NOTE: Lent has already begun, but it’s not too late to start a new fasting discipline. Join the Benedict Challenge test cohort here and get the quick-start guide for gradually adopting the original fasting protocol for the Church, as well as the Order of St. Benedict.
Let’s be frank—Catholics today are not known for their fasting discipline.
Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all fasted for 40 days in preparation for their missions. Yet most of us can barely handle missing a single meal, let alone the one meal prescribed by Canon Law on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Did you know that the early Christians fasted this way every Wednesday and Friday?
St. Anthony of Egypt took it a step further in the 3rd century and only ate every other day.
And St. Benedict – the founder of Western monasticism – made daily fasting a core plank of his rule for all monks. For centuries, the Order of St. Benedict ate just one meal a day throughout most of the year, including Lent.
Today, millions of people have rediscovered “OMAD” as a vital health practice – apart from the ancient Christian discipline. However, sadly, the trend has yet to catch on in the Catholic Church.
Many Catholics feel comfortable giving up all kinds of things for Lent. We abstain from alcohol, Instagram, or chocolate. But we recoil at the thought of returning to the ancient traditions of plain old daily fasting (i.e., not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next). Bishops have made every concession to our modern frailty, even allowing two small meals or “collations” on the last two remaining fasting days on the calendar.
Yet, before we chalk up fasting as an outdated tradition irrelevant to our modern existence, we should consider whether denying ourselves for a time might offer something more profound that we crave.
One Meal a Day: A Pathway to Self-Mastery
The human heart does not change.
Sin, despair, vanity, and anxiety plague our souls.
Temptation and indulgence of the flesh remain the devil’s tools. While the early Church grappled with lion attacks, we battle the beasts of endless digital distraction and a crisis of abundance. We are drowning in cheap calories and cheap content. Many of our physical ailments, from obesity to diabetes, stem from a spiritual root cause—the “throwaway culture” decried by Pope Francis.
Jesus told his disciples that certain demons “do not come out except by prayer and fasting.” Perhaps the seeming uptick in demonic activity stems from the fact that modern believers are so reluctant to use these weapons together.
This Lent, let’s fight back.
A few years ago, after discovering the fasting Rule of St. Benedict, I began to explore the early history of fasting in the Church, and I was surprised at what I learned. Not only did the Church Fathers fast more rigorously than us moderns, but they also embraced a different understanding than the purely penitential view we often encounter. It was largely the extreme penitential practices of the Middle Ages that triggered the decline of fasting up to the present.
Many Catholics feel comfortable giving up all kinds of things for Lent. We abstain from alcohol, Instagram, or chocolate. But we recoil at the thought of returning to the ancient traditions of plain old daily fasting
In St. Benedict’s time and earlier, fasting meant eating one evening meal—not restricting yourself to coarse bread and moldy cabbage or engaging in death-defying 40-day fasts in the desert. It was an aid to focus and prayer and a complement to lives of self-dedicated service. It was meant to make communal living and other forms of sacrifice easier, not harder.
Not only is this tradition accessible and doable for the average believer, but it also comes with profound physical and mental benefits. Those who fast experience a deep mental clarity. They live longer. Fasting heals us at a cellular level—clearing out the old junk that accumulates in our bodies—and re-orders our appetites at the most fundamental biological, hormonal, and psychological levels.
Over the past three seasons of Lent, I have turned what I’ve learned into a practical program to reinstate this tradition. The Benedict Challenge guides participants through a 40-day journey modeled after the moderate yet rigorous rule instituted by St. Benedict for his monks in the 6th century. Originally presented as a video course in 2021, I refined the material into a 7-week roadmap for incrementally transitioning to eating just One Meal a Day by the end of Lent.
Over the seven weeks, the fasting protocol transitions participants from the customary three meals (no snacking!) spread over 12 hours to eating just one meal a day by the end of Lent.
Here’s how the program works:
Following its namesake’s original rule, the Benedict Challenge’s essence is a return to the authentic monastic fasting tradition of One Meal a Day. It’s become popular to give up certain things for Lent. This protocol provides flexibility for additional abstinences from indulgences like sweets or alcohol (should you decide to eliminate them). However, these sacrifices should not obstruct fidelity to the central pillar of the One Meal a Day fast.
General Rules:
No snacking between meals.
Abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Single meal on Fridays (initially allowing collations).
Week 1: Ash Wednesday
Fasting: 12-hour window.
Eating: 12-hour window, three meals.
Ash Wednesday: One dinner.
Week 2: Invocabit Sunday
Fasting: 14-hour window.
Eating: 10-hour window, 2-3 meals.
Week 3: Reminiscere Sunday
Fasting: 16-hour window.
Eating: 8-hour window, 2-3 meals.
Week 4: Oculi Sunday
Fasting: 18-hour window.
Eating: 6-hour window, two meals.
Week 5: Laetere Sunday
Fasting: 20-hour window.
Eating: 4-hour window, 1-2 meals.
Week 6: Judica Sunday
Fasting: 22-hour window.
Eating: 2-hour window, one meal.
Week 7: Palm Sunday
Fasting: 23-hour window (OMAD).
No meat.
Optional Fasting:
“Black Fast” from Holy Thursday dinner to Easter Vigil.
Easter:
Feast Day.
Continuing Tradition:
Fast with one meal on Fridays and other traditional fasting days.
Woven throughout is a system for identifying and overcoming our destructive habits (read: demons) through the discipline acquired from rigorous prayer and fasting. Lastly, the journal takes a page from my friend David Clayton’s book The Vision for You, providing a template for daily and weekly reflections about your vocation.
Are you moving in the right direction? If not, why bother moving forward at all?
I’ll be the first to admit that fasting and Lent do not initially scream “Fun!” I enjoy my breakfast of hamburger and eggs, washed down with coffee or tea containing liberal portions of cream and honey.
However, something energetic and vital about fasting has been lost over time—something that the early saints knew well. The Catholic Church’s fasting discipline began to decline centuries ago, and this decline has accelerated in the past 100 years.
Are you moving in the right direction? If not, why bother moving forward at all?
I document the reasons behind this decline at the beginning of the book. However, my concern is less with the reasons for the death of Catholic fasting and more focused on practical ways we can reinvent fasting as a living tradition. There are many trendy guides to “intermittent fasting” for weight loss, life extension, etc. However, few connect these physical benefits to the more profound spiritual riches available through fasting. When coupled with prayer and sincere repentance (metanoia), I have found fasting to be vital in my spiritual life. I aim to contribute to reviving this lost tradition – making it accessible for modern Catholics seeking a clear rule rooted in the wisdom of the saints.
Join the Test Cohort
Since Lent has already started, and the book/journal takes a few days to ship, I have prepared a temporary abridged PDF version for the I AM Catholic readership with the essential roadmap and the first two weeks of the journal.
I invite you to join a test group for the program and provide feedback. If you join, you’ll receive:
Advance access to the fasting roadmap
First two weeks of the daily journal + the first four book chapters.
A link to a private group where I’ll be hosting weekly informal video calls for support and accountability
Opportunity to shape future iterations of the program
There is no cost except a commitment to attempt the first week and share any feedback.
If you’re feeling lukewarm about your current direction and are open to a deeper encounter with the living God, I hope you’ll join me for the next 40 days.
Charlie Deist is a writer living in rural Northern California with his wife and three children. You can follow him on X (@chdeist) or Substack