Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food, while abstinence refers to refraining from something that is good, and not inherently sinful, such as meat. The Catholic Church teaches that all people are obliged by God to perform some penance for their sins, and that these acts of penance are both personal and corporeal.
Catholics may eat only one full meal on a fast day. Additionally, they are permitted to eat up to two small meals or snacks, known as collations. [14] Church requirements on fasting only relate to solid food, not to drink, so Church law does not restrict the amount of water or other beverages – even alcoholic drinks – which may be consumed.
Some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations put forth by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast until sunset. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat ( mammals and fowl ), as are all Fridays during Lent. [ 46 ]
Why do Catholics give up things during Lent? Lent is a reflection of the story of Jesus spending 40 days praying and fasting in the desert following his baptism.
Christians in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Orthodox denominations traditionally observe Friday as a meat-free day (in mourning of the crucifixion of Jesus); many also fast and abstain from consuming meat on Wednesday (in memory of the betrayal of Jesus). There are various fasting periods, most notably the liturgical season of Lent.
Prior to 1966, the Catholic Church allowed Catholics of fasting age to eat only one full meal a day throughout all forty days of Lent, except on the Lord's Day. Catholics were allowed to take a smaller meal, called a collation , which was introduced after the 14th century A.D., and a cup of some beverage, accompanied by a little bread, in the ...
During the season, Catholics are asked to fast, remember the needy and reflect on mortality. "Life is not a play: Lent invites us to come down from the stage and return to the heart, to the ...
Sikhism does not regard fasting as a spiritual act. Fasting as an austerity or as a mortification of the body by means of wilful hunger is discouraged in Sikhism. Sikhism encourages temperance and moderation in food, i.e., neither starve nor over-eat. [113] Sikhism does not promote fasting except for