An Apologetical Explanation of

Fasting and Abstinence

Why do we fast and abstain from meat?

When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  (Mt 6:17-18)

When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.  (Acts 14:23)

Fasting and abstinence from meat are traditional Christian penitential practices.  Such acts of mortification help bring about interior conversion, especially during Lent as we prepare for celebrating the Resurrection of Christ at Easter.

The season of Lent is a time in which the faithful prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery, the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.  Lent is a particular time for penitential practices, and both fasting (abstaining from all foods for periods of time) and abstinence (abstaining from meat) have long been among the forms of voluntary self-denial Christians have practiced for this purpose.  While Catholics are call to penitential practices throughout the year and especially during the season of Lent, the Church designates Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of fasting and abstinence, and all Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat (cf. SC 109-110; CIC 1249-1253; CCEO 880-883).  (Cf. CCC 1438)

All Fridays of the year are also penitential days.  “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” (CIC 1251).  In the United States abstaining from meat on Fridays outside of Lent may be substituted by an act of charity or penance.

The number forty is symbolic of preparation.  The traditional forty days of Lent is reminiscent of the time that Christ spent in the wilderness, praying and fasting, before beginning his public ministry; the forty days and nights Moses was on the mountain before receiving the Law; the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert before entering the Promised Land; and the forty days from the Resurrection until the Ascension that Christ spent preparing his Apostles for their mission.  (Cf. CCC 540)

The fasting and abstinence of Lent should remind us also of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, who experienced hunger and pain before repenting of his sins and returning home to his father.  In like manner, our mortifications and penitential practices remind us of our dependence upon God the Father and our utter need for conversion so as to return to his mercy (cf. CIC 1249-1251; CCEO 882).  (Cf. CCC 1439)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraphs 1438 and 2043.

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