Dispensation
Dispensation from fast and abstinence
It is understood 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 afford the varied food they need, having to be satisfied with what is within their reach, we dispense from these two obligations, beginning 2010 Lent till
2011 Lent as follows:
We give permission to eat dairy products throughout this period.
Fasting and abstaining from eating meat remain obligatory on Ash Monday and Good Friday.
Abstaining from eating meat remains obligatory on Fridays, throughout the year, except:
If one of the following days of obligation falls on a Friday: Nativity of the Lord, New Year’s Day, Epiphany, Saint Maron, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, Assumption, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, All Saints’ Day, Immaculate Conception, and parish patron feast.
During the period between the Nativity of the Lord and Epiphany.
During the period between Easter and Pentecost.
During the Friday before Lent.
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 towards the needy and the sick. Those who can afford it should weekly allot the expenses of one day to assist their needy brethren by paying the amount to their eparchial 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, success 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.