Why do you abstain from meat on Fridays?

[jesusmademe]

How is it a sacrifice to not eat meat?
It is easy not to eat meat.
Where is the sacrifice?
I really like the idea of people abstaining from meat but I do not see it as a sacrifice. I see it more like a good tradition.
I can see how it is hard not to eat meat if you are addicted to it but I have never heard of such a thing.

 

[Kei]

Well, I like to think of it as giving up flesh on the day our Lord’s Flesh was given up for us.

But for someone like me, meat is my favorite! It is indeed a sacrifice.

 

[jesusmademe]

But for someone like me, meat is my favorite! It is indeed a sacrifice.

Is it really hard to stay away from meat one day?
I do not eat meat myself so I do not know.
People can eat fish and falafell and so on Fridays.

 

[Dorothy]

Well, hopefully those who are not eating meat on Fridays are doing it in a respectful attitude of obedience.

If they do not care to eat meat anyway, they can think of something they like very much to not eat on that day…in a spirit of sacrifice.

 

[jesusmademe]

…in a spirit of sacrifice

Should it be like a real Sacrifice or more like a tradition?
Should one abstain from something that is hard to abstain from or just not eat certain foods?
If I just chose to not eat certain foods it would not be a real Sacrifice.
How is abstaining from certain foods even a sacrifice unless you have a certain obession with that particular food?

 

[Stephen_says]

Meat is a good thing, and you’re giving up the good thing to honor God. You don’t have to be addicted to it for it to be a sacrifice.

 

[Dorothy]

Should it be like a real Sacrifice or more like a tradition?
Should one abstain from something that is hard to abstain from or just not eat certain foods?
If I just chose to not eat certain foods it would not be a real Sacrifice.
How is abstaining from certain foods even a sacrifice unless you have a certain obession with that particular food?

I suppose it depends on the person whether they consider it a sacrifice or more like a tradition. An act of obedience to the authority of the Church, without further ado, seems good to me.

If a person has a spiritual director they can answer the questions posed to them discerning the level of spirituality that person has.

 

[jesusmademe]

Very good answer!

 

[Kei]

Is it really hard to stay away from meat one day?
I do not eat meat myself so I do not know.
People can eat fish and falafell and so on Fridays.

I mean, I guess it depends on what you mean by “really hard”. I would much rather eat meat than not, but it isn’t exactly difficult to not eat it.

There’s all sorts of extra little sacrifices you can do, too, if you are always a vegetarian. For instance, you could fast on Friday as well (I believe there is a fast traditionally on all Wednesdays and Fridays, which while not obligatory is something you can do if you want to).

If you have something else you’d like to give up, you can do that, too.

But I am worried you may think you have to do something extraordinarily difficult, when it’s more like a mortification that builds up our discipline.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Bottom line, I abstain because the Church says so.

I have heard all sorts of things on why this particular practice is given as a penance, so I won’t belabor those here — some may be apocryphal — but in the affluent West, meat is seen as the most satisfying food, the most efficient form of nutrition, and giving it up is seen as a token mortification. Fish is an alternate form of protein, but not everybody has ready access to fish, and in some subcultures, it is seen as a vaguely unusual food, something that is not eaten every day. It is hard to cook right and spoils easily.

For myself, I find it more of a minor irritant than anything else — “no, it’s Friday, you can’t just eat anything you please, you have to jump through hoops to find suitable, protein-rich food”. Compared to my sins, that is nothing.

If you are a vegetarian, giving up meat is no penance at all, because you don’t eat it anyway. I would like to see the Church prescribe an alternate penance for vegetarians, but as it stands now, according to the strict letter of the law, they don’t have to do this.