Lent fasting rules: who fasts, when and how

In the United States, Catholics fast on two days of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and every Friday of Lent. Fasting binds adults from age 18 until their 59th birthday and means one full meal, plus two smaller meals that together don't equal a full one, with no eating in between. Abstinence from meat binds everyone from age 14, with no upper age limit. In 2027, Ash Wednesday is February 10 and Good Friday is March 26.

The rules at a glance

• Fast days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
• Days without meat: Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and every other Friday of Lent.
• Who fasts: Catholics from their 18th birthday until their 59th birthday.
• Who abstains: Catholics from their 14th birthday, for life.
• Everyone: Lent is a season of penance for the whole Church, including people the fasting law doesn't bind.

These rules come from the Code of Canon Law. Every Friday of the year and the whole season of Lent are penitential days (Code of Canon Law, can. 1250). Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of both fasting and abstinence, and Fridays are days of abstinence (Code of Canon Law, can. 1251). Each country's bishops decide the details, which is why the rules above are the US version.

What counts as fasting for Catholics?

A Catholic fast day doesn't mean going without food all day. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, you may eat:

1. One full meal. A normal-sized meal, at whatever time of day suits you. On these two days it also has to be meatless.
2. Two smaller meals. Enough to keep up your strength, but together they shouldn't add up to a full meal. Many people have a light breakfast and a small lunch, then a regular dinner.
3. Nothing in between. No snacking between meals. Drinks are fine: water, coffee, tea, juice.

That's the whole rule. You may do more if you're healthy, like keeping to bread and water, but the Church doesn't ask it, and a fast that leaves you short-tempered with everyone around you misses the point. The hunger is something small you offer to God, a way of saying with your body that you need him more than food.

Who has to fast and abstain?

The law of fasting binds adults from age 18 until the beginning of their sixtieth year, which is the day they turn 59. The law of abstinence binds from your 14th birthday onward, with no upper limit (Code of Canon Law, can. 1252). So a 70-year-old doesn't have to fast, but still skips meat on the Fridays of Lent.

Children under 14 aren't bound by either law. The same canon asks parents and pastors to teach them what penance means. In practice, that might be giving up dessert on Fridays or putting part of their allowance in the poor box. Keep it small and cheerful.

Who is excused from fasting?

The fasting law doesn't bind people for whom it would be a real hardship or a risk to health. The US bishops name two groups as excused:

• People who are physically or mentally ill, including those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes.
• Women who are pregnant or nursing.

They add that common sense should prevail and that no one who is ill should put their health at risk by fasting. The same reasoning applies to anyone recovering from an eating disorder, or doing heavy physical work that needs the food. If you're unsure, your pastor can dispense you or change the obligation into another penance (Code of Canon Law, can. 1245). If you're excused, you can still keep Lent with prayer, works of charity or giving up something that doesn't affect your health.

Is breaking the Lenten fast a sin?

It depends on why.

• You forgot. No sin. If you remember halfway through a snack, stop and carry on with the day.
• You were excused. No sin. Illness, pregnancy and the other reasons above lift the obligation.
• A small slip. A few crackers between meals isn't the same as ignoring the day. Note it, offer a short prayer, and keep going.
• You chose to ignore it. The Church treats keeping these days as a serious duty. Deliberately skipping the fast or eating meat on a Lenten Friday without a reason is worth bringing to Confession. Our page on what makes a sin mortal explains how knowledge and consent fit in.

For what counts as meat and how Fridays work the rest of the year, see is eating meat on Friday a sin.

Is the Eucharistic fast the same thing?

No. The Eucharistic fast is a separate rule that applies all year. Before receiving Communion, you go one hour without food or drink, except water and medicine (Code of Canon Law, can. 919). The elderly, the sick and those caring for them may receive Communion even if they've eaten within the hour.

So on a Lenten weekday you keep both: the Lenten rules for the day, and the one-hour fast before Mass if you're receiving.

Lent 2027: the dates

• Wednesday, February 10: Ash Wednesday. Fasting and abstinence.
• Fridays February 12, 19 and 26, March 5 and 12: abstinence.
• Friday, March 19: St Joseph, a solemnity. Church law lifts Friday abstinence when a solemnity falls on a Friday (Code of Canon Law, can. 1251). Watch for your diocese's announcement, and consider another small penance that day.
• Friday, March 26: Good Friday. Fasting and abstinence.
• Saturday, March 27: Holy Saturday. Not required, but the Church encourages keeping the Good Friday fast until the Easter Vigil if you can.
• Sunday, March 28: Easter.

Are the rules different in other countries?

Yes. Church law lets each bishops' conference set the details, and even replace abstinence with other penances such as prayer and works of charity (Code of Canon Law, can. 1253). The bishops of England and Wales, for example, ask Catholics to abstain from meat on every Friday of the year. Eastern Catholic Churches keep their own, often stricter, fasting traditions. If you live outside the US, check what your own bishops' conference says.

How to keep the fast well

1. Plan the day ahead. Decide the night before what your full meal and two small ones will be. Fasting is much easier without decisions at noon.
2. Pray when you're hungry. Let each pang be a short prayer: for someone you love, for someone who has nothing to eat, for your own conversion.
3. Give what you save. Fasting and almsgiving go together. Put the cost of the skipped meals toward the poor.
4. Be gentle with others. Your fast is between you and God. Don't comment on what others are eating.
5. Plan your Confession. Lent is the classic time to go. Many parishes hold penance services in Lent with several priests hearing confessions.

If it's your first Lent keeping these rules, or your first in a long time, start with the two fast days and the Fridays. That's already a real Lent. Then, if you want more, choose one thing to give up for the whole season; we have ideas in what to give up for Lent.