About Abstinence - A lot at Steak
During the season of Lent every Friday is a day of abstinence from meat. While the entire season of Lent of geared towards our repenting and turning back to God, it is the day of Friday on which we commemorate Christ’s death for our sins. To commemorate Christ’s one perfect sacrifice, we abstain from eating meat. This is a discipline of the Church which we, as Catholic, are called to observe. It is making a sacrifice as a faithful. Why do we do this? Why meat, why not abstain from broccoli (that would have my vote)? One was of reflecting on this sacrifice is this: Think of it in the context that the animals that we commonly get meat from were traditionally the animals that were offered in Sacrifice by the Priests in ancient Judaism in the Temple. With Christ’s sacrifice, animal sacrifices no longer were necessary. Abstaining from meat is one way, within Church discipline, that we can share in and recognize Christ’s perfect sacrifice that did away with sacrifices required under the Old Covenant. There are other historical reasons that speak to the development of Catholicism’s “meatless Fridays” – but the devotional understanding above is probably a good way to understand the significance of these days of abstinence, these Fridays of Lent. Further the Church teaches that fasting and abstinence “prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart” (CCC 2043) allowing us to focus on our relationship with the God who gave us life.
The rules for abstinence for Lent (and in general) are as follows:
The rules for abstinence for Lent (and in general) are as follows:
- Every person 14 years of age or older must abstain from meat (and items made with meat) on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent.
- Every person 14 years of age or older must abstain from meat (and items made with meat) on all other Fridays of the year, unless he or she substitutes some other form of penance for abstinence.
