Time to line up the meatless meal ideas for Lent: homemade vegetable soup, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs, quesadillas and refried beans, tuna melts, shrimp stir fry, and don’t forget the Nova Scotia favourite, fishcakes and baked brown beans. Catholics are obligated to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with a strong recommendation to include all the Fridays of Lent, but how many people still take this seriously?
Many Catholics actually abstain from meat on every Friday of the year, which was required of all Catholics for many centuries. Our family, and many others, choose to do this as a way of observing the penitential aspect of Friday. While we do our best to avoid meat on Friday, we try not to draw attention to the fact that we are “making a sacrifice” and if we are invited to someone else’s house and they serve meat, we don’t refuse but just try to make another type of sacrifice that day.
But why does the Church recommend this practice of abstinence from meat?
Since Jesus died on a Friday, we take the opportunity to fast, pray and/or abstain from meat that day to bring to mind the crucifixion and do our part to carry our own cross. One could say we are avoiding eating flesh, so we can focus on Christ, whose flesh was sacrificed for our eternal redemption. We can also offer the weekly sacrifice as a chance to stand in solidarity with those who live in poverty. There are several reasons why giving up meat can bring us closer to God. In 2006, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published a leaflet entitled “Keeping Friday” which outlines nicely why Catholic have and should observe a spirit of penance on Fridays all year round (Keeping Friday - Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (cccb.ca).
“All who believe in Christ – young and old, sick and healthy, lay and religious – are invited to make Friday a special day,” reads the pamphlet. “It is a day when we seek to share more fully in Christ’s sufferings, and to work with him to help save the world by our prayer, penance, and good works.”
The bishops’ conference goes on to point out that “over the centuries, these forms of penance have varied, and sometimes have been neglected.”
It’s no secret that the practices of abstinence and fasting have been “neglected.” Of course in our culture Friday is considered a “party day” – the end of the school and work week for many, a day to relax and maybe have some fun. Sacrifices on Friday become all the more difficult, and all the more sacrificial.
This is not to say we need to stand out in the crowd letting the world know we are performing acts of penance while everyone else is celebrating. But a sacrifice is not meant to be easy and if we have to go against the grain to make it happen, then the more we will likely grow from it.
As the bishops note, “When we were baptized, we were made sharers in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. By our penance, we share with Jesus in his work of saving the world. We continue to die with him to sin and self, and to live with him for God.”
There is also an evangelistic element to abstinence from meat on Fridays. Children who grow up in households that fast from meat on Fridays will know that Fridays are a little different, with a special focus on our crucified Lord. Friends and extended family will also pick up on the practice, and while some may not understand, others will take note that your family puts faith above the mainstream status quo.
If Fridays have not been traditionally a day of prayer, fasting, and abstinence for your family, consider incorporating them as such this Lent and maybe beyond. It might require a little more thought when preparing meals, but if the intention is grounded in faith, there will be spiritual fruits.
In Canada, meat is generally plentiful and most of us take for granted that we can easily put together a meal that includes some kind of meat. However, if we forego that meat for a few meals a week we can bring to mind that there are many others in the world who rarely get the luxury of eating meat. And if we physically feel the lack of meat when it’s replaced with simpler fare, we can also recall our spiritual hunger that can only be filled by Christ.
Lazzuri writes from her home in Nova Scotia, where she lives with her husband, six children, and her mom. She can be reached at [email protected]