Fridays of Advent

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Kathrin

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Are they days of penance, like the other Fridays during the year?

Kathrin
 
I just vaguely remember something I read or something. That during Advent that’s different. But I may well remember that wrong! That’s why I asked. 😉
 
Not as an obligation in the Latin Rite. But who says we should only do what we are obliged to do? Why scrape by with the minimum? Customarily the church has always engaged in fast and abstinence in the period leading up to Nativity. Pick a practice and do it. No meat on Fridays would be great. No meat at all would be even better. In the Byzantine churches, the traditional discipline is no meat or meat products, no dairy, no eggs, no fish, no wine, and no oil except on certain feast days in certain combinations, plus fasting every day, from November 15th through Christmas Eve. A bit of a shock to our modern culture, especially with all those Christmas parties, but I have to admire anyone who can do this. The Western practice used to be similar (when and what precisely I’m not sure). It really helps enter into the joy of the feast when you’ve been fasting beforehand.
 
eewanco said:
Not as an obligation in the Latin Rite. But who says we should only do what we are obliged to do? Why scrape by with the minimum? Customarily the church has always engaged in fast and abstinence in the period leading up to Nativity. Pick a practice and do it. No meat on Fridays would be great. No meat at all would be even better. In the Byzantine churches, the traditional discipline is no meat or meat products, no dairy, no eggs, no fish, no wine, and no oil except on certain feast days in certain combinations, plus fasting every day, from November 15th through Christmas Eve. A bit of a shock to our modern culture, especially with all those Christmas parties, but I have to admire anyone who can do this. The Western practice used to be similar (when and what precisely I’m not sure). It really helps enter into the joy of the feast when you’ve been fasting beforehand.
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I’m sorry if I made it sound like I suggest that we should scrape by with the minimum.
I actually tend to be too scrupulous… which of course is also not the same as doing more, because doing things out of fear is not the same as doing things out of love, right… anyway, I guess I just wasn’t sure about this, something was “spooking” around in my head about the Fridays of Advent…

Meat I don’t eat anyway, haven’t in many many years. For different reasons. Lately I have usually been “abstaining” from mustard, salad dressing and stuff like that on Fridays :).
 
Kathrin said:
Are they days of penance, like the other Fridays during the year?

Kathrin
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The difference is that on Fridays during Lent you are required to abstain from eating meat whereas other Fridays throughout the year some form of penance is required but you may choose what to do.
Also Good Friday is additionally a day of required fasting.
 
Quoting Canon 1250 of the Code of Canon Law (emphasis mine):
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
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So yes, it is a day of penance. Are you required to abstain from meat as in Friday? Not in the US, according to this from EWTN (emphasis theirs):
Abstinence The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.
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On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. They must do some penitential/charitable practice on these Fridays. For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere.
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When I came across this information, I decided to make abstinence on all Fridays my norm.
 
Actually, the Church still encourages fasting on fridays throughout the entire year from meat.If not meat, another sacrifice must be made. 🙂
 
DihydrogenOxide said:
Actually, the Church still encourages fasting on fridays throughout the entire year from meat.If not meat, another sacrifice must be made. 🙂
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Fasting and abstinance are two different things. Not eating meat is abstaining and not fasting.
 
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