Lent and other sacrafices

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ilovejesus1234
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I

Ilovejesus1234

Guest
Can i have a guide on what to do on lent. I don’t understand what i should do, I am an RCIA student, what am I obliged to do. Do i not eat meat on Fridays during lent or all times throughout the year? I already ate meat earlier…I feel guilty. Can i not eat meat throughout the year? When do i have to fast.

I feel like i want to cry…

It is so much responsibility…
 
There are two aspects to consider: what is required and what is devotional.

What is required: Catholics fast (eat less) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent. This page from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gives more info: usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence.cfm

What is devotional: Catholics traditionally follow three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. You might choose to observe one of these, two of them, or all three of them for Lent. Prayer would include not only direct prayer time, but might include things like a retreat, spiritual reading, Stations of the Cross, etc. Fasting often includes the idea of “giving something up” for Lent – some kind of food, television, the Internet, etc. Almsgiving means charity – volunteering your time, donating money, etc. Sometimes these combine and reinforce each other. For example, if you typically buy a latte in the afternoon you might choose to give that up for Lent and use the time for prayer and donate the money you would have spent to charity.

You don’t need to feel guilty about what you have or haven’t done – you can’t change the past. But you can change the future and be more observant during the remaining weeks of Lent. Choose one small thing – a baby step you can take – and go from there.
 
how about all other fridays of the year? Am i not allowed to eat meat? I am happy you decided to reply to this, I thought I was abandoned.
 
What happens on other Fridays of the year depends in part on which country you live in.

In England and Wales, for example, abstinence from meat is required year round. In the US it is required only during Lent though people who don’t abstain from meat should carry out some other penitential or charitable act.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
What happens on other Fridays of the year depends in part on which country you live in.

In England and Wales, for example, abstinence from meat is required year round. In the US it is required only during Lent though people who don’t abstain from meat should carry out some other penitential or charitable act.
Click to expand...
I live in the USA, why is different by country?
 
As an RCIA student you are not obliged to do anything.

Just use this time to grown in your love for Jesus. That is the essential meaning of Lent in my view, anyways.
 
Some things are universal while others are left to the decisions made by the bishops’ conference of the country. Friday penance is one example. Holy days of obligation are another, as is the age for confirmation. The Church isn’t a monolith.
 
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

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. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

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.

But canon law says this, where does it say on a website that the bishop changed what we should do as a church in the USA?
 
Also where in canon law or the catechism does it say that the RCIA student is not obliged to do it just yet?
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
Also where in canon law or the catechism does it say that the RCIA student is not obliged to do it just yet?
Click to expand...
Seems like a good question for SMD 🙂 Are you a baptized Catholic? I was thinking you are not actually a Catholic yet.
 
Canon law applies to Catholics.

You are not yet one.

SMD = my abbreviation for…umm…how do you spell her name again (her?). Now, I must look at what that phrase means in Latin, too. My latin is terrible.

**Suscipe me Domine
**
Receive me Lord, according to your word and I shall live, and do not disappoint me in the promise you have given me.
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
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.

But canon law says this, where does it say on a website that the bishop changed what we should do as a church in the USA?
Click to expand...
You answered your own question. Canon 1253 says the conference of bishops can substitute other forms of penance. The US bishops have done so. See usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/us-bishops-pastoral-statement-on-penance-and-abstinence.cfm
JamalChristophr said:
Canon law applies to Catholics.

You are not yet one.
Click to expand...
This gets into nuances. Someone in RCIA – especially during the period of Purification and Enlightenment (aka Lent) – should be living as a Catholic as much as possible. As the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults explains it:
  1. This is a period of more intense spiritual preparation, consisting more in interior reflection than in catechetical instruction, and is intended to purify the minds and hearts of the elect as they search their own consciences and do penance. This period is intended as well to enlighten the minds and hears of the elect with a deeper knowledge of Christ the Savior. The celebration of certain rites, particularly the scrutinies and the presentations, brings about this process of purification and enlightenment and extends it over the course of the entire Lenten season.
So technically the elect may not be subject to laws of fasting and abstinence, but I’d be very concerned about someone who ignores those disciplines during this period of RCIA.

(Rereading this, it sounds a bit harsh. Consider it more as an invitation to join in the Lenten observance than a threat.)
SMD = my abbreviation for…umm…how do you spell her name again (her?). Now, I must look at what that phrase means in Latin, too. My latin is terrible.
Click to expand...
**Suscipe me Domine
**
Receive me Lord, according to your word and I shall live, and do not disappoint me in the promise you have given me.
Click to expand...
Yes, her. 🙂

That phrase is from Psalm 119 and is prayed when a Benedictine monk makes vows or an oblate makes his or her final oblation.
 
Why meat though, why must we abstain from meat, does this include chicken and pork, why don’t we abstain from fruits or lets say, bananas(silly examples but hope you get my point) ?

Oh and sorry for asking but do we have to fast any other days of the year? On days other than Ash Wednesday and good Friday. What if i forgot to do so last year or this year? Must i confess/repent my sins or just put a note in my mind to make sure i don’t forget again. I am pretty sure a Mortal sin is usually with full consent and full knowledge, but what i just mainly forgot & did not know, would that still be a mortal sin or venial?

Any other rules of the Catholic Church I should take a look at, and ones that if i don’t obey, it is a mortal sin? Or along the lines of the same punishment for not fasting on lent. Kind of complex to ask but this stuff really had me worried…
 
I converted 6 1/2 years ago and I still forget sometimes on Fridays about not eating meat so don’t feel bad. I can’t eat fish because it makes me sick and going all day without meat makes me weak. I try to do the best I can.
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
Why meat though, why must we abstain from meat, does this include chicken and pork, why don’t we abstain from fruits or lets say, bananas(silly examples but hope you get my point) ?
Click to expand...
We abstain from meat in part because Jesus spilled his blood on a Friday and so we refrain from subjecting animals to the same sacrifice. In part, too, meat was traditionally a luxury, so as a sign of penitence we abstained from that luxury. Today meat is no longer such a luxury but it’s still part of our tradition. So we eat other foods – and you can be creative. Vegetarians survive quite well without beef, pork, and poultry! (And fish, other seafood, eggs and cheese are perfectly fine on Fridays so that gives a lot of flexibility. Tofu and peanut butter are OK too so protein really isn’t a problem)
Oh and sorry for asking but do we have to fast any other days of the year? On days other than Ash Wednesday and good Friday. What if i forgot to do so last year or this year? Must i confess/repent my sins or just put a note in my mind to make sure i don’t forget again. I am pretty sure a Mortal sin is usually with full consent and full knowledge, but what i just mainly forgot & did not know, would that still be a mortal sin or venial?
Click to expand...
There are only two fast days in the year – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And if you forgot, you forgot. Take steps so that you’ll remember in the future – mark Good Friday on your calendar now so that you’ll remember! If your parish gives away a calendar at the beginning of the year, take one. They usually put a fish symbol on the Fridays of Lent as a reminder and a different colored fish on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Any other rules of the Catholic Church I should take a look at, and ones that if i don’t obey, it is a mortal sin? Or along the lines of the same punishment for not fasting on lent. Kind of complex to ask but this stuff really had me worried…
Click to expand...
The Catechism, starting with section 2041, gives the precepts of the Church. I think of these as the basic “rules” of the Church:

In summary:
  1. Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
  2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
  3. Receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season.
  4. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence.
  5. Help provide for the needs of the Church.
You can do more than follow these precepts – attend Mass more often, go to confession more often, etc. But these are the minimums. (And, of course, there are exceptions. If you’re sick then you should stay home from Mass and not worry that you’ve done something wrong.)
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
We abstain from meat in part because Jesus spilled his blood on a Friday and so we refrain from subjecting animals to the same sacrifice. In part, too, meat was traditionally a luxury, so as a sign of penitence we abstained from that luxury. Today meat is no longer such a luxury but it’s still part of our tradition. So we eat other foods – and you can be creative. Vegetarians survive quite well without beef, pork, and poultry! (And fish, other seafood, eggs and cheese are perfectly fine on Fridays so that gives a lot of flexibility. Tofu and peanut butter are OK too so protein really isn’t a problem)

There are only two fast days in the year – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And if you forgot, you forgot. Take steps so that you’ll remember in the future – mark Good Friday on your calendar now so that you’ll remember! If your parish gives away a calendar at the beginning of the year, take one. They usually put a fish symbol on the Fridays of Lent as a reminder and a different colored fish on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

The Catechism, starting with section 2041, gives the precepts of the Church. I think of these as the basic “rules” of the Church:

In summary:
  1. Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
  2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
  3. Receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season.
  4. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence.
  5. Help provide for the needs of the Church.
You can do more than follow these precepts – attend Mass more often, go to confession more often, etc. But these are the minimums. (And, of course, there are exceptions. If you’re sick then you should stay home from Mass and not worry that you’ve done something wrong.)
Click to expand...
Ok and also how do i fast on the days i must fast? Is there a section in the CCC you can refer me to?
 
People, i am fasting for lent and giving up a few things too and doing extra things.

Now, do i still give up the things i have elected to do on a sunday or can i have a treat on the sunday?

I have given up wine, chocolate and meat for lent. Just wondered if i could relax a bit on the sunday and have a glass of wine (Or 3) 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top