Lent

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Churchman25

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I have been forgetting that fridays are days of abstinence during lent are there any things that I can do to help myself remember.
 
Ugh so I have been a catholic all my life and I know this might sound heretical but idc so…I myself sometimes have conflicting views it’s like why no meat? And then worst of all fridays are the days that the big supermarkets have cheap deli meats oh and the cakes mmm. But then its like no meat. I mean why no meat? Why not like lets say cheese or something ya know?
 
cheesypoptart said:
Ugh so I have been a catholic all my life and I know this might sound heretical but idc so…I myself sometimes have conflicting views it’s like why no meat? And then worst of all fridays are the days that the big supermarkets have cheap deli meats oh and the cakes mmm. But then its like no meat. I mean why no meat? Why not like lets say cheese or something ya know?
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Because clearly, you love meat, so the Church has wisely decided to make it your penance.
 
One of the ways I use to help remember is to Fast and Abstain on Fridays all year long. During Lent I fast every day except Sunday.

Its a matter of discipline. 🙂
 
Churchman25 said:
I have been forgetting that fridays are days of abstinence during lent are there any things that I can do to help myself remember.
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On Thursday night do something to the fridge - put up a sign, put the magnets in a weird configuration, etc. When you see it on Friday, it will jog your memory.
 
@porthos ya know what never ceases to amuse me know-it-all people on e-forums. You obviously don’t know who I am or better yet what I like and what I don’t. Meat is so disgusting, food is so tasteless! No I was just writing my insight and wondering, but to better respond to you my mom is vegan and she has passed me a repugnance for the smell and taste of meat :tsktsk:
 
cheesypoptart said:
@porthos ya know what never ceases to amuse me know-it-all people on e-forums. You obviously don’t know who I am or better yet what I like and what I don’t. Meat is so disgusting, food is so tasteless! No I was just writing my insight and wondering, but to better respond to you my mom is vegan and she has passed me a repugnance for the smell and taste of meat :tsktsk:
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And you do not know how to read when someone is kidding.

But part of my answer is serious. It’s because for most people, meat is good and tasty. It’s the perfect thing to give up.
 
porthos11 said:
And you do not know how to read when someone is kidding.

But part of my answer is serious. It’s because for most people, meat is good and tasty. It’s the perfect thing to give up.
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Not anymore. People nowadays are health freaks and Whole Foods indirectly influences people’s food choices. Which is unhealthy to me,an obsession perhaps, I do not believe that healthy food affects health. I think that is false knowledge and better yet a myth. Btw if you don’t want someone to comment on your posts then keep your insights off the e-net.
 
If you’re the type to forget to put up a note, you could use something like Google Calendar to set a recurring Friday event, and receive email or smartphone notifications first thing in the morning. It takes maybe two minutes to set up, and then you’ll get notified every Friday for the rest of your life. 😉 (Or just set it up every Lent).

(I do this for things like submitting regular paperwork, changing toothbrushes, and changing filters.)
 
pensmama87 said:
If you’re the type to forget to put up a note, you could use something like Google Calendar to set a recurring Friday event, and receive email or smartphone notifications first thing in the morning. It takes maybe two minutes to set up, and then you’ll get notified every Friday for the rest of your life. 😉 (Or just set it up every Lent).

(I do this for things like submitting regular paperwork, changing toothbrushes, and changing filters.)
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Note on the fridge in a post apocalyptic world! Of course the fridge won’t be working anymore…:rolleyes:
 
Well, one way is to abstain from meat every Friday throughout the year. Then it is just part of the weekly rhythm. That is what we do in my family.

For your info, because a lot of Catholics are not aware of this:
**We are required to do some sort of penance every Friday throughout the year **anyway, so you could “kill two birds with one stone” by doing that as your weekly penance on Fridays, and then you would no longer forget on the Fridays of Lent.
 
cheesypoptart said:
Ugh so I have been a catholic all my life and I know this might sound heretical but idc so…I myself sometimes have conflicting views it’s like why no meat? And then worst of all fridays are the days that the big supermarkets have cheap deli meats oh and the cakes mmm. But then its like no meat. I mean why no meat? Why not like lets say cheese or something ya know?
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I am Byzantine Catholic, and we have strict abstinence (on Clean Monday and Holy Friday) which excludes not only meat, but eggs, and dairy products (and traditionally fish, oil, and wine). Also, during Lent, not only Fridays but Wednesdays are non-strict abstinence (eggs, and dairy products allowed). (The significance of Wednesday is the betrayal of our Lord by Judas.)

It is those particular foods, because they are “foods which both afford most pleasure to the palate, and besides are a very great incentive to lust”.

St. Thomas Aquinas explains (in Summa Theologica, II, II, Q147 Fasting) the reasoning for abstinence from meat, eggs, and milk foods.

Article 8. Whether it is fitting that those who fast should be bidden to abstain from flesh meat, eggs, and milk foods?

I answer that, As stated above (Article 6), fasting was instituted by the Church in order to bridle the concupiscences of the flesh, which regard pleasures of touch in connection with food and sex. Wherefore the Church forbade those who fast to partake of those foods which both afford most pleasure to the palate, and besides are a very great incentive to lust. Such are the flesh of animals that take their rest on the earth, and of those that breathe the air and their products, such as milk from those that walk on the earth, and eggs from birds. For, since such like animals are more like man in body, they afford greater pleasure as food, and greater nourishment to the human body, so that from their consumption there results a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust. Hence the Church has bidden those who fast to abstain especially from these foods.
newadvent.org/summa/3147.htm

The Catholic Encyclopedia sheds some light on abstinence in general:

For, according to St. Augustine (De oratione et jejunio, sermo ccxxx, de temp.), abstinence purifies the soul, elevates the mind, subordinates the flesh to the spirit, begets a humble and contrite heart, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, extinguishes the fire of lust, and enkindles the true light of chastity. This is summarized in the official message of the Church found in the Mass-preface used during Lent: “Who by bodily fasting suppresses vice, ennobles the mind, grants virtue and rewards.”

O’Neill, J.D. (1907). Abstinence. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. newadvent.org/cathen/01067a.htm
 
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