San Isidro Labrador Chapel

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GOOD FRIDAY IS A DAY OF FASTING & ABSTINENCE

A friendly reminder from your HugotSeminarista family:

The 15th Day of April is Good Friday. As Catholics, we are encouraged to do the following practices: FASTING and ABSTINENCE.

(1) FASTING
- It is a form of penance that involves limiting kinds or amount of food or drink consumption.
- Catholics who are 18-59 years old are eligible to this practice.
- Days of fasting (with abstinence) are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
- During fasting, the faithful should only eat 1 regular meal and 2 small meals (should not exceed the main amount of the main meal)
- Fast is broken by eating between meals and by drinks which could be considered food (milk shakes, but not milk).

(2) ABSTINENCE
- It is another form of penance that involves refraining from kinds of food or drink.
- This should be practiced by Catholics who are 14 years old and above (until death).
- During abstinence, the faithful should refrain from eating meat (i.e. flesh and organs of mammals and birds), but may consume fish and shellfish.
- Days of abstinence are Fridays in Lent.

N.B. Some people can be excused from fasting and abstinence. They are:

- persons with disabilities which make it difficult to understand or observe the practice (e.g. people with mental health concerns)
- the sick, frail, pregnant, or nursing women, according to need for meat or nourishment
- manual laborers, according to need
- guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offence or causing enmity
- those in other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline
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Sources:

(1) Chapter II: Days of Penance — Code of Canon Law

(2) Fast & Abstinence — United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

(3) Fasting and Abstinence: A Guideline for Catholics — Catholic Fortress

(4) What's the point of fasting, anyway? — Catholic News Agency:

(5) Why do Catholics fast and abstain? — St. Peter Parish, Covington, LA

(6) Why Do Catholics Practice Fasting and Abstinence during Lent? — Catholic Answers