If a person is a "vegetarian" he is essentially practicing a form of paganism.
If a person abstains from all meat (as the Carmelites do) as a personal sacrifice to God, he performs an heroic act.
This is simply the fact even though it may seem, at first glance, to be a paradox. The Church also condemns the person who commits ѕυιcιdє while praising the person who willingly submits to martyrdom.
If one is abstaining from meat all days, there is no additional requirement to fulfill the Friday abstinence.
I understand what you are trying to say, but i think you are completely wrong. There are any number of reasons a person may choose to not eat meat, other than as a sacrifice to God, that would not make the person a "pagan." Perhaps the person believes it to be healthier. Perhaps the person does it to save money. Perhaps the person simply doesn't like meat.
The point is, it is not as black and white and you suggest.
Unfortunately, you are not making the argument for "vegetarianism".
A person who believes it to be "healthier" is simply an idiot. Humans are, by their fallen nature, omnivores and the eating of meat is a natural human act. Meat is, in fact, the most efficient source of many nutrients for a healthy body. "What God hath made clean, do not thou call common."
As for the other two reasons given, neither would make a person a "vegetarian", for one who abstain from meat to save money or just doesn't like meat (and even one who ignorantly thinks it is healthy to abstain) is not repulsed by the idea and would gladly accept meat given in hospitality by a host while a person who describes himself as a "vegetarian" would still refuse. Such refusal, and rudeness, in this case is based on a religious sense even if the individual does not consciously consider it a religious action.
Why is "vegetarianism" a form of paganism? Because the individual, himself, describes his being in this way. He is not simply a man or even a Catholic; but he is a "vegetarian" who happens to hold the Catholic faith. Just as the so-called chaste "ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ" describes his essence as one who is sɛҳuąƖly attracted to members of the same sex even if he does not act on this
feeling still works to undermine the Catholic faith by way of somehow normalizing this particular perverted tendency to sin in his own mind and in others. If one is truly living the Catholic faith, no one should know, or even suspect, that another has perverted tendencies and, unless one is living a truly holy life of abstinence, no one should know that one is perpetually abstaining from meat.
Frankly, it is the motivation behind not eating meat that determines whether it is an act of holy sacrifice or of self-consuming pride. And, given today's language, it is easy to know the difference. The individual engaged in self-consuming pride describes himself as a "vegetarian".
Furthermore, if you look up the word in an older dictionary printed before dictionaries became politically correct, you'll find that the very definition of the word, "vegetarian", indicates that it comes from an old American Indian word that meant "lousy hunter".
Topic: Friday Abstinence (Read 1585 times)