Why no meat on all Fridays? New catholic here

patient-positivity:

hislittleflower-throughconcrete:

patron-saint-of-smart-asses:

It’s a traditional day of abstinence because of Good Friday. I am not sure of the details

Also the Jesus-as-fisher-of-men symbolism means fish is commonly eaten instead

Actually, traditionally fish was eaten instead of other meat because other meat used to cost more so:

1) Eating fish was sacrificial (Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on a Friday)

2) The money saved by eating a cheaper meal was meant to be given to the poor (alms giving)

In modern day, this isn’t always a sacrifice the way it traditionally was because you can buy a cheeseburger for a dollar or a lobster meal that breaks the bank, and some people are vegetarian so no sacrifice is specially made on Fridays. That’s why the new rule is that on Fridays you can either choose not to eat meat or if more appropriate, you can offer up another kind of personal sacrifice. During Lent it is still common to return to the tradition of not eating meat on Fridays as well as fasting on certain days like Ash Wednesday.