“You’re fasting during Lent?!  What are you, a closet Catholic?”  Alas, these all-too-common accusations are born of great ignorance of Christian history (including Anglicans and Protestants), not to mention ignorance of the Scriptures.  This penitential season is a time, among other things, of fasting.  It simply is a part of the season; to omit fasting is to ignore everything that the Church announces, in her liturgy, on Ash Wednesday.

And this fasting is glorious!  Give this classic Lent hymn a look from last year’s entry: https://saint-aelfric-customary.org/2019/03/20/glorious-lent-a-hymn-for-the-season/

Now, we’re not Romans, so we don’t have strict rules on precisely when and how to fast.  But at the very least, we ought to be taking note of Fridays, and eating at least one meal less.  Here’s a round-up of previous thoughts I’ve put together about fasting in the Anglican tradition:

• Fasting Tips
• consider praying the Litany instead of eating lunch
• pairing together fasting and abstinence
• the Classical Prayer Book expectation to fast!