Why don’t we meat on Friday in Lent if it doesn’t say so in the Bible?

Sincerely,

A. C. Arnivore

Arnivore...That must be another French name.

Well anyway, there are lots of swell things that aren’t in the Bible.  Asking “why do we abstain from meat on Friday if it isn’t in the Bible?” is like asking “why do we wear deodorant if it isn’t in the Bible?”

We do it because it’s a good idea!

The practice of fasting is mentioned 29 times in the new Testament.

Jesus says “when you fast . . . ”  (Matt.6: 16),  not “if you fast . . . ”  Fasting is very Biblical. 

We fast by abstaining from meat on Friday in remembrance of Good Friday and we rest and go to Mass on Sunday in remembrance of the Resurrection.  For a Catholic, every Friday is Good Friday and every Sunday is Easter.

Well fine, but it still isn’t in the Bible.

Remember that there was a Catholic Church for a century before there was anything like the Bible as we now know it. 

The books of the Bible were probably not all even all written by 80 AD.  The Church was on her third Pope by then.  In chapter 8 of the Didache, or Teaching of the 12 Apostles, we read that we should fast on Fridays.  The Didache was probably written around 65 AD, certainly before 100AD, so we’ve been fasting on Fridays since before the Bible was written and then edited.

To put it briefly, the Church is the mother of the Bible.  The Bible is not the mother of the Church.  Read the explanation of fasting in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 1438) which points out that Friday is a day of repentance all year long. 

The traditional form of penance on Friday is abstaining from meat.  We are obliged to do penance and the day for penance in the tradition of the Church is Friday and the usual form of fasting is abstaining from meat.  We are a little more intense about it during Lent.  Well, why is it a sin if we eat meat on Friday in Lent?  If one eats meat for reasons of health or necessity on Fridays in Lent, that’s one thing.  If one refuses to fast because who cares about the Church, therein lies the sin. 

We love to trash the Church.  The Church should....  The trouble with the Church is....  The Church is just a bunch of hypocrites... 

Remember that the Church is not just a bunch of old men in plastic collars like me.

The Church is an essential part of the plan of God.  The Bible says that the Church is the Bride of Christ.  If I say to you that “you’re all right, but your wife is a piece of work!” we aren’t going to be on very good terms.  To love Christ is also to love the Church, His Bride. 

Fasting is a divine precept.  Abstaining from meat on Friday is a human rule.  So what’s wrong with that?  It is a sin for a child to disobey his parent, though that parent is only human. 

So my advice to you, Mr. Arnivore, is take Mother Church’s advice.  She loves you and it’s for your own good.

Yours truly,

Rev. Know-It-All