Friday After Lent

[Epistemes]

Should we be practicing some sort of fast even on Fridays after Lent?

 

[mommyof4]

Try reading this:
jimmyakin.org/2004/07/since_tomorrow_.html

 

[Genesis315]

Usually, we are to do something penitential on Fridays, btu I think the octave after Easter is all Solemnities so there would be no penance today.

 

[Epistemes]

Try reading this:
jimmyakin.org/2004/07/since_tomorrow_.html

It’s an interesting article, but I find some of the comments after the article to be very thought-provoking. I wonder if Jimmy Akin isn’t reading the documents and Canon law a little more liberally than the bishops intended?

From my reading, it seems that the bishops were trying to say that abstaining from meat isn’t obligatory, but recommended. A form of penance, though, is obligatory for the faithful.

Am I wrong?

 

[Blackbog]

Usually, we are to do something penitential on Fridays, btu I think the octave after Easter is all Solemnities so there would be no penance today.

Could you elaborate on this for a new Catholic?

Ordinarily, I abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. I did so during my catechumenate and would like to continue doing so. However I also heard somewhere that on Easter Friday it wasn’t necessary. I was wondering if this is true.

 

[Genesis315]

Could you elaborate on this for a new Catholic?

Ordinarily, I abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. I did so during my catechumenate and would like to continue doing so. However I also heard somewhere that on Easter Friday it wasn’t necessary. I was wondering if this is true.

Solemnities are th highest feast days. All Sundays are Solemnities as well as various other special feasts throughout the year. Easter is so special, that the entire octave (8 days after Easter) are all Solemnities. Solemnities are days of feasting and celebration. Whenever a Solemnity falls on a Friday it overrides the prescribed penance.

Here’s the appropriate canon law:

Canon 1251 – Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[mommyof4]

From my reading, it seems that the bishops were trying to say that abstaining from meat isn’t obligatory, but recommended. A form of penance, though, is obligatory for the faithful.

Am I wrong?

This is my understanding, too. I think we are supposed to do some form of fast/penance, but it doen’t have to be meat. It can be giving up soda, sugar, saying extra prayers, etc.