A. Interestingly, considering the importance occasional abstinence from meat has in the tradition of Christian spirituality, there's precious little information on why this should be so. What we do have, however, is curiously fascinating.

Among the Jews, a tradition of abstinence from meat and other foods existed long before Christianity. We find evidence of this in several biblical passages such as the story of Daniel and his friends who rejected meat offered to them by the king and chose to stick with vegetables (Daniel 1:8-16).

Their reasons went beyond their devotion to Jewish laws concerning "unclean" food. At least in that circumstance they wanted to avoid meat, and perhaps other foods as well.

From the beginning, it seems, Christians embraced some forms of abstinence (avoiding certain kinds of food), along with fasting (limiting the amount of food) as an ascetical practice.

It was not that meat, or any other creature, was bad and to be avoided. Rather, the purpose was, among other intentions, to do penance, to share voluntarily in the sufferings of Christ assure control over the and to use of these good things so they would not begin to control us.

As St. Augustine (bishop in North Africa from 396 to 430) put it in a homily for the second Sunday of Lent, "We keep from wines and meats, which we have enjoyed the whole year, so that at least for these few days we may live more in the Lord."

One widely used modern moral theology text held that the church wishes to help control "desires of the flesh' by prohibiting at times "those foods which taste and nourish better, and which arouse the body to vehement temptations" (Noldin-Schmitt "De Praeceptis," 676).

St. Thomas Aquinas is frequently like a breath of fresh air in such matters. Though he wrote more than 700 years ago, his explanations add a more theological and liturgical flavor.

He repeats the theories just mentioned, but he also asks himself the same question you ask. Some people enjoy fish as well as animal meat, he says. Therefore, if we're going to abstain for reasons of desire and enjoyment, either forbid both fish and meat or neither of them.

His response: In its rules on abstinence, the church tries to deal with what generally happens in daily life. Since meat is commonly more delightful than fish, even though some think otherwise, the church focuses its attention more on the meat (Summa Theologiae II-147-8).

Finally, in the same place, Thomas reminds us of a particularly significant truth, that Lenten good works, self-denial, even prayers are not ends in themselves nor are they a means for us to "feel good" if we persevere in whatever resolutions we set for ourselves.

We observe Lenten abstinence, he says, "both for the imitation of Christ, and to dispose ourselves for a more, earnest and reverent cerebration of the mysteries of our redemption" during Holy Week and Easter.

It is worth remembering those words each day as we live out our Lent.

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