As everyone knows, Catholic aren’t supposed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent. What a lot of people don’t know, however, are all the other rules and exceptions that go with this. For one, we call this requirement abstinence. Most people associate that word with refraining from sexual activity, but it can mean to refrain from any particular thing. In this case, we’re talking about abstaining from meat. Now, I’ll jump to one exciting rule that a lot of people don’t know.
You can eat meat this Friday, March 25th even though it’s Lent. Why? Because it is the Solemnity of the Annunciation. You probably know that we have different levels of feast days: some celebrations are more important. There are 4 basic categories: Ferial, Memorial, Feast, and Solemnity. Solemnities are the highest and most important feasts and when a Solemnity falls on a Friday, it overrides the requirements of abstinence. Since the Annunciation falls into this category and falls on a Friday this year, we can have meat this week. I don’t know about you, but I think that, to celebrate the moment the Angel tells Mary she will be the mother of the messiah, I will fry up some bacon! While we’re talking about fasting and abstinence, however, I want to remind you of some of the other rules we have for this. If we’re going to take advantage of the exceptions, then we should also pay attention to the other teachings.
Since we’re talking about abstinence, we’ll start there. As we said, abstinence means to avoid meat. This should not be an excuse to pig out on fried seafood, but an invitation to real self-denial! Every Catholic 14 and older is expected to abstain from meat every Friday of the year. That may be a surprise to many who think it’s only during Lent. That’s an old miscommunication. A while back the U.S. Bishops gave permission to exchange another penance for abstinence on Fridays outside of Lent. So, if you do eat meat on a Friday outside of Lent, the idea is that you’re supposed to do some other penance, extra prayer, or extra act of charity instead; like avoiding TV for the day, an extra rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet, or a visit to the Nursing Home. Again, if that Friday happens to be a solemnity, you’re free to eat meat regardless.
Then there are the rules about fasting. There are only two days a year that fasting is required. That’s Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This applies to all Catholics between 18 and 59. “Fasting” is defined as having no more than one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal. Basically, less than 2 full meals worth of food. Obviously, the exact amount depends on each person’s needs. You are of course free to fast more intensely. I personally find the “smaller meals” make it harder than just skipping.
Now, just because it’s only required twice a year does not mean you should stay at the minimum. Every Catholic is expected to practice some form of fasting and/or abstinence (can be things other than food) all year round. I encourage you to fast/abstain from something at least once a week to stay in spiritual shape. Lent is meant to be the extra step in self-denial, not the only one. Wednesday and Fridays are the traditional days for this. The upshot of taking fasting and abstinence more seriously is that, when a Solemnity does fall on that day, you’re more likely to notice and to celebrate it, which is a good thing, because it’s sets our hearts and minds on heavenly things. And that’s the point of our rules and practices: to conform our lives to heavenly principles rather than earthly ones.