Lent - Fasting & Abstinence
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The word “Lent” itself means “spring” in Middle English, based on an Anglo-Saxon term meaning “lengthening.” In other languages a term reflecting the word “forty” is usually used. Therefore, Lent is more than acknowledging oncoming Spring (in the northern hemisphere).
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the day that reminds us of our need to die to our old selves so we may be raised to new life with Christ. Lent is the season of penance for the faithful and for the purification and enlightenment of the elect. In both cases it prepares the community for its celebration of Easter, the most important feast of the church year.
The season of Lent invites us to be reflective, deepening time. We stop, look, listen, and attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect. “Rend your hearts, not your garments” speaks of opening up to God’s grace. This Lenten path is not easy, but those who have gone before us, assure us that many blessings come to those who set out on this journey.
One of the traditional practices for Lent is fast and abstinence. Fast and abstinence are not the same, even if they sometimes go together. For Latin/Roman Catholics “fast” means that (1) the two minor meals of the day are not to equal in quantity to the main meal; and (2) no eating between meals. For Latin/Roman Catholics “abstinence” means no consumption of meat (pork, beef or fowl) nor significant by-products from these sources.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law (canon 1252) applies abstinence “to those who have completed their fourteenth (14) year.” There is no cap in age on abstinence. Fast applies “to those who have attained their majority” (18 in USA) “until the beginning of their sixtieth (60) year.”
1983 Code of Canon Law
Days of Penance
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from 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.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.