When I first came back to the fold, I had picked up the idea that not eating meat on Fridays was something that Catholics
used to do, but Vatican II had done away with all that, because it really wasn't very practical... and anyway, quite a lot of the world's population never ate meat at all due to poverty, and so not eating meat on Fridays was a bit pointless...
Of course, no-one ever pointed out that some other form of penance was supposed to be substituted... I discovered that snippet of information some time later. The problem was that deciding on a suitable Friday penance was soooo hard, as I usually didn't remember until the end of the day, by which time the opportunity for all suitable penances had pretty much expired... "Well, I haven't eaten any chocolate, so I'll make that my penance..." doesn't really cut the mustard.
It was actually through reading blogs that I discovered that abstaining from meat was still considered to be a requirement for Catholics in some parts of the world. Then I discovered that some people still observed the penance anyway, without any "requirement" and I thought I should try it.
It certainly reminds me that it's Friday: I loathe vegetables from the very depths of my being (potatoes don't count as vegetables, especially when chipped and deep-fried), and I'm not much of a fish-eater (unless you count fish fingers) so not eating meat is definitely something I notice.
Some people will still object that, if you do like fish, then substituting a nice salmon steak (or whatever) for your usual pork chop isn't much of a penance... this, however, is more a demonstration of how they view penance than anything else: it's not necessarily something unpleasant, or even terribly difficult. Instead, it's about doing something for the love of God, making an effort for His sake.
We had so many servers for Benediction that they barely fitted in the photo... I shall have to consider moving back a couple of pews!
When I first came back to the fold, I had picked up the idea that not eating meat on Fridays was something that Catholics used to do, but Vatican II had done away with all that, because it really wasn't very practical... and anyway, quite a lot of the world's population never ate meat at all due to poverty, and so not eating meat on Fridays was a bit pointless...
Matthew over at Creative Minority Report has posted about the latest Barbie to hit the shops: Tattoo Barbie. No, Cavey, don't get excited, not a military tattoo, just the body-piercing type.
I was feeling really ill last week. I felt so ill, I actually made the effort to go to see my GP. He listened to my symptoms (feeling dizzy, major headache for two days, pins and needles in one hand) stuck a thermometer in my mouth and told me that I had a temperature of 38.3 °C. This, as one friend informed me, is very nearly 101 F.
...and it would have been handy on our recent snow day... instead of which I had to trek around the back of the flats to clear snow from the cat-flap ledge before Sylvester would deign to go outside...
Laurence England writes a really good blog. He also is fortunate enough to attend an excellent parish (Fr. Ray Blake, the PP, is a really wonderful priest!)
