Fish on Friday

The routines of the Catholic Church are still foreign and out of practice for me.  For example, I forget that it is Friday and find myself grabbing something with meat in it to eat.  I've mostly got it down to where I meal plan a fish dinner of some sort for Friday evenings, but the rest of the day I am prone to forgetting the call to abstain.

Yesterday was a prime example, but I am grateful for it because it caused me to examine myself.  It started out with needing to use up bacon in the fridge before it started turning.  I cooked it up for my children (who are not Catholic at all, pray for them) and then remembered it was Friday.  I was tempted to just give up and eat it anyway, but I decided to stick with the Church and did not have bacon for myself.  It was hard!  I had to remind myself that I can have bacon tomorrow.  I can wait one day and give this up for the Lord in obedience to His Church. 

For lunch, my son made a meatball sandwich with leftover meatballs from Thursday's dinner.  He left the pan on the stove with half a meatball sitting in it.  Without thinking, I picked up the meatball and popped it into my mouth.   It was an hour or so later before I even realized what I did!

"I'm not good at this!" I exclaimed to God.  "I'll have to give up something else to make up for it."

I was going to prepare my afternoon indulgent cup of coffee and decided that would be my sacrifice for eating the meatball.  But, then I resisted.  No, maybe there's something else.  My conscience was pricked.  No, I wanted coffee the most.  It was the first to come to mind, the one I don't want to give up, so it must be the one I must give up.

My Protestant friends and family would read this and say that I am being superstitious and legalistic.  That isn't it at all!  If I am going to be Catholic, I am going to be Catholic and accept such things and utilize them to appropriate practice and purpose.  Yes, I do believe that some Catholic practices can fall into superstition and legalism, but if we are educated and mindful and keep our eyes on Jesus, they won't.  They will be done appropriately.

Does Jesus ultimately care whether or not I popped that half a meatball in my mouth?  I don't believe so.  In fact, I laughed when I realized and felt that perhaps He laughed, too.  But, it caused me to examine myself.  It gives me a Christ-focus.  It joins me with other Catholics who also abstain in honor of God.  It reminds me of my humanity, my morality.