Friday: Abstain From Meat

[Tindomiel]

[quote name='Lil Red' post='1257980' date='Apr 27 2007, 02:36 PM']i agree with you - i just wanted to make sure people were aware that they can substitute abstaining from meat with works of charity.[/quote]
That's about what I had thought. Or I substitute an alternate "abstinence" - such as no chocolate.

[Sojourner]

So are we going to have reminders of this every week?


Is this really necessary?


I for one find it to be slightly condescending.

[Tindomiel]

I still don't understand why meat is the big thing to give up, for example, on Fridays in Lent. Wouldn't giving up sugar or wheat be harder?

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Tindomiel' post='1258016' date='Apr 27 2007, 01:20 PM']I still don't understand why meat is the big thing to give up, for example, on Fridays in Lent. Wouldn't giving up sugar or wheat be harder?[/quote]
Well, in point of fact we are not required to give up meat.

We are required to do a penance of some sort.

St. B suggests meat, but you are free to give up whatever would be a penance for you.

[Tindomiel]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1258019' date='Apr 27 2007, 03:22 PM']Well, in point of fact we are not required to give up meat.

We are required to do a penance of some sort.

St. B suggests meat, but you are free to give up whatever would be a penance for you.[/quote]
I know, but in Lent you are. I'm pretty familiar with the legalism of the thing, just not the rational behind it.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Tindomiel

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1258013' date='Apr 27 2007, 11:18 AM']So are we going to have reminders of this every week?
Is this really necessary?
I for one find it to be slightly condescending.[/quote]

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1258013' date='Apr 27 2007, 02:18 PM']So are we going to have reminders of this every week?
Is this really necessary?
I for one find it to be slightly condescending.[/quote]
In the past, threads on the same topic have been merged.

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1257904' date='Apr 27 2007, 11:52 AM']I'm abstaining from vegetables[/quote]

Sounds like this crazy hippy lady I knew in college who angered her mother when she offered to "give up homework" for Lent when she was a kid...

[Ash Wednesday]

BTW I don't find this post to be condescending as much as I do a bit scrupulous, perhaps.

[Mateo el Feo]

[quote name='Tindomiel' post='1258016' date='Apr 27 2007, 03:20 PM']I still don't understand why meat is the big thing to give up, for example, on Fridays in Lent. Wouldn't giving up sugar or wheat be harder?[/quote]One reason Catholics give up meat (latin [i]carne [/i]= meat/flesh) on Fridays is because it reminds us of Our Lord, who gave up his flesh (latin [i]carne [/i]= meat/flesh) on the Cross. Quoting the Catholic Encyclopedia:[quote]From the dawn of Christianity, Friday has been signalized as an abstinence day, in order to do homage to the memory of Christ suffering and dying on that day of the week.[/quote]It isn't always what is harder. In this case, there is a clear connection between our small sacrifice and Our Lord's Sacrifice.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Lil Red' post='1258027' date='Apr 27 2007, 01:27 PM'][/quote]
[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1258030' date='Apr 27 2007, 01:29 PM']In the past, threads on the same topic have been merged. [/quote]

That would make sense.


[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1258033' date='Apr 27 2007, 01:31 PM']Sounds like this crazy hippy lady I knew in college who angered her mother when she offered to "give up homework" for Lent when she was a kid... [/quote]

[Ash Wednesday]

Did you know that corporate representatives of the fish and seafood industry begged the USCCB not to relax the year-wide ban of meat on Fridays? And clam chowder is always the soup du jour in restaurants because of the Friday tradition? (Though it is ironic as many chowders have bacon in them.)

Edited April 27, 2007 by Ash Wednesday

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1258035' date='Apr 27 2007, 01:33 PM']BTW I don't find this post to be condescending as much as I do a bit scrupulous, perhaps.[/quote]
Last week's reminder I could have counted as scrupulous.

But the fact that St. B posted again this week, in addition to the chiding on observation of rogation days, makes me feel he is being condescending.

But maybe that is just me.

[Mateo el Feo]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1258013' date='Apr 27 2007, 03:18 PM']So are we going to have reminders of this every week?
Is this really necessary?
I for one find it to be slightly condescending.[/quote]Sadly, my faith in the effectiveness of CCD over the last few decades makes me believe that bringing up these basics is necessary.

If I could, I'd like to share an extreme real-world example to make my point. A few years ago, I was invited to a priest's house for lunch. This was in a Catholic country, and everyone (~10 people) were at least nominally Catholic. On that Friday in Lent, you ready for what was served as the main dish? Meat. No one made the slightest suggestion that there was something wrong...not even the priest.

So, if priests can't even figure out Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence, then there's a good chance that laymen may not understand what's going on during the rest of the year. According to the culture that I live in, Catholics and non-Catholics alike think that year-round Friday abstinance was dropped...in other words, no thought even of a substitute act of piety, let alone the ordinary practice of abstinence. There are many people who are unaware of the requirements described in canons 1251 and 1253.

Here's a test. In no way am I meaning to be judgmental of others; but merely as an exercise in learning: ask run-of-the-mill Catholics if they know the significance of Fridays outside of Lent, and what is required of them (i.e. the canon law stuff). I'm guessing that most will simply have no knowledge of what we're talking about here.

[Mateo el Feo]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1258043' date='Apr 27 2007, 03:39 PM']Did you know that corporate representatives of the fish and seafood industry begged the USCCB not to relax the year-wide ban of meat on Fridays? [/quote]That's hilarious.