We are most fortunate in PAPA to be able to ask our Spiritual Advisor, Father Michael, questions we don't know the answer. One of our members asked why should we abstain from meat on Fridays? It is mentioned on page 43 under the Seven Precepts of the Church in our PAPA handbook. Precept 2 states, "Observe the days of abstinence and fasting. (Ash Wednesday; Good Friday; no meat on Fridays). So why should we have no meat on Fridays?
"The precepts of the Church are positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities to guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor." (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Understanding why we have precepts, the following is the answer to the above question by our member.
Father Michael's response:
On Good Friday Jesus died for our sins.
His flesh was tortured and torn.
His Sacred Body, broken.
His Sacred Heart, pierced.
He died.
As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Mark 2:19-20, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast."
Jesus was taken away from us on Good Friday, so as He said: "We fast."
For Catholics, not for all "denominated Christians", every Friday is a Good Friday for us; so we fast.
In honor of Jesus' broken Heart, tortured Body and torn flesh, we Catholics abstain from meat.
Pax Christi
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