Catholics are in the midst of the liturgical season of Lent, a time of renewal, remembrance, and repentance. Lent is marked by a threefold discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The aspect of fasting became a key way the season was identified. From the tradition we find Lent referred to as the “sacred fast,” though the obligations of fasting and abstinence from meat for Roman Catholics are far less strict than in ages past, than the rigors of Ramadan celebrated by our Muslim sisters and brothers, or the obligations observed by some of the Eastern Christian Churches.