Friday Fast

[Zulukai]

I learned that you still cannot eat meat on Fridays unless you make a greater or equivalent sacrifice (or something like that). Does everyone know that?

 

[NHInsider]

You’re right - most practicing Catholics are not aware that Friday is still supposed to be penitential, and if you choose not to fast from meat you’re supposed to observe some other penitential discipline instead.

Just not eating meat is simpler, although given the number of delicious pasta and seafood options available to modern western Christians, I don’t know how truly penitential it is. But it still serves to remind us of the Crucifixion.

 

[phoage]

I know this is picking nits but it is actually abstinance (from meat), not fast. Fast is having only one full meal a day and the other meals combined are less than the full meal, and no snacking. That is only required on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (I believe).

 

[Roman_Army]

I learned that you still cannot eat meat on Fridays unless you make a greater or equivalent sacrifice (or something like that). Does everyone know that?

Yes, I do know, which is why I no longer eat meat on Fridays. I like this traditional penance much better. I think it is easier for me to remember and it does not require me to be so creative about penances which I’m not all that good at. Although it’s more simpler, I do feel that it is much harder to do. I love meat, and being deprived of that causes suffering. I also try to punish my appetite by eating less and eating something at home that is not very scrumptious and appetizing, like yesterday I ate two peanut butter sandwiches with whole wheat bread. That’s a penance for me. I try not to eat out on Friday, since restaurants usually sell things that are appealing to the appetites, although I have occasionally ordered something like a salad with no cheese and with a very lite dressing, that is certainly worst than my two peanut butter sandwiches and without sufficient protein leaves me hungry, lol. I mention this only as humble advice for others, not to boast about my penance. I’ve got nothing I’m proud of.

 

[Brooklyn]

Threads about Friday abstinence pop up on this forum every so often, and there are always those who believe there is no obligation to mark Friday, the day of our Lord’s death, in any way. I think a good part of the reason for that is because there are very few priests who teach this in any way. People do need to hear about this to know about it.

As correctly pointed out in an earlier post, this is a day of abstinence, not a fast day. I actually think the bishops were right in changing this day from one of giving up meat, to basically choosing your own penance. For some people, giving up meat is a major penance, and that is what they need to do on Fridays. But then there are people like me, who never eat meat. So “giving up meat” doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m not sure I’m in agreement with doing “good deeds” on this day as a form of penance. Not to say that we shouldn’t do good things on this day, but I think it’s more a day of reparation and penance, of doing something in regard to our sins. But that’s just me.

I personally fast on this day. Trust me, I hate doing it. I really hate fasting, but I figure it is that much more meaningful. Christ certainly didn’t like the crucifixion, either.

 

[diggerdomer]

I learned that you still cannot eat meat on Fridays unless you make a greater or equivalent sacrifice (or something like that). Does everyone know that?

The only Fridays Catholics (over the age of 14) are obliged to abstain from meat are the Fridays of Lent.

Fridays remain a penitential day throughout the year.

 

[Rob_88]

Fasting is great for self-discipline. But also, our Lord said that some demons can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. So fasting is a great weapon against evil.

I heard Fr. Corapi (from EWTN) once say that Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was once on the plane during Lent and the flight attendant askied him if he would like to eat lunch. He said that since it was Lent, and a Friday, he would fast. The pretty young lady sitting next to him also declined to eat lunch. So he asked her if she was a Catholic, fasting for Lent. She replied “No, I’m a witch, fasting for abortions.”

So there are witches fasting FOR abortions. I think it is crucial that we Catholics & other Christians fast for an END to abortion and other evils. That is one reason to keep Friday as a day of fasting and penance.

 

[CWBetts]

The only Fridays Catholics (over the age of 14) are obliged to abstain from meat are the Fridays of Lent.

Fridays remain a penitential day throughout the year.

Why are you concerned about only doing the minimum? We are only required to fast 2 days a year, but does that mean we shouldn’t fast at other times? We are only required to attend Mass on Sundays, but does that mean that daily Mass has no value? We are to perform some form of sacrifice or penitential work on Fridays, and the accepted norm is abstaining form all meat.

 

[diggerdomer]

Why are you concerned about only doing the minimum? We are only required to fast 2 days a year, but does that mean we shouldn’t fast at other times? We are only required to attend Mass on Sundays, but does that mean that daily Mass has no value? We are to perform some form of sacrifice or penitential work on Fridays, and the accepted norm is abstaining form all meat.

I never said I was concerned about only doing the minimum, I was merely trying to clarify some facts about Catholic Church teaching and discipline.

We are required to attend Mass on Sundays AND Holy Days of Obligation. Of course that doesn’t mean daily Mass has not value; that’s a ridiculous assumption. You’re reading WAY too much into what I wrote.

 

[CWBetts]

I never said I was concerned about only doing the minimum, I was merely trying to clarify some facts about Catholic Church teaching and discipline.

We are required to attend Mass on Sundays AND Holy Days of Obligation. Of course that doesn’t mean daily Mass has not value; that’s a ridiculous assumption. You’re reading WAY too much into what I wrote.

You came across as wanting to get by with as little effort as possible.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

I know the bishops in the US petitioned (and received) an indult for non-Lenten Fridays wherein abstinence is ‘optional’ and a penitential practice of some sort is ‘encouraged.’

The way I look at it is this: The NORM for the world is abstinence from meat on ALL Fridays, Lenten and non-Lenten. The reason the bishops requested the indult was not in order to lessen the obligations for Friday but to make them an opportunity for Catholics to do MORE. Sadly, the good intentions of bishops assured by their flock that abstinence was no penance for THEM resulted not in those people choosing a harder penance, but in the vast majority of Catholics thinking they need do NO penance.

Not at all what was intended.

Indults can be revoked and I look forward to that happening. I can see the bishops being quite willing, upon the realization that so many Catholics appear not to think they need to do ANYTHING for penance, to ask the Holy Father to bring back the ‘old penance’. So maybe some vegatarians will ‘get away’ with thinking they aren’t doing penance because they don’t eat meat anyway (although I think quite a few will try to do something); but at least we won’t have the huge numbers of meat-eating Catholics who nowadays not only don’t abstain, but also do ‘nothing’ penitential.

 

[diggerdomer]

You came across as wanting to get by with as little effort as possible.

No, you interpreted it that way. I didn’t come across that way.

 

[Brooklyn]

The only Fridays Catholics (over the age of 14) are obliged to abstain from meat are the Fridays of Lent.

Fridays remain a penitential day throughout the year.

You’re right - Friday is not really a fast or abstinence day. Penitential is the correct term. Which means, we need to do something to mark each Friday, and unfortunately, most Catholics don’t do anything special to mark Fridays.