I seem to have heard that, since Vatican Council II, the object of not eating meat on Fridays (for Catholics) is not the point . I I suppose, if you ABSOLUTELY must eat meated pizza on a Friday, then, not having one would be a form of self-denial. But the Church developed a whole new idea then about "mortification". Basically, it is to force yourself to deny food, statements, actions that make you temporarily happy-- done occasionally--like having a robust cut of pie for dessert, or not making put-down statements when someone cut you off in traffic. As humans in the US, at least, we have been giving in to our desires so often and so deeply, that the Lenten concept of "self-denial" sorta makes sense. It's a form of self-cleansing; and it is not limited to Fridays but to any day or days we wish to do that for ourselves. IMHO.
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