Tag Archives: fasting

Top Ten Legalisms of the Fast

10) Thanks for this gift! We’ll eat it in 6 weeks.
9) I’d love to come to your anniversary party, is there vegan food?
8) We’d like to help the Scouts out, but our initials fall in the “Meat” category, can we bring a Salad instead?
7) I can’t come to the office’s monthly birthday ever because it’s always on a Friday.
6) I’m sorry: can you take this back to the kitchen? I didn’t realise there was wine in it.
5) Whoa. I should have asked what you were cooking before I came over.
4) Can you ask the chef to use Wesson instead of Olive oil?
3) If “dry whey” is listed as the 47th ingredient, can I still eat Bugles?
2) What do you mean??? Frosted Pop Tarts have gelatin?

And the number one legalism of the Fast….

1) I’m not sick enough to suspend fasting.

If you think the fast is about foods… you’ve missed the point. Next year you should try giving up the Fast for Lent.

Lenten Praxis

The tradition of Great Lent is one of intensified praxis, or practice. Our of our journey is to be acsesis (Greek), or podvig (Slavonic), or Jihad (Arabic) or, in English, struggle. We are “working out our salvation in fear and trembling” as St Paul says. We are “running the race set before us.” Lent is a time of more-serious training.

To this end the Church provides many tools.
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