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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1676 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for February 18, 2026

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@Catholics of the Motte, what do you do during Lent? I having been going to Church properly this year and have been informed that we are supposed to fast today (Ash Wednesday). I have also been told that pre-1917 the structure of fasting looked very different, being required on every Lenten weekday and broadly forbidding meals before sunset. I am in a reasonably privileged position and I don't want to be too easy on myself, equally I don't want to make a fuss and cause trouble for those around me.

I would be interested to hear about real people's practices, and any advice that people have?

I was raised in a lukewarm Catholic household and we always had seafood on Fridays during lent. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that these were supposed to be fast days. No idea how “fasting” became “fish frys and crawfish boils”.

They aren't supposed to be fast days, they're supposed to be abstinence from meat. The only required fast days in Lent are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (and in my experience it's common to see Friday fish fries not run on Good Friday for that reason).

This is a good video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4835tL4srpY?si=eHG--SvWXTwL612h

Basically there are three aspects to a good Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.

Prayer

Your parish might have free devotional books that give you a daily Lenten meditation to read. It's not a bad idea to follow along!

If not, reading a section a day of the Gospel of Mark is common. There are 16 chapters, so if you finish a chapter every 2-3 days you will arrive at the end around Holy Week. Look up Lectio Divina methods of reading.

The Imitation of Christ is a good devotional book as well though it might be too much meat if you're still absorbing milk.

Otherwise, there are a myriad of popular Lent books out every year with forty days of meditations, reflections, etc. Something like https://www.avemariapress.com/products/witness-1. Some people swear by them.

The important thing is to not just read it, but then spend 5-10 minutes thinking about what you just read, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in prayer.

Fasting

There are two days of fasting, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Abstinence every Friday of Lent.

Some people do more food fasts. Everything from OMAD and vegan diets to giving up candy/coffee/soda. I'm doing the ex150 diet with the occasional fish instead of beef.

Lately there is a stronger push to do a digital fast. Some people log off social media except for Sundays. I uninstall the apps from my phone and keep to the computer. Set a two hour stretch every day where your phone is in another room. Something like that.

There are other kinds of fasts too - only listen to religious music, only watch religious programming, etc.

Almsgiving

If you are fasting from coffee-shop coffee and saving $25/week, give it to the poor. Basically, one of the benefits of certain types of fasting is it might save you some money, but instead of using that money to benefit yourself, use it to benefit others.

If you are not financially supporting your parish yet, prayerfully consider what you can offer going forward. If you cannot give money, consider giving time. For example, your parish might have a library, you can offer to help check in and shelve books for 30 minutes after mass ends.

Good Friday is not part of Lent, but basically finish strong. Whatever you were doing, double it. It's a tradition for my family to turn off all devices and be silent from 12 to 3 PM. If you can attend your parish's Holy Thursday/Good Friday/Easter Vigil services, I highly recommend going to all three at least once in your life.

I'm a relatively new Orthodox convert, so I'm stepping into the fast. This year I'm cutting out meat and alcohol, while also trying to limit portions. Generally going to try and get to sleep on time as well.

I also like to add something during fasts, so I'm considering working in a 10 min meditation before evening prayers.

I’m not catholic and I’ve spent most of my adult life as an atheist but I’ve been going to Catholic Church semi frequently for the last year. I went to early mass today.

I’m doing one meal a day mon - Friday. I’ve dabbled in intermittent fasting before but I’m using this as a good excuse to commit myself. I’ll just be eating dinner so as to maximize family time.

This seems to be a good moderate position for me; I’m overweight but also have a lot of muscle mass that I don’t want to lose. It’s difficult but not overly burdensome; it shouldn’t affect my ability to work at top level or disrupt the most important relationships in my life.

Plus I can do it without calling too much attention to myself which I feel is important. There’s a whole bible verse about it but I fail to recall chapter and verse.

Food is extremely important to me, much more so than the average person as it’s a huge part of my personal and professional identity. Seems a logical choice.

This sounds very sensible, and is what I’m going to try and do too. I believe it’s broadly the old position.

I'm not Catholic and not even a believer, but I avoid online entertainment (including this place) during all four main Orthoxer Orthodox fasts.

The traditional Orthodox practice for Lent is cold vegan dinner (no oil) on Mo/We/Fr, hot vegan dinner (no oil) on Tu/Th, hot vegan lunch and dinner (oil and wine ok) on Sa/Su. The first and the last weeks are a bit different, but you get the idea.

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