No Meat Fridays

The Truth is that we are to abstain from meat or preform some other form of peance on every friday of the year. Sadly so many do not know this any more.

CHAPTER II : DAYS OF PENANCE


Can. 1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe.


Can. 1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.


Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.


Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.


Can. 1253 The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety

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Penitential Practices
for Today's Catholics
http://www.usccb.org/dpp/penitential.htm

I wonder how many Catholics actually do it though.
I recall having a Priest (2 yrs. out of seminary) lecture me about this being only required during lent.
I scheduled a meeting with him and showed in the canon law on days of penance and expained the theology behind it - he was quite suprised.
It is not well known anymore than all Fridays are days of Penence even among the Clergy.

Yes, as has been said, Fridays are still days of penance. That penance can take any one of many forms. And actually, among some of the Eastern Rites in communion with Rome (I know of the Chaldean in particular), no meat on Friday is still required. I think this is a wonderfully beautiful practice, and a good reminder, not to mention the fact that it seems like such a small offering to the Sacrifice of sacrifices.

geocajun said:

I wonder how many Catholics actually do it though....
It is not well known anymore than all Fridays are days of Penance even among the Clergy.

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That's for sure, mon frere.

I don’t think our culture makes it very easy for us to understand the nature
of penance or its benefits for our souls. Our Holy Mother and Teacher, the
Church asks us to focus on Penance at least once a week and
prescribes a little positive penance during Lent.

Self-denial is an essential part of Penance. Unfortunately, people don’t
recognize self-denial as a positive concept for healthy souls. There is a
trend among those who worship the Goddess Health which promotes
occasional fasting as a curative for ourmetabolism, and as purgative for our circulatory systems, our blood chemistry, etc. They have a bit of insight here which Christians seem to have forgotten. Self-denial is a fundamental attitude of a mature Christian.

Our Lord told us that we must die to self in order to live in Him. It is in seeking His will and doing it gladly that we become more like Him, Who always did the will of His Father. This involves that Divine Kenosis which is the essence of the feast that we celebrate today: the Incarnation of GOD in the body of a helpless Baby.

The Kenosis -or pouring out of Love- is the heart of the Mystery of God’s Nature and Activity: Though He was by nature God, He did not cling to His Divinity, but came to live among us a man who came to Serve us, to Save us, and to Sanctify us by giving us His own Divine Life.

With Aquinas, dazzled by the wonder of His Love, we can only say : O felix culpa!!!

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas Season!

great post Michellina!

can anyone pls explain in simple terms why catholics dont eat meat of any kind on Fridays? I'd read through the posts several times...yet still dont have slight clue...

Below is what I've heard from Eastern Catholic Priests. Have any of you heard this before?

In the Eastern Churches meat is forbidden because it increases our tendency to lust. Hence monastics are forbidden to eat meat once they are tonsured unless they have a serious health problem. Incidentally if a person sins by committing acts of gluttony, lust is just around the corner. That is why reduced quantities of food are also prescribed during lent. Anyway, scientists have discovered that l-carnitine found in meat arouses people sexually. Any wonder that this is a very popular food supplement today? Monastics suspected this all along and for this reason meat is incompatible for monastics and for people who want to fast from sin.

In the past, meat was considered to be the rich man's food. Poor people couldn't afford it. In many third world countries, this is still the case. So it was the rich who had the hardest time fasting, because they were the meat eaters.

Does anyone else have another possible explanation as to why mean is forbidden and not some other food?

It's my understanding that the abstinence is on Friday because that is the day of the week that Jesus died.

Meat, for most of the world, is considered a luxury. Fish used to be "a poor man's meat," and considered to be an acceptable sacrifice for meat. But you completely miss the understanding of sacrifice if you are eating lobster, shrimp, crab, or other expensive sea food instead of hamburger!


Peace,
~VOW

VOW said:

. But you completely miss the understanding of sacrifice if you are eating lobster, shrimp, crab, or other expensive sea food instead of hamburger!

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I guess I gotta stop going to the Red Lobster and making a pig of myself then.

Just a little humor, folks. No disrepect intended.

I've heard conflicting answers to whether or not chicken counts. I'm still confused why fish doesn't; last time I checked, fish were animals, and animals are meat. But then, I'm easily confused sometimes.

Jimmy Akin gives us 2 reasons in a response as to why we fast from Meat that can be read here:
http://www.cin.org/users/james/questions/q034.htm

....there are reasons why fish is not included in the Latin Rite's abstinence. The reason meat was picked as the thing to abstain from is that in prior decades and centuries, meat (as opposed to fish) was a special sign of feasting and rejoicing since it couldn't be had every day. Thus it was appropriate to deny oneself this sign of rejoicing as a gesture of sorrow for having offended God by one's sins. However, fish (as opposed to meat) did not have this connotation. Fish was not a special sign of rejoicing the same way that meat was, as it was less expensive and did not require slaughtering one of the animals of the flock or herd.
A second reason, which is perhaps more relevant to those of us in the developed world today, for whom meat and fish are both equally available (and for whom fish may be even more expensive in the supermarket) is that fish is a symbol of Christ and by eating fish on Friday we are symbolically nourished by Christ while denying ourselves other forms of animal sustenance.

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He also makes a distinction regarding the tradition of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church.

In the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, the practice is different, and the Lenten fast includes an abstinence from all forms of animal products, including not only fish but also eggs, milk, cheese, butter, and condiments made with animal products (such as lard). However, while the Eastern Rite abstinence is stricter, it does not have the force of law, as it does in the Western Rite.

In the Latin Rite, where abstinence does have the force of law, it is a looser abstinence, giving exceptions for all animal products except meat itself (exclusive of fish) so people don't have to wonder, "Was this made with lard?", "Does this have cheese on it?", etc. Only the animal flesh itself is to be abstained.

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Did anybody know that Mary at Medugourji (sp?) said that the appointed days of fast are Wensday and Friday and that bread and water are the purest forums of fasting?

I know we do not know if the apparitions are legitimate but I though it was worth mentioning.

Hmm..I know in the Orthodox church it's suggested to fast as much as possible (a plan you work out with your spiritual father) on Wednesday and Friday.
-Catherine

Shelb5 said:

Did anybody know that Mary at Medugourji (sp?) said that the appointed days of fast are Wensday and Friday and that bread and water are the purest forums of fasting?

I know we do not know if the apparitions are legitimate but I though it was worth mentioning.

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I am glad that is not general revelation! I have such a hard time fasting that I am glad I am not bound to do it 2 times a week.

geocajun said:

I am glad that is not general revelation! I have such a hard time fasting that I am glad I am not bound to do it 2 times a week.

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IIRC, I don’t think Mary said we are bound, just that this is the best way to go if you’re going to fast.

Frankly, I like what I heard one priest say and that is you can not just cut out major things when you decided you want to do penance. You should slowly cut things out one at a time. Like having one less cup of coffee in the mornings than usual.

If we think we are going to fast on bread and water when we never had gone hungry a day in our lives then the whole spirit of sacrifice will be lost. Abstaining on meat on Fridays is a good idea. It is not too much to handle where we wold lose the sacrificial nature of what we were doing.

If we can gradually get up to a more restrictive penance then we should but if we are going to starve ourselves on Wensday and Fridays and then eat all day on Thursday and Saturday then the sacrificial nature of the penance is lost. IMO.

Oh and PS, just to share.

To me living where I do, eating seafood in not a sacrifice to on Fridays unless I only eat canned tuna or yucky fish sticks from the freezer.

During lent going out every Friday for seafood is a treat. (We have the best seafood here.)