"Some say they fasted for a week and that somehow makes up for the confession; to me it sounds like they are just making up their own rules, or actually what the post Vatican II Catholics do in America: eat meat on Fridays if you do charitable work instead of fasting but most just eat meat on Fridays."
Funny you bring that up. My Priest was lamenting the failure of Catholics to observe fasts, something he is rather passionate about. And it was the central theme of his homily this week.
One thing he pointed out was the paucity of available information regarding fasting and the spiritual importance of it.
Are you aware of any books or articles that approach the subject in depth?
There is a book which I have heard of but never read, called "Fasting in the Orthodox Church: Its Theological, Pastoral, and Social Implications" Its available on Amazon. Here's what the write-up says:
"In this trenchant and erudite discussion of fasting, Father Akakios provides both the necessary historical background to this crucial dimension of Orthodox asceticism and a pastorally oriented defense of traditional fasting rules. By placing fasting in the broader context of the ecumenist agenda of “modernizing” Orthodoxy, he shows convincingly that fasting is neither an optional extra nor an inconvenience for Orthodox Christians today, but rather an essential weapon in the struggle for spiritual self-transformation."
The final line expresses my experience. My spiritual father has always told people its best to start of slowly and prayer is both an integral and necessary element of proper and efficacious fasting. I'll check our parish bookstore after Liturgy today and see if we have anything there.