Penance in lieu of no meat on Fridays

[GodIsGracious]

Ok, so. I heard that if one eats meat on Friday, one should do a penance instead.

What exactly is a “penance?” What are some ideas for “penance?” I thought only priests could give penances, and that was during confession.

Admittedly, I wasn’t thinking and I ate a bag of chicharones. Also, at about 1am last night (which is technically today, Friday) I had some leftover lasagne that had meat in it. sigh At least breakfast and lunch I abstained!

Not to mention I’m invited to a barbecue tonight. I love meat and everything, but I’ve really been trying to observe abstaining from meat on Fridays and today … I simply was NOT paying attention.:banghead:

 

[brotherhrolf]

Here in south Louisiana both before and after Vatican II, not eating meat on Friday was no penance for us. My high school was in the French Quarter. Even the lettuce and tomato poboy served at lunch was scrumptious not to mention the fried shrimp, fish, or oyster poboy.

Before I was diagnosed with diabetes (and have to eat), I would fast for lunch during Lent. I would go to our local Catholic bookstore and buy a book of Lenten meditations and spend my lunch time reading the meditations and scriptures and contemplating them. When my office was close to Church, I would fast and make the noon Mass.

We were always reminded that giving up meat for Lent is no sacrifice here. In high school, I’d eat and then I’d spend the rest of lunch hour in the chapel praying.

Giving up movies during Lent could be a penance. There are any number of ways that you can use to express repentance and draw closer to God - which is the whole idea of penance.

 

[Jennifer_G]

Ok, so. I heard that if one eats meat on Friday, one should do a penance instead.

What exactly is a “penance?” What are some ideas for “penance?” I thought only priests could give penances, and that was during confession.

Admittedly, I wasn’t thinking and I ate a bag of chicharones. Also, at about 1am last night (which is technically today, Friday) I had some leftover lasagne that had meat in it. sigh At least breakfast and lunch I abstained!

Not to mention I’m invited to a barbecue tonight. I love meat and everything, but I’ve really been trying to observe abstaining from meat on Fridays and today … I simply was NOT paying attention.:banghead:

I think that’s being scruptulous, especially if you didn’t intend to eat them (whatever chicharones are… ) on Friday. I’ve read that you can always substitute a prayer. I always pray the Rosary, so, even if I’m forced to eat meat (I don’t have a say in the meals - it’s usually cooked by the time I get home…), I still have something to offer up as penance.

 

[cephas161619]

Ok, so. I heard that if one eats meat on Friday, one should do a penance instead.

What exactly is a “penance?” What are some ideas for “penance?” I thought only priests could give penances, and that was during confession.

Admittedly, I wasn’t thinking and I ate a bag of chicharones. Also, at about 1am last night (which is technically today, Friday) I had some leftover lasagne that had meat in it. sigh At least breakfast and lunch I abstained!

Not to mention I’m invited to a barbecue tonight. I love meat and everything, but I’ve really been trying to observe abstaining from meat on Fridays and today … I simply was NOT paying attention.:banghead:

‘Penance’ is “religious discipline or self-mortification as a token of repentance and as atonement for some sin,” and as such can be given or taken upon oneself. It’s often harder to do a penance given by another because we also have to sacrifice our understanding many times. Think of Naaman. We are obligated by Church law to do some penance on Friday’s, which may or may not involve meat: catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0501bt.asp

 

[Indyann]

‘Penance’ is “religious discipline or self-mortification as a token of repentance and as atonement for some sin,” and as such can be given or taken upon oneself. It’s often harder to do a penance given by another because we also have to sacrifice our understanding many times. Think of Naaman. We are obligated by Church law to do some penance on Friday’s, which may or may not involve meat: catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0501bt.asp

I have read the article you linked to twice. According to this article, we are NOT obligated by Church law to do any penance at all on Fridays, except during Lent.

 

[jmcrae]

I have read the article you linked to twice. According to this article, we are NOT obligated by Church law to do any penance at all on Fridays, except during Lent.

It depends on where you live. If you live in a Spanish-speaking area, there is no penance outside of Lent, because of the Spanish being the ones to save the Church in Europe from Protestantism.

But if you live in an English-speaking area or other language besides Spanish, then you are required to do some form of penance every Friday. Typical penances for Fridays include the Litany of the Sacred Heart, the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, or even just to pray the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intentions of the Pope. But the “normative” penance is to abstain from warm-blooded meat.

 

[Filioque]

I think the issue comes down to what Pope Paul VI wrote when he relaxed the requirement that Latin Rite Catholics abstain from fleshmeats on Fridays. He stated that it would be laudable for those who chose to continue the ancient custom, but for those who chose to eat meat on Fridays, that the preform some sort of mortification on Fridays to recall the great deed of our Lord on that first Good Friday.

I’m sure the exact quote is somewhere in cyberspace.

Akin to this is the relaxation of the fast prior to Communion. When Pope Pius XII changed the requirements from midnight to four hours, (or was it three?) he encouraged those who could to continue to fast from midnight. The same when Pope Paul VI changed the requirements to one hour, he encouraged people who could to keep the older practices.

 

[Indyann]

It depends on where you live. If you live in a Spanish-speaking area, there is no penance outside of Lent, because of the Spanish being the ones to save the Church in Europe from Protestantism.

But if you live in an English-speaking area or other language besides Spanish, then you are required to do some form of penance every Friday. Typical penances for Fridays include the Litany of the Sacred Heart, the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, or even just to pray the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intentions of the Pope. But the “normative” penance is to abstain from warm-blooded meat.

I personally do observe “no meat on Fridays”. Or if there is an obligation to attend an affair, where there is no choice, I will read at least 30 minutes of Scripture.

However, we may not impose penance arbitrarily.

Please read the article.

"Ultimately, the Code means what Rome says it means, and Rome confirmed On Penance and Abstinence, thus making it the law for Latin Catholics in the United States.

For what it is worth, the summary I have offered here regarding penance on typical Fridays also seems to be the understanding indicated in the Canon Law Society of America’s New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. The commentary on canon 1253 summarizes the U.S. obligations and recommendations without indicating that a legal obligation to do penance continues to exist on typical Fridays of the year.

NO LEGAL OBLIGATION

 

[jmcrae]

I personally do observe “no meat on Fridays”. Or if there is an obligation to attend an affair, where there is no choice, I will read at least 30 minutes of Scripture.

However, we may not impose penance arbitrarily.

Please read the article.

"Ultimately, the Code means what Rome says it means, and Rome confirmed On Penance and Abstinence, thus making it the law for Latin Catholics in the United States.

For what it is worth, the summary I have offered here regarding penance on typical Fridays also seems to be the understanding indicated in the Canon Law Society of America’s New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. The commentary on canon 1253 summarizes the U.S. obligations and recommendations without indicating that a legal obligation to do penance continues to exist on typical Fridays of the year.

NO LEGAL OBLIGATION

Perhaps the USA is being considered a Spanish-speaking country, at least with regard to its Catholic population. Here in Canada, we are required to do some form of penance every Friday of the year. It is obligatory to do penance, but we have the option of which penance we want to do.

 

[cephas161619]

However, we may not impose penance arbitrarily.

Please read the article.

"Ultimately, the Code means what Rome says it means, and Rome confirmed On Penance and Abstinence, thus making it the law for Latin Catholics in the United States.

For what it is worth, the summary I have offered here regarding penance on typical Fridays also seems to be the understanding indicated in the Canon Law Society of America’s New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. The commentary on canon 1253 summarizes the U.S. obligations and recommendations without indicating that a legal obligation to do penance continues to exist on typical Fridays of the year.

NO LEGAL OBLIGATION

Eaghads. I’ve read it too fast the first time. I don’t understand the logic: it summarizes the US obligations and recommendations without indicating that a legal obligation continues to exist. Now, if the Canon Law gives the option of no meat or an alternative penance, then the US coalition is overstepping its bounds to do away with all obligation on ordinary Fridays. Perhaps I’m misreading, but I need more time to research this. Perhaps someone has a more clear understanding.

 

[Norseman82]

It depends on where you live. If you live in a Spanish-speaking area, there is no penance outside of Lent, because of the Spanish being the ones to save the Church in Europe from Protestantism.

I’ve never heard of that one!

However, since Ilive on the NW side of Chicago and Polish King John Sobieski stopped the Muslims at the gates of Vienna in 1683, can that exemption be applied to those who live in Polish-speaking areas?

 

[EasterJoy]

Oh, you have to get with penance. Penance isn’t just for Fridays, any more than rest is only for Sundays!

I tell my kids that there are three things required for Heaven: to be willing to love totally, to be willing to be loved totally exactly as you are (and it is the “exactly as you are” part that is the sticking point, isn’t it? ), and to be willing to let go of every other thing except the first two. I tell them that God does the rest, and even our part is impossible without grace. Faith, hope, love, all the virtues, renunciation of vices and sin: this is what it takes for that simple-sounding thing to happen.

Penance is when one does or gives up anything with the sole objective of pursuing those three things, although people often particularly focus on the last one as penance, thinking of the first one as alms and the second as repentance. There is a day to feast, and a day to refrain from feasting. Just as every Sunday is a little Easter, every Friday is a little Lent. Fridays are the days we prepare for Sundays by renunciation of our own “business as usual.”

Not all painful things count as penance, but a penance that doesn’t ask for a sacrifice has to raise a question with you. It is like doing a stretch without feeling even a little pull, or lifting weights that cause you no struggle, or doing “aerobic” exercise that doesn’t cause your heart to beat faster and harder. That kind of penance is probably accomplishing little or no change in you. It is more or less a waste of time. Likewise, the “no pain, no gain” attitude should be looked at with some caution. The idea is to leave behind pride, not indulge it.

If one does not understand the hundreds of opportunities available to do penance, one should read St. Therese’s “Story of a Soul.” Her “little way” shows that everybody has a way to do penance.

 

[bpbasilphx]

Before I was diagnosed with diabetes (and have to eat), I would fast for lunch during Lent.

brotherhrolf, when I was dxed with diabetes, I was told by not one but by TWO bishops that learning to eat in such a way to keep blood sugar under control would be asceticism enough, at least at first.