MERGED: Ate meat on a Lent Friday - Sin?

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Last Friday I ate meat. I was on a short vacation. By the time I remembered the Friday abstinence, I was already eating. I didn’t receive Communion yesterday because I wasn’t sure.

Is it a mortal sin to eat meat on a Lent Friday? Thanks in advance.
 
It is a mortal sin to knowingly and with full consent eat meat on a Lenten Friday.
 
YoungTradCath said:
It is a mortal sin to knowingly and with full consent eat meat on a Lenten Friday.
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does eating meat on friday constitute a grave matter, that may be stretching it.

but as far as the OP its a vineal not mortal because if you forgot you didn’t knowingly eat meat when you knew you shouldn’t have you probably forgot to and accidentally did it.
 
catholictiger said:
does eating meat on friday constitute a grave matter, that may be stretching it.

but as far as the OP its a vineal not mortal because if you forgot you didn’t knowingly eat meat when you knew you shouldn’t have you probably forgot to and accidentally did it.
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Disobedience to the Church laws including abstinence from meat when mandated is a grave matter.

I have the following question for the OP: Did you stop eating meat when you realized that you were infringing one of the Church laws? That could be the answer to your question. I do not know the state of your soul. However, I think that you are a very reverent person and I admire that out of your love and respect for God and His sacraments you refrained to receive communion. 👍
 
Not if it was accidental.

Let’s say you are flying to England from the US. You jump ahead several hours, you couldn’t sleep on the plane, now you’ve landed, done battle with luggage, customs, immigration, car rental. You’re tired, confused, and all you want is some food and a nap. You see something that sounds tasty, and eat it. And then recall it’s now Friday. Oops. No sin.

Let’s say you go out to lunch with coworkers. Okay, there’s some processed “fish fillet” sandwich available, but the bacon burger everyone else is having sounds better so you think to yourself, “Who cares?” You knew what day it was and you did it anyway. That is sinful.
 
Cristiano said:
Disobedience to the Church laws including abstinence from meat when mandated is a grave matter.
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this has been debated here at length I think so I’m not going to get into it again so I’m going to leave it at that.
 
I’m looking around on the internet concerning this, and from what I gather then it appears that once you realized what you were doing (eating meat on a Lenten Friday) and yet continued to do so very well may have qualified this as a mortal sin.

It was an accident only up until the moment that you realized what you were doing and yet continued to do it anyway.

Interesting topic. Thanks for bringing it up.

I tip my hat to you for refraining from taking communion while you have this on your conscience.
 
fin said:
Last Friday I ate meat. I was on a short vacation. By the time I remembered the Friday abstinence, I was already eating. I didn’t receive Communion yesterday because I wasn’t sure.

Is it a mortal sin to eat meat on a Lent Friday? Thanks in advance.
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On those occasions in my life where I forget it’s Friday and eat meat I simply switch the observance to Saturday and abstain from meat on that day.
 
fin said:
Last Friday I ate meat. I was on a short vacation. By the time I remembered the Friday abstinence, I was already eating. I didn’t receive Communion yesterday because I wasn’t sure.

Is it a mortal sin to eat meat on a Lent Friday? Thanks in advance.
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Which country are you in? Your bishops may not even require abstinence from meat on Fridays in Lent. They don’t here in Canada. You may give up meat, or perform some other act of penance.
 
Yerusalyim, very lovely thing to do.

As long as we don’t remember, until AFTER we have FINISHED eating all the meat,
that it’s a Lenten Friday, no mortal sin has been committed.

There is no valid debate here, in response to the other poster.
Obeying the church’s laws on abstinence during Lent is not optional,
and if disobeyed knowingly and deliberately, it is a mortal sin,
even if it does appear trivial (so I ate a hamburger? how is that grave matter, etc?).
We are all born without sanctifying grace in our souls, in a state of “original” sin
because our first parents “merely” disobediently ate a piece of “mere” fruit.
It’s not the fruit, or the meat, that is the grave matter.
It is the deliberate disobedience to something the church has plainly stated is
a solemn obligation in honor of the suffering of Christ.

No deliberate disobedience, no mortal sin, period.
Deliberate disobedience in this matter? Mortal sin. Confess it, resolve not to do it
again. It’s only once a week for pete’s sake. and only for a few weeks.
There are times when the church only “asks” us to perform abstinence.
For the Fridays of Lent, she COMMANDS it, and we are obliged.
It’s a serious matter. There are some who disobey the church deliberately
in other areas, too, that APPEAR trivial to them:
i.e., what’s the fuss about??? It’s ONLY a condom !! A piece of latex!!
How is that grave matter??? But it, also, really is.

Now, if you are diabetic and require a very high protein diet requiring animal protein, and some people do, the church will gladly dispense you from this obligation due to health reasons, so no mortal sin there either. But even if you are in mortal sin, don’t despair over it. If it’s bothering you really badly (and the devil likes to make people feel hopeless once they fail), then make an appointment to see your priest before the next regularly-scheduled confession, you only need a minute, confess and receive absolution.
 
Richard320 said:
Not if it was accidental.

Let’s say you are flying to England from the US. You jump ahead several hours, you couldn’t sleep on the plane, now you’ve landed, done battle with luggage, customs, immigration, car rental. You’re tired, confused, and all you want is some food and a nap. You see something that sounds tasty, and eat it. And then recall it’s now Friday. Oops. No sin.

Let’s say you go out to lunch with coworkers. Okay, there’s some processed “fish fillet” sandwich available, but the bacon burger everyone else is having sounds better so you think to yourself, “Who cares?” You knew what day it was and you did it anyway. That is sinful.
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If I’m not mistaken, travelers are exempt from abstaining anyway.
 
hello Pazzo Grande

it is what goes thru your heart (emotions) and what goes thru my mind (thoughts) that matters not what goes thru your mouth

Please read Isaiah 58:5-9

chank
 
chank said:
hello Pazzo Grande

it is what goes thru your heart (emotions) and what goes thru my mind (thoughts) that matters not what goes thru your mouth

Please read Isaiah 58:5-9

chank
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Yeah but the point of fasting and abstaining is that your heart is conformed to wanting to make a sacrifice for God.

The reason why we have these is because in the olden days, meat was expensive. The idea was to abstain from it and use the money for the poor.

Furthermore, remember the instances in the Bible where Jesus talks about fasting and fasts Himself. The first Gospel Reading for Lent has Jesus giving us instructions for when we fast (“do not not gloomy like the hypocrites”). He goes with the presumption that we would do it – He says “When you fast” not “If you fast,” and He certainly doesn’t say “Don’t fast.”

So it matters and it isn’t pointless ritual, nor do our leaders in the Church wish for us to do it mindlessly.

Why might I ask are you specifically singling me out in your response? I’m clearly not the only one here who is in favour of it.
 
Code of Canon Law –

Days of Penance

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.
 
puppypatrol said:
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.
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1251 is interesting; does any country still even require this?

Also interesting to note that when the 1983 Code was written, it envisioned abstinence for the whole of Lent.

One has to ask, are we getting a bit lax? Not only is the custom now a lot easier (i.e., only abstaining during Lent), but even that a lot of people ignore.
 
PazzoGrande said:
1251 is interesting; does any country still even require this?

Also interesting to note that when the 1983 Code was written, it envisioned abstinence for the whole of Lent.

One has to ask, are we getting a bit lax? Not only is the custom now a lot easier (i.e., only abstaining during Lent), but even that a lot of people ignore.
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Very lax but it is the USCCB’s call. One does not necessarily have to abstain from red meat if they are performing another form of penence during Lent, ect. All this is saying is that we should be performing a form of penence to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Passion and Resurrection of Our Lord. It is also not a matter of Faith or Morals, it is a discipline like fasting an hour before communion. That doesn’t necessarily mean you will definitely be going to hell if you had a cheeseburger on a friday of Lent and were killed by a MAC Truck while doing it.
 
puppypatrol said:
Very lax but it is the USCCB’s call. One does not necessarily have to abstain from red meat if they are performing another form of penence during Lent, ect. All this is saying is that we should be performing a form of penence to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Passion and Resurrection of Our Lord. It is also not a matter of Faith or Morals, it is a discipline like fasting an hour before communion. That doesn’t necessarily mean you will definitely be going to hell if you had a cheeseburger on a friday of Lent and were killed by a MAC Truck while doing it.
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Yeah honestly I was astonished when I read other posters who say it’s a mortal sin; it would be news to me. It’s bad to do of course but I never thought it was grave matter, been waiting for anyone to post up good sources on that.

Is disobedience to the Church’s rules really grave matter? Certainly there are degrees to disobedience and in severe cases they would be mortal but not all acts of disobedience would seem to qualify.

I would have thought that ignoring the abstinence rule is a sin, worse than most venial sins but not so grave that it would be mortal. I don’t know and I could be wrong, but I’d love to see an authoratative source on it.
 
Of course, disobeying the Church in matters of Faith or Morals, i.e. abortion, is worse than not observing abstainence on Fridays. Like I said, the fasting and not having red meat on Fridays is a discipline, not a matter of Faith.

BTW, I just tried to get that across to some people on another discussion board (CARM) and was reminded why I quit going there. Nothing has changed in 8 years. OH WELL,
I’m happy here. :extrahappy::love:
 
puppypatrol said:
Of course, disobeying the Church in matters of Faith or Morals, i.e. abortion, is worse than not observing abstainence on Fridays. Like I said, the fasting and not having red meat on Fridays is a discipline, not a matter of Faith.

BTW, I just tried to get that across to some people on another discussion board (CARM) and was reminded why I quit going there. Nothing has changed in 8 years. OH WELL,
I’m happy here. :extrahappy::love:
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A correction there, puppypatrol - it is ALL meat, not just red meat. In other words, ‘meat’ includes chicken, duck, etc. which are thought of as ‘white’.
 
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