meatless Fridays

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In Canada we have to say a penance if we eat meat on Fridays.
What would be a good penance. I have just been saying a couple extra Our Fathers, Hail Marys, Glory Be. anyone else have a better penance
 
Respectfully, I would suggest just avoiding meat on Fridays. Today I visited a Catholic school for lunch and was offered lasagna and dry ribs. All very delicious, but on Friday, when the Lord was condemned and crucified, in a Catholic school? The Friday and Wednesday fast and abstinence are venerable traditions. They are worth respecting. I believe the Church in Canada would be faring much better if we fasted more.
 
Are you sure you have to ‘say a penance’ as opposed to ‘doing a penance’?
 
Joe_Brown said:
In Canada we have to say a penance if we eat meat on Fridays.
What would be a good penance. I have just been saying a couple extra Our Fathers, Hail Marys, Glory Be. anyone else have a better penance
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Make a food or $$ donation to the poor. 🙂
 
This is interesting. I don’t know what the local bishops decided to do in Canada. In the US, there appears to be no obligatory penance - although as a new “Catholic in training” (I’m still Protestant but starting RCIA), I’ve just started voluntarily refraining from meat on Fridays as a means of honoring and focusing on Christ’s sacrifice each Friday.

I believe the current Cannon reads:

Canon 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.

the “or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference” has been interpreted broadly, apparently, to not require abstinence from any food (in lieu of meat) on Fridays.

Happy to learn from others in this post if I’ve misunderstood this.

Blessings,

Brian
 
As a recent convert, I didn’t grow up with the tradition of meatless Fridays. However, I would often find myself coming to the end of a carnivorous Friday without having done any extra penance. So I’ve just made a new habit of Friday abstinence–soup for lunch, Tuna Helper of curry mac’n’cheese for dinner.

DaveBj
 
thistle said:
Its the same thing. Prayer is a moral act and a sacrifice.
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Well, I suppose what I was querying is - have the Canadian bishops really limited the substitution of Friday abstinence to saying an extra prayer? It seemed strange that this was the only option, as opposed to an act of charity like visiting an elderly neighbour.
 
paperwight said:
Well, I suppose what I was querying is - have the Canadian bishops really limited the substitution of Friday abstinence to saying an extra prayer? It seemed strange that this was the only option, as opposed to an act of charity like visiting an elderly neighbour.
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We can choose our penance. The only requirement is that we undertake some form of penance.

CCC 1438 The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works).
 
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