We are now in the Easter Octave – Happy Easter! Let’s get out in front of this before the calendar clicks over to Friday.
First, allow me to post a shot of last night’s (Wednesday’s) repast.
The beef is so good here in Rome, where I write, at least from the butcher I use at the Campo de’ Fiori. It tastes like I remember beef used to taste. And probably a little cheaper than in my usual US grocery. I managed a pretty much perfect cottura this time, with an excellent Maillard reaction and rare center. The veg are mushrooms and cicoria in padella with garlic and hot pepper.
I could eat this again tonight, Thursday. I could eat this again on Friday. On this Friday, that is.
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
My wife and I recently returned to the traditional Friday abstinence from meat year round.
Traditionally, would the Friday abstinence from meat also apply during Fridays of the whole Easter season?
What about just the octave?
Congratulations for wanting to adhere to the traditional practices. Kudos.
You’ve asked a good question.
Here is canon 1251:
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
From the General Norms for Liturgical Year and Calendar, 24
24. The first eight days of Easter Time constitute the Octave of Easter and are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord.
The days of the Octave of Easter are celebrated as Solemnities (in the Novus Ordo calendar). Therefore, there is no obligation for Catholics for the Friday abstinence on this coming Friday.
Note well that the other Fridays of Eastertide are not Solemnities. The relief from abstinence applies only to the Friday in the Octave of Easter.
BTW… this does not apply to the Octave of Christmas, for those days of that Octave are not counted as “Solemnities” as are those of the Easter Octave.
This is how the 1983 Code of Canon Law handles Friday in the Octave of Easter, and this applies also to those who prefer the Extraordinary Form (which did not have “Solemnities”).
As far as other Fridays are concerned, outside the Octave of Easter or some other Solemnity, you can ask your parish priest to dispense you or commute your act of penance.
Can. 1245 Without prejudice to the right of diocesan bishops mentioned in can. 87, for a just cause and according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop, a pastor [parish priest] can grant in individual cases a dispensation from the obligation of observing a feast day or a day of penance or can grant a commutation of the obligation into other pious works. A superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life, if they are clerical and of pontifical right, can also do this in regard to his own subjects and others living in the house day and night.
Abstinence from meat has good reasoning behind it. For some, however, abstinence from other things can be of great spiritual effect.
Certainly you would never abstain from reading this blog… or from ordering…
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This past Lent I decided to abstain from reading the Fishwrap.
It was tough, but I kept telling myself “Self, if you already abstain from reading it 365 days a year, you have it in you to pull through a single Lent.”
Not to brag, but I didn’t lapse once.
We just came back to Chile from our month long visit to the former USA.
We were astounded, flabbergasted, at how weak and with out flavor the industrial food that is now the norm in the former USA. It struck home when we returned and the first meal was one of our own farm raised roasted chicken. It was so rich!! Flavorful. Satisfying.
Our carrots actually are sweet and taste like what you may remember Carrots taste like. Our beef is so awesome. We had pork tacos yesterday and WOW it was food. Real food. Lori is making Spaghetti today with meat balls, I tasted the sauce and it was a world of difference from the Sauce we had in the former USA.
The thing is that people in the former USA do not know that they are being cheated, they do not know that they are being sold unhealthy poisoned food.
Aside from all the other things going on it is a travesty that good food is no longer available to the common family in the USA.
Grow your own!
Jim
Thanks for this “good news” Father.
However, neither my (Australian archdiocesan), nor the USCC, liturgical calendars seem to indicate Easter Friday (nor the other weekdays this week) as Solemnities.
What’s going on please?
Happy Easter to you, and thanks for persevering.
God bless, Paul
paulbailes: Friday is, in the Novus Ordo calendar, a Solemnity because it is in the Octave of Easter.
Have a cheeseburger, if you wish. Tuna salad is also good.
Can we … in the octave of Easter?
I love Easter above all days. The day on which our great God and Divine King rose from the dead! It is the great seismic event in human history and after some two thousand years its power, with an annual epicenter of 8 days and aftershocks occurring every seventh day throughout the year, is undiminished. On this day the Holy Spirit bears witness that our Lord, descended of King David according to the flesh, rejected and put to death by those whom He had come to save, is the Son of God with all power: Jesus Christ our Lord! Let us celebrate the Feast.
¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Thanks Father for the further clarification.
And apologies to the USCCB which does, by way of footnote, acknowledge the days of Easter week as Solemnities.
The reader asked about the traditional practice. The traditional practice was to abstain from meat on all Fridays and there wasn’t an exemption for solemnities*. This is what it had in the 1917 code.
The 1917 code is no longer binding on any Catholics. Even those who assist exclusively at Mass in the traditional form are bound only by the 1983 code. However I know plenty of Catholics on the trad side of things who think that they are bound by the 1917 code.
There is nothing wrong with observing some of the stricter practices if one chooses. It would just be a matter of personal piety though. Personally I try and fast from midnight before receiving Holy Communion. I am fortunate enough to be able to get to Mass in the mornings. Where I lived previously I could only get to Mass at 6:30pm on a Sunday and in that case I fasted for 3 hours.
As Father makes clear, the law of the Church is that we are free to eat meat today. That doesn’t mean we have to eat meat. We can eat that tuna salad instead of the cheeseburger. The important thing is that we do it for the right reasons. If we choose today to abstain from meat we are willingly giving something up. We shouldn’t make a big deal in front of others or consider ourselves “better Catholics” because we are doing so.
*yes I know that solemnities didn’t exist when the 1917 code was written.