Tradition of the Church:

Friday Penance

"Friday must be a day of self-denial now and forever more!" - Our Lady of the Roses, February 28, 1971

Friday penance

As Our Lady of the Roses message clearly states, "Friday must be a day of self-denial now and forevermore!" From the beginning of the Church, Friday has been a day of self-denial in honor of the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday. This tradition is explained in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

From the dawn of Christianity, Friday has been signalized as an abstinence day, in order to do homage to the memory of Christ suffering and dying on that day of the week. The "Teaching of the Apostles" (viii), Clement of Alexandria (Strom., VI, 75), and Tertullian (De jejun., xiv) make explicit mention of this practice. Pope Nicholas I (858-867) declares that abstinence from flesh meat is enjoined on Fridays. There is every reason to conjecture that Innocent III (1198-1216) had the existence of this law in mind when he said that this obligation is suppressed as often as Christmas Day falls on Friday (De observ. jejunii, ult. cap. Ap. Layman, Theologia Moralis, I, iv, tract. viii, ii). Moreover, the way in which the custom of abstaining on Saturday originated in the Roman Church is a striking evidence of the early institution of Friday as an abstinence day. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Abstinence”)

Many Catholics today do not know that there is an obligation to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. While it is true that the Code of Canon Law allows for the substituting of another penitential practice, authorized by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), such a substitute penitential practice has not been defined. As a consequence, many Catholics have set aside the abiding custom of the Church. Few clergy inform the faithful of the obligation of Friday penance.

If the average Catholic were asked if they abstain from meat on Fridays (or substitute another significant penitential practice), they would say no. If asked what penitential practice they have substituted in place of not eating meat, they would commonly say none.

The Catholic clergy have neglected to teach the faithful about the obligatory requirement of either abstaining from meat on all Fridays of the year, or of substituting another observance. The clergy have sinned by omission. It should be noted that even Pope Paul VI's variance in Paenitemini of 17 February, 1966 did not abrogate (terminate) the obligation to at least substitute another form of penitential practice.

From THE CATHOLIC ANSWER, Sept/Oct 1990, page 21: "One final comment on Friday abstinence: Church law still maintains Friday as a day of penance. If a person chooses not to abstain from meat, he or she must perform an alternative penance."

The Code of Canon Law

The Code of Canon Law indicates that Catholics are supposed to abstain from meat on all Fridays during the year, not just during Lent:

Canon 1250 -- All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church.

Canon 1251 -- Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1253 -- It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

American Bishops petitioned the Vatican for a change

The U.S. bishops imprudently petitioned the Vatican for an alternative to Friday abstinence from meat, just as they later imprudently sought an alternative to the law of Communion on the tongue. As noted by St. Thomas Aquinas, it is wrong to unnecessarily seek a change in an existing law, because a readiness to change from old to new laws weakens the power of the law. When a law is changed, the binding power of the law is diminished, in so far as custom is abolished. Therefore, human law should never be changed, unless, in some way or other, the common good be compensated according to the extent of the harm done by changing the law (Saint Thomas, S.Th., I-IIae, q. 97, a. 2 c.). It is clear that the common good was not served by this change; rather, the Catholic faithful have been greatly confused by this change, and the 2,000 year tradition of Friday penance has fallen into disuse.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their pastoral document of November 18, 1966 stated:

Catholics in the United States are obliged to abstain from the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the season of Lent. They are also obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. Self-imposed observance of fasting on all weekdays of Lent is strongly recommended. Abstinence from flesh meat on all Fridays of the year is especially recommended to individuals and to the Catholic community as a whole.
The entire statement can be found in Canon Law Digest (CLD 6, 679--684).

The potentially misleading effect of this NCCB statement is that many Catholics erroneously believe that they are no longer obliged to perform Friday penance, even though this obligation remains in full force (by the superior authority of the Holy Father, the Pope, who has not abrogated the obligation of Friday penance). Many of the Catholic faithful, in practice, have misinterpreted the law of the Church and erroneously concluded that penance is no longer required on all Fridays.

To realize the extent of confusion among the Catholic laity, ask a few Catholics what penance they perform on Friday, as is required by the law of the Church. Many Catholics are ignorant or willfully disobedient to this obligation. To willfully fail to observe the Church's laws of fast and abstinence would be a sin against the Third Commandment, and would be a matter for confession.

Our Lady of the Roses message reminds the Catholic faithful of this obligation, which has existed since the time of Christ and the Apostles, and is still in effect.

"My children, hell and purgatory--forgotten! My Son's death upon the cross--forgotten, as you happily raise your voices, call Him Savior, and think all are saved without penance, atonement, and sacrifice! Shall you sin and be always forgiven without penance? No, I say to you! Only a few will be saved. Many are called, but few are chosen." - Our Lady of the Roses, April 9, 1977

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D113 - Penance and Sacrifice, Part 1 PDF
D114 - Penance and Sacrifice, Part 2 PDF
D138 - Permissiveness PDF

Links

Abstinence (Catholic Encyclopedia)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01067a.htm

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