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Fridays, Meat, And Lent


Slappo

Would you eat a meal cooked specifically for you on a Friday in lent if it contained meat?  

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If a meal was prepared specifically with you in mind out of love for you, but it contained meat products and was prepared on a Friday in lent, would you eat the meal or decline? Why or why not?

 

This is not a scenario where you could eat parts of the meal (for instance meat lasagna where the meat cannot be separated from the dish)

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At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath." 
 

--Matthew 12:1-8

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PhuturePriest

Eating meat on Fridays during Lent is a mortal sin, unless of course you have no other choice or it was an accident. I'm not sure if this falls into the "no other choice" scenario or not.

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I think it's a really tough situation. I don't think it's as easy as the scripture Era referred to as the scenario's are different. One is in regards to "working on the sabbath" by picking food to eat when you are hungry and have no other easily accesible food, another is in regards to a binding law under pain of sin to abstain from particular foods yet that particular food was presented to you.

Edited by Slappo
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I probably wouldn't. Usually what I say when people offer me meat on Fridays is simply that I can't eat meat - they usually think I'm saying I'm vegetarian, and I just leave it at that. My sister is vegetarian and I've seen her get out of eating meat all the time, being simple about it and not complaining there's nothing good to eat is usually fine.

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The particular situation I encountered today was my Catholic wife. who is not bound to abstain since she is pregnant, prepared dinner specifically with me in mind but dinner contained cream of chicken. She wasn't aware that cream of chicken contained meat products, so did not think it would break my lenten abstinence. The meal was at our own house, so other food options were available and it was not a public spectacle.

 

I didn't think it was a big deal to say that I wanted to eat the meal, but I'm not sure if cream of chicken would break my abstinence. She was really hurt by it and thought that it would be more charitable for me to eat the meal than to continue my abstinence and decline a meal that was made just for me. :( I thought under the circumstances that I am still bound to abstain, declined the meal, and upset her by doing so.

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The particular situation I encountered today was my Catholic wife. who is not bound to abstain since she is pregnant, prepared dinner specifically with me in mind but dinner contained cream of chicken. She wasn't aware that cream of chicken contained meat products, so did not think it would break my lenten abstinence. The meal was at our own house, so other food options were available and it was not a public spectacle.

 

I didn't think it was a big deal to say that I wanted to eat the meal, but I'm not sure if cream of chicken would break my abstinence. She was really hurt by it and thought that it would be more charitable for me to eat the meal than to continue my abstinence and decline a meal that was made just for me. :( I thought under the circumstances that I am still bound to abstain, declined the meal, and upset her by doing so.

 

Eat the meat, abstain from friday night relations. Problem solved.

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I think both God and the saints would tell you it is unwise to provoke a pregnant woman.

Once when I was a Sister we were visiting a home on a Lenten Friday.  The hostess happened to serve meat. We ate it. Franciscans eat what is set before them.

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So its a mortal sin to eat meat on a Friday durning Lent ? So if you ate meat knew it was a mortal sin then died an hour later you would go to hell for all of eternity? That's the problem I have with the mortal sin thing. It just doesn't make sense at times and seems like its reaching in a lot of situations.

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its an objective mortal sin. Whether or not it's a mortal sin for any particular person depends on their disposition. If you know its forbidden but say "I don't care what God or the Church thinks, here's the middle finger to them,  I'm going to indulge my appetite,  just because I want to, yum yum." Well yeah. That could be indicative of a certain state of soul - know what I mean? It could rise to the level of mortal sin quite easily.

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Ugh I saw a blog post about this last year, wish I could find it, but from what I gather there are times where it's more charitable to accept the meal than decline it.

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At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath." 
 

--Matthew 12:1-8

 

You confuse law and legalism.
 

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