> From: "Kevin J. Hayes" <Kevin_J._Hayes@ccmail.anatcp.rockwell.com>
>
> I was wondering where the tradition of not eating meat on Friday
> during Lent comes from. It is my understanding that this is not a
> worldwide practice in the Catholic Church. If this is so, how can
> it be considered a sin, as I was taught, if I willfully choose to
> eat meat on Friday during Lent? Kevin Hayes
Dear Kevin,
The tradition of abstaining from meat and of fasting is the
working out of Christ's teaching on the necessity of self-denial
for Christian discipleship and eternal salvation (Matt. 10:38 f.,
16:24 f.). Christ himself fasted (Matt. 4:2) and taught the
necessity of fasting (Matt. 6:16 ff.; Mark 2:18-20, 9:29 with
variant reading). After Christ's ascension, the apostles
practised fasting (Acts 13:2, 14:23) and the earliest Christians
practiced both fasting and abstinence. The 1st century document
known as the Didache enjoined weekly fasts on Wednesdays and
Fridays.
Friday abstinence from meat in memory of the Passion and Death of
Our Lord on a Friday was and is common in the Eastern and Western
Church. Throughout history, the particulars of Church law and
practice have varied according to different times and places.
In our time, Pope Paul VI reorganized our laws of fasting and
abstinence in his apostolic constitution "Poenitemini" of
February 17, 1966. This reorganization entered the new Code of
Canon Law in its canons 1249 - 1253, which I quote for you here:
Can. 1249 -- All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law,
each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that
all may be joined together in a certain common practice of
penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days
Christ's faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves
to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to
deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more
faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence
which the following canons prescribe.
Can. 1250 -- The days and times of penance for the universal
Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of
Lent.
Can. 1251 -- Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as
determined by the Bishops' Conference, is to be observed on
all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday.
Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday.
Can. 1252 -- The law of abstinence binds those who have
completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds
those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of
their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to
ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not
bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the
true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 -- The Bishops' Conference can determine more
particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be
observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can
substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance,
especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
In the dioceses of the United States by virtue of Canon 1253, it
is usual for the bishops to modify Canon 1251, excusing us from
Friday abstinence EXCEPT on the Fridays of Lent. (Many Catholics,
however, freely choose to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the
year.)
Our Lord left it to the Church to determine the specifics of
fasting and abstinence and other matters of Christian behavior
(cf. Acts 15:19-30). Christians therefore have the duty of
obeying the directions given us by our rightful superiors in the
Church. Canon 212, 1 reads: "Christ's faithful, conscious of
their own responsibility, are bound to show Christian obedience
to what the sacred Pastors, who represent Christ, declare as
teachers of the faith and prescribe as rulers of the Church."
If a Catholic should "willfully choose to eat meat on Friday
during Lent," he would commit an act of willful disobedience to
legitimate authority as well as of refusal to deny himself after
the example of Christ and the teaching of Scripture and Sacred
Tradition. Such an act is sinful.
Please be careful to look up the Scripture citations I have given
you in this message.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
-- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit --
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