[I have been inviting parishioners to share some of their favorite Catholic Family Traditions, and Barb Szyszkiewicz wrote this piece which is so appropriate as we head into Lent]

No one in my family really noticed that I’d been serving them meatless dinners every Friday for months – until Easter came around that year and the meatless meals didn’t stop. It had pretty much become routine, and it’s still our routine, more than a dozen years after I learned that allFridays are penitential days. Catholics are supposed to abstain from meat or substitute some other penitential practice, as the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) indicates. 

The USBBC states:

Christ Died for Our Salvation on Friday. Gratefully remembering this, Catholic peoples from time immemorial have set apart Friday for special penitential observance by which they gladly suffer with Christ that they may one day be glorified with Him. This is the heart of the tradition of abstinence from meat on Friday where that tradition has been observed in the holy Catholic Church. (bit.ly/1zcMRF6)

Growing up, I was taught that Fridays in Lent were supposed to be meatless (and Ash Wednesday, of course!), but this is actually a year-long practice. Solemnities are the exception to the rule: Easter Friday, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God; St. Joseph’s Day; the Annunciation; the Nativity of St. John the Baptist; the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; Ss. Peter and Paul; the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Solemnity of All Souls; the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and Christmas.

While we eat meatless meals all year long, I try to avoid extravagant meatless recipes during Lent. There won’t be shrimp scampi on the table. Instead, I start thinking about what constitutes a “penitential” meal for my family. My dad expressed it well when we were kids: “If pizza or fish is a treat, how can it be a penance?”

Maybe it’s a penance for the one who has to budget around the extra expense of eating fish instead of less-expensive meats, or ordering a pizza.

I wouldn’t want to serve my family foods they don’t like, calling it a penance. All I’d achieve would be rebellion and wastefulness.

If your meatless meal involves seafood — which can be pricey — or some kind of family favorite, it’s hard to think of that as a “sacrifice.” But the discipline of the meatless meal is part of the sacrifice. You are sacrificing all the other options you might have had to choose from for your meals that day and submitting to the discipline. That’s not incidental to the whole process. Truth be told, it’s the discipline of Meatless Fridays that can be the biggest stumbling block.

 

What if you don’t like fish? What if fish isn’t in the budget?There’s no rule that Meatless Friday menus must contain fish. That’s a custom, and if it doesn’t work for your family in general (or this week), then don’t serve fish. There are many other inexpensive meatless meals you can serve:

• Breakfast for dinner. Eggs, waffles, pancakes, French toast – all with fresh fruit

• Macaroni and cheese

• Grilled cheese and tomato soup

• Vegetarian chili

• English-muffin pizza

Catholic Relief Services shares simple meatless recipes families can try, atCRSRiceBowl.org. You’ll find five new recipes each year, along with suggestions for sharing with those in need through the CRS Rice Bowl program. They even have a free app for iOS and Android.

Get more meatless-Friday recipe ideas at CatholicMom.com/Fridays: a new recipe every week, all year.