Church law requires all Catholics (see exceptions below) to fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, as well as abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent (if it is not already your regular practice to abstain from meat on Fridays).Fasting means that a person eats only one main meal per day. Two additional smaller meals are permitted, but these two other meals put together should not equal a full meal. Thus, fasting is really about the quantity of what you eat. Fasting is recommended for those between the ages of 19 and 59 who are in good health.Unlike fasting where we are referring to quantity of food, in abstinence we are referring to the kind of food that is being eaten. In this context, abstinence obviously refers to abstaining from meat (seafood permitted). This applies to those between the ages of 14 and 59 and who are in good health.Why not make fasting and abstinence a regular practice throughout the week during Lent this year?