Today is Ash Wednesday. For us Catholics, you know what that means. No snacking today for us grownups. And fish... the only time of the year you'll find me ordering a fish sandwich at McD's or Burger King, or thinking "Red Lobster" instead of the Outback, Buffalo Wild Wings or Foley's. I often wondered how fair it was when I was back in school and we had fish on Fridays during Lent. Did the other kids resent us? It's still the only time of year you'll find me buying Mrs. Paul's fish sticks or batter-fried fish fillets. Dad would've loved it though. A pan full of fresh-caught bullheads... Ugh. Pancakes, toasted cheese sandwiches, tuna 'n' noodles and cheese pizza became my Friday faves.
I don't think any time of year was longer than the 40 days of Lent. Suddenly, candy, chocolate, cookies or ice cream or some other everyday joy was off-limits and never had it looked so good as when I couldn't have it. At least the Sundays during Lent were kind of a "mini-Easter" with those self-forbidden items allowed for one day a week.
Lent meant saying the Rosary every night after supper. We grabbed our rosaries and found a chair in the living room to kneel at as Dad led the rosary. Of course there were Stations of the Cross weekly, and the special Holy Week services. The priest would cover the statues in church the week before Easter, only to reveal them once again on Easter morning. Having served as an altar boy for several years, the smell of the incense used during the services always takes me back to those days.
Lent lost some of its sacrifice for me though as it usually coincided with my semi-annual diet to lose weight before we were required to weigh in in the Army Reserve. It was like "killing two birds with one stone" -- kind of a second sendoff to a period of self-denial. Now that I'm retired from the Army though, that second edge is gone.
I'll always remember though how Dad enjoyed eating fish. I just wish more of that would have rubbed off on me.
Dave
1 comment:
I still love the Stations of the Cross devotions. We also knelt at our kitchen chairs to say the rosary, ate fish sticks on Friday... no other fish entered our abode b/c my father claimed to have an allergy to seafood. Perhaps it was true. We also had spaghetti with meatless marinara sauce. Never heard of alfredo sauce back then. Ken and I are reentering the liturgical church... Lutheran, but it's not quite the same as my memory has it. Maybe the incense is missing. Our church was lovely, dark, rather Gothic, and smelled of incense. The nostrils never forget.
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