A few days after Easter marked the end of the Lenten season of fasting, and a few days before Eid al-Fitr marked the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan’s fasting, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Washington, DC, hosted an interfaith discussion on fasting with neighbouring Masjid Muhammad, the Nation’s Mosque. The evening gathering on Read more
Posts Tagged ‘fasting’
I’m a Catholic priest who fasts for Ramadan. Here’s what it taught me about Lent.
Thursday, March 14th, 2024
Several years ago, not knowing at all what it would entail, I Googled a question: How do you keep Ramadan? In the spring of 2019, after a series of high profile attacks on Muslim people in New York City and a reported rise in Islamophobia, I felt compelled to act in tangible solidarity with this Read more
Go ahead, give up chocolate for Lent
Thursday, March 10th, 2022The moral of this story? If someone asks you what you’re giving up for Lent, run away! Or, an even better moral: When you’re deciding what to do for Lent, be childlike, not childish. Read more
The first McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish response to Lent
Thursday, March 7th, 2019Nearly one-quarter of McDonald’s Filet-of-Fish sandwich sales take place during Lent when many fast-food customers are abstaining from meat. That’s exactly what the McDonald’s operator who first put the cheese-topped sandwich on his menu had in mind back in 1962. According to an account in Reader’s Digest, when Cincinnati McDonald’s franchise owner Lou Groen noticed that Read more
Christianity helped create modern chickens
Thursday, May 11th, 2017Religious dogma in the Middle Ages helped create the modern domestic chickens, new research suggests. Christians subject to fasting edicts at that time were banned from eating meat from four-legged animals, but they could eat chickens and eggs. Continue reading
Using digital devices for reflection during Lent
Thursday, March 16th, 2017
The season of Lent is upon us. This is a holy season for Christians who seek to identify with Jesus Christ’s 40 days of fasting as he prepared to be tested and later crucified. In order to identify with Christ’s self-sacrifice, Christians often join in a symbolic fast, giving up certain foods such as meat Read more
Things to fast from this Lent apart from chocolate
Friday, February 12th, 2016
Chocolate, candy, and sweets are common Lenten sacrifices, but giving up the same thing every year can begin to feel like a routine rather than a sacrifice. Fasting should be a meaningful gesture of self-denial out of love for God. All the better if it helps us grow in self-control and deeper appreciation for various Read more
Cardinal warns against reading encyclical in puritanical way
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015
English Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said that people should not regard the Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si’” as puritanical in its message. At a press conference following the release of Laudato Si’, the cardinal was asked about the encyclical’s appeal for “sobriety and self-denial”. Cardinal Nichols said that people needed to go beyond reading the encyclical Read more
Movies that promote reflection for Lent
Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, Pope Francis outlined a program for Lent in his homily, using for his inspiration the readings of the day from Book of Joel, Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, and the Gospel of Matthew. Some of the themes correlate well with films that tell stories that foster reflection, conversation and Read more
Muslims, Jews and Christians fast together for Holy Land peace
Friday, July 18th, 2014
Muslims, Jews and Christians throughout the world have fasted from sunrise to sundown on one day, in the interests of peace in Israel and Palestine. July 15 was designated as an appropriate occasion as it fell on significant fasting days in Jewish and Muslim religious calendars. It was the 17th of the month of Tammuz Read more