fish on Fridays

[Instaurare omnia]

My post on "What's for Dinner" over in the "Coffee and Donuts" subforum:

Sushi put together with Walmart ingredients: a cheap can of kipper snacks, rice, and seaweed, plus some proper condiments stockpiled a while ago from a Japanese market far away. And some very nice junmai nigori sake. (Taking this over to the "Ask a Traditionalist" subforum for the Catholicity of it all.)

So this follows the letter-of-the-law, but I'm not quite sure of the spirit-of-the-law. It's not lobster and caviar. But it was very good. In a premodern context, the embargo on meat is indeed meaningful. Yet in the 21st century, if dietary abstinence is meant to be part of spiritual self-discipline, it would seem that even a totally vegan Friday misses the mark if it is noticeably gratifying to the senses.

Thoughts?

[Bernadette]

I enjoyed my dinner, too (egg, potato, and cheese burrito). I won't lose any sleep over it.

[Kaesekopf]

The penance is to abstain from meat, and not any other sort of thing.  That is the spirit and letter of the law.


Why is it somehow opposed to the spirit of meatflesh abstinence to enjoy your meal?

[Jmartyr]

The penance is to abstain from meat, and not any other sort of thing.  That is the spirit and letter of the law.


Why is it somehow opposed to the spirit of meatflesh abstinence to enjoy your meal?

And not to mention the virtue of obedience by doing what the Church says to do. This is lost by choosing your own penance on Fridays.

[Goldfinch]

Yet in the 21st century, if dietary abstinence is meant to be part of spiritual self-discipline, it would seem that even a totally vegan Friday misses the mark if it is noticeably gratifying to the senses.

Neither the letter of the law nor its spirit propose that the meal we have on Fridays should be horrible or mortifying to the senses. You are to enjoy the meal for every meal is a gift of God: it is He who nourishes our body and our soul.

The purpose of meatless Fridays is self-discipline and obedience to the disciplinary laws of the Church. Sure, don't have a fish and lobster banquet but enjoy and be grateful for the meal that you have.

[Lynne]

This was a good questions with lots of great answers. 

[Julio]

Anyway, I am now also into this no meat on Fridays except meat from fish. I rather consume eggs, nuts, vegetables and sometimes prawns and crabs. Since cheese is very expensive in my country because it is imported from European nations, I also eat them from time to time on Fridays when it is reasonable to buy them  God bless all.

[Bernadette]

I don't eat fish. It makes me gag. So I stick with eggs.

[Julio]

Yes, Bernadette, not all people like fish. I used to love sashimi when I was still into alcohol drinking. Here in the Philippines, when we drink with friends we have this appetizer in the table and Japanese kind of preparation for fish used to be my favorite way of partying with them.

Back to Friday fasting, I am more of fish and eggs actually. Certainly there must be vegetable, nuts and fruits. We have banana and guava here in the Philippines. Funny thing is imported apples are now cheaper than our locally produced guava. Not many from Filipinos like guava.

[Gardener]

My post on "What's for Dinner" over in the "Coffee and Donuts" subforum:

Sushi put together with Walmart ingredients: a cheap can of kipper snacks, rice, and seaweed, plus some proper condiments stockpiled a while ago from a Japanese market far away. And some very nice junmai nigori sake. (Taking this over to the "Ask a Traditionalist" subforum for the Catholicity of it all.)

So this follows the letter-of-the-law, but I'm not quite sure of the spirit-of-the-law. It's not lobster and caviar. But it was very good. In a premodern context, the embargo on meat is indeed meaningful. Yet in the 21st century, if dietary abstinence is meant to be part of spiritual self-discipline, it would seem that even a totally vegan Friday misses the mark if it is noticeably gratifying to the senses.

Thoughts?

Canned herring and seaweed sounds fairly penitential to me...

[Lynne]

I don't eat fish. It makes me gag. So I stick with eggs.

Eggs are great, a complete protein.

[The Curt Jester]

I don't eat fish. It makes me gag. So I stick with eggs.

You could try roe.

[Instaurare omnia]

[Canned herring and seaweed sounds fairly penitential to me...

Add plum paste, sweet pickled ginger, soy sauce, and a dab of wasabi horseradish, and it's a whole different story. And wash it down with smooth sake, sublime.

[Instaurare omnia]

I don't eat fish. It makes me gag. So I stick with eggs.

Have you ever tried monkfish? No fishy taste at all.

[Melkor]

I don't eat fish. It makes me gag. So I stick with eggs.

You've never tried my beer-batter fried Northern pike fillets, clearly.