What happens if a Catholic eats meat on Friday of Lent?

For Catholics, Lent is the holiest time of the year. However, many people wonder why those who practice that faith cannot eat meat on Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified. This is because Good Friday is a day of holy obligation, one of the 10 days of the year (six in the United States) in which Catholics are required to abstain from work and instead to attend mass.

Abstinence days
According to current rules for fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church, Good Friday is a day of abstinence from all meat and meat-based foods for all Catholics aged 14 or over. It's also a rigorous fasting day, where Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are only allowed one full meal and two small snacks that don't add up to a full meal. (Those who cannot fast or abstain for health reasons are automatically released from the obligation to do so.)

It is important to understand that abstinence, in Catholic practice, is (like fasting) always the avoidance of something good in favor of something better. In other words, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with meat or meat-based foods; abstinence is different from vegetarianism or veganism, where meat could be avoided for health reasons or for moral objection to the killing and consumption of animals.

The reason for abstention
If there is nothing intrinsically wrong with eating meat, why does the Church bind Catholics, under pain of mortal sin, not to do it on Good Friday? The answer lies in the greater good that Catholics honor with their sacrifice. The abstinence from the flesh of Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent is a form of penance in honor of the sacrifice that Christ made for our good on the Cross. (The same is true of the obligation to abstain from meat every other Friday of the year unless another form of penance is replaced.) That little sacrifice - abstaining from meat - is a way of uniting Catholics with final sacrifice. of Christ, when he died to take away our sins.

Is there a substitute for abstinence?
While in the United States and many other countries, the episcopal conference allows Catholics to replace a different form of penance with their normal Friday abstinence throughout the rest of the year, the obligation to abstain from meat on Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and the other Fridays of Lent cannot be replaced with another form of penance. These days, Catholics can instead follow any number of meatless recipes available in books and online.

What happens if a Catholic eats meat?
If a Catholic slips and eats it means that they really forgot that it was Good Friday, their guilt is reduced. However, since the obligation to abstain from Good Friday meat is binding for mortal pain, they should make sure to mention Good Friday meat consumption at the next confession. Catholics who wish to remain as faithful as possible should regularly brush up on their obligations during Lent and other holy days of the year.