Dear Bertha,

The Bible doesn't mention Lent, so it's pretty clear that it couldn't mention what we might eat. Fasting is defined many different ways by many people (Dr. Atkins probably offers a definition that involves carbohydrates!). Isaiah 58:6-7 is undoubtedly describing the kind of fast most people need! That includes a fast from wickedness and great efforts to help those who are burdened and oppressed by poverty and misfortune. In the New Testament, (Matthew 6:18) we are also cautioned not to appear to be fasting--in other words, to be spiritual show-offs.

For many people, a fast simply means eating less, doing without, experiencing hunger so that we are reminded of our solidarity with God and God's people. BUT people are always wanting to know the "rules," so the Church did set up guidelines: Right now, in the United States, our bishops have defined our fast as this: On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are to fast. A fast is defined as one full meal and two other meals that together do not equal the full meal; no eating between meals, though beverages would be allowed. All this applies to persons OVER 21 and UNDER 59--so it probably doesn't apply to you.

You are actually asking about abstinence--that is what we call not eating meat, though the word could easily apply to swearing, sin of all kinds, watching TV, etc.  To abstain is NOT to do something. The abstinence that the Church asks of us is this: No "flesh meat, " which does not mean fish, but main dishes made from things that bleed, for lack of a more poetic term. This does hearken back to the Scriptures, since the Jews had (and still have) strong customs around blood. On the Fridays of Lent, we are asked to abstain from "flesh meat"  (at the age of 14 and older). This custom, as I said, does have some roots in Jewish law, but it is also seen as something that Americans find hard--and therefore a good suggestion for something to do as a group that reminds us of all that Jesus did for us--and that's the idea behind sacrifices of ANY kind--Jesus sacrificed his life for us; we can sacrifice something in gratitude and remembrance.

Those who are not Catholic may well have customs of penance and sacrifice far beyond this--as all of us should. These are sort of like minimum daily requirements of spiritual vitamins.

While the form of this penance is not in the Scriptures, the idea of penance surely is.