Can someone help me with Ash Wednesday?Can I eat breakfast and have my cup of coffee?

I am Catholic and do have Epilepsy and take medication for it my cousin said I could have a piece of toast for breakfast but I also enjoyed a cup of coffee as well. Asked by AnnCallie 46 months ago Similar questions: help Ash Wednesday eat breakfast cup coffee Society > Holidays.

Similar questions: help Ash Wednesday eat breakfast cup coffee.

Wednesday is a day of fasting because it is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Lent is a penitential season during which Catholics pray especially for those who are preparing for baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist. The Church calls all to prayer, fasting and alms giving through this holy season.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast which means that you refrain from eating meat, and that you eat one regular sized meal and limit the size of your other two meals. That applies to people 18 through 59, (age 14 or older for abstinence from meat) but if for health reasons you cannot fast or must have meat, then that would be permissible. Catholics also refrain from eating meat on Fridays during lent.

Since 1975, Catholic Relief Services founded Operation Rice Bowl, a Lenten program that invites people to place a cardboard container given out in parishes in their homes and put in it the money that is saved because of their fasting and the things that they give up for lent. At the end of Lent, the Rice Bowl is brought to Sunday Mass and the money is used for development projects in poor nations and for hunger relief in the local diocese. Fasting is a sacrifice which we enter into because we stand in solidarity with the poor of the world who haven't enough to eat.

And through our sacrifice, hopefully we help feed them. This is meant to mirror the sacrifice of Christ who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us and who continues to feed us. That's the short answer.So certainly you can have your toast and coffee.

Depending on age and health, perhaps you can have more. If you're healthy and between 18 and 59, you should refrain from meat tomorrow, and eat one regular and 2 smaller meals. You should also pray and hopefully set aside whatever you save through eating less as alms for the poor.

Fast Days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday in Lent for people between 21 and 60 years of age On a fast day, the usual definition of fast is that you don't eat between meals. You can have 1 main meal, and the two other meals should contain less food than the main meal. There are no problems with having something to drink during the day.

On any day, including fast days, if you need to take your medication, it is very important that you take it. And there's nothing wrong with taking it with coffee. Though eating less food on a fast day will probably do your epilepsy no harm, you could consult your doctor about this - and then ask a priest about a substitute for fasting if that is good for you.

That could be something like calling a sick friend, helping someone in need... Last week, one of the readings suggested God saying essentially: stop all the showy fasting - this is the fasting I desire: to release those unjustly captive, feed the hungry, etc. So, the fasting is less about food than it is about conversion of heart that moves us to compassion for those around us. The other part of a fast day is abstinence from meat - so no chicken, pork, beef, any meat on a day of abstinence. All Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence.

However, abstinence means more importantly an abstinence of heart - e.g. Abstaining from speaking unkindly to or about someone, abstaining from bad habits. All in all, any of the practices of Lent - fasting and abstinence - are about food, but they are more about conversion. When the ashes are put on your head, one of the phrases the priest says is Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.

However, another option is: Repent and believe the Gospel. This type of repentence, which fasting and abstinence hopefully move us to is: saving quality time to learn to love God and to let God love you as you are - really listening to God's work in your life in and through all of creation, including your pesky neighbor - learning compassion so that it is possible to listen respectfully to all regardless of their opinions (when we really learn to listen, we can really dialog with one another, and learn true respect that leads to peace rather than injustice) - accepting myself as I am, a person created and loved by God - accepting each person as they are, persons created and loved by God. (Unfortunately, the fact that all of us are loved by God doesn't mean that we respond to that love, and that is one of the reasons for Lent).

So, I pray for you that this time of Lent is one in which you know that God truly loves you (as one Catholic writer says, warts and all). And, the more you love yourself, the more you can recognize the love that God has for all creation and all people. And you can make the world a better place, one act of love at a time.

May you have a happy and blessed Lent. Sources: personal experience, living in religious community, good sermons .

Whatever the doctor advises that's necessary for your health Your health comes first if you require meds and anything a doctor advises. Not to worry, I'm sure God will understand. Those restrictions are man-made rules and in time many of them have changed and continue to change.

If you have any uneasiness in mind then do take time to talk it over with your local priest or someone in charge. That might set your mind at rest more than an outsider's opinion.

Yes, on Ash Wednesday you may have one full meal, plus two other meals that do not together amount to a second full ..... meal; plus you may have all the liquids you want, of any kind, at any time. Even these restrictions apply only if you are between 14 and 59 inclusive. Seems somewhat laxer than I remember, but that's what my church bulletin says.

I'll bet that your cousin is quite old-fashioned. If you have a legitimate reason, such as needing to take medicine three times a day right after a full meal, i'm sure that your bishop, if asked, would say that you are excused from the fasting without having to ask anyone's permission. But, in any case, you do want to be fasting spiritually, so you could give up something that you really like, and usually have, such as chocolate or alcohol.

Same rules for Good Friday. Sorry i'm late with this answer.

1 AnnCallie, let common sense rule the day. Have what you wish. You are more important then rituals.

The Catholic Church is about men and power, do not let them take yours away.

AnnCallie, let common sense rule the day. Have what you wish. You are more important then rituals.

The Catholic Church is about men and power, do not let them take yours away.

When I eat breakfast, I am much hungrier throughout the day. " "what should I eat for breakfast" "Will you be happy when all the holidays are over so you can go back to watching what you eat and maybe take off a few? " "What do you eat for breakfast?" "Do you eat breakfast?

(Does a banana count? )" "Do you do anything special on Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday or Lent? Do you give up anything?

" "why am I so tired in the morning, even after coffee and breakfast? " "Since Ash Wednesday is this week, Are you giving-up something for Lent? If so, do you think you'll last the 40 days?

When I eat breakfast, I am much hungrier throughout the day.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.