Working Night Shift (accidentally ate meat at 12:04 AM on Friday morning)

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Bashful

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I am working a 12 hour night shift (5 PM - 5 AM) on Thursday night into Friday morning. I started eating lunch at around 11:45 PM on Thursday and somehow while eating beef, I accidentally lost track of the time and then looked at the clock on my smartphone to see what time it is and it was 12:04 AM on Friday morning and I stopped eating the beef once I saw the time and I was like “oh no”. Would this still constitute a Mortal Sin in this case?
 
Be at peace…

And next time bring a tuna salad sandwich 🙂
Pizza is nice too
 
In the UK it wouldn’t constitute a sin if one accidentally ate meat.

6. The form of penance we adopt each Friday is a matter of personal choice and does not have to take the same form every Friday. Failure to undertake this penance on a particular Friday would not constitute a sin. However, penance is part of the life of every Christian and the intention to do penance on Friday is of obligation. We are confident that the faithful of England and Wales will take this obligation to heart in memory of the passion and death of Our Lord
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source: https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Penance/Abstinence.pdf
I don’t pretend to know your local rules, however.
 
TrueRomanCatholic said:
It’s fine, but confess anyway just to get it absolved in case it led to anything else.

Clean soul clean heart!
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We really should have grown out of confessing things ‘just in case’.

It is trivialising the sacrament, and abdicating our responsibility for discerning whether or not something is a sin.

God is not a tyrant, still less devoid of commonsense, and confession is not a slot machine.
 
I’ve done this before when I worked overnights. Don’t worry! God knows your heart, and you didn’t intentionally break the friday fast from meat 🙂
 
Why would eating meat on Friday be a mortal sin anyway? I can see it being venial but no way mortal in my non-priestly opinion. Speak to your priest
 
Sarcelle said:
I like anchovies. 😋
It wouldn’t be a penance for me.
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Exactly.

It is not until we get that special combination of cheese, tomato, and tuna that we can bring out the penitential inclination.

Just make sure you wash it down with some freshly juiced spinach and squash.
 
There is no need to confess somethimg that is not a sin.
 
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TrueRomanCatholic said:
It’s fine, but confess anyway just to get it absolved in case it led to anything else.

Clean soul clean heart!
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Since it’s not a sin, what is there to confess? Why would the OP’s soul not be clean? And what could accidentally eating some meat lead to?
 
TrueRomanCatholic said:
Well no, but the rule is there for a reason. Maybe He can’t stand us eating meat on Fridays and will punish those appropriately?

I don’t know what He thinks though
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He’ll punish someone for genuinely forgetting? You think God is that vengeful? It’s not like the OP decided that she was just going to scarf down a big juicy cheeseburger without any concern that abstinence was required. She was working 12 hour shift and it was midnight. How lucid would you be under those circumstances?

http://www.ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage_print.asp?number=327418&language=en

Answer by Fr. John Trigilio on 02-15-2002:

According to Trent and the Catechism, mortal sin REQUIRES all three criteria:
  1. GRAVE MATTER 2. DELIBERATE CONSENT 3. FULL KNOWLEDGE
Since the number of days of fast and abstinence are greatly reduced, it would be a mortal sin if someone KNOWINGLY, WILLINGLY and INTENTIONALLY ate meat on a Friday of Lent or on Ash Wednesday or ate between meals or ate more than one full meal on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday. Former manuals spoke of 4 oz or more to violate the fast as a mortal sin, less than 4 oz being venial; 2 oz of meat to violate abstinence, less for venial. Today, we do not get into the number game.

If someone inadvertently, unintentionally, unknowingly eats meat on a day of abstinence or eats more than one full meal or snacks between meals on a fast day, then at most that is a VENIAL SIN.
 
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