was denied. Too many were following the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law. Our Conference has decided to treat us like adults, at least most of the year, and let us decide for ourselves what is sacrificial.

The problem is that for many people, all they heard was that you could now eat meat on Friday. They didn’t hear the part that said you have to substitute another sacrifice. We are still called to fast or abstain on Fridays. We are given the choice as to what form that sacrifice takes. The Conference recognizes that a bowl of chicken soup may be more sacrificial than giant crab legs. What’s more, we are not only obliged to do some form of fast or abstinence on all Fridays, but we are also asked to spend extra time in prayer, in our Conference especially prayer for world peace.

Lent, being a special season of penance, has its own obligations. Fasting and abstinence are obligatory for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for those meeting the conditions of Canon 1252. On those days we may not eat meat and may eat only one full meal. Smaller, incomplete meals may be served at the two other meal times with no eating in between meals. On Fridays of Lent we are obliged to abstain from meat and to spend time in prayer and other "works of charity and exercises of piety." (Canon 1253) We are also encouraged to do some form of fast or abstinence throughout Lent. The old practice of giving something up for Lent is still a valid and encouraged practice, providing this practice actually includes a sacrifice. Such a special time of penance is the season of Lent that reception of the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage are discouraged. Lent is a time of scrutiny, of "soul searching", when we take a hard look at how we have, or have not, lived up to our calling as disciples of Christ. It is a time of preparation for the celebration of the high holy days of our year, the Paschal Triduum of Holy Week.

In short, the Church calls all to do some form a fasting on a regular basis. On each Friday of the year we are obliged to do some form of fasting or abstinence. On Fridays in Lent we are obliged to abstain from meat and meat products and on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday we are obliged to fast and abstain from meat. These acts of penance and self-sacrifice draw us deeper into the life of Christ. We share the Cross of Christ by acts of self-denial and we enter more fully into the work of the Lord and His Church through acts of penance, prayer, works of charity and exercises of piety.