KEEPING FRIDAY – CCCB – Penitential
Practices
In accordance with the prescriptions of canon 1253, the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops decrees that the days of fast and
abstinence in Canada are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fridays are days of abstinence,
but Catholics can substitute special acts of charity or piety on this day.
Called to Penance
Our Lord: Jesus invited us to follow him by
carrying our cross with him each day (Luke 9:23). He indicated that his
followers would fast and do penance after he returned to heaven (Luke 5:33-35).
We are to go hungry and thirsty for the sake of justice (Matthew 5.6) and to do
our praying, fasting and almsgiving without showing off (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-17).
Christians: From the earliest centuries, Jesus’
followers have tried to follow these commands. Since it was on a Friday that
Jesus freely died to save us from our sins, believers made a special effort to
do some form of penance on this day: going without food for most of the day,
spending extra time in prayer, doing good works, refraining from eating meat.
Like St. Paul, they wanted to offer their penances for Christ’s body, the
Church (Colossians 1:24).
In today’s Church: Over the centuries, these
forms of penance have varied, and sometimes have been neglected. Today, we are
being invited once more to obey our saviour: we are to do penance for our sins
and those of others, for the people of God, for peace in the world, and for the
building up of God’s kingdom on earth.
When we were baptized, we were made sharers in the
priesthood of Jesus Christ. By our penance, we share with Jesus in his work of
saving the world. We continue to die with him to sin and self, and to live with
him for God.
For everyone: All who believe in Christ—young
and old, sick and healthy, lay and religious—are invited to make Friday a
special day. It is a day when we seek to share more fully in Christ’s
sufferings, and to work with him to help save the world by our prayer, penance,
and good works.
A Day of Penance
Doing penance is not a form of self punishment,
or an unhealthy desire to inflict pain on ourselves. Rather, we do penance in
order to discipline ourselves (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) and to live in union with
Jesus who suffered to save the world. We offer our penitential actions in
obedience to the gospel commands, so that our Lord may purify our love for him
and make us stronger in the service of God and the people of God. We freely
offer our penances to help make up for sin in our own lives and in the lives of
others.
Different kinds of penance: There are various
types of penance that we can offer to our God:
- Doing
God’s will. We can try to keep the commandments because they are God’s
will for us. We can start cutting down on our disobedience to God’s will:
our gossiping, or lying, or laziness; our petty thefts, or selfishness, or
failure to pray. We can begin to do our daily work as well as we can, with
more cheerfulness and less grumbling.
- Giving
up things we enjoy. We can cut down on the amount of our food,
candy, treats or snacks. We can give up meat or dessert, or be less picky
in our eating. At times we can turn off the radio or TV, give up a movie
or a party, stay away from newspapers and magazines.
Jesus is asking each of us to choose one or two of these
forms of penance, and to do them at least each Friday, so that we may be one
with him in giving honour to God and in working to save the world.
What form of penance will I begin to do this Friday and
every Friday from now on?
A Day of Good Works
We are called to do good works every day. On Friday we may
do them to thank Jesus for suffering and dying on the cross for us.
- Works
of charity. We may visit a sick person, or help an
older person or a busy parent. We may listen patiently to someone who
needs to talk. We may invite a lonely person to share a meal with us or
bring a treat to someone with few friends. We can give alms to good causes,
especially those that bring food to the hungry. We can reach out to the
discouraged, the suffering, the lonely, the people who feel they are
failures or rejected by others.
- Prayer. We
may spend some extra time on Friday praying for peace or for a family in
need. We may pray with an older person or someone who is sick. We may pray
for a person who seems intent on getting in trouble with the law. We may
offer prayers for those who persecute others and for their victims. We may
pray for those who are in the grip of alcohol or drugs, and for those who
are confused. We may pray that more people will offer their talents and
their lives in the service of the Church and of other good causes.
- God’s
word. Each Friday we may spend some time in reading
God’s word. We may read a chapter from the gospel slowly and prayerfully,
letting Jesus speak to us. We may pray a psalm, giving praise to God in
the words of the Spirit, and asking for help for ourselves and for others.
We may read another passage from the scriptures, and let the Spirit of
Jesus bring its message alive in our hearts and in our life.
We may offer any of these good works for our penances on
Friday.
Friday in Our Homes
For Friday to come alive once more as a day of penance and
good works, it must be kept in our homes. Parents and children, adults living
alone, students and teachers, clergy and religious: all of us are invited to
listen to Jesus’ invitation to carry the cross and to do penance for the good
of the Church and the world.
Acts of penance: We can do at least one of these
good actions each Friday:
- Penance.
Abstain from meat, or some other form of food, drink or entertainment.
- Prayer. Take
part in a service of worship with others, or pray with our family, or
spend some extra time in personal prayer.
- Good
works. Do good to others by visiting the sick or aged, helping
those in any need, or by contributing time or money to a work of charity.
When each Christian home keeps Friday as a day of prayer and
penance, the whole believing community carries on the saving work of the Lord
Jesus in our time. If we are generous, we may wish to do more for our Lord and
his Church, and do some penance and some good work every week on the day when
he died to bring us life.
Other days for penance: As well as Fridays, we
observe Ash Wednesday and the weekdays of Lent as days of special penance. On
Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Church invites us to continue the ancient
tradition of the paschal fast: we prepare by penance and prayer to renew our
baptismal promises and to enter more fully into the joys of the Easter season.
Keeping Friday
The law of Friday abstinence obliges Catholics who are 14
years of age or older. Parents and pastors are to help younger children grow in
their understanding of the meaning and practice of Christian penance.
On Good Friday, Jesus obeyed the Father’s will, obedient
even to dying on the cross for us (Philippians 2.8). The Father raised him up
and proclaimed him the king of glory.
Each day, God calls us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus as
we live out the promise of our baptism.
Each Friday, we share in the Lord’s cross, learning to obey
with him, joining in his death to sin and evil.
Each Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death,
and our eventual victory with him.
Every Friday is a promise from God that we who are baptized
will rise again with Christ. We suffer and carry our crosses now, but we will
share in Jesus’ glory if we are faithful by his grace.
Lord Jesus, our brother,
we praise you for saving us
by dying on the cross
and by rising from the dead.
Help us to share
in your cross today,
and to come to glory with you,
for you are our Lord for ever. Amen!
Keeping Friday: Liturgical Leaflet, edited by
the National Liturgy Office, and published by Publications Service, Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2500 Don Reid Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 2J2
Canada. Copyright © Concacan Inc., 1985, 2002. All rights reserved. This text
may be reproduced for personal or parish use. For commercial licence, please
contact the publisher.
Website Link - https://www.cccb.ca/document/keeping-friday/