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Divine Law, penance is required of everyone. The Bishops of the United
States remind us that since we are not exempt from sinfulness, we should
consider ourselves exempt from penance. Pastors, teachers and parents of
children, should educate those under their care to a true sense of
penitence.
Traditional forms
of penance are: abstinence from meat, fasting from food, other practices
of self-denial, acts of religion, (increased prayer life, participation
in daily Mass and other devotions, spiritual and Scriptual reading),
or other acts of charity and Christian witness.
The Church’s
Teaching and Discipline regarding penance:
1.
Abstinence means not eating meat. The obligation of abstinence
begins at the age of fourteen (14) years.
2.
fasting means eating only one full meal a day
with the other two meals being without meat and together not equaling a
full meal. The obligation of fasting begins at the age of eighteen (18)
years or with the eighteenth birthday, and ends at the age of sixty (60)
or with the sixieth birthday.
3. Both
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of both
abstinence from meat and fasting, days of self-denial and mortification.
4. Other
Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from
meat.
5. Other
Fridays of the year outside Lent are to be
observed as days of penance, but each individual may substitute for the
traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of penance or self-
denial.
6. All
Weekdays of Lent should be considered days of
penance. A self-imposed observance of the traditional practice of fasting
(allowing meat at only the full meal) is strongly recommended along
with the other forms of penance mentioned above.
7. Other
Special days of Penance can be assigned by the
Bishop. In our Diocese of Salina there are four:
1) Second Friday
in January, for the needs of all people;
2) First Friday
in April, for the fruits of the earth;
3) First Friday
in July, for world justice and peace; and
4) Friday before
Thanksgiving, for human rights and equality.
It is strongly
recommended that these four days be observed as days of fast and
abstinence.
