As I have explained many times, I am an earnest Catholic, but not a particularly good one.
I tend to focus on the big picture: Who is and is not valid clergy, who is and is not part of the actual real Catholic Church (Sedevacantists) and who is not (all the Novus Orco), but one should really try to live and act as per proper Catholic principles.
WARNING: I am not a priest and this idiot’s guide is primarily for myself.
Lent this year runs from Ash Wednesday 22nd February 2023 and ends on Thursday, April 6 with evening mass on Holy Thursday.
Consulting the Code of Canon Law of 1917 then, we have codes 1250 to 1254 which in essence state the following:
Abstinence = no meat or soups made of meat but eggs, milk and other condiments, even if made from animals are ok.
Fasting = only one meal a day but also allows a little bit of food in the morning and evening but in essence it is traditional that these two smaller meals combined do not comprise enough food to form a full meal.
Every Friday = Abstinence
Ash Wednesday (22nd February 2023) = Abstinence and Fast
Every Friday and Saturday in Lent = Abstinence and Fast
All other days of Lent = Fast only
If you can eat meat on a day, you can also eat fish on the same meal/day
These rules do not apply strictly to labourers that work physically during the day (farmers, stonemasons and so on), or Pregnant or breastfeeding women or children under the age of 7 or people over 60 years of age.
Personally, I am not altogether clear if fish is allowed on Fridays or not. I believe it was allowed for many years before Vatican II, and I do have farm-work to do, so the rules I am going to follow are as follows:
Ash Wednesday – 22nd February 2023: No meat or soups made of it. One meal with possibly small amounts morning and evening
23-24/2/2023: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Friday 25/2/2023: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Saturday 25/2/2023: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Sunday 26/2/2023: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
27 Feb to Mar 2: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Mar 3-4: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Mar 5-9: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Mar 10-11: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Mar 12-16: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Mar 17-18: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Mar 19-23: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Mar 24-25: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Mar 26-30: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
Mar 31 to Apr 1: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening, no meat, but I will allow fish if I worked in the field
Apr 2-6: One Meal with possibly small meals morning and evening
I am also going to:
- Learn the Lord’s Prayer in Latin
- Learn the Credo in Latin
- Recite them both daily
- Do my best to do some Rosary daily
That’s about it.
I am sure this list is missing out a lot of important things, but if I can stick to it it will be a first attempt for me at keeping Lent “properly” so I am putting it out there for all the other wild donkeys (see BELIEVE! for the reference to wild donkeys.)
For those who want to follow along, feel free to post a comment or let me know how you get on.
Tags: Ash Wednesady, Catholic, Lent, sedevacantism
Fish is allowed on Fridays. And the one meal a day is easy to partake in once you get used to it.
Ive done construction during Lent and the way to work it is to eat an extremely large lunch or dinner with rice and beans, or quinoa. If those aren’t available a single fully loaded Subway or Jimmy Johns sub gives more than enough calories to make it through the day. These subs are Godsends especially if you are doing 12+ hour days and have limited time to get to food. Friday Fish Frys do the trick too.
Also I find always eating at the same time helps tremendously. This causes your hormones to synchronize. Its called hormonal entrapment and it makes it far easier to push through the physicality with an empty belly.
I could find no source that says fish is allowed on Fridays during lent.Working on little food is not an issue for me.
Fish is allowed on all “abstinence” days. Code 1250 says fish and all cold-blooded animals are permitted (e.g., frogs, oysters, turtles, etc.). So tuck in to a nice hot bowl of turtle soup 🙂
As you picked up later, this is incorrect.
Well, I think my previous comment is wrong because now I cannot find my source for that info. I checked the 1250 full text and it doesn’t say what I claimed. Mea culpa!
Yup. It doesn’t say that.
Day 1 is a succes. Just FYI you have this friday listed as 25th not 24th, not that it really matters.
thanks.
It went well for a first timer as myself. I messed up twice; I had two meal one day and on an abstinence day I absent mindedly ate a piece of beef jerky that was handed to me. I did the rosary slightly more often although it’s still far from being enough. Otherwise a success. It was a lot of fun to see people’s reactions to a young man following the fast, many thought I was joking until they realised I wasn’t. Thanks for the guide, it helped.
Excellent. Well done.
I’m still waiting on that RPG feedback once you played.