It is Ash Wednesday today and Catholics are required to fast and abstain from animal meat. It is only one of the two days we are required to fast and abstain. The other one, being Good Friday. But we’re supposed to abstain during the Fridays of Lent.
It is not actually fasting, we just eat less – we are allowed just one full meal and two smaller meals. Or we can fast from other things we really like to eat, drink or do. For instance, coffee for me or fasting from social media. I believe that we do it in order to strengthen our self-control and thus, be more capable of avoiding sins. Or we offer our sacrifices for the intentions of the Church or donate the money we saved from fasting to the needy. It is also a way to understand the involuntary hunger of the poor.
But despite the fact that it is just a mild version of fasting (so unlike Jesus Christ’s 40 days of fasting), I find it a real sacrifice from one meal to the next and missing my coffee very much although I did get to drink half a cup during breakfast.
Right now. I can feel my stomach grumbling and feel a bit weak when I just ate less and missed my snacks!
