Ash Wednesday and Good Friday have been set forth as days of strict fasting. Days of abstinence (not eating meat) are Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent. The pious tradition of abstinence on Fridays outside of Eastertide is also observed, but not mandatory. In situations where health considerations make such observance impossible, ecclesiastical dispensation should be secured.

The rule of fasting is a fairly simple one and therefore bears the full authority of the Church. Our Lord announced to his followers that he expected them to fast. “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.” (Mark 2:20)

Jesus even issued instructions on how Christians were to comfort themselves when they fast, promising them God’s reward. “When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is in hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” (Matthew 6:17-18) Our Lord Himself fasted, forty days and forty nights, and later warned that some spiritual evils are overcome only “through prayer and through fasting.” (Mark 9:29)

Striving to follow Christ, St. Paul himself engaged in “frequent fastings.” (2 Corinthians 11:27). Paul urged Christians to prove themselves to be ministers of God in “fasts“. (2 Corinthians 6:5) When we fast or abstain, then, we do so in obedience to the Lord’s own command. We imitate His example and join in the company of all the blessed Saints, who tried to follow Him, and whose lives were adomed by this means of grace and intercession.

Today, when we fast and abstain in obedience to the Church’s law on prescribed days we join ourselves to fellow Catholics throughout the world in a mighty supplication to God. — From “To Grow in Catholic Faith in the Polish National Catholic Church” by Ś.P. Most Rev. Francis Rowinski, D.D. fourth Prime Bishop of the PNCC