why don Catholics eat meat on Friday during Lent?
What difference does eating meat make? Answer: Abstaining from meat on Fridays of Lent is called a discipline of the Church. That is, the magisterium considers such an action to be important for people to do, but it is not something we would see as integral to our salvation. But the practice of fasting dates from very, very early in our history and should not be lightly ignored. Most people, when they hear the word fast, think it means to abstain from all food and drink. Within many religions and within Christianity through most of our history, it really means to go on a disciplined diet (e.g. Muslims fast during the day during Ramadan). In Christian tradition, fasting normally has meant abstaining from meat. The purpose of fast or abstinence was never to say that what we are fasting from has any significance. It is always the reason behind it that is important. Fasting from some food or from all but one simple meal (as on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) can help us see where food and o
