The month of December is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

The traditional 40-days St. Martin Fast (Quadragesimal Sancti Martini) commence on the day after the Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours. But, Pope St. Martin is celebrated on that day, so it becomes confusing of when to start the actual 40-days St. Martin Fast.

To make it easy, start the day after the St. Martin, and that means after the Pope St. Martin and let the 40-days fasting lead you up to the Ember days in December.

The actual fast is finished, but the Ember days allow you to finalize before Christmas Eve. 

There is also a  St. Andrew Fast, or Advent Fast which commence after the Feast Day of St. Andrew the Apostle. 

And, regardless if it is 20 days or 24 days of fast, see it as the fast leading up to the Ember days in December. We ought already to keep the Wednesday and Friday meat-free and why not allow your fasting in the Advent cycle toughen your Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent.

The Advent fast, was a period in prepation or anticipation of Our Lord’s birth. The Vigil of the Immaculate Conception carries a novena which then starts the day before St. Andrew's Feast Day. The final days right before, the obligatory fast of the Advent's Ember Days seems to be non-existent. Then again, the Midnight Mass in the Vatican is no longer celebrated on the actual midnight.

Have we forgotten about the three Masses: The Mass of the Angels, The Mass of the birth of Christ and the Mass of the Three Kings.

We ought to strive to keep at least Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as days of fast during the St. Martin Fast or the St. Andrew/Advent Fast. 

Why not see the first 20-days of the 40-days as days of prepartory fast. Then, when the St. Andrew Fast kick in, you are more ready from the first 20-days of the St. Martin Fast.

Our Church did have requirements but who knows how much is left of them. 

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are appropriate as days of abstinence without fast.

Saturdays can be a day of fast in honor of our Lady.

As a result, I suggest the following schedule for St. Martin’s Lent, based on the Church’s venerable tradition:

• Fasting and Abstinence:
  Monday, Wednesday, Friday
  
  
• Abstinence-only:
  Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
  
  
• No discipline on Sunday (personally, we do keep our Fasting intact on the Sunday, not to fall for the tempations).

There is also something called the  "St John the Baptist Advent Rosary" which commence on the Feast day of St. Andrew on Nov 30 - Dec 24.

Our aim is to create a platform where we can come back to traditional ways,

done over centuries. There was a meaning and idea behind the reason.

"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

(Matt 17:21)

The 24-day Advent Fast

Recommendations and Suggestions

(the 40-day St. Martin Fast is a longer version and includes in the 24-day Advent Fast)

The Rosary is our weapon and now it also turns out that Fasting is another one.

Based on three years of experience here are recommendations and suggestions of how we do it:

• Goals can be set on an individual basis.
• Goals can be set for the entire family.
• Each user develops his or her way to approach the 40-days.
  You learn by doing and you build our tradition to future generations.

24-days of fasting during Advent is a preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ.

• Pray the Rosary daily.
• No sugar products. 
  It is not a "sugar-detox" because you link it to virtues vs sins and daily prayers.
  
• No fast-food.
  Why not allow slow-food to be cooked and let the wonderful smell enter your home. Food can be stored in a fridge for the coming weeks. The same thing with baking. 
• Exercise at least 1 hour per day.
  This does not mean the gym but how you use your daily routines and enhance them to become an exercise.
  • Take the stairs vs take the elevator. 
  • Walk the dog for an hour.
  • Walk home from a bus stop/subway stop earlier than your normal stop.
  • Take your bicycle to work if it is feasible. Take the bicycle to your friends place instead of the car. 
  • Showel snow.
  • Play golf and try to walk the golf course if it is possible.

• Moderate intake of food. One plate and no seconds. 
• Abstinence (no meat products) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
  • if you are invited to a party, you are of course not going to make it complicated for your hosts and you eat what you are served. But, try to minimize the meat section. You are not going to be a party-pooper. Friends will learn in due time that you are on a 40-day fast and they will arrange to serve your fasting period our of love.
• No alcohol. 
  
  • You can drink a glass instead of a bottle. 
    If you think that you can take a glass every day, why not make it moderate and go for a glass a week. It is up to you. 
    
    
• Reduce your online time.
• Turn off your television.
  • or set a certain hour when the television turns off. Good for kids and good for parents. It is a time thief.

Seven Deadly Sins vs. Seven Virtues

We probably did not believe that the 40-day St. Martin fast would lead us to the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues. This was a great discovery, a revelation, and a great experience. We have received some questions this year and through our answers, and the following up questions - it even became more clear than before.

We mention Moderation as one of the key-points during the fast. Moderation vs. Excessive, which is within "Gluttony".

Sloth showed up in 2022 (more than in 2021) but it was pin-pointed in 2022. has shown us that often when we have certain issues during the 40-day St. Martin fast it is connected to the seven deadly sins. The antidotes are of course the seven virtues. But, here below are some of our experiences of deadly sins and virtues.

• Moderation vs. Excessive (Gluttony) is our key-focus during the fast.
  It is also here where we get many questions and this is why we also believe this the Saint Martin fast must be on an individual level. 
  • You may be in good shape, eat healthy, seldom drink alcohol. Is there something that you do in the line of excessive and that you ought to bring down to "moderation"?
  • Is there a difference between gluttony/excessive and "crave" or "desire" as those two are part of Lust (Luxuria). 
  • Excessive shopping may come from desire or envy.
  • Chastity is often connected to sex but if chastity is abstinence, which the 40-days St. Martin Fast and the Advent Fast and the four days of obligatory abstinence are all about.  How about Moral or morality? 
    
  • As chastity was mentioned, the sin fighting to get into our mind is Lust.
    
    
• Sloth and "I'll do it tomorrow".  
  • ignorance, unconcern, or way easier to understand: Laziness.
  • How about not bothering about your body and mind?
    If you read 1 Cor 6:19, it is says: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have from God"
  • Laziness vs a theme of movement for at least an hour a day? 
    
    
• Diligence or fervour is then the counter-attack towards sloth.
  • How about ethics?
    
    
• Lust was mentioned both vs the virtue chastity but also concerning crave and desire. We are quite certain that this can be a subject during the 40-days St. Martin fast or the Advent-fast.
  

We will develop this section further covering:

• Envy, Pride, Wrath which are also deadly sins. 
• Kindness, Patience and Charity that are virtues.

Christmas season and Epiphania

If the first 24 days of December in the liturgical season is known as Advent, Christmas are the remaining days until Candlemas.

Epiphany is traditionally celebrated the 12th day after Christmas, (Twelfth Night), which then is January 6th. It is when the three Magis arrived, the adoration of the Magis. Epiphany takes its name from the Greek word 'epiphania'.

On the same day, it is also the first miracle at the wedding of Cana.

One tradition on Epiphany involves the blessing chalk, that, then is used to mark the doorways of our homes with the current year and the initials of the Three Kings:

• C for Caspar
• M for Melchior
• B for Balthasar

The chalk must be blessed by a priest and the blessing of your home is marked: 20 + C+M+B+ 24

On the vigil of Epiphany, the Epiphany water is blessed. The elements of salt (to be added to the water), and the water itself, are first exorcised. This is a lengthy prayer session (some 45 minutes) by the priest with the participants for the blessing of holy water on the Eve of Epiphany. There are extensive litanies and prayers to set aside this water for use throughout the year. Any taint of the devil was cast from them, and then they were blessed.

The association is the revelation of Jesus Christ at His baptism in the Jordan River by the voice of the God and the sign of the Holy Ghost.