Intro to Fast and Abstinence 101

Concord Pastor ^ | February 25, 2009 | Concord Pastor

[NYer]

There are particular days of fast and abstinence in Lent when the whole Church participates in this Lenten practice as a community of believers. But individual Christians are invited to fast in ways that each determines from his/her own experience and circumstances. The following reflections might be helpful to all of us as we consider fasting in the season ahead of us.

Here's what the Lord says of fasting through the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 58:

Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed,
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own...
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted...

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.

+ + +

In the same spirit, the following advice is convincing and compelling as we face a Lenten fast:

Lent is a season that calls us:

to fast from discontent and to feast on gratitude;
to fast from anger and to feast on patience;
to fast from bitterness and to feast on forgiveness;
to fast from self-concern and to feast on compassion;
to fast from discouragement and to feast on hope;
to fast from laziness and to feast on commitment;
to fast from complaining and to feast on acceptance;
to fast from lust and to feast on respect;
to fast from prejudice and to feast on understanding;
to fast from resentment and to feast on reconciliation;
to fast from lies and to feast on the truth;
to fast from wasted time and to feast on honest work;
to fast from grimness and to feast on joy;
to fast from suspicion and to feast on trust;
to fast from idle talk and to feast on prayer and silence;
to fast from guilt and to feast on the mercy of God.

(Based on a version often attributed to William Arthur Ward)

+ + +

Still not convinced? Spiritual writer Thomas Merton fillets some of our standard Lenten practices with a very sharp blade:

Such exercises as fasting cannot have their proper effect unless our motives for practicing them spring from personal meditation. We have to think of what we are doing, and the reasons for our actions must spring from the depths of our freedom and be enlivened by the transforming power of Christian love. Otherwise, our self-imposed sacrifices are likely to be pretenses, symbolic gestures without real interior meaning. Sacrifices made in this formalistic spirit tend to be mere acts of external routine performed in order to exorcise interior anxiety and not for the sake of love. In that case, however, our attention will tend to fix itself upon the insignificant suffering which we have piously elected to undergo, and to exaggerate it in one way or another, either to make it seem unbearable or else to make it seem more heroic than it actually is. Sacrifices made in this fashion would be better left unmade. It would be more sincere as well as more religious to eat a full dinner in a spirit of gratitude than to make some minor sacrifice a part of it, with the feeling that one is suffering martyrdom.

-Thomas Merton in The Climate of Monastic Prayer

+ + +

The reflections above speak to our individual choices regarding fasting in Lent. Here are the laws regarding our communal fasting as a Church:

ASH WEDNESDAY and GOOD FRIDAY*
are days of FAST and ABSTINENCE

What does that mean?

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,
Catholics over 14 years of age
are expected to abstain from eating meat on this day.
Catholics 18 years of age
and up to the beginning of their 60th year
are expected to fast on these days:
taking only one full meal and two other light meals,
eating nothing between meals.
(liquids between meals, however, are allowed).

*Holy Saturday is a day of fast for the elect,
those who are to be baptized at the Easter Vigil.
While fasting is not required of all the faithful,
this is an ancient tradition on this day and a great way
to support those who are to be baptized.

All the FRIDAYS of Lent are days of ABSTINENCE

What does that mean?

Catholics over 14 years of age
Are expected to abstain from eating meat
on the Fridays of Lent.

+ + +

Health concerns and “doctor’s orders”
should take precedence over the practices of fast and abstinence.
Fast and abstinence should never jeopardize one’s physical health.

DISPENSATIONS?

Pastors often receive requests from parishioners asking to be “dispensed” from fast and abstinence for particular social occasions. Of course, it is precisely on such occasions that the self-denial of fast and abstinence might be most meaningful. Such a “dispensation” is not a pastor’s to give. The Church tells us that in this matter individuals have freedom to excuse themselves but that, “no Catholic will lightly hold himself/herself excused from so hallowed an obligation as this penitential practice.”

-ConcordPastor 2009LentPostCollection

[GOP Poet]

so true. Great points. Would love to see your mom’s cookbook :-).

[narses]

Thank you. Now let’s try a small thought expiriment, shall we? Suppose a group of American Baptist laymen choose to fast, pray and engage in almsgiving for forty days in spiritual preparation for Easter? What then would you say about that idea?

[Mad Dawg]

Serious question: When one is ordained in a Baptist denomination, what is the name of the "office" to which one is ordained? Can one ever be "unordained"?

FWIW, I was "ordained" in the Episcopal Church in 1977, first as deacon then as priest. In my current opinion I was never any of those things, while many Episcopalians hold that I still am. (M.Div. Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria VA 1976)

[Mad Dawg]

Serious question: When one is ordained in a Baptist denomination, what is the name of the "office" to which one is ordained? Can one ever be "unordained"?

FWIW, I was "ordained" in the Episcopal Church in 1977, first as deacon then as priest. In my current opinion I was never any of those things, while many Episcopalians hold that I still am. (M.Div. Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria VA 1976)

[Mad Dawg]

Did I mention I had a serious question and used to be a clergydude? And went to seminary?

Oh. They're coming to take my computer way now. But they've brought my meds, so that's all right.

[LiteKeeper]

I was ordained as a “Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”. There is no other “office” to which one is ordained. I have served in various positions: pastor of several churches, chaplain in the Army, and now Bible teacher for both high school and college age students. I perform weddings and funerals, and preach as a substitute preacher in several different churches. I also conduct apologetics workshops in various churches. I suppose there is a process for “defrocking,” but have never looked into it.

[LiteKeeper]

I would say that is fine, but just don’t call it the Lenten season.

[narses]

Really, how about they called it a Easter preparation season? That would be OK?

[Alas Babylon!]

In reality, you are saying, you are a better Christian than Roman Catholics, and even implying we do not pratcie true Christianity, in your view, which, once again, you believe to be true, and our view to be false. You believe this strongly, and believe your view of the Bible is the correct view, where our view of the Bible is false.

I am a Roman Catholic, and a Christian, steeped in sin, and unworthy of His redemption, yet redeemed I am. We believe we do His will, and while imperfect, our faith continues to call us to Him.

Believe it or not, that is your choice, but you are not more holy than us, despite your so-called wisdom, learning, studying, and chaplaincy.

[Mad Dawg]

Thanks.

[Mad Dawg]

but you are not more holy than us, despite your so-called wisdom, learning, studying, and chaplaincy.

Actually, it's not hard to be more holy than I.

But what do we want here? I mean clearly LK thinks his mode of following Christ is better. If he didn't he'd change it. And clearly we disagree, or most of us would become Baptists.

The problem seems to be that the validity of the various stands seem almost "self-evident" to some who hold them. The rhetoric seems to suggest, "All I have to do is state what I think for those of good will to see that it's right." So when they persist in not agreeing with us, we start acting like they're clearly bad folks. Religious conversation involves, I think, provisionally entertaining what seems at first to be unthinkable.

That's difficult, so we rarely achieve any decent communication. When I suggest that LK may not quite understand what Lent is to us, and he responds, essentially, "Well, maybe YOU don't understand what Lent is to you," all we know is that there's a disagreement.

So, well, that's nice, I guess. But unless we can get some depth of understanding about the disagreement, it's hard to know what's been learned. I already knew Baptists don't think what Catholics think.

[ArrogantBustard]

Rattlesnake: Taystes jest lahk CHIKKIN!

[Alas Babylon!]

I understand what you are saying.

Still, I’m not coming on Baptist threads telling Baptists they’re wrong, either. I think we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as we proclaim Him Lord.

It’s not that I even think LiteKeeper is wrong about what “HE” believes, it’s just not what “I” believe. All I ask is he does not commit me to Hell for not believing what he believes. Is he doing that? No, I don’t see that. Still, thicker lines have been drawn and crossed quickly, too.

In the military, Chaplians have a role that transends mere minister, priest, or rabbi. I have used the services of many a chaplain and what denomination they were didn’t matter. However, if one was to tell me, without me even asking, that my denomination was wrong about something, that would be disturbing to me. At best he could refer me to a chaplain that shared my faith, if I had questions about MY faith (not his).

If I had question about a particular chaplain’s faith, that would be very different. Then I would expect him to tell me why his differs, why he considers it better, and why, in contrast, mine may be wrong.

I would never be so smug as a Catholic to consider my faith in Christ to be right and another person’s denomination to be wrong to the point of eternal damnation. I’m not implying that what LiteKeeper believes. But the arguments between Catholic and Protestant do go back to that and even bloodshed, and I hope as Christians we can avoid that today.

Bottom line is, I know I’m a sinner! But God promised to save me through his Son, so I believe that, too. We should at least (you, me, Litekeeper) share THAT belief.

[Salvation]

Bumping this great thread.

All days during Lent are days of fasting — only one full meal.

Ash Wednesday, all Fridays are also days of abstaining from meat. Abstinence.