Question about the law on abstinence

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Arnold1N2D

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Good day CAF! I have a question about the law on abstinence. This is what it says about the law in the Philippines in which Iive:

On September 27, 1985, Pope John Paul II approved and confirmed the " Norms approved by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines for the Local Implementation of Some Provisions of the New Code of Canon Law ". These were published in the November - December 1985 issue of CBCP Monitor (Vol. VI, No. 6), pp. 32 - 43. The complementary norms for Canon 1253 (on penance) are as follows:
Can. 1253: Other Forms of Penance as Substitute for Abstinence
Code: 
Except on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday, abstinence may be substituted with exercise (sic) of piety, such as reading the Bible, going to Mass, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, praying the Holy Rosary, or with acts of charity, such as visiting the sick and prisoners, giving alms to the poor, teaching catechism.
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If abstinence can be substituted by acts of piety therefore I can eat meat. Is this correct?

If the abstinence can be substituted by acts of piety by which I can eat meat, what should I do?
(1) Do an act of piety first then eat meat

or

(2) can I eat meat first then do an act of piety?
 
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It doesn’t matter either way. As long as you intend to do the act of penance some time that day. For instance, you may decide to give up a favourite tv programme, but that isn’t shown until after your usual mealtime.
 
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Arnold1N2D said:
If abstinence can be substituted by acts of piety therefore I can eat meat. Is this correct?
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Hold your horses everyone, although I may be misunderstanding the question. Abstinence is referring to the number of meals you eat in a day. Fasting is used in regards to not eating meat. Today is a Lenten Friday, and as such, you must fast. However, today is not a day of abstinence, so you do not have to limit your meals. Does that make sense?
 
Fauken said:
Abstinence is referring to the number of meals you eat in a day. Fasting is used in regards to not eating meat.
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Actually, it’s the other way around. Fasting is limiting quantity. Abstinence is foregoing a type of food, in this case, meat.
 
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Fauken said:
today is not a day of abstinence, so you do not have to limit your meals.
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We are not obligated to limit our meals because it’s not a fasting day. We are required not to eat meat because it’s a day of abstinence.
 
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Fauken said:
Abstinence is referring to the number of meals you eat in a day. Fasting is used in regards to not eating meat. Today is a Lenten Friday, and as such, you must fast. However, today is not a day of abstinence, so you do not have to limit your meals. Does that make sense?
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You have that backwards.

Fridays are days of abstinence from meat. Except where he lives they may do some other penance.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting, where the quantity of food must be limited to one full meal and two smaller meals, and no meat.
 
I must have misread the terms somewhere, because I remember having them the right way initially then reading something and switching them, sorry!
 
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