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Abstinence from Meat and Fasting During Lent
The Bishops of the United States prescribe, as a minimal obligation, that all persons who are 14 years of age and older are bound to abstain from eating meat on all the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.
Further, all persons 18 years of age and older, up to and including their 59th birthday, are bound to fast by limiting themselves to a single full meal on Ash Wednesday & Good Friday, while the other two meals on those days are to be light. Keeping a voluntary fast throughout Lent is encouraged on the part of all.
REFLECTION - Knowing what we “need” and what we “want” is important. While advertisers are in the market to make sure a “want” becomes a “need,” sometimes we need to step back and ask what it is that we “want” and whether having what we want is really a good thing. In God’s redemption, we have a chance to gain control of our lives from the spiral of needs and our passion for more. Like Jesus, our “fasting” in the desert gives us a chance to attack the devil on his own turf. He tries to convince us we need more than God, and we can show him (and ourselves) that we need only God in our lives to be happy human beings. Nicer clothes, better cell phones, more attention, bigger houses are just temptations! They’re not needs.