The law, which pertains to the external forum, generally does not treat matters of sin, which pertain to the internal forum in which matters of conscience are treated. There is something of a separation of the two fora.
Notice that the Eucharistic fast can be dispensed. It does not bind in the cases of the sick or infirm or their caretakers.
The obligatory fasts and abstinence of Lenten observance can also be dispensed, and would not bind when health is involved.
However, while these canons are disciplinary laws of the Church in this regard, what underlies them is a long tradition of suitable spiritual preparation for the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and similarly in the case of Lent, the divine precept to do penance. Therefore, there is a seriousness, a weight, and a gravity behind them. We do these things because of their underlying purposes and values.
The code expresses this: All members of the Christian faithful in their own way are bound to do penance in virtue of divine law; in order that all may be joined in a common observance of penance, penitential days are prescribed in which the Christian faithful in a special way pray, exercise works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their responsibilities more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence according to the norm of the following canons (c. 1249).
So the discipline of the Church adds a communal dimension here, which is obviously appropriate since we form the one Body of Christ.
All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and time throughout the universal Church c. 1250). On Fridays outside of Lent, 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 (c. 1251). Therefore, we would look at the individual bishops’ conferences. Not all conferences set forth the discipline of abstinence from meat or another food on Fridays outside of Lent
However, abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ (c. 1251). There it is a matter of a universal law.
Remember that law sets forth minimums, and that love seeks far more than that. It sacrifices.
That a person would willfully and knowingly neglect the discipline of penance may say something distressing about the state of his or her relationship with God and the Church. That a person would blithely ignore the Eucharist fast may say something about the reverence with which he or she approaches preparation to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Church, drawing from its Tradition and traditions, recalls what Jesus says, “repent or perish,” and “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It takes him seriously when he says, “Take and eat, this is my body”, etc. Then it offers its members these fasts and abstinences as spiritual and practical supports to grow in holiness.
