What, exactly, is the point of abstaining from meat on Friday anyway?
Primarily as an act of repentance or penance. Friday penitential practices began back in the First Century, with the earliest clear writing on the matter coming from Tertullian. Already in the fourth century, there was a Church law about abstinence (i.e. not eating meat on certain days) with Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays being days of abstinence in the Western Church. By the 12th century, this was required only on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays- especially on Fridays because that was the day of Our Savior’s crucifixion, the day Jesus died for our sins, making it an especially appropriate day of mourning our sins (just as Sunday, the day on which he rose for our salvation, is an especially appropriate day to rejoice) by denying ourselves something we enjoy. We offer up our small sacrifice in union with His sacrifice on the cross.
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