Friday-meatless-Penance

This was originally written 2/27/09. However I thought it was fitting to re-post it because:

1. I have many new followers now, many of them Catholic-Christians like myself
2. It's almost Lent!

The Original Post IS Below:

On what Fridays throughout the year are we suppose to do penance? I'll give you a hint by giving you an example of a penance that is done on Fridays: abstaining from meat. So on what Fridays throughout the year are we suppose to do penance?

If you answered EVERY Friday then you are correct!!! Congratulations for knowing the this bit of Canon Law and knowing about your Catholic Faith! Here is that bit of Canon Law strait from the Vatican's Web-Site.

Can. 1249 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, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
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.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

Can 1250 clearly states that EVERY Friday of the WHOLE year are penitential days. So that means EVERY Friday we are do a from of penance. Can 1251 states that the from of penance to be observe is abstinence from meat on ALL Fridays. However according to Can 1253 the conference of bishops can offer their people a substitute such as a work of charity.

Here in the USA a big deal is made out of Lenten Fridays and how it's a "meatless" day. Well ALL Fridays should be "meatless" days UNLESS you do an alternative penance. You see here in the USA we have a choice on NON-Lenten Fridays to an alternative penance. So just because it's NOT Lent doesn't mean we can dive into that big juicy hamburger on that Friday cook-out! Enjoy that burger as long as you fulfilled your penance that day by some kind of alternative penance such as a work of charity.

I've been reading my emails (that is the one thing that I did NOT give up). I've been reading a lot from my fellow Catholics today on how today is a meatless meal, etc and I felt compel to write and share here with ALL of you vs. a reply to only those that have email me today.

I think our Bishops have done us a disservice by making a HUGE deal on how it's Lent and it means ~no meat~. Many don't realize that ALL Fridays, not just Lenten Fridays are days of penance. This is just a result of mis-communication throughout the years. The USA Bishops did NOT do way with penance when they said many years ago that a Catholic MAY enjoy a hamburger on non-Lenten Friday. Being able to eat meat on Non-Lenten Fridays is only HALF the story. The other HALF is that a forms of penance has been widen giving people CHOICES!

In other words a Catholic, here in the USA, has an either-or-and-choice on non-Lenten Fridays. The choices on Non-Lenten Fridays are as follows.

• abstinence from meat
• work of charity
• exercise of piety
• OR ALL the above

On Lenten Fridays there is NO choice a FULL penance is to be done. There is NO choice ALL of these things are to be done:

• perform works of piety and charity
• prayer
• abstinence from meat
• and FAST on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
  

This is something that we in my house struggle with, because I did NOT grow up with this knowledge and my DH is an convert to Catholicism. However knowing it I think helps us, because we are trying!! This is something I myself just learn within the last year. It is something that has been reinforced by our Diocesan Education Office.

Well I have to go, I just wanted to share this tid-bit about Penance and Fridays. I felt it was important especially seeing this is the first Friday of Lent!!! I have to say this staying off the PC (with the exception emails) has been a little hard then I thought it would be! I just have to try a little harder! I hope that you are doing well with your penances and sacrifices this week and continue to do well ALL of Lent!

Related Posts:
Lenten Pretzels (At the end of the post Judy @ Benmakesten has a lovely suggestion for abstaining from meat during Lent.)

retreats, breaks, finding myself

This Lenten Journey hasn't gone exactly as I have planned, but sometimes the unplanned can be a good thing. I have over all have reduce the total amount of time that I spend on the internet, but I have introduced more things! Weird I know, but that's how it has worked out.

Thanks to Judy @ benmakesten and her website Daily Blessings I've started my own website. (A link to my website and be found in the side bar) The website host my lesson plans, list of my favorite sites, my favorite music, among other things. It's nothing fancy.

The other thing I've done is I've joined twitter. Through twitter I've been able to follow Greg Willits, he's the producer of that Catholic Show. I've posted some of those videos here previously. I also have been able to follow Patrick Madrid and his blog. I also have found Fr. Bartenuk and his blog. They along with other sites have been a great help to me this Lenten season.

I've also have started to read the writings of St. John of the Cross, especially The Dark Night of the Soul. A dear friend of mine has sent me a personal email recently. Her email has really helped me. When I was browsing my local public library's e-book list I came across The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. The title of St. John's writing reminded me of my friend's recent email. So I've decided to read it. I'm glad that I am and I'm thankful to have a friend that cares enough to email me.

So where does this leave me with homeschooling, blogging, and all the rest? Well I have figured out how to delay postings. So I can write things at night and have it post new in the morning. This will help me, because I don't want to be on the PC during the daytime, but at the same time I want new content on my blogs in the mornings for my readers!! So figuring out how to delay the posting is going to be a great help!

I'm in the middle of trying to change my "habits"; that is harder to do then said, but I finally feel that I'm on the right track. I still have a long way to go, but little steps at a time.

Oh and homeschooling is doing well! We have about 5 more weeks to do before we are officially done for THIS school year!!! Yay, we can't wait!!! I've also decided that we will homeschool all year, so July will be the start of our NEW school year!!

Parting Words

Okay!!! I know it's not Easter yet...but I just finished up some virtual house-keeping! So I wanted to pop-in and say Hi to all of you before tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) comes!!

My blog got a face-lift thanks to the folks at the cutest blog on the block! I'm so HTML clueless!! And even though I liked my blog before with the 3 columns I wanted something with a little bit more of a spring-ish colors!! After all it will be April when I come back!! So now thanks to the cutest blog on the block, I can spice up my blog time to time and give it different back-grounds as the season or mood strikes me. I was able to ask them at cutest blog on the block to help me with the HTML coding (getting 3 columns). So Judy there is hope!!

Oh and I want to thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers! Well this concludes my virtual house keeping! I will (virtually) see you all on Easter Monday!

God Bless,
SAHMinIL

Vacations: Lenten Retreats

I've given this a LOT of thought! It isn't easy seeing I will admit I have a little bit of an internet addiction. I've been praying and hoping that this blog (along with my others) would be an inspiration to other. I have for the last few months read articles on how to build readers, followers, how to get visitors to your site.

I have networked my site with others and after MONTHS of working, praying, and me just being me I'm finally starting to see traffic to my sites, I'm getting readers and followers. The traffic/followers may be small right now, but I'm thankful for each and everyone of you: Thank-you to all those that have chosen to be a reader and/or follower of my sites.

It is because of you, my followers/readers, that this decision has been even harder for me. I don't want to loose you, because I LOVE having you here, but yet I feel that this is something that I MUST do. I sincerely hope that you will understand all of this and will be willing to wait for my return.

Lent is a time for conversion. A time to turn closer to Christ! This conversion is suppose to be life changing! For most Catholic-Christians this desire for conversion is expressed by making a sacrifice; by given something up. I have chosen to make my PC time my Lenten sacrifice. This is not because it is a sin to be on the PC, but because as a homeschooling mother I think that this would be a better way for me to reconnect with God. I feel like if I'm not spending my time here on the PC then I could spend it more in prayer, doing more scripture and spiritual readings.

These are things that I should be doing anyways, but feel as if I don't have time for them. I feel as if I don't have time for prayer. I feel as if I don't have time to sit and cuddle up with a book, I feel as I just don't have enough time for those things. sigh--Time! Time! Time! I wish there was just MORE time during the day!

I'm sure most of you understand this need for MORE time. However there is no magic wand, we are not Samantha or Jennie. We can't twitch our noses or nod our heads to either to make more or freeze time. However, what I can do is spend my limited time differently. I've decided that spending my time differently is exactly what I will do. I've decided to take a vacation from my PC, from social networks, from blogs, from the world wide web. I've decided that this vacation from these things will ALLOW me to have the Time for those things that my spirit has been craving: time in prayer, time with scripture, time with spiritual readings, time with God, my creator, my Lord, my savior.

If this move causes me to loose my readers and followers then I'm sorry! I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that you remain here. I sincerely hope that you will have patience and wait for my return, while I take this vacation, this Lenten Retreat! Easter Sunday will be here before you know it, and I will be back Easter Monday (April 13, 2009) to share with you my renewed Spirit.

You all will be in my prayers!
Thanks for everything,

God Bless with all my love,
SAHMinIL