Can I eat this way during lent?

[matjam]

Hello all,
I am a catholic from India and would like to get clarification on this. As you all know we are in Lenten season and dont eat meat. Now my confusion is at my work place I stay with non Christians and makes chicken curry with rice occasionally. Can I eat rice just with the curry (gravy) without actually eating chicken? Am I doing it right or wrong? Kindly guide me.

 

[Kindnessmatters]

I think it is reasonable. I have also been told…perhaps a priest can weigh in…that when you are a guest, you may simply eat or choose from among what is served. It is meant to be a personal sacrifice, not an inconvenience or burden on your hosts.

If the concern is that you picked the meat out to eat the sauce and the sauce has touched meat, that strikes me as a bit overly particular…you are not having the chicken meat, so are observing. Just the rice alone may not be enough to sustain you.

 

[Username7]

Unless you’re giving up meat for Lent, to my understanding we’re only called to abstain on Friday, and not all days of Lent.

So if I’m correct, and it’s not Friday, then I’d say don’t worry about it. But I may be wrong, which I hope not because I’ve only been abstaining from meat on Fridays.

 

[paperwight]

We are not obliged to abstain from meat on all the days of Lent only on Fridays. Unless you mean you are actually in India OP? The rules may be different in India.

 

[InThePew]

You should respect the hospitality of your hosts and eat what’s provided. You could though have a conversation with them and ask if it would be possible for a non-meat dish to be served instead. Still, abstinence from meat is a pious discipline but not a rule of faith; observance is not required regardless of the circumstances - much like the sabbath, Lent was made for man and not man for Lent.

 

[ziapueblo]

Can I eat rice just with the curry (gravy) without actually eating chicken? Am I doing it right or wrong?

I don’t see a problem. I would discretely take the chicken out. If you can’t, it’s not a big deal. Fasting/abstaining is for our spiritual benefit. It’s like golf, we’ll make a few bogeys during the Great Fast and when that happens we move on to the next hole.

ZP

 

[dochawk]

You should respect the hospitality of your hosts and eat what’s provided.

This.

There is a great tale from the early church, in which a pair of monks were guests at a banquet during lent. The elder ate with the hosts, while the younger made a great issue of what he was’t eating to comply with the fast–and went to the abbot to rat out the older monk.

The abbot replied to the effect of, “you know a great deal about fasting and the law, but nothing of charity!”

Charity and accepting offered hospitality trump fêting rule.