Friday Abstinence Today?

[Paxvobis]

Since today, December 30, is the Feast of the Holy Family, do we have to do a Friday penance today?

 

[MarkThompson]

Since today, December 30, is the Feast of the Holy Family, do we have to do a Friday penance today?

Code of Canon Law:
Can. 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.
The Holy Family ranks as a feast, not a solemnity, and therefore the exception does not apply and abstinence should be observed.

 

[jimrob]

Yes. You’ve had 5 days of Christmas excess: now it’s time to allow both body and soul to recover. Now where’s that smoked salmon and caviare?

 

[Brendan]

Code of Canon Law:
Can. 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.
The Holy Family ranks as a feast, not a solemnity, and therefore the exception does not apply and abstinence should be observed.

Would not the entire of Octave of Christmas be celebrated as a Solemnity?

 

[puzzleannie]

Since today, December 30, is the Feast of the Holy Family, do we have to do a Friday penance today?

we don’t “hafta” do Friday penance at all outside Lent, if you mean a requirement binding under pain of sin. We are asked to do so as a reminder of Christ’s passion. We usually do not do penitential practices in the festive seasons of Christmastide and Eastertide. The feast is in the octave of Christmas and since the LOTH is that for the Solemntity every day, then presumably the entire week is part of the solemnity of Christmas and fasting and penance are not appropriate, any more than they would be for a Sunday. That does not mean you cannot do a penance if you want to, there is no requirement for penance in this season.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Would not the entire of Octave of Christmas be celebrated as a Solemnity?

No although it is a festive occasion.

It is all the days of the Easter Octave that are ranked as solemnities.

 

[fred_conty]

Puzzleannie, you said,

"we don’t “hafta” do Friday penance at all outside Lent, if you mean a requirement binding
under pain of sin. "​

Cannons 1249 thru 1251 sound as though it would be sinful not to keep this observance.
Would you throw some light on this please.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Puzzleannie, you said,

"we don’t “hafta” do Friday penance at all outside Lent, if you mean a requirement binding
under pain of sin. "​

Cannons 1249 thru 1251 sound as though it would be sinful not to keep this observance.
Would you throw some light on this please.

It’s unfortunate, but:

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as **substitute **other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM

The wonderful thing about this is that it sounds juicy on paper, but works out awfully in real life.

 

[ConstantineTG]

According to my calendar, its not a fasting (abstinence) day today in the Ukrainian Church.

 

[Sirach2]

That is a difficult question to find a common answer, for many opinions circulate that say you must substitute a penance of your choice if you decide to eat meat on Friday. That is not what the Bishops envisioned when the lifted the discipline for Friday abstinence.

Jimmy Akin, CAF apologist, published an article that helped me resolve the issue, and I think you’ll find it very helpful, especially these paragraphs:

Again, the language of exhortation (“we urge”) is used rather than the language of mandate (“all must”). Thus no obligation is created.

The norms—the part of the document that would create a legal obligation if there were one—thus do not do so. Moreover, the document nowhere states an alternative obligation.

As a result, there appears to be no legal obligation in the United States to practice penance on Friday, but Friday remains a day on which the bishops have urged all to do penance and, in particular, recommended the continued practice of abstinence.

There is also a dog that didn’t bark in this text.

The bishops were so concerned to avoid the impression that they were eliminating the practice of penance that, if they were creating an alternative obligation, then they could not have failed to underscore this point.

 

[YoungTradCath]

That is a difficult question to find a common answer, for many opinions circulate that say you must substitute a penance of your choice if you decide to eat meat on Friday. That is not what the Bishops envisioned when the lifted the discipline for Friday abstinence.

Here is the article from Jimmy Akin, CAF apologist, that helped me resolve the issue, and I think you’ll find it very helpful, especially these paragraphs:

The thing that I do not understand with this “no obligation at all” argument is that the Canon specifically says, “As well as substitute other forms of penance…”

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM

This troubles me greatly, because the Canon says that some penance must be performed. The subjective here is that the Episcopal Conference is allowed to prescribe a different penance, but a penance is absolutely required in some form.

How can an Episcopal Conference thus overrule a document carrying the authority of the Supreme Pontiff?

 

[FrDavid96]

Let’s take a look at the Church’s liturgy for today (Friday in the Octave of Christmas).

When Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon is used, this text is used:

*On the Nativity of the Lord and throughout the Octave
Celebrating the most sacred night (day)
on which blessed Mary the immaculate Virgin
brought forth the Savior for this world…
*

How we could we pray those words and still consider today to be a day of abstinence or fasting???

 

[YoungTradCath]

Let’s take a look at the Church’s liturgy for today (Friday in the Octave of Christmas).

When Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon is used, this text is used:

On the Nativity of the Lord and throughout the Octave
Celebrating the most sacred night (day)
on which blessed Mary the immaculate Virgin
brought forth the Savior for this world…

How we could we pray those words and still consider today to be a day of abstinence or fasting???

But is it still technically a feast day?

 

[Sirach2]

The USCCB has authority to regulate for the United States. You may recall that individual Bishops can dispense from observance of certain holydays that fall on Saturday, whereas other bishops will not dispense. They do have that authority.

Not knowing the particulars, I would suspect USCCB obtained a recognito that overrules Canon Law for our area. In a similar example, the norm for other dioceses worldwide is to stand during the canon, but in the US, the norm is to kneel, which was obtained by recognito from the Holy See.

The unfortunate reality is that some folks read a document, such as canon law, and try to impose their personal understanding of it on others, without knowing the regulations stated by our bishops. It has upset me very much to hear EWTN’s brief commercial-type announcements that do not reveal the true picture.

 

[FrDavid96]

That is a difficult question to find a common answer, for many opinions circulate that say you must substitute a penance of your choice if you decide to eat meat on Friday. That is not what the Bishops envisioned when the lifted the discipline for Friday abstinence.
:

In fact, that’s exactly what the bishops did envision. Friday remains a day of penance. There is nothing optional about keeping the Friday penance. The option now is how that penance is done–not whether-or-not it is observed.

I suggest that you read the actual statement from the bishops instead of reading someone’s internet blog.

Here’s a link to the entire text
old.usccb.org/lent/2008/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf

And a quote from the document itself that completely contradicts the conclusion on the blog:

1. Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance
   throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be
   mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are
   called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified.

 

[Evan]

But is it still technically a feast day?

It is a Feast Day: Feast of the Holy Family. The elimination of the need for penitential acts is based on Solemnities. So I still don’t see a definitive answer:

Is this part of the Solemn Celebration of Christmas?

– my wife: yes… octave of Christmas = Solemnity
– above: yes and no
– me: ???

 

[fred_conty]

Let’s take a look at the Church’s liturgy for today (Friday in the Octave of Christmas).

When Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon is used, this text is used:

On the Nativity of the Lord and throughout the Octave
Celebrating the most sacred night (day)
on which blessed Mary the immaculate Virgin
brought forth the Savior for this world…

How we could we pray those words and still consider today to be a day of abstinence or fasting???

I don’t want to be a cloud in the sunny sky, but before Vatican II, we abstained on every Friday regardless of what day it was or what season it was. Santa Clause could be comming down the chimney, but if it was friday, you offered him fish.

Just a thought.

 

[Sirach2]

But is it still technically a feast day?

The Liturgy of the Hours all during the Octave of Christmas uses the prayers for the Solemnity of Christmas, morning and evening praise. We also pray the Gloria at weekday mass. I would say, after reading Fr. David’s post, and personally praying the LoTH, that the Church asks us to “REJOICE!”

 

[ConstantineTG]

But is it still technically a feast day?

Octaves, such as that of Christmas and Easter, technically extends the Feast Day into the entire week. I failed to mention when I said that today is not a fast day in the Ukrainian Church, we do not have a feast such as the Holy Family today, yet because of the octave of Christmas, the entire week has no fast. I just had some hotdogs this morning

 

[FrDavid96]

But is it still technically a feast day?

I’m travelling right now and don’t have access to my library. I’d like to provide some better references, but at the moment I cannot.

It certainly has been the traditional practice of the Church that the entire Octave of Christmas is seen as a time of feasting, as opposed to fasting.