1. · Catholics in good health ages 18 to 59 are required to fast and to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
2. · Fasting consists of eating only one meal, with the possibility of two smaller snacks that do not add up to a single full meal.
3. · Catholics ages 14 and older are to abstain from meat on all on all Fridays in Lent.

Why do we fast?

Fasting is a biblical discipline that can be defended from both the Old and the New Testament. Christ expected his disciples to fast (Mt 9:14-15) and issued instructions for how they should do so (Mt 6:16-18). Catholics follow this pattern by holding a partial fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Abstinence from certain foods is also a biblical discipline. In Daniel 10:2-3 we read, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” Catholics use a practice similar to Daniel’s when, as a way of commemorating Christ’s Crucifixion on a Friday, they abstain from eating meat on that day of the week during Lent. The only kind of flesh they eat on Friday is fish, which is a symbol of Christ.

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