{"id":6210,"date":"2012-12-07T17:20:31","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T22:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=6210"},"modified":"2012-12-07T17:20:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T22:20:31","slug":"my-friday-obligation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/my-friday-obligation.html","title":{"rendered":"My Friday Obligation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The best derogatory term for Catholics is pretty obviously \u201cmackerel-snapper<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0(The best derogatory cartoon is the bishops\u2019 mitres as alligator jaws<\/a> one)<\/p>\n

The slur comes from the Catholic\u00a0practice\u00a0of fasting from red meat and poultry on Fridays (and therefore eating fish instead). \u00a0In Catholic tradition, every Friday is a little Lent and every Sunday a little Easter, so there should be some remembrance of fasting and feasting as appropriate. \u00a0(I should add that every time I explain this, I immediately get \u201cEvery Day a Little Death<\/a>\u201d stuck in my head).<\/p>\n

In the United States, Catholics aren\u2019t required to fast from meat on Friday, but that\u2019s not because the\u00a0penitential\u00a0requirement has been dispensed with. \u00a0Catholics are just free to choose their own practice according to their circumstances. \u00a0Unfortunately, this turns out to be a lot harder to remind people about or to do on your own. \u00a0For that reason, the bishops of England and Wales restored the meat-specific obligation last year, and the American bishops are perennially considering following suit.<\/p>\n

But, even if they did, that doesn\u2019t clear up what I should do, as I\u2019m\u00a0vegetarian\u00a0(or, more specifically, a picky eater who dislikes meat among oh so many other foods). \u00a0And being a picky eater makes it hard to do a different food-related abstinence, since I don\u2019t have that many categories I can drop and still reliably have something around to eat.<\/p>\n

When I poked around for advice, I was told that it\u2019s acceptable to take on an additional\u00a0discipline<\/em> instead of abstaining from something. \u00a0So, for a while, I made sure to say a rosary on Friday. \u00a0However, this turned out to mean that I ended up saying it\u00a0only<\/em> on Friday, and ended up feeling a little unbalanced contemplating\u00a0only<\/em> the Sorrowful Mysteries.<\/p>\n

So, what I\u2019ve hit on for now is spending some time each Friday reading Augustine. \u00a0After all, I picked him as my confirmation saint in part so I could come to know him better through his writings. \u00a0Today, I\u2019m taking a look at the\u00a0Rule of St. Augustine<\/em><\/a> that was foundational for some monastic communities. \u00a0I won\u2019t necessarily be blogging about all this reading, but I wanted to note it, since the Friday obligation can slip by unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Plus, today is the feast day of St. Ambrose, the teacher of St. Augustine and the saint-name of my baptismal sponsor, so it seemed apropos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you instructed St. Augustine, so may I be instructed by your pupil\u2019s writings. \u00a0Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best derogatory term for Catholics is pretty obviously \u201cmackerel-snapper.\u201d \u00a0(The best derogatory cartoon is the bishops\u2019 mitres as alligator jaws one) The slur comes from the Catholic\u00a0practice\u00a0of fasting from red meat and poultry on Fridays (and therefore eating fish instead). \u00a0In Catholic tradition, every Friday is a little Lent and every Sunday a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":6213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parsing-catholicism","category-spiritual-practice"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Friday Obligation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The best derogatory term for Catholics is pretty obviously "mackerel-snapper." \u00a0(The best derogatory cartoon is the 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