Why do Catholics abstain from meat on Good Friday?
Catholics choose to fast on Ash Wednesday and not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. However, this started out by Catholics not eating meat on any Friday during the year. Now, most will just observe not eating meat only on the Fridays during Lent. We choose to abstain from meat on Fridays because it is a personal sacrifice that we can make to show our love for God. Jesus went with out food and water for 40 days and nights and sacrificed his life for us. This is just a small symbol of our love that we can express. By our abstinence on Friday, we recall, and participate in some small way, in the great sacrifice that our Lord made for us on that Friday. Moreover, by abstaining from fleshmeat, we give up what is, on the whole, the most pleasant as well as the most nourishing food, and so make satisfaction for the temporal punishment due to sin even when its guilt has been forgiven.
