Why do Catholics fast?

6 min

Awaiting theological review

The simple answer

Fasting means going without food, or eating much less, for a time. Catholics fast to pray better, to turn away from sin and to share with people who have less. The Church asks adult Catholics to fast on two days a year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday: one full meal and two small ones. Catholics also abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent, and before receiving Communion they do not eat for one hour. Fasting is never about losing weight or punishing the body. It is a way of saying to God, with the whole person: you matter more than my appetite.

In the Bible

Scripture

Before his public life, Jesus fasts for forty days in the desert, and there he resists temptation.

Matthew 4:1–4

Scripture

Jesus teaches that when you fast you should not look gloomy to be seen by others, and that the Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:16–18

Scripture

Through Isaiah, God says the fast he wants is to break chains, share bread with the hungry and shelter the poor.

Isaiah 58:6–7

Scripture

Moses fasts forty days on the mountain; the people of Nineveh fast when they hear Jonah; Esther fasts before risking her life for her people.

Exodus 34:28 · Jonah 3:5–10 · Esther 4:16

Scripture

The early Church fasts and prays before sending Barnabas and Paul on their mission.

Acts of the Apostles 13:2–3

Scripture

Jesus says his disciples do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, but will fast when he is taken away.

Matthew 9:15

Where it comes from

Early Christian source

The Didache, one of the oldest Christian writings outside the New Testament, tells Christians to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Didache 8.1 (late 1st or early 2nd century; locator awaiting verification)(awaiting verification)

Historical context

By the 4th century, a forty-day fast before Easter, Lent, was known across the Church. In the Middle Ages it was strict: often one meal a day, without meat and frequently without eggs or dairy.

Historical context

For centuries Catholics did not eat or drink from midnight before Communion. In the 1950s Pius XII shortened this to three hours, and in 1964 Paul VI to one hour.

Church teaching

In 1966 Paul VI reorganised the Church's discipline of penance, keeping Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of fasting and letting bishops adapt the rest to local life.

Paul VI, Paenitemini (1966; locator awaiting verification)(awaiting verification)

What the Church teaches

Church teaching

Christian penance takes three main forms: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. They express conversion towards God, towards oneself and towards others.

Catechism 1434 (number awaiting verification)(awaiting verification)

Church teaching

Lent and every Friday, in memory of the death of the Lord, are times of penance in the Church.

Catechism 1438 (number awaiting verification)(awaiting verification)

Church teaching

Canon law sets the minimum: abstinence from meat from the age of 14; fasting from 18 until the start of the 60th year. Bishops' conferences may set more precise rules, for example allowing another penance in place of meat on Fridays outside Lent.

Code of Canon Law, can. 1250–1253(awaiting verification)

Church teaching

Before receiving Communion, the faithful abstain from food and drink, except water and medicine, for at least one hour. The elderly and the sick are not bound by this.

Code of Canon Law, can. 919(awaiting verification) Catechism 1387 (number awaiting verification)(awaiting verification)

Church teaching

People who are ill, pregnant, or whose health would be harmed are not expected to fast. A priest can also dispense or change the obligation in a particular case.

A common misunderstanding

Fasting is a way of earning God's love, or a religious diet.

In fact

God's love cannot be earned; it is given. Fasting does not buy anything. It frees us a little from what controls us, makes room for prayer, and, as Isaiah says, should end with bread shared with the hungry.

Why it matters today

Fasting can be small: one meal, a day without snacks, an evening without a screen, giving the money saved to someone in need. If food is a struggle for you, for example an eating disorder, do not fast from food. Talk to a doctor or a trusted person, and choose another form of penance.

Bible passages