Still Not Supposed To Eat Meat On Friday

[Guest]

Even after Easter ?

[Lil Red]

in the U.S., you are asked to abstain from meat on Fridays during the year OR you can substitute a corporal or spiritual work of mercy. 

[Guest]

Ok cool...Didn't know this...Thanks...

[Guest]

Is this new or always been like this ?

[Lil Red]

Is this new or always been like this ?

 

i don't know when this started. :idontknow: it's not new but it hasn't always been like this either. 

[Dr. Bombay]

Been like this since the sixties. 

[Basilisa Marie]

Meat was always the sacrifice because it used to be a luxury item for everyone, so it was something that was easy to make a universal sacrifice.  The reason why fish is excluded is because at the time when the sacrifice was made official, fish was a big part of the diet of the poor in a lot of places.  
 

Now meat isn't quite as much of a luxury item, plus there are a lot of people who are voluntarily vegetarian or limit their meat intake, so the Church allows people to sacrifice something else or do a work of mercy instead.  The important thing is that we are required to make a sacrifice (or do a spiritual work of mercy) on Fridays. The important part of the rule stayed the same. :) 

[Aloysius]

it was more than just meat as a luxury item that made for the restriction, although that's one common explanation (and it's not entirely without merit).  but it goes much deeper, wednesdays and fridays were the days of penance for the Church since Apostolic Times (see the Didache), and from the very beginning there has been the idea of abstaining from "flesh" as a kind of fasting, going back to pre-Christian roots and certainly coming from Apostolic times in the Church.  fish were always excluded from the term "flesh" not because of any kind of economics, but because you didn't "shed blood" to kill them (the word "flesh" in latin and greek referred to the meat of warm blooded animals).  abstaining from meat was much more than just abstaining from a "luxury" item, it was from the beginning a reference to abstaining from sacrificing an animal's life to remember the sacrifice of Christ (I've seen it argued that this explanation was cooked up later to explain the more economic based luxury motivation, but that argument is without basis I think, I think there's a pretty clear historical line in the Church's kinds of penitential fasting and the ancient understandings of these things)

 

it doesn't have to be a luxury item for you in order for abstaining from it to be meaningful IMO.  obviously if you're a vegetarian, the meat thing is rather meaningless; but if you're not a vegetarian, then it is still quite meaningful.  even if on some occasions you choose to eat seafood that you really enjoy, honestly even if you eat lobster, it is still meaningful (though I wouldn't recommend making a habit of that because in the long run you'd be missing the point), because it's not just about giving up enjoyment and luxury, it's tied into the idea that when we eat meat, we're nourished by the sacrifice of an animal, and we remember that we are nourished by Christ's sacrifice especially on Fridays to commemorate that.  even if you enjoy seafood, that symbolism is still there IMO.

 

anyway, yeah, canon law currently says to either abstain from meat or do some other pious action in its place, but wasn't really clear on the specifics of what to do making it quite easy for everyone to basically drop the ball due to the ambiguity of the law.  you should try to do something meaningful that you don't otherwise do on any other day of the week, though.

[Basilisa Marie]

Aloysius, you know things.  I'm glad.  :) 

[Ash Wednesday]

In England and Wales they recently brought back the fish!

 

Growing up in the U.S. they allowed for a substitute but we were raised somewhat lazy about it. Really thinking about it and having "fish Fridays" was mostly just a Lenten thing. Now having it all year long has been good, at least for me. :)

 

[fides' Jack]

It should be noted that the substitution is only to be made when there is a very clear and serious reason for doing so.

 

"I feel like eating meat today" is not a good enough reason to substitute the abstention.

[Lil Red]

It should be noted that the substitution is only to be made when there is a very clear and serious reason for doing so.

 

"I feel like eating meat today" is not a good enough reason to substitute the abstention.

 

"meat is the only thing in the house to feed the children and myself" is a better reason. 

[fides' Jack]

Agreed.

[Aloysius]

unfortunately that's not the way the law works, though I agree that it would be better if they required you to have some reason not to do the meat abstinence, Canon 1253 clearly allows the bishops' conferences to substitute any other requirement in its place and the USCCB (then the NCCB) made a broad provision that any good work could be substituted.  so no, you don't have to have a serious reason to substitute some other penance in place of meat on Fridays any more than you have to have a serious reason to receive communion on the hand (the indult) instead of on the tongue (the universal norm).  doing something else in place of meat is a valid option under current canon law in the US (not in England now, though!).

 

I would say that to follow the spirit of the law you should make a personal decision as to whether you will be abstaining from meat on Fridays, or whether you will be specifically planning to do something else on Fridays, ie I would say that you shouldn't find yourself craving a burger on a Friday and go "alright, I'll eat this burger and just do an extra rosary later as my friday penance"... I think that would be against the spirit of the law, I think you should've made up your mind before Friday whether you'd be abstaining from meat or doing an extra rosary or volunteering at a soup kitchen, and then stick to it.  and anyway, I'd recommend if you're going to do one of those other things why not abstain from meat in addition to them, huh?  just my 2 cents there though, you're entirely able to decide on Friday itself because the law is very loose and ambiguous these days.

 

should be noted that you cannot substitute the meat on Fridays during lent, that is still required.  which is pretty much why they're the only Fridays Catholics remember to be penitential :cyclops:

[Aloysius]

unfortunately that's not the way the law works, though I agree that it would be better if they required you to have some reason not to do the meat abstinence, Canon 1253 clearly allows the bishops' conferences to substitute any other requirement in its place and the USCCB (then the NCCB) made a broad provision that any good work could be substituted.  so no, you don't have to have a serious reason to substitute some other penance in place of meat on Fridays any more than you have to have a serious reason to receive communion on the hand (the indult) instead of on the tongue (the universal norm).  doing something else in place of meat is a valid option under current canon law in the US (not in England now, though!).

 

I would say that to follow the spirit of the law you should make a personal decision as to whether you will be abstaining from meat on Fridays, or whether you will be specifically planning to do something else on Fridays, ie I would say that you shouldn't find yourself craving a burger on a Friday and go "alright, I'll eat this burger and just do an extra rosary later as my friday penance"... I think that would be against the spirit of the law, I think you should've made up your mind before Friday whether you'd be abstaining from meat or doing an extra rosary or volunteering at a soup kitchen, and then stick to it.  and anyway, I'd recommend if you're going to do one of those other things why not abstain from meat in addition to them, huh?  just my 2 cents there though, you're entirely able to decide on Friday itself because the law is very loose and ambiguous these days.

 

should be noted that you cannot substitute the meat on Fridays during lent, that is still required.  which is pretty much why they're the only Fridays Catholics remember to be penitential :cyclops: