It's that time of year again! The time when we must work doubly hard to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord... (Great) Lent!

I've been reading a little about the subject and I have realized that us Novus Ordo Catholics have really chickened out of the whole fasting and abstinence thing... only increasing our gluttony and attachment to all things pleasurable and worldly.

Speaking of all things pleasurable and worldly it is also time for a related clebration that conisdes with Great Lent... Carnaval/Mardi Gras. When we are supposed to "get it out of our system" before we buckle down to atone, kinda like a world wide bachelor party with the same results. Now, most people who clebrate the excess and nakedness of Carnaval don't even fast afterward. How ironic.

Which makes, IMHO, the way we handle lent even more deplorable. We should not binge then purge in order to affirm our dependence on the grace of God. Our bretheren in the East don't have any sort of Mardi Gras tradition. In fact they start preparing for Great Lent by abstaining from meat a week in advance on Meatfare Sunday. We in the west, do it the other way around. To make things worse look at the chart at how many fasts we have lost in the NO-

Before receiving the Eucharist (the "Eucharistic Fast")	Traditional: nothing but water and medicines for three hours. The even older practice is to fast for 12 hours.
	1983 Code: nothing but water and medicines for 1 hour
All Fridays	Traditional: Abstain. American Catholics have a dispensation, from Pope Pius XII, to refrain from abstinence on the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday.
	1983 Code: To abstain is the universal law. Check with your local Bishops to learn what you are bound to.
Advent Embertide	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Vigil of Christmas	Traditional: Abstain and Fast.
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Ash Wednesday	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	1983 Code: Abstain and Fast
Lenten Embertide	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished
All days of Lent but Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and 1st Class Feasts	Traditional: Partially Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Fridays and Saturdays of Lent	Traditional: Abstain and fast
	1983 Code: Abstain, even if you don't abstain on all other Fridays
Good Friday	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	1983 Code: Abstain and Fast
Holy Saturday	Traditional: Abstain and Fast until the noon (after the Vigil Mass, to be more precise, which nowadays is most often at night)
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Vigil of the Pentecost	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Whit Embertide	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished
Michaelmas Embertide	Traditional: Abstain and Fast
	Novus Ordo: abolished

Isn't that sad? The Christians of the East however fast throughout the year before all major feasts. It makes sense, to fast to feast. So let us keep this in mind.

And let us not complain when we have given up Chocolate for Lent. Eastern Catholics have already done that for centuries (by abstaining from dairy).