www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Communion fast

15 minutes...15 MINUTES?? You have to be kidding. This is called a fast? Does that mean you leave your Bacon/egg&cheese bagel wrapper at the door?
Why is it so hard to require a proper fast for the reception of Communion? Is it too much to ask for a meaningful fast otherwise why call it a fast at all. I mean, where is the sacrifice?

Just say, dont be eating anything while walking up the aisle.

What happened to the midnight fast, and no water. Now that at least is fasting.

JoeS

Ah now come on JoeS

Incognitus's statement
Slightly tongue in cheek there I think - but the last bit where he says is very very true

But also read Sharon's comments - they do put fasting into perspective.

We are all unique and as long as we do what we can - having consulted our Priest - then no other person has the right to criticise us.

My contention is, barring illness and those who require medication followed by consumption of liguids or food stuff AND approved by your priest, that a fast for most healthy people should be what the RCC used to have (pre VatII) and that is from midnight. This is all I was trying to make plain otherwise why call it a fast when those who will use this loophole to just eat before receiving Communion. I hope I made my position clear. Let me give you one example: an elderly lady was fixing food for our Pascha agape meal, which is served after the service. She had all the intentions of receiving Communion because if there were a time in the year to receive - this is it. She, without thinking tasted some mayonaise to see if it was still good, and realized what she did. Very disappointed in herself she sadly had to abstain from receiving. This, to me at least,is a more meaningful approach to fasting. She felt that she was not unique and was trying to follow the fasting rules.

JoeS

//But also read Sharon's comments - they do put fasting into perspective.

We are all unique and as long as we do what we can - having consulted our Priest - then no other person has the right to criticise us.//

Joe,

The Church has the right to change the fasting rules. Please remember that in the early Church Communion was preceded by a feast not a fast. The Agape meal was before the Eucharist not after. The Catholic Church reduced the time to encourage people to receive more frequently something people were not doing and to prevent the kind of situation you just described.

The East sometimes critiizes the West for Eucharistic Adoration complaining it is using the Eucharist for something it was not intended for and that the ultimate act of adoration is to consume the Eucharist. But to never or rarely consume the Eucahrist because of over scrupulousness over fasts, pre-communion prayer rules, etc. are just as bad in my opinion. And the pride I see displayed by some Eastern Christians who look down their noses at Latin Catholics because of their reduced requirements is worse. It was the Pharisee who stood in the front proclaiming his fast.

Fr. Deacon Lance

So very true. The fast, like the sabbath, was made for man. Not man for the fast/sabbath.

JoeS

How unfortunate that legalism still raises its ugly head. I certainly don't blame the elderly woman you descibe in your post. To keep the Great Fast in preparation of Pascha is a noble effort. To "break" it by doing a good work (tasting the mayo to make sure it was still good) on behalf of the community is the heart of the purpose of fasting (not to think of ourselves and to put others first). This woman "broke" the Fast to ensure others would not get sick. Somehow we misunderstand the purpose of fasting.

May I underscore Father Deacon�s point by retelling the story but giving it a different ending?

An elderly lady was fixing food for the Pascha agape meal, which is served after the service. She had all the intentions of receiving Communion because if there were a time in the year to receive - this is it. She, without thinking, took a spoonful of mayonnaise to see if it was still good. But before she tasted it she remembered she was fasting in preparation for Communion and, since she wanted to receive, put the spoon down without tasting the mayonnaise. She then decided to sniff it and it smelled OK so she finished making the macaroni salad and went off to Liturgy.

After the liturgical celebration of the Lord�s Resurrection the parish gathered for the Agape meal and the macaroni salad that the elderly lady made was served. It turned out, however, that the mayonnaise had gone bad. No one knows how many people actually ate this macaroni salad but at five o�clock the next morning about a hundred parishioners found themselves waiting with one or more loved ones in the hospital emergency room. Praise God - everyone recovered after only about a day�s worth of discomfort.

The elderly lady was horrified to learn that she could have prevented so much suffering simply by tasting the mayonnaise. All those people suffered so that she could keep the letter of the fasting law when her instinct told her that she should have tasted the mayonnaise.