Ash Wednesday

I am not a practicing Roman Catholic, but last year I made a sacrifice for Lent.  I did not really think about it this year, but last night decided to do a meatless Ash Wednesday.  I am not a big meat eater, but the course of my usual day often includes chicken soup for breakfast (hot, aromatic, noodles or dumplings).  I frequently eat in the chow hall at the prison where I work, and the vegetables choices are sometimes slim and none, but there is usually a meat selection, but sometimes fish.

However, I have been bringing salad to work, and usually have some on hand.  I opted for boiled eggs for breakfast, cheese and salad for lunch.  I did not strictly fast: I had cookies for snacks a couple of times today.

So, tonight, I need to plan a dinner.  I have lots of non-meat options available, including seafood, or fish (Fish is not seafood.  Fish is fish.  Seafood is clams, scallops, lobsters, shrimp, squid, octopus, crab, etc. But not fish.) and cheese, including cottage cheese.

The problem is, I can not decide what I want to eat, and then, when I am really hungry, I fix something fast but not necessarily nutritionally appropriate. I have been trying to cook ahead (mostly on the weekend) so I have food readily and quickly available when I get hungry.

But, I will figure this out.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season in preparation of celebrating the Easter miracles for the Roman Catholic Church.  The Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches have slightly different schedules, but parallel closely to the Roman Catholic Church.  Yesterday was Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, which is a big deal in many parts of the world:  a last hurrah before Lent. New Orleans and Rio De Janero are two places renowned for their Mardi Gras celebrations. 

It is significant that Pope Benedict XVI decided the Monday before Ash Wednesday to announce his abdication, February 28,2013, from the papacy due to physical and spiritual health problems. The papal succession can and will occur during Lent. I wonder if the pomp and circumstance of the ordination of the new Pope might be curtailed during Lent, or if the new Pope will be elected, and prevail but not ordained until after Lent.

Any way, the Roman Catholic Church has a 2000 year history with mostly peaceful succession of leadership.  A much longer history the United States.  But the truth be known, there have been periods of upheaval and Popes in contention with each other in the Roman Catholic Church.  Also there was the breach which created the Church of England and the other Anglican Churches.  Close to Roman Catholic but not. And, there are the Greek Orthodox Churches and the Russian Orthodox Churches. And the Coptic Churches.

Many of the traditions and symbolisms exist in the Orthodox, Coptic and Anglican Churches, as well as the Roman Churches.  But each has it variations. 

These variations do not diminish the message of Ash Wednesday: a day of humbleness, humility, sacrifice, and preparation for cleansing and preparation for the Easter miracles.