February 22, 2017 // Perspective

Fasting and abstinence during Lent

Todays Catholic

Abstinence from eating meat is obligatory for all Roman Catholics 14 years of age and older on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent.

Fasting is obligatory for all Roman Catholics from ages 18 to 59 on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The law of the fast means that only one full meal may be eaten. Two smaller meals are also permitted, but they should not equal one full meal.

Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church.

If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil, on Holy Saturday night, as the “paschal fast” to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily His Resurrection.