Catechism Corner | Why Don’t Catholics Eat Meat on Friday, Especially During Lent?

​It is one way we commemorate the Passion and death of Our Savior Jesus Christ. But the question of "why meat?" It is precisely because meat is so good that we are asked to give it up at certain times. It wouldn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense if we offered something we considered bad as a sacrifice to God. More to the point, meat was singled out because it is associated with celebrations and feasts. On top of all of that, meat has often been a luxury in many cultures.

But what's included when we are asked to abstain from meat? Well, throughout the 2,000 year history of the Church, there have been varying definitions over what exactly constitutes abstinence from meat. In some regions of the world, Catholics abstained from all forms of meat and all animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish.

So what about fish? The thing is, fish never really had the same status as the flesh of mammals and birds. In Pope Paul VI's aforementioned document, he uses a particular word, carnis, to indicate the type of food from which we are to abstain. In Latin carnis specifically refers to mammals and birds only. Fish was never considered as being on the same level.

The brilliant thing in all of this is that this is simply a discipline of the Church.

I don't even like meat, and I would rather eat fish! I like that statement, because it strikes at the heart of why we are doing this.

God doesn't need us to give up meat. God doesn't need us to have a filet-o-fish on Fridays. What does God want? For you to suffer? NO! The heart of holiness is love, and the way we express our love is through obedience. Abstaining from meat won't make a person closer to God. But having a posture of obedience to the Church that Christ established will. This happens to be what the Church asks us to do. If the Church changed the discipline and told us to eat meat on all Fridays during Lent, then obedience to that discipline would help us to grow. Why? Because we sinners like to take the rebellious pose. We like to do it our way. It is hard for us to be told what to do. But to submit is to place our lives in our Father's hands.

If you resent having to give up meat because you see it as pointless, look more deeply into what prompts you to think that way. Is it really the Spirit of Christ? Or a spirit of rebellion? One of those roads leads to God. The other leads in the opposite direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGDVRe65YU8

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.