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Dispensation from Fast and Abstinence
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Dispensation from Fast and Abstinence
It is known that fasting consists in abstaining from food and drink, from midnight until noon (except water, which does not break fast) and that abstinence consists of abstaining from eating meat and dairy products. Nevertheless, as some of our sons and daughters cannot find the varied food they need, having to be satisfied with what is within their reach, we dispense from these two regulations, beginning 2010 Lent till 2011 Lent as follows:
1. We give permission to eat dairy products throughout this period.
2. Fasting and abstaining from eating meat remain obligatory on Ash Monday and Good Friday.
3. Abstaining from eating meat remains obligatory on Fridays, throughout the year, except:
If one of the following days of obligation falls on a Friday:
a. Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Epiphany, Saint Maroun, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, Assumption, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, All Saints’ Day, Immaculate Conception, and Parish Patron feast.
b. During the period between the Christmas Day and Epiphany.
c. During the period between Easter and Pentecost.
d. Shrove week.
In compensation for this dispensation, we urge our dear sons and daughters to care for spiritual matters, fulfill their religious duties, practice mortification and sacrifice, and do charity and deeds of mercy, especially toward the needy and the sick. The wealthy should contribute to helping the poor and needy by specifying the salary of one day of each week during the lent season by paying the amount to their parish charity fund. In this way, their lent will become a concrete sharing in mortification and suffering. They should also pray for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff and for peace in our land and the whole world, and for the implementation of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “New Hope for Lebanon”, conversion of sinners to penance, victory of our mother Church and its reunification and for the success of our Patriarchal Synod. That is the best they can do to make up for the dispensation from fasting and abstinence.
Bkerki, feb. 9/2010
Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and all the Middle East
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