Why fish on Fridays?
- Thread starter Kris10leigh
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SpiritualAntiseptic
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Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every 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 conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.
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Fish and Bread
Dona nobis pacem
This is correct. Specifically in the US, the conference of bishops has determined that Catholics are to abstain from red meat and poultry on all Fridays during Lent, but may substitute an act of penance on Fridays outside of Lent instead if they wish at their individual discretion. I think that is a fairly common arrangement in many countries. Truthfully, though, in practice, many Catholics are only aware that they are supposed to abstain from eating red meat and poultry during Fridays of Lent, and are not aware about the act of penance or any other requirements outside of Lent, so that contributes to some confusion about things in the general public.
So, why is fish not prohibited? Well, one has to understand that for Catholics, fasting and abstinence is not about being vegetarians for a day or about foods being clean or unclean (All foods are clean for Catholics as per the New Testament of the bible). Rather, these occasions are about self-denial and recalling and uniting each individual to the suffering of Christ, growing closer to God. It's not that vegetables are better than meat or whatever in some moral sense, it's just about people's relationship with God.
So, largely, the fact that this or that is chosen as a way of expressing that concept and working to that end is largely arbitrary -- if the Pope or the bishops wanted to, they could say all Catholics are going to abstain from candy and alcohol instead, or all Catholics are going to skip a meal, or whatever. It's more about the spirit of the action than the nature of the action itself.
I actually think there might be something to the urban legend that said that it used to be that fish were prohibited on Fridays along with the rest and it was changed because fishermen were struggling to make a living. I can't verify that for a fact, but I remember hearing it somewhere. If it did happen, it would be in accord with the theology and the intent of the thing. If abstaining from fish was putting people out of work, it would be charitable for the Church to exempt fish from the fast, because the fast really wasn't about the fish in the first place.
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It's all interesting, it's all in the interest of willpower. I don't mean to be negatively, but some people have inherently this skill, and I as agnostic (may I shall be another prophet to christians and athiests combined?), I think I have merit.
Beh, but my goal is not to be a narcissist.
But in my spiritual view, you cannot define god through paperwork, through words, through anything. Look at logic folks. Would you want an ant to define you?! or a piece of paper?! so what good is this book?
Honestly if I were god (and you all were the ants defining me), I'd be offended too, and burn you all with the glass.
And i'm anti-atheist - you cannot disprove a higher entity that you do not know.
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lucyclaire
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I have been taught about no meat of the Friday's during Lent and Ash Wednesday but most are hazy on Friday's the rest of the year. It was explained that it was to ensure that Fisherman could make a living but it must have got very hard to maintain during the last century, when there was rationing and starvation throughout Europe.
Meat was too expensive to eat more than once a week for many families and fish was cheaper for the poor, so the sacrifice of not eating meat on a Friday must have stopped meaning anything...These days, the price of Fish, plus the environment concerns of falling number of fish, means that for many people it is a luxuary ... over Lent many people just eat vegetarian on Fridays, these days.
As for abstainance etc on Friday's, in my Parish the social club is open on Friday, with a well stocked bar though I often go to Friday evening mass, we always have Exposition on Friday evenings and all night mass once a month.. but that is another problem with the Penance on Friday's, I am in a big parish with four/five Priests, most are not and struggle to open on a Sunday, so people don't get the teaching or the community with their parish to guide them..
Meat was too expensive to eat more than once a week for many families and fish was cheaper for the poor, so the sacrifice of not eating meat on a Friday must have stopped meaning anything...These days, the price of Fish, plus the environment concerns of falling number of fish, means that for many people it is a luxuary ... over Lent many people just eat vegetarian on Fridays, these days.
As for abstainance etc on Friday's, in my Parish the social club is open on Friday, with a well stocked bar though I often go to Friday evening mass, we always have Exposition on Friday evenings and all night mass once a month.. but that is another problem with the Penance on Friday's, I am in a big parish with four/five Priests, most are not and struggle to open on a Sunday, so people don't get the teaching or the community with their parish to guide them..
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I like your thought process here, but at the same time I think it's off base. I think that God probably is indeed laughing at all of us for the things we think and the things we have gotten wrong. But at the same time, He created us to do exactly that. Rather than compare us to ants, I think we should be compared to children. Children take in the world around them and make wild assumptions. It's amusing and it makes me smile. I think it must be the same with God. Sometimes we probably make Him quite angry, but at other times I certain we entertain Him and He understands. We are, after all, what He created.
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I will reintroduce myself here- Kris10 has it right! we are moved by Spirit, but we don't get it right. Why? Because we are not right in our hearts and with Him. "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" is not to be taken with apprehension or ill will. We must negotiate this pronouncement as firm calling and a pattern for will from our Lord.
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The Catechism says that Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence. Some people give up meat on Fridays, like my parents or you could also give up a meal and give the money to a charity. If you don't like fish, it's a sacrifice. Sometimes it's good to go without otherwise you don't appreciate what you've got.
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Cura Animarum
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A lot of information on the requirements to Abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent and to keep the spirit of fasting and Abstinence throughout the year on Fridays. Maybe just a summation then;
Abstaining from meat on Fridays through Lent is determined by the local conference of Bishops as are the fasting requirements throughout the year. Here in Canada we have only two days where fasting and and abstinence are required; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, though the practice is encouraged on the other Fridays of Lent and throughout the year.
The practice is tied both to the spiritual growth of the individual and to the care of the community through the practice of alms-giving. The fast is meant, as many have suggested, to be a display of spiritual solidarity with the suffering of Christ, and as a spiritual discipline which helps us to recall that we "do not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes to us from the mouth of God". This is true of fasting in general and not strictly abstinence from meat.
Abstinence from meat, in addition to the fasting component, was intended to also tie in with the practice of alms-giving or charitable giving. The idea that the resources we have are not ours to possess selfishly, but gifts to be shared in communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ. One poster had mentioned the comparatively cheap price of fish at the time this particular practice became tradition. Meat was a luxury whose cost was significant (even today, meat takes up a big chunk of my grocery bill...but then living on the prairies...fish would too!)
Lent as a whole, and the Christian life in general seeks to place our focus away from our own selfish wants and desires and towards the needs of others. Abstaining from meat and eating a single, simple meal (as well as two smaller meals that would not amount to an additional meal) on Good Friday, the Fridays of Lent, or Fridays throughout the year is intended to be a profound reminder of our solidarity with those who go without even these very basics of nutrition, while at the same time giving us an opportunity to take what money we have saved from eating more simply, and giving it to those who have less.
Some have mentioned that, if meat isn't abstained from, other sacrifices may be used in its place to meet these same goals. I tend to do both, the practice itself, is a meaningful reminder for me that these days are different than all the others I move through, with a different focus. At the same time, eating vegetarian and/or eating fish is far from being a sacrifice for me, so I tend to give more, and do more in the way of charitable works and perhaps even give up some of the other things I do like (like television, computer, or going to movies).
Hope this helps.
Peace and God Bless
Abstaining from meat on Fridays through Lent is determined by the local conference of Bishops as are the fasting requirements throughout the year. Here in Canada we have only two days where fasting and and abstinence are required; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, though the practice is encouraged on the other Fridays of Lent and throughout the year.
The practice is tied both to the spiritual growth of the individual and to the care of the community through the practice of alms-giving. The fast is meant, as many have suggested, to be a display of spiritual solidarity with the suffering of Christ, and as a spiritual discipline which helps us to recall that we "do not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes to us from the mouth of God". This is true of fasting in general and not strictly abstinence from meat.
Abstinence from meat, in addition to the fasting component, was intended to also tie in with the practice of alms-giving or charitable giving. The idea that the resources we have are not ours to possess selfishly, but gifts to be shared in communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ. One poster had mentioned the comparatively cheap price of fish at the time this particular practice became tradition. Meat was a luxury whose cost was significant (even today, meat takes up a big chunk of my grocery bill...but then living on the prairies...fish would too!)
Lent as a whole, and the Christian life in general seeks to place our focus away from our own selfish wants and desires and towards the needs of others. Abstaining from meat and eating a single, simple meal (as well as two smaller meals that would not amount to an additional meal) on Good Friday, the Fridays of Lent, or Fridays throughout the year is intended to be a profound reminder of our solidarity with those who go without even these very basics of nutrition, while at the same time giving us an opportunity to take what money we have saved from eating more simply, and giving it to those who have less.
Some have mentioned that, if meat isn't abstained from, other sacrifices may be used in its place to meet these same goals. I tend to do both, the practice itself, is a meaningful reminder for me that these days are different than all the others I move through, with a different focus. At the same time, eating vegetarian and/or eating fish is far from being a sacrifice for me, so I tend to give more, and do more in the way of charitable works and perhaps even give up some of the other things I do like (like television, computer, or going to movies).
Hope this helps.
Peace and God Bless
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