Friday: Abstain From Meat Today

[Moneybags]

Today is Friday, the day we commemorate Our Lord's passion and death. It was our own sins that condemned Our Glorious Lord to death - death on a Cross. As Catholics, we are still bound to either abstain from meat today or rather to do some act of penance. It was on this day of the week that Our Glorious Redeemer died for us. Please, never forget this, especially at 3 o'clock, the hour that He died. At 3 o'clock attempt to pray the 3 o'clock Mercy Prayer. Please remember Our Lord's love and repent today.

[b]Code of Canon Law: [/b]

Canon 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."

Canon 1253 provides an exception to the rule - and, perhaps, an explanation for the cultural shift: "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."

Today is a great day to pray the Stations of the Cross. I also try to pray them every Friday especially after Pope John Paul ll's example, who prayed them every Friday, even as he lay dying in the hospital. They are a wondeful set of devotion that can be prayed in Church or at home. Nonetheless, the stations allow us to contemplate the true love of Our Redeemer. Please join me in praying the Stations of the Cross. Remember, it was on this day that He gave up His life all for you.

[b]Prayer to the Glorious Cross:[/b]

I adore You, O glorious Cross, which was adorned with the Heart and Body of my Savior Jesus Christ, stained and covered with blood. I adore You, O Holy Cross, out of love for Him, Jesus, who is my Savior and my God.

(Pope Pius IX declared that reciting this prayer five times on Friday will free five souls from Purgatory and 33 souls by reciting it on Good Friday. This prayer should be recited before a crucifix with a contrite heart and praying a few minutes for the Pope).

[b]Prayer to Jesus Christ Crucified:[/b]

My good and dear Jesus, I kneel before you asking you most earnestly to engrave upon my heart a deep and lively faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins, and a firm resolve to make amends. As I reflect upon your five wounds, and dwell upon them with deep compassion and grief, I recall the words the prophet David spoke long ago concerning yourself: they have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones!

[Sojourner]

or make some other penance

Since it is not required that Catholics in the U.S. abstain from meat on Fridays outside of Lent.

[JesusIPray]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that you do not have to abstain from meat on Friday's IF you replace it with an act of charity.

[N/A Gone]

Why was I never told this? I always eat meat friday besides lent

Also, I dont pray the Divine Mercy. Are you saying that is wrong?

[onathing1]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1250155' date='Apr 20 2007, 12:52 PM']Why was I never told this? I always eat meat friday besides lent

Also, I dont pray the Divine Mercy. Are you saying that is wrong?[/quote]


I don't either.....

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1250155' date='Apr 20 2007, 11:52 AM']Why was I never told this? I always eat meat friday besides lent

Also, I dont pray the Divine Mercy. Are you saying that is wrong?[/quote]
Meat on Fridays can be substituted with an act of penance or charity. I think you are supposed to ask your priest what a suitable alternative is for you. Given my carnivorous appetite, I just stick with abstaining since it is quite difficult to me. The Divine Mercy prayer is optional as far as I know. It is a private devotion (like the rosary) that cannot be bound on the faithful, although I find it quite interesting.

[Apotheoun]

Fridays and Wednesdays throughout the year (with a few exceptions) are days of strict fast in the Eastern Christian tradition.

Eastern Orthodox Christians fast today from meat (including poultry, and any meat products, i.e., broth, lard, etc.), fish (with backbones), and eggs and dairy products (milk, butter, coagulated milk, etc.). Bread, water, and vegetables are -- of course -- permitted today (as they are on all fast days), and today (although this is not true on every Friday) olive oil and wine are also permitted.

Eastern Catholic Christians either follow the traditional Orthodox fasting regulations, or they may follow the somewhat weaker fasting regulations of their own [i]sui juris[/i] Church. Most Eastern Catholic Churches permit the eating of fish on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year (with a few exceptions).

Finally, in the Eastern tradition members of the lay faithful are not permitted on their own initiative to substitute other practices in place of the strict fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. Now, if for some reason a man must eat meat or any one of the other prohibited items on a Wednesday or Friday, he must receive a dispensation from his pastor (or spiritual father) in order to do so.

[Aloysius]

The general rule of thumb I tell people is this: if it's something you'd normally do, it's not a suitable Friday penance. if it's something you want to do daily, but haven't actually accomplished that, it's not a suitable Friday penance it's just starting a daily devotion. it should be something you don't normally do, that you do specifically to commemorate the weekly day of Our Lord's Passion.

And to always keep the traditional practice as your simple backup at least; I mean, when it comes down to it, it's hard to come up with something unique to do on a Friday. giving something else up would also be a nice easy thing to do too... food-based penances are usually the easiest to make it based in something.

As to why you haven't heard of it: two reasons: one, when the USCCB made the requirement into some ambiguous penance, no one knew what to replace it with, it was harder to keep track of and most people just ended up letting it dwindle into nothingness (oh, I know: this friday I'll just be nicer to my friends! will quickly dissolve into oblivion). two, there are some canon lawyers who are of the opinion that the USCCB actually took away the requirement. They did not, the Universal Law does not give them permission to remove this universal requirement, all they did was make it not gravely obligatory, meaning you cannot mortally sin by not doing it because you are not disobeying the Church in something that they require of you with gravity. Anyway, Jimmy Akin thinks the USCCB made it completely non-obligatory; I say they did not because the Universal Law quoted above provides a requirement, they are only given the authority to change the degree to which it is made obligatory and replace penance.

[djc08]

I thought during the Easter season you can eat meat as we are still in a season of celebration?

[Aloysius]

no, the only Fridays when this does not apply are solemnities (Holy Days of Obligation), and that doesn't happen too often.

In Lent penance is in the foreground, celebration regulated to Sundays only.

In Easter celebration is in the foreground, penance regulated to Fridays only.

we don't forget that Christ is Risen during Lent (and we don't forget that Christ was born during Advent); nor do we forget that Christ was crucified on a Friday during Easter (or that the world waited 4 written biblical millenia during Christmas)

[Moneybags]

All the information above is correct. Abstaining from meat is still required on ALL Fridays of the years. Outside of Lent, the abstaining can be substituted with another act of penance. However, I still abstain and encourage others to do it.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet and stations of the Cross are two great devotions for today. They are not required. I just encourage them on all Fridays. The only thing required is the abstaining (or another form of penance of equal weight).

The only Fridays of the year when the penance/abstaining is not required is if the Friday is a Solemnity. Today is not a solemnity even though it is still in the Easter Season, so abstaining remains.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Solemnity - such a cool word.

[N/A Gone]

[quote name='St. Benedict' post='1250319' date='Apr 20 2007, 03:13 PM']All the information above is correct. [b]Abstaining from meat is still required on ALL Fridays of the years[/b]. Outside of Lent, the abstaining can be substituted with another act of penance. However, I still abstain and encourage others to do it.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet and stations of the Cross are two great devotions for today. They are not required. I just encourage them on all Fridays. The only thing required is the abstaining (or another form of penance of equal weight).

The only Fridays of the year when the penance/abstaining is not required is if the Friday is a Solemnity. Today is not a solemnity even though it is still in the Easter Season, so abstaining remains.[/quote]


No offense, cause I know you are a trad, but it is the fundamentalist mentality that makes catholicism seem as ludicris to the average protestant that budge does to all of us on the debate board.

Im going to hell cause I had a chicken sandwich for lunch...whooopie!!!!

How is a convert supposed to understand anything when the average church does not even have confession for more than an hour a week?

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1250411' date='Apr 20 2007, 04:32 PM']No offense, cause I know you are a trad, but it is the fundamentalist mentality that makes catholicism seem as ludicris to the average protestant that budge does to all of us on the debate board.

Im going to hell cause I had a chicken sandwich for lunch...whooopie!!!!

How is a convert supposed to understand anything when the average church does not even have confession for more than an hour a week?[/quote]
It is required, but since you didn't know about it before you have no need to worry about eating chicken on Fridays in the past. God bless!

[Aloysius]

It is not gravely required. No one can go to hell for not doing it. They may venially sin, weakening their strength and faith, but they cannot mortally sin.

one can mortally sin by intentionally disobeying the Church's abstinence requirement during Lent; the Church has bound that requirement gravely. She has bound the requirement for the other fridays venially.