Sundays and fasting in Lent?

Sundays and fasting in Lent?

Do we fast on the Sundays in Lent?  

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There is no history of fasting on the Sundays of Lent. The current discipline of the Church is to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The voluntary sacrifice of a personal pleasure is not the same as the ecclesial discipline of fasting on prescribed days. It is a personal devotion that many Catholics choose to do, and as a personal voluntary devotion may be set aside at will. Some may choose to set aside their personal sacrifices on Sundays, others do not; because they prefer to maintain their disciple throughout the whole six weeks of Lent, so that the entire season of Lent stands as a whole. It is a matter of personal choice. However, the Sundays in Lent are still celebrations of the Lord's Day of resurrection. 

I have experimented with both relaxing my Lenten observance on the Sundays in Lent, and keeping the Lenten discipline for the Lenten season. I remember one Lent deciding to enjoy an extra treat on Sundays, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a negative at that time. I ended up struggling even harder during the following week, and in the end gave up the struggle and continued with the feasting and not the fasting.!!!!

When I tried to keep the whole of Lenten season without breaking it on Sundays, I discovered that by the end of Lent, I had compromised and kept it half and half.  My conclusion on my Sunday Lenten experiment is that it depends on my physical, emotional and spiritual well-being at that time. The Church is wise in making it a matter of personal choice.

We have now almost completed our first full week of our Lenten journey.  How are you progressing?

LENTEN REVIEW.

One strategy that I have found useful is to engage in an Lenten review of my progress with the Lord at the end of each week. Reviewing my intentions vs reality of the week is always enlightening, but it provides an opportunity to recommit to my Lenten journey and to develop other strategies to assist me.

Some of my reflection questions include: 

1.            What were my Lenten observance intentions at the start of Lent?

2.            How am I progressing in these Lenten observances?

3.        Am I carrying out my Lenten observances with the right intention of heart- to change and to sincerely repent?

4.            Do my Lenten observances need to be modified because they were unsuitable initially? 

5.           Am I changing my Lenten observance for the right reasons  or am I being a lazy bones?

6.         What progress have I attempted to make during this week?

7.        What progress do I hope to achieve during the coming week?

8.       Have I had any unexpected surprises with my Lenten journey? (e.g. a unplanned Lenten observance which on reflection was spiritually rewarding and demonstrated God's grace working in me).

May our Lenten resolutions and strategies for week 2 of our Lenten journey bear abundant fruit.