Yes, you read that headline correctly. Tomorrow, April 5, is not just any Friday but Easter Friday and, therefore, a “Meat Friday”. What? Let us explain.
The Church’s Code of Canon Law (Can. 1251) states: “Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday.”
Catholics in the United States are also permitted to substitute some other penitential observance in the place of abstinence from meat on Fridays.
Tomorrow is one of the eight days of Easter collectively known as the Octave of Easter. Each of those eight days is a solemnity. That is the Church’s highest rank of feast day.
Thus, despite it being a Friday, we are dismissed from the requirement to abstain from meat, or do something else penitential, in remembrance of Christ's passion and death upon Good Friday.
So, now you know! Do have a very happy, holy and, if you so choose, meaty feast day tomorrow. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia.
* Image: Roast Beef of Old England by James Lobley (1828–1888), Bradford Museums and Galleries.