Meat on Friday?

[dove51]

I know we’re not supposed to eat meat today or any other Friday in Lent, but I forgot today and ate some. My question is, what do I do now? Should I confess this, do some other penance?

 

[slyboots]

I know we’re not supposed to eat meat today or any other Friday in Lent, but I forgot today and ate some. My question is, what do I do now? Should I confess this, do some other penance?

Ask forgiveness and do some other penance. That sounds reasonable. God forgives the contrite heart and certainly that method sounds as if you are contrite.

 

[LilyM]

Ask forgiveness and do some other penance. That sounds reasonable. God forgives the contrite heart and certainly that method sounds as if you are contrite.

What is there to forgive? You genuinely didn’t remember it was Friday. There’s no sin of any kind involved in accidentally breaking the abstinence.

Certainly substitute some other penance, to keep with the penitential spirit of the day and season, but there’s no need at all for confession.

 

[Marauder]

It would be at most a venial sin to forget and eat meat on Friday.

It doesn’t hold the requirements of a mortal sin if you forgot. To do it on purpose would make it a mortal sin.

Just don’t eat meat the rest of the day, if you want you do some other type of penance but you don’t have to.

 

[LilyM]

It would be at most a venial sin to forget and eat meat on Friday.

It doesn’t hold the requirements of a mortal sin if you forgot. To do it on purpose would make it a mortal sin.

Just don’t eat meat the rest of the day, if you want you do some other type of penance but you don’t have to.

There’s no venial sin here even! Humans are fallible, we forget things, God made us that way. He does NOT hold it against us if we genuinely forget something!

 

[TC2]

Don’t want to hijack, but why is it a sin at all?

 

[Paladin_V]

Well, refering to sin in general, just because we “forgot” doesn’t make it not a venial sin. If the sin was grave and we forgot/didn’t realize, then it wouldn’t be a mortal sin for us but it would still be a sin. So IF eating meat on Friday (intentionally or unintentionally) during Lent was a sin, then it would be venial whether you forgot or not.

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:16-17).

I am not convinced it is even a venial sin, much less a mortal sin, even if you intentionally ate meat (unless it caused others to be lead away from God, as the rest of Rom 14 says). It is a tradition and a method of penance; to be “required” to abstain from meat under pain of eternal separation from God is ludicrous. God has clearly shown himself to be a God who doesn’t care for rote, external laws. I’m not saying that (non-dogmatic) laws, practices, traditions, disciplines, etc have no importance and that they shouldn’t be followed… but that it’s what’s at the heart of them that acutally matters (in the case of friday abstinence… sacrifice). If the practices, etc, shows inclinations of being performed without preserving their meaning, then something needs to happen.

It IS required for all of us to repent of our sins and sacrifice ourselves as Jesus did. Lent, especially, is a time to do this and fridays during Lent are a great time to make a personal sacrifice to be in solidarity with our Lord, to show penitence for our sins. Abstaining from meat can be a good method of doing this. But it’s not necessarily a good sacrifice. If I go to Red Lobster and get a huge lobster tail and stuffed shrimp (mmmmm…) well what good is not eating meat? If I have a simple grilled chicken breast and a piece of bread over a succulent swordfish steak, well then I think I’m better off with the chicken. Look at the fish fries that many many parishes do. That looks to me like a feast, not a fast.

The point I’m making is this:

You need to repend and make personal sacrifices, and you should do so during Lent. The Church traditionally asks us to abstain from meat and so it is a good idea to do so. Further, it gives us a sort of Catholic identity and brings us together solidarity. Just don’t forget the point… to make a personal sacrifice. And if you forget, then, like others have said, make another sacrifice. Or, if you always eat fish and it’s a bigger sacrifice to eat meat, well then by all means, make the bigger sacrifice and eat the meat. In this matter it’s not the substance that counts, it’s the sacrifice.

 

[twf]

Paladin V: To willfully disregard the rules for fasting/abstinence/penance is indeed grave matter. This is the clear teaching of the Church. Why? Because Christ entrusted His Church with the power of binding and loosing. As Our Lord says in Matthew 10:40:

He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

The Apostle Paul, throughout the NT, expected to be obeyed and excommunicated those who refused. The bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, exercise Christ’s own authority over His Church; to disobey the bishops is to disobey Christ, and thus a grave offense against God. The bishops, for our own well-being, have set down minimum guidelines for corporal mortification (which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction). We do well to follow these guidelines.

That being said, to simply forget is not a matter of sin at all!

 

[mikew262]

Well, refering to sin in general, just because we “forgot” doesn’t make it not a venial sin. If the sin was grave and we forgot/didn’t realize, then it wouldn’t be a mortal sin for us but it would still be a sin. So IF eating meat on Friday (intentionally or unintentionally) during Lent was a sin, then it would be venial whether you forgot or not.

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:16-17).

I am not convinced it is even a venial sin, much less a mortal sin, even if you intentionally ate meat (unless it caused others to be lead away from God, as the rest of Rom 14 says). It is a tradition and a method of penance; to be “required” to abstain from meat under pain of eternal separation from God is ludicrous. God has clearly shown himself to be a God who doesn’t care for rote, external laws. I’m not saying that (non-dogmatic) laws, practices, traditions, disciplines, etc have no importance and that they shouldn’t be followed… but that it’s what’s at the heart of them that acutally matters (in the case of friday abstinence… sacrifice). If the practices, etc, shows inclinations of being performed without preserving their meaning, then something needs to happen.

It IS required for all of us to repent of our sins and sacrifice ourselves as Jesus did. Lent, especially, is a time to do this and fridays during Lent are a great time to make a personal sacrifice to be in solidarity with our Lord, to show penitence for our sins. Abstaining from meat can be a good method of doing this. But it’s not necessarily a good sacrifice. If I go to Red Lobster and get a huge lobster tail and stuffed shrimp (mmmmm…) well what good is not eating meat? If I have a simple grilled chicken breast and a piece of bread over a succulent swordfish steak, well then I think I’m better off with the chicken. Look at the fish fries that many many parishes do. That looks to me like a feast, not a fast.

The point I’m making is this:

You need to repend and make personal sacrifices, and you should do so during Lent. The Church traditionally asks us to abstain from meat and so it is a good idea to do so. Further, it gives us a sort of Catholic identity and brings us together solidarity. Just don’t forget the point… to make a personal sacrifice. And if you forget, then, like others have said, make another sacrifice. Or, if you always eat fish and it’s a bigger sacrifice to eat meat, well then by all means, make the bigger sacrifice and eat the meat. In this matter it’s not the substance that counts, it’s the sacrifice.

I’m not sure the Church agrees with you, but you do make some good points.

 

[StCsDavid]

I know we’re not supposed to eat meat today or any other Friday in Lent, but I forgot today and ate some. My question is, what do I do now? Should I confess this, do some other penance?

Just remember, Christ doesn’t have a checklist of things to damn you for. IMHO, the anxiety you’ve already suffered over this likely is sufficient penance were any needed. If it’s really bugging you, why not skip eating meat on Thursday and Friday of this week. Whatever you decide to do…do out of love for Christ versus punishment of self.

 

[hasikelee]

I did this on Friday, too. So I made my meat sandwhich the only meal of the day. Perhaps that will help my stomach not to forget next time.

 

[TerryN]

Why is it a sin to eat meat on fridays, is this pig meat or something?

 

[LilyM]

Why is it a sin to eat meat on fridays, is this pig meat or something?

Nope - any warm-blooded animal meat. It’s prohibited to eat flesh and blood on Fridays in Lent (and Ash Wednesday) in honour of Christ who gave up His flesh and blood for us on Good Friday. We can eat meat on Fridays the rest of the year, although you are required to do some other form of penitential practice like fasting/prayer/almsgiving on every Friday of the year.

It’s a sin to eat meat on Fridays during Lent because … it’s what’s called a precept of the Church, along with Mass attendance on Sundays and fasting prior to Communion. Precepts are disciplines, thus changeable, but nonetheless binding on pain of sin as and when they apply to you.

They’re the Church’s way of interpreting and applying commands such as ‘keep holy the Sabbath’ and Christ’s and the Apostles’ teachings (for example Christ’s statement abou ‘WHEN’ (not if) you fast/give alms/etc’.) The sin lies not in eating meat in and of itself, but in disobedience to the Church, which has the authority granted to it by Christ to bind and loose heaven.

 

[TerryN]

… They’re the Church’s way of interpreting and applying commands such as ‘keep holy the Sabbath’ and Christ’s and the Apostles’ teachings (for example Christ’s statement abou ‘WHEN’ (not if) you fast/give alms/etc’.) The sin lies not in eating meat in and of itself, but in disobedience to the Church, which has the authority granted to it by Christ to bind and loose heaven.

But didn’t peter get a cloth with animals on it saying that all those blood animal laws were no longer important?

I mean, I don’t quite get why doing something on Friday keeps holy a Saturday.

And exactly what statement of Christ are you speaking about, because many of those things were spoken to Jews still under the cleanliness laws and I don’t think they apply anymore.

 

[LilyM]

But didn’t peter get a cloth with animals on it saying that all those blood animal laws were no longer important?

I mean, I don’t quite get why doing something on Friday keeps holy a Saturday.

And exactly what statement of Christ are you speaking about, because many of those things were spoken to Jews still under the cleanliness laws and I don’t think they apply anymore.

What was said to Peter was ‘what God has called clean you shall not call unclean’. Doesn’t mean that we can eat willy nilly at all times and in all places.

Firstly we’re not calling meat unclean in the manner Jews did by banning ALL consumption of pork at ALL times.

Secondly, the Church does speak with the voice of Christ and has the authority to call things unclean if they are moved to do so. ‘Who hears you hears Me’, ‘what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven’ and so forth.

And I was drawing an analogy - we are required to attend Mass on Sundays because THAT is the Church’s interpretation of ‘keep holy the Sabbath Day’. We are required to fast and abstain on Good Friday because THAT is the Church’s interpretation of Christ’s teaching that we must fast, not optional

And remember Jesus said ‘the bridegroom will be taken away from them - then they will fast’. Meaning this fasting would occur AFTER His death, at which time His followers were no longer Jews nor bound by the Old Testament covenant because the New Covenant had been sealed with His blood.

Hope this is clearer for you.

 

[paperwight]

I’m surprised you have Fridays as days of abstinence in Lent still.
Is this just in the United States?
In the UK, abstinence is suggested as one of the ways to practise penance, but it’s not even the principal one, it seems to me.
Our sermon on Ash Wednesday was all about fasting, prayer and almsgiving, but abstinence wasn’t mentioned - and even the fasting was broadened out to include cutting down on tv, or the computer.

 

[twf]

Yeah in Canada as well fasting and abstinence are only binding on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fridays during the year and Lent, and other days during Lent, are days of penance, but the faithful may substitute any other penance of their choosing.

Paper: Are you sure abstinence isn’t binding on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? I was under the impression that this was universal (while it varies country by country on other days).

 

[paperwight]

Sorry! I wasn’t as clear as I should have been.
Yes, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence in the UK. I confused the issue by referring to the Ash Wed. sermon without making it clear that it was about things we ought to do during Lent, as I was trying to follow on from a previous message about Lent Fridays.
Actually, in the sermon there wasn’t any singling out of the Fridays in Lent as days of special penance, now I come to think of it.

 

[drafdog]

We were traveling, the whole family, my mother, five of us boys and my sister. We stopped to visit a friend of my mother and she fixed lunch for all of us. The burgers were great. It was only as we drove away some three hours later that my mom said, “Oh, my gosh! It’s Friday! And we all forgot.”
It happened back in the early 60’s and I don’t think any of us confessed it. Forgetting is not intentional, and for anything to be sinful there must be intent. Forget about it.

Matthew

 

[Marsha_Adams]

In the past I have always forgotten one or two Lenten Fridays until about half way through the day. Then I slap my head, and say “oh, cr–!!, I forgot!!!”

It isn’t so much because it is a sin or not a sin that it distress me, it is because through neglegience (sp?) I did not do what I had been asked to do.

This year, however, I think I’ve got it down pat. Every week on Thursday, I remind myself frequently “Tomorrow is a meatless Friday.” So far, so good.