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Helen
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I was asked a great question about the observance of Friday abstinence. The question really made me think.
I read through the bishop's letter on Fasting and then
wrote these observations.
If I hadn't been asked, I don't know if I would have investigated the question further. We've given up meat on Fridays for years but now the practice has become a little more deep.
I thought I would mention it here in case anyone was interested in reading the Bishops letter and my post.
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Ave Maria!
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doris
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Thank you, Helen. Much food (boom boom) for thought.
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Helen
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doris wrote:
| Thank you, Helen. Much food (boom boom) for thought. |
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 Thank you Elizabeth!
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Ave Maria!
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Susana
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I love your blog Helen! It is wonderful! Our family also abstains from meat on Fridays, and the spirit of sacrifice is something to definitely think about that can enrich this "meatless Friday" practice! Thank you so much for sharing :)
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Helen
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Susana wrote:
| I love your blog Helen! It is wonderful! Our family also abstains from meat on Fridays, and the spirit of sacrifice is something to definitely think about that can enrich this "meatless Friday" practice! Thank you so much for sharing :) |
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Thank you Susana
I feel a little badly that I've been linking so much to my blog. Your comment makes me feel better. 
I appreciate when others give m the heads up here. I hope the feeling is mutual.
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RenB
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Helen; Great article!
We've been doing "meatless Fridays" for many years now, something so simple and yet something so hard...some days. ;-)
When I was a child, I have many great memories of how my parents and older siblings worked out their sacrificial Fridays with meatless food fare.
It used to be there was always a local place advertising "Fish Friday" for a reason and on the westcoast that all but disappeared by the time I was a teenager. Funny how moving eastward I noticed those signs and advertisements once more, loving it all as a gentle reminder during the week, a time to prepare for Friday.
There are still times when we might blow it by accident, but we've always included this as a traditional thing to do on Fridays.
Love your blog Helen!
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insegnante
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This is slightly off the good points Helen's post seemed to be emphasizing but I do like the aspect of following the traditional recommendation, even if dinner ends up being pizza and less penitential than some meat dinners that I find less enjoyable. I think it's that I'm not trying to choose my own cross. You know how people of a certain disposition can think about sufferings and sacrifices in a sort of romanticized way, and then not be particularly accepting of the relatively small ones that life unavoidably presents to them. Not that weekly Friday abstinence is "unavoidable" but I generally rule out meat even if it sounds easiest and make exceptions only for serious inconvenience or the acceptance of hospitality, partly because I'm so bad at thinking of an "alternate." When I do plan on an alternate for some reason, I can end up thinking, "No, I might get a headache if I do that... I'll probably get too impatient with everyone else if I do that [when it's really more about me than about everyone else anyway]... etc." instead of just planning to take whatever small suffering might come as I do when I take it as a given that we "can't" eat meat that day.
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Theresa
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RamFam
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Ouch. Fridays we prepare more for the weekend than for Mass.  I guess we have some room for growing.
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Helen
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insegnante wrote:
| I do like the aspect of following the traditional recommendation, even if dinner ends up being pizza and less penitential than some meat dinners that I find less enjoyable. I think it's that I'm not trying to choose my own cross. |
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Theresa, this is a good point.
I've been wondering about ordering food on Fridays. One issue is pizza for the family. Another issue for me, is ordering a special meal with my husband. Fridays seem to be the best night.
Right now, I'm leaning towards the importance of periodic marriage building while still keeping a meatless Friday. We like sushi -- but is that keeping with the abstinence? the spirit of meatless Fridays?
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Angie Mc
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I look forward to reading through the many links here and am bumping this to ask...
How/do you observe Friday abstinance during the seasons of Christmas and Easter?
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Helen
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Angie Mc wrote:
How/do you observe Friday abstinance during the seasons of Christmas and Easter? |
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That's a good question Angie. We don't change much regarding Friday abstinence during the season of Christmas and Easter unless a Friday is also a solemnity. If a Friday is a solemnity then meat is/can be on the menu.
I might have mentioned this above but if we attend Mass on a Friday and it is difficult to go meat free, we consider the participation in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass as fulfilling our Friday abstinence.
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Angie Mc
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Helen wrote:
Angie Mc wrote:
How/do you observe Friday abstinance during the seasons of Christmas and Easter? |
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That's a good question Angie. We don't change much regarding Friday abstinence during the season of Christmas and Easter unless a Friday is also a solemnity. If a Friday is a solemnity then meat is/can be on the menu.
I might have mentioned this above but if we attend Mass on a Friday and it is difficult to go meat free, we consider the participation in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass as fulfilling our Friday abstinence. |
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Quote:
Canon 1250 All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.
Canon 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canon 1252 All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.
Can. 1253 It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety. |
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Let me see if I can summarize:
1. Abstinence per Canon 1252 is no meat for all Catholics 14 years of age and older.
2. Days of abstinence per Canon 1251 are Ash Wednesday and all Fridays in Lent.
3. All Fridays (and Ash Wednesday) and all days of Lent are times of penance per Canon Law 1250. One can choose to abstain as penance.
4. When a Friday is within Easter or Christmas season, penance is required unless a solemnity is observed, per Canon 1252.
2011 Solemnities:
Jan 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. (Saturday)
Jan 6: Solemnity of Epiphany. (Thursday)
March 19: Solemnity of Joseph, husband of Mary. (Saturday)
March 25: Solemnity of Annunciation. (Friday)
April 24: Solemnity of Easter. (Sunday)
June 12: Solemnity of Pentecost. (Sunday)
June 19: Solemnity of The Holy Trinity (Sunday)
June 23: Solemnity of Corpus Christi. (Thursday)
June 24: Solemnity of Birth of John the Baptist. (Friday)
June 29: Solemnity of Peter and Paul, apostles. (Wednesday)
July 1: Solemnity of Sacred Heart. (Friday)
August 15: Solemnity of The Assumption. (Monday)
Nov 1: Solemnity of All Saints. (Tuesday)
Nov 20: Solemnity of Christ the King. (Sunday)
Dec 8: Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception. (Thursday)
Is this correct? According to my calendar, No Meat on the Annunciation because it is Lent?
ETA: removed the error I have in my calendar re: no meat on the Annunciation
Love,
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Angie Mc
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JennGM
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Just one small correction, Angie. When a Solemnity falls on Friday, abstinence or penance is not required.
see WF-F and Vatican
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal 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.
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc wrote:
Is this correct? According to my calendar, No Meat on the Annunciation because it is Lent?
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So my calendar is wrong? Classic Art Calendar 2011 ... meaning
Angie Mc wrote:
2. Days of abstinence per Canon 1251 are Ash Wednesday and all Fridays in Lent.
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UNLESS a Solemnity is observed on a Friday during Lent?
I'm trying to get the order of priority (celebrate solemnity or lenten abstain) clear in my mind  . Thanks!
Love,
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Helen
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AngieMc wrote:
| 3. All Fridays and all days of Lent are times of penance per Canon Law 1250. One can choose to abstain as penance. |
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We're probably saying the same thing but just to make sure...
Ash Weds and all Fridays of Lent are definitely meat free. I'm pretty sure that if a Friday in Lent is a Solemnity meat is allowed. (The local bishop may also dispense from the meat-less requirement for some event.) The solemnities that come to mind are Annunciation and St. Joseph. (I would aprreciate official confirmation of this.)
Penance is required on all Fridays of the year even during the Easter and Christmas seasons. The first week of each season begins with a week of Solemnities. Each season extends a few weeks beyond the celebration. Christmas season ends with the Baptism of the Lord (in the new calendar.) The Easter season extends until Pentecost.
When not in Lent, penance does not absolutely equal no meat. However, it is a traditional Catholic practice to give up meat on Friday to observe the requirement of penance on Friday.
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JennGM
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Helen wrote:
AngieMc wrote:
| 3. All Fridays and all days of Lent are times of penance per Canon Law 1250. One can choose to abstain as penance. |
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We're probably saying the same thing but just to make sure...
Ash Weds and all Fridays of Lent are definitely meat free. I'm pretty sure that if a Friday in Lent is a Solemnity meat is allowed. (The local bishop may also dispense from the meat-less requirement for some event.) The solemnities that come to mind are Annunciation and St. Joseph. (I would aprreciate official confirmation of this.)
Penance is required on all Fridays of the year even during the Easter and Christmas seasons. The first week of each season begins with a week of Solemnities. Each season extends a few weeks beyond the celebration. Christmas season ends with the Baptism of the Lord (in the new calendar.) The Easter season extends until Pentecost.
When not in Lent, penance does not absolutely equal no meat. However, it is a traditional Catholic practice to give up meat on Friday to observe the requirement of penance on Friday. |
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Yes, for sure, from 1251 Code of Canon Law
Quote:
Just one small correction, Angie. When a Solemnity falls on Friday, abstinence or penance is not required.
see WF-F and Vatican
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal 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.
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If you also look at the Table of Liturgical Days you can see the order of precedence, so a Solemnity will override a Lenten weekday (Solemnity #3, Lent #9).
One year I called the bishop's office to ask if the Friday abstinence was lifted for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and the reply was there doesn't need to be a dispensation, because it's automatically lifted.
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Angie Mc
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Helen wrote:
We're probably saying the same thing but just to make sure...
Ash Weds .... |
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Yes, I had left out Ash Weds because I was focusing on Fridays, but placed it back in my above post in parenthases for clarity.
Helen wrote:
| (The local bishop may also dispense from the meat-less requirement for some event.) .... |
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Yes, like St. Patricks day for places with a large Irish population, or a tradition of celebrating St. Patty's day with corned beef and cabbage!
Helen wrote:
| The solemnities that come to mind are Annunciation and St. Joseph. (I would aprreciate official confirmation of this.) |
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Me too! My intent is not to be nitpicky but rather I find this soooo interesting! And I hope to practice conforming my mind to thinking in order of Church priorities. Details are not my strength. I do better with principles. Like this detail...
Helen wrote:
| The first week of each season begins with a week of Solemnities. |
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I finally see that the octaves are made up completely of Solemnities.
Helen wrote:
| ....Each season extends a few weeks beyond the celebration. Christmas season ends with the Baptism of the Lord (in the new calendar.) The Easter season extends until Pentecost. |
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It was this extension that I was wondering about in the topic Abstinence during Octave .
So the only micro-detail still confused in my macro-thinking mind is...
Celebrate solemnity or abstain during Lent?
Thanks so much, Jenn and Helen  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc
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JennGM wrote:
If you also look at the Table of Liturgical Days you can see the order of precedence, so a Solemnity will override a Lenten weekday (Solemnity #3, Lent #9).
One year I called the bishop's office to ask if the Friday abstinence was lifted for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and the reply was there doesn't need to be a dispensation, because it's automatically lifted. |
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We were cross-posting, Jenn. I'm printing that table (I LOVE tables!) right now!
Happy relief . I can now move on with my Saturday in peace. My pantry and laundry are calling loudly  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc
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JennGM wrote:
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal 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.
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Bumping because my calendar states "No Meat" in error and thought others might have the same calendar .
Love,
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Susana
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My calendar has the big fat fish on it today, so I was wondering what to do. I had already planned on no meat today, so maybe we can instead celebrate with some cupcakes! :)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Friday Abstinence
