Fasting is one of the most misunderstood of the Christian disciplines. It looks, from outside, like a religion disapproving of dinner — or worse, like an attempt to buy something from God by being uncomfortable. It is neither. The Church has never taught that food is bad; she blesses it, and her central act of worship is a meal.
What fasting does is much simpler. It creates a small, deliberate hunger, and then leaves you alone with it.
What it is for
To loosen the grip of appetite. Most people discover, the first time they fast seriously, that they are not as free as they assumed. Going without something ordinary for a day reveals how much of the day is quietly organised around getting what one wants. That discovery is the point. A will that can say no to a small thing is stronger when a large thing is at stake.
To remember the hungry. Fasting has always been joined to almsgiving. The money and the time not spent on yourself is meant to go somewhere. Without that, fasting becomes a private athletic event.
To make room. A hunger you have chosen keeps reminding you why you chose it. That is perhaps the oldest reason of all: the empty space is not the goal, it is where prayer goes.
Christ takes the practice for granted. In the Sermon on the Mount he does not argue for fasting; he assumes it, and gives one instruction — do it without letting anyone see. He himself fasted forty days in the desert before beginning his ministry, which is where the forty days of Lent come from.
What the Church actually asks
Far less than most people imagine. In the Latin Church today the binding obligations are these:
Fasting — Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
One full meal, plus two smaller ones which together do not equal a full meal. No solid food between meals; water and medicine are always permitted.
Binds from the eighteenth birthday until the beginning of the sixtieth year.
Abstinence from meat — Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays of Lent
Meat is not eaten. Fish, eggs, and dairy are not restricted. If a solemnity falls on a Friday, the obligation to abstain does not bind that day.
Binds from the fourteenth birthday.
Fridays through the year
Every Friday remains a day of penance in memory of the Passion (can. 1250), and the universal law asks abstinence from meat on every Friday of the year unless a solemnity falls on it (can. 1251). Bishops’ conferences may adapt this and substitute other works of penance (can. 1253), so outside Lent the form varies by country — in some places abstinence from meat is still required, in others another penance or work of charity may be substituted. Your bishops’ conference decides.
The Eucharistic fast
One hour without food or drink, except water and medicine, before receiving Communion.
The ill, the elderly, and those who care for them are not bound.
Who is excused
Canon law itself sets only the ages (can. 1252): no one is bound to abstain before fourteen, nor to fast before eighteen or from the beginning of the sixtieth year. Beyond that, the bishops’ guidance is that anyone whose health would suffer is excused, and this is not a loophole. The US bishops name the physically or mentally ill (which includes anyone with an eating disorder), those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, and pregnant and nursing women; traditional moral theology also excused those whose work is hard and prolonged, and a pastor can dispense for a just cause (can. 1245). If fasting would harm you, do not fast. Penance is meant to free a person, never to injure one, and there are many other forms of it.
If you are unsure whether it applies to you, ask a priest or your doctor. Neither will think the question strange.
Doing it well
The Gospel instruction is to keep it hidden — wash your face, look normal, tell no one. Fasting that is announced has already been paid for. It is also worth choosing something real: a fast nobody notices, including yourself, is not doing much. And it should be joined to something given away, or it curves back on itself.
Finally, do not mistake it for the point. Fasting is a means, and a temporary one. The Church fasts for forty days and then feasts for fifty; Lent exists for the sake of Easter, and the empty space exists for the sake of what fills it.
The season itself is described under Lent, and the great penitential chant of those weeks is Attende Domine.
Last reviewed for accuracy on , against the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Church's own documents.