Mortification Sometimes Tastes Good

We attempt to keep our Fridays meatless as a mortification.

Catholics in the US used to be required to not eat meat on Fridays all year round. Nowadays the discipline has been relaxed to performing "some kind" of mortification on Fridays and no meat on Fridays in Lent.

Many people have interpreted that to mean that nothing is required on Fridays anymore: not true. Since Friday is the day on which Christ died, it is appropriate that that is the day of mortifications so we may unite our little sufferings with His redemptive suffering.

Of course that makes the Lord's Day (Sunday) a mandatory party day: no fasting. "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast." (Mk 2:19)

The compelling reason (for me) to continue to fast from meat on most Fridays is a practical one: I can't come up with other creative means of mortification on a regular basis. I don't want to have to "remember" to think about it. That, and since Mrs. Nod isn't fond of fish, it ensures we get some on a semi-regular basis.

These things aside, my "dinner" consisted almost entirely of things from my garden. A bit of red lettuce, a few leaves of spinach. A small zebra tomato, an Italian sweet pepper, and a tiny yellow squash. Parts of these were a smidgeon under-ripe, but I have been impatient to taste these delectables.

I have to say, for a penitential meal, it tasted awfully good. I followed up with half a dozen quartered mushrooms, sauteed in a dab of butter and a dash of Old Bay. Call me crazy, but I like it that way.