Remember - ALL FRIDAYS

Well, Lent is over (for the Latin Church, it's still going on for the Eastern Orthodox) so many/most Catholics have likely gone back to eating meat on Fridays - AND - are not offering up any other "equivalent" penance in its place!  What's this?  We STILL need to be giving up meat on Fridays?  Well, YES - sort of.  Canon Law in Canon 1250 decrees that Fridays throughout the year are days of penance, not just during Lent!  The only difference is currently outside of Lent the penance does not have to be meat - but it HAS to be something AND according to one's local ecclesial authority, and that is according to Canon 1252.  The bishops have come to realize how this has confused many Catholics and that those misinformed Catholics who do NOTHING on Fridays throughout the year are actually in direct violation of Canon Law!  So, it is rumored that the bishops are considering going back to "the way it was" and stick with "Meatless Fridays" throughout the year (except on solemnities if one falls on a Friday).

Now, again, if you're NOT going to abstain from meat on Fridays, you NEED to be doing SOMETHING and what you choose should be an equivalent sacrifice/penance on your part.  So, with that in mind - why not stick to abstaining from meat?!  Meatless Fridays USED to be synonymous with Catholicism!  It USED to be so popular that many restaurants offered "Fish Fry Fridays" so they would not lose the Catholic business on Fridays.   I urge you to join me in giving up meat on ALL FRIDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

Code of Canon Law 1250-1252 on the Vatican Website

A further reminder as to WHY we do this...  it is because EVERY Friday is like a "little Good Friday" and EVERY Sunday is like a "little Easter Sunday."  EVERY Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  You can't have Easter without Good Friday!  When we give up meat on Fridays then at every meal where we would have or may have had meat, and/or while we are out with our non-Catholic friends and they are eating meat - we call to mind the REASON we're not partaking in meat on Fridays is to call our attention to the Cross of Christ.  In some small way this little sacrifice unites us to His Ultimate Sacrifice of the Cross.  With that in mind, we joyfully offer up our penance on Fridays - ALL Fridays throughout the year.