It is a bit harder to appreciate meatless Fridays these days, given the great variety and plenitude of the average diet in (much of) the modern world.<p>For many centuries, meat was more scarce and a small measure of it – perhaps in the principal meal of the day – was a prized part of the diet. Today we know a lot about amino acids, calorie content, etc.; despite the lack of such knowledge, people generally knew and experienced that meat was hearty and sustaining. So to deliberately forego meat for a day or even a whole season was a form of self-denial that would leave one feeling hungrier and less energetic, while still facing the same work and other obligations. And that&#x27;s the point – to exercise self-denial and experience discomfort: reminding one of the frailty of human nature; offering opportunity to meditate by analogy (w.r.t. the hunger pangs) on man&#x27;s constant need for Divine Grace (often not sensibly perceived); giving occasion to spiritually unite one&#x27;s personal suffering, however slight, to Christ&#x27;s sacrifice on Calvary.