St. Peter Canisius Apostolate

Note: This is a repost from July 31, 2008.

A few years ago I began wondering what the Church’s position was on Friday abstinence outside of Lent. I searched, but I couldn’t find a clear answer; but gradually I came across different texts and articles that helped clarify what the Church of us regarding Friday abstinence. What I’d like to do in this post is simple cite two of the best texts I’ve read on the subject with the hope that this post might be a “one-stop” post for some who, like me a few years back, was looking for clear guidance on Friday penance.

This first text will deal with what exactly is the Church’s current teaching on Friday abstinence. It’s from an article by the late Fr. John Hardon — “The Practice of Penance”:

One aspect of the practice of penance has to do with the proper observance of Fridays. I am afraid there is some misunderstanding on the subject. In 1966 when Pope Paul VI issued his Constitution on Penance, he did not change the essential meaning of Friday as an obligatory, yes, obligatory day of penance to be observed in union with the passion of the Savior. Fridays were, and they remain, mandatory days of penance. A Catholic has no option as to whether he will do penance on every Friday. This is a duty specified by the Church. The only option is the kind of penance one performs.

At the risk of being technical about this important matter, let me explain. Each member of the Church should be united with his fellow Christians in offering reparation to God for sins. We can choose to do penance on any day and in any way that appeals to us. A work of penance is always pleasing to God. To do penance is a divine law. But besides the divine law, there is an ecclesiastical precept, a law of the Church to practice penance on certain days and in the manner the Church requires. What was formerly given as the second precept of the Church could now be modified to read, “to fast and abstain, or do some act of penance approved by the Church, on the day commanded.” The question may be asked, “In place of abstinence on Friday other forms of penance are mentioned by the Church. Are these of obligation or merely a matter of counsel?” The answer to this question, is that a person who avails himself of the choice of eating meat on Friday is not merely advised to undertake some other form of penance; he is bound to do so.

Friday penance, therefore, is not a matter of mere counsel, but of actual precept. In plain language, a Catholic commits sin if he or she allows a Friday to pass without an act of penance.

The final sentence of this excerpt makes the Church’s teaching crystal clear: “a Catholic commits sin if he or she allows a Friday to pass without an act of penance.”

If the first passage explained the Church’s teaching, this second passage will give us the how-to’s of keeping Friday a day of penance. It’s from Fr. Fernandez’s In Conversation with God, Volume 3, p. 557:

The Church reminds us frequently of the need for mortification. If any man would come after me…. In particular she has set aside one day in the week, Friday, as a day on which we are to consider the need and efficacy of denying ourselves and practicing some special mortification: abstaining from flesh meat, or doing something we find rather difficult (like finishing our work more perfectly or making life more pleasant for others), or performing some pious act: doing some spiritual reading, saying the Rosary, paying a visit to the Blessed Sacrament or doing the Stations of the Cross. We might also perform one of the corporal works of mercy: visiting the sick, spending some time with a person in need, or giving alms. However, we ought not to be content with just a weekly penitential act as a reminder of our Lord who suffered and died for us, and taught us the value of sacrifice. Each day God expects us to deny ourselves in little ways, in things which will enliven our soul and make our apostolate fruitful.

This passage is little more than an elaboration of what we find in the Code of Canon Law. Canon 1249 states:

The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence….

By way of summary, we can say this: First, Catholics are obliged to engage in penance every Friday of the year in commemoration of Our Lord Jesus’ sacrifice, and second, on Fridays outside of Lent we are free to choose the act of penance we wish to perform.

A few years ago I began wondering what the Church’s position was on Friday abstinence outside of Lent. I searched, but I couldn’t find a clear answer; but gradually I came across different texts and articles that helped clarify what the Church of us regarding Friday abstinence. What I’d like to do in this post is simple cite two of the best texts I’ve read on the subject with the hope that this post might be a “one-stop” post for some who, like me a few years back, was looking for clear guidance on Friday penance.

This first text will deal with what exactly is the Church’s current teaching on Friday abstinence. It’s from an article by the late Fr. John Hardon — “The Practice of Penance”:

One aspect of the practice of penance has to do with the proper observance of Fridays. I am afraid there is some misunderstanding on the subject. In 1966 when Pope Paul VI issued his Constitution on Penance, he did not change the essential meaning of Friday as an obligatory, yes, obligatory day of penance to be observed in union with the passion of the Savior. Fridays were, and they remain, mandatory days of penance. A Catholic has no option as to whether he will do penance on every Friday. This is a duty specified by the Church. The only option is the kind of penance one performs.

At the risk of being technical about this important matter, let me explain. Each member of the Church should be united with his fellow Christians in offering reparation to God for sins. We can choose to do penance on any day and in any way that appeals to us. A work of penance is always pleasing to God. To do penance is a divine law. But besides the divine law, there is an ecclesiastical precept, a law of the Church to practice penance on certain days and in the manner the Church requires. What was formerly given as the second precept of the Church could now be modified to read, “to fast and abstain, or do some act of penance approved by the Church, on the day commanded.” The question may be asked, “In place of abstinence on Friday other forms of penance are mentioned by the Church. Are these of obligation or merely a matter of counsel?” The answer to this question, is that a person who avails himself of the choice of eating meat on Friday is not merely advised to undertake some other form of penance; he is bound to do so.

Friday penance, therefore, is not a matter of mere counsel, but of actual precept. In plain language, a Catholic commits sin if he or she allows a Friday to pass without an act of penance.

The final sentence of this excerpt makes the Church’s teaching crystal clear: “a Catholic commits sin if he or she allows a Friday to pass without an act of penance.”

If the first passage explained the Church’s teaching, this second passage will give us the how-to’s of keeping Friday a day of penance. It’s from Fr. Fernandez’s In Conversation with God, Volume 3, p. 557:

The Church reminds us frequently of the need for mortification. If any man would come after me…. In particular she has set aside one day in the week, Friday, as a day on which we are to consider the need and efficacy of denying ourselves and practicing some special mortification: abstaining from flesh meat, or doing something we find rather difficult (like finishing our work more perfectly or making life more pleasant for others), or performing some pious act: doing some spiritual reading, saying the Rosary, paying a visit to the Blessed Sacrament or doing the Stations of the Cross. We might also perform one of the corporal works of mercy: visiting the sick, spending some time with a person in need, or giving alms. However, we ought not to be content with just a weekly penitential act as a reminder of our Lord who suffered and died for us, and taught us the value of sacrifice. Each day God expects us to deny ourselves in little ways, in things which will enliven our soul and make our apostolate fruitful.

This passage is little more than an elaboration of what we find in the Code of Canon Law. Canon 1249 states “The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence….”

By way of summary, we can say this: First, Catholics are obliged to engage in penance every Friday of the year in commemoration of Our Lord Jesus’ sacrifice, and second, on Fridays outside of Lent we are free to choose the act of penance we wish to perform.

In the “Introduction” to Good New, Bad News: Evangelization, Conversion, and the Crisis of Faith, Fr. McCloskey and Shaw this observation:

The most important thing about conversion is, of course, that it’s God’s work and God’s alone. Others, including the converts themselves, only respond to divine initiatives, only cooperate with grace.

If we’re ever lucky to talk about the Catholic Faith with anyone who’s not a Catholic — or with any lukewarm/fallen away Catholic — these are important words to remember. It’s too easy, in the heat of the moment, to believe another person’s conversion is up to us.

This reminds me of a story about St. John Vianney, the great parish priest of Ars, France, who is now the patron saint of parish priests. A fellow priest came to him lamenting he’d done all he could to convert his congregation, but they had remained unchanged. To this, St. John responded, “Have you prayed for them? Have you fasted for them?” The priest had not. “Well,” St. John said, “you have not done everything.”

Prayer and fasting — these old ideas sound new and strange to us. Yet, they are the only way we can penetrate a person’s heart because through prayer and fasting we are putting all hope where it belongs, in the hands of God.

If this is the secret to changing the world, then I have to ask myself: Why don’t I prayer and fast for the conversion of sinners? The answer’s simple, really. Prayer and fasting are much harder than, and not nearly as fun as, theological jousting and bombarding a person with books and tapes. But as sad as it may sound, maybe the real reason I don’t do these things is because I’m more interested in the argument than in bringing another person into the fullness of Christ’s life.

Yes, I think so.

I finished reading Pope Benedict XVI’s Spe Salvi yesterday, and I have a lot to say about it. But in the meantime, I want to pass on this bit of wisdom which is tucked away toward the end of the encyclical.

But first, let me put it in context. The point of Spe Salvi is to remind Christians that we must live by hope — that is to say, that we live a Christian life with the hope that it will “pay off” after death, in the next life. As Our Lord Jesus says, we must store up treasure in heaven. To do this, Benedict tells us, it is necessary to live with an active hope in our future reward.

That being said, now here is Benedict:

I would like to add here another brief comment with some relevance for everyday living. There used to be a form of devotion — perhaps less practiced today but quite widespread not long ago — that included the idea of “offering up” the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating “jabs”, thereby giving them a meaning. Of course, there were some exaggerations and perhaps unhealthy applications of this devotion, but we need to ask ourselves whether there may not after all have been something essential and helpful contained within it. What does it mean to offer something up? Those who did so were convinced that they could insert these little annoyances into Christ’s great “com-passion” so that they somehow became part of the treasury of compassion so greatly needed by the human race. In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning and contribute to the economy of good and of human love. Maybe we should consider whether it might be judicious to revive this practice ourselves. (Spe Salvi, no. 40)

The beauty of this “forgotten” practice is that every struggle, every irritation, every frustration can, if we accept them with the correct disposition, put a few extra treasures in our heavenly reward. What does it mean to offer something up? Benedict provides an answer, one that doesn’t make much sense without having read the entire encyclical, so let me sum up the full answer: To offer something up is to identify it with Our Lord Jesus’ suffering, and then to imitate him while enduring it.

But as I said, much more on this in a few days.