No Meat on Fridays

[Sandlapper]

Well, I'm absolutely AWFUL with days of the week. My schedule is almost the same 7 days a week, so I never know what day of the week it is. (Though I always know the number.)

That said, if it occurs to me that it is Friday, I keep away from meat. But I don't beat myself up over it if I forget. I try to be more aware of the day in Lent, though.

 

[James the Persian]

Okay, so this apparently ties in with Christ's crucifixion on a Friday and it's still in effect, as I understand it. Do you Catholics (Victor, Athanasius, Scott, FGS, etc.)abstain from meat on Fridays? Why or why not?

It is actually one of two fasts mentioned very early on, the other is Wednesday, in memory of the betrayal. Western and eastern fasting practices started to diverge quite early on, with Wednesday losing importance in the west pre-Schism, I believe. We still keep both fasts, though.

I'm not sure exactly when Rome started allowing fish (it may have been pre-Schism but if so it was only within the See of Rome) but it certainly is not the original fasting rule of the Church, which was based, as you'd expect, on an eastern Mediterranean diet. All meat, dairy products, fish, alcohol and olive oil were forbidden. The only non-vegetarian produce that was allowed was shellfish. With minor regional variations (usually down to certain climates not being conducive to such practices) we still follow this.

I believe the curent level of fasting in the RCC (which is certainly far, far less than in my grandmother's time) came about at roughly the time of the Vatican II reforms. I'm sure an RC would be able to give you more accurate information. I just wanted to give some background on the fasts from when our churches were one (or shortly thereafter).

James

 

[Quiddity]

The practice and divergence is not limited to East vs. West. The rules of fasting varied per province and location. Some areas of the Church abstained from all forms of meat and animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish. The practice of fasting has evolved over the centuries but the focus remains the same; to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation. Fasting essentially is for heightening spiritual awareness and hungering for God. It’s like hitting the refresh button on your computer but much more powerful.....

As others have noted, the practice of fasting is very ancient. I don’t know what the exact date is but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was somewhat connected to our Judaic roots.

The present fasting and abstinence laws are very simple:

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the faithful fast (having only one full meal a day and smaller snacks to keep up one’s strength) and abstain from meat; on the other Fridays of Lent, the faithful abstain from meat. People are still encouraged "to give up something" for Lent as a sacrifice. (An interesting note is that technically on Sundays and solemnities like St. Joseph's Day (March 19) and the Annunciation (March 25), one is exempt and can partake of whatever has been offered up for Lent.

 

[Katzpur]

Earlier than that, the first time abstaining from meat was declared by the Church is in Acts, where the faithful were forbidden from eating meat that was sacrificed to idols.

Do you have exact chapter and verse? I'm really kind of interested in reading this.

 

[athanasius]

also every friday in the roman rite, some time of sacrifice needs to be observed out of respect for our Lord. Fasting in the traditional sense is optional, but you still may do it. If you do not do that(Fasting), then you still need to do something extra, like prayer or good works etc. Jimmy Akin of catholic answers went over this on his site www.jimmyakin.org

I hope that helps.

 

[athanasius]

My bad!

Apparently I misread. Here is the link.

http://www.jimmyakin.org/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

 

[Katzpur]

My bad!

Apparently I misread. Here is the link.

http://www.jimmyakin.org/2004/07/more_on_friday_.html

Thanks! I'll take a look at it.

 

[James the Persian]

The practice and divergence is not limited to East vs. West. The rules of fasting varied per province and location. Some areas of the Church abstained from all forms of meat and animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish.

Quite right. As I said, even we have minor variations (for instance it would be lunacy amongst the Aleuts for them to fast from fish - they'd die - so fish for them has always been allowed), but the greatest divergence is certainly between East and West, and probably was from quite early on. After all, exactly what food stuffs are forbidden during a fast is to a degree personal (as in dependent upon the individual fasting). When and if you fast then seems like a greater divergence to me and in that respect modern Roman practice is very different from the east even though originally both were nigh on identical.

James

 

[chlotilde]

Do you have exact chapter and verse? I'm really kind of interested in reading this.

I'm sorry, the way I posted it before (by putting the verse in quote form) made it look like I was quoting a previous post, not the Bible (Acts 15). Just a habit I have when I'm not giving my own words, but someone else's. I'll put the Bible verses in blue here.
I'll also add a little more detail here to my response, and also note I'm usually fasting and abstinence interchangably here.
We know from Matt. 6:16-18, The Sermon on the Mount

"And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you"

that Jesus expected us to fast ("when you fast", not "if you fast"), but didn't give us to much info on the whys of it all. So we look to the Magisterium (Church's teaching authority) for further clarification and the first time we see a declaration on abstinence is in Acts 15:28-29

"For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things: That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication: from which things keeping yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well."

From additional commentary in the Douay-Rheims
From blood, and from things strangled. . .The use of these things, though of their own nature indifferent, was here prohibited, to bring the Jews more easily to admit of the society of the Gentiles; and to exercise the latter in obedience. But this prohibition was but temporary, and has long since ceased to oblige; more especially in the western churches.

My own comment here is on the word "burden", and that fasting is viewed as a burden. Fasting is not viewed as a substitute for prayer, or as a physical cleansing, but more as a suffering (and act of obediance too).

The whys of the "act of obediance part" is pretty clear, and one doesn't have to go far into the Bible to realize abstinence is an act of obediance to God. The reason why we are all in this entire mess to begin with is because two people (Adam and Eve) failed to abstain from a certain little apple.


The why's of the suffering with abstenince? We know our Lord fasted for 40 days in the desert and the Church sees his time there as "expiative and exemplary"; and this is (part of?) the reason for the Church's penitential meaning in fasting. (and as a side note...this is where abstaining at Lent comes into play, as the 40 days of Lent, in preparation for Easter are to parallel Jesus' time in the desert in preparation for his ministry).

I might also mention, that the other time we are to abstain from all food is before taking communion...some say 1 hour, some say 3 hours, some say midnight before...honestly I'm not sure what the US Bishops say officially, or if it is by Diocese...I oughta look that up.

chlo

 

[doppelganger]

The topic of meat on Fridays always makes me think of Sister Mary Ignatius's explanation of what the change in the rules on that subject meant from Christopher Durang's excellent play, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. This is from the part of the play where the Sister is answering questions from her mailbag:

"Sister: It used to be a mortal sin to eat meat on Fridays, and now it isn't. Does that mean that people who ate meat on Fridays back when it was a sin are in Hell? Or what?"

People who ate meat on Fridays back when it was a mortal sin are indeed in Hell if they did not confess the sin before they died. If they confessed it, they are not in Hell, unless they did not confess some other mortal sin they committed. People who would eat meat on Fridays back in the 50s tended to be the sort who would commit other mortal sins, so on a guess, I bet many of them are in Hell for other sins, even if they did confess the eating of meat.

Sorry, back to the serious topic.

 

[athanasius]

The topic of meat on Fridays always makes me think of Sister Mary Ignatius's explanation of what the change in the rules on that subject meant from Christopher Durang's excellent play, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. This is from the part of the play where the Sister is answering questions from her mailbag:

Sorry, back to the serious topic.

If the Church "bound" the rules for it to be a mortal sin years ago and people ate it anyway, then they would be guilty of committing a mortal sin. If the church "loosed" those rules later then it would not be. Why is that so odd?

Jesus said to his Church

"Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven"(Matt 16:19, Matt 18:18)

 

[doppelganger]

If the Church "bound" the rules for it to be a mortal sin years ago and people ate it anyway, then they would be guilty of committing a mortal sin. If the church "loosed" those rules later then it would not be. Why is that so odd?

That's not the funny part. The logic behind why she figures they'd end up in Hell anyway is the funny part (to me anyway). But maybe I'm easily amused.

 

[Doodlebug02]

It is my understanding that meat is allowed on Fridays except for during Lent.