Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Last night we feasted on roast chicken, had salad, and veggies, and had fried doughnuts for our dessert. Today we are taking a more meager approach to our meals. For breakfast, the girls had cold cereal. That's not such a big deal. They eat that ever other day. I chose not to eat breakfast today, which isn't unusual either, but I did skip my morning smoothie, which is usually chock full of protein and nutrition.
For lunch, the girls planned on tomato soup. I know the canned stuff isn't so good for you, but it is less expensive than making fresh tomato soup. It is a huge comfort food, and the girls all love it, so they have it once a week. We try to be frugal, so they use one can of milk, and one can of water. Today, one girl was making it, and added two cans of water. She lamented the fact that it would be watery and not creamy. Mom to the rescue. I told her it could be penitential, to have watery soup.
This brought to mind the dinner I have planned for tonight. I usually call it "watcha" soup, as in, you use "watcha" got. Tonight, we are calling it Pauper's Soup. We abstain from eating meat on Fridays throughout the whole year, not just during Lent, but we have had some really tasty meals, as seafood is allowed. To keep with the spirit of Lent, I am pondering doing more peasant type meals on Fridays and days of abstinence. It is something I have thought about but haven't discussed thoroughly with other members of my family. Tonight's Pauper's soup is going to fit that theme. It has cabbage, tomatoes, summer squash, butter beans and water. I have no clue how it will taste. Hopefully okay since I made a large enough pot that there will be leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Everything was on hand, and the squash and cabbage were things that were going to expire quickly if not used. I usually stick whatever leftovers are in the fridge in the soup pot, but there was nothing in there that didn't contain meat, so not this time.
As I was cutting up cabbage, one of my daughters quoted Mrs. Bucket from Willy Wonka: "Nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage." I hope my crew will remember to be thankful for what we have, and keep a bright spirit in this time of penance.
All for thee, dear Lord!
***I wrote this earlier before the soup. It is now post soup time and everyone loved it!***
Is that anything like Friendship Stew, minus the meat? I bet the love is what made it tasty.
ReplyDeleteYes! Friendship Stew is one of my very favorite memories of all time! We have to make it again sometime!
DeleteI don't understand why you feel the need to tell everyone this. If you are giving up Facebook in order to spend more time with your family and get closer to God, doesn't posting on a blog somewhat defeat the purpose? You want people to call you or you want to contact your friends, yet you post on a blog so they can read it that way. Your postings scream pharisee. It's like you want people to pat you on the back for doing this and you seem to have the attitude of "Look at what I'm doing. I'm so Catholic." People can see it as being a "martyr" and it doesn't lead people to Christ, it does the opposite. It makes it look like you think you are better than everyone else. You define yourself as a Catholic not even a follower of Jesus, but a Catholic. And when the Catholics led the inquisitions, I doubt people saw the act of Jesus. So don't tell me that Catholicism = Jesus
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I have to type my response to you in segments, due to character restrictions.
DeleteThanks so much for the response. I am glad you took the time to share your feelings. I will try to address your comment point by point.
I don't feel it is a need to tell everyone about my choice. My audience is far less than everyone. There are very few people that are followers of my blogs, and they are close friends. I am not posting this for page hits or anything of the sort. I do enjoy writing, and I always have, and I have had friends and family express interest in my writing, so I continue to do so. As for it defeating the purpose of spending more time with my family and getting closer to God, no, this does not defeat the purpose. I spend far less time typing out a blog post than I ever did on Facebook. Blogging also helps me make sense of the jumble of feelings in my head, and I find it somewhat therapeutic, which actually helps me achieve my goal.
Yes, I would love for people to call me, and I have enjoyed calling them, and will continue to do so. Yes, I am posting on a blog and I do hope my friends read it. I often find it easier to type/write out what I am thinking rather than by talking. It does give a great basis for conversation, but doesn't at all take the place of a phone call or an email. I am not writing about my whole day, and I am keeping personal things off of the internet where they don't belong, and those are of course things I talk to my friends about.
DeleteI am sorry that you see me as a Pharisee. That is certainly not my intent. I definitely don't want anyone to pat me on the back. I am deplorable. I am wretched. I am so very far from perfect and not once have I ever felt that I am above anyone else. As for "Look at what I'm doing. I'm so Catholic." I hope that is what people see. I want people to look at me and see that I am living my life as best as I can for my faith. I am not ashamed to exclaim that I am Catholic. It is not something that I ever hope to hide from anyone. If that is what someone sees, than maybe I am doing something right.
DeleteCatholic means universal. I assume that if I state that I am Catholic, people know that I follow Jesus. Jesus is the invisible head of the Holy Catholic Church. So by virtue of being Catholic, yes, I follow Jesus. Thanks for letting me know I needed to clarify that. I do not condone any violent acts against human life. I support natural life from conception to a natural death. I am not going to speak on the Spanish Inquisition at this time. I am not quite up to par on my historical knowledge, but I will say that I am pretty sure violence in the name of religion is not unique only to Catholics. Obviously, you disagree on what I believe about Catholicism, so we are going to have to agree to disagree on your last point.
ReplyDeleteSince I only post my blog link on Facebook, I assume you are either on my friends list, or a friend of a friend. I encourage you to come off of anonymous. I'd love to hear your opinions about your beliefs. I am not going to remove your comment because it is disagreeable to my opinions. I welcome all debate. Please don't feel the need to hide behind an anonymous name out of fear of retribution. I am always up for mature conversations!
ReplyDeleteThere, I am done. I have to admit, I am really curious as to why my words caused such a visceral response in you.
If you want to come off of anonymous, then sign in with your Google email and password (IE: Your Google ID) and it'll populate the info for you.
ReplyDeleteJust in case you're not as techie as some.
Enjoy your day, Anonymous!
Wow. I personally loved the post and found it very uplifting, inspiring, and interesting. I love the fact that you are Catholic, since I have no background in it, and I've been very curious about it for most of my life. And also, I think your real friends, who know you well, would know that there is not one single arrogant, haughty bone in your body, Catherine. I see your blogging experience as more of a reflection of who you are and a way for you to express your thoughts during your journey in Catholicism. After all, it's not like you've been a Catholic all your life. This is still a rather new thing that God is doing in you. And I, for one, am enjoying watching you grow into this new person that God has called you to be. And thank you for putting your blog links on FB, even though you are giving it up for now, because otherwise, I would not have found your blog. And I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Oh, and also...I thought that being a Catholic automatically meant you were a follower of Jesus? That just goes unsaid, in my opinion. :-) I find that this blog is quite enlightening to anyone who might want to know more about being a Catholic, and therefore, through this, it is a ministry to those who may not understand it fully. You gave us insight to how a modern day family participates in Lent. Also, I think that if it is offensive to anyone that you are blogging during Lent rather than on Facebook, that they are probably welcome to not come in and read your blogs. Just sayin'... Also, I understand that giving up Facebook is different than blogging because this is like a personal little corner of your own to express what God is showing you during this time. Facebook is very much public, it is a time waster (in my humble opinion), and can be very superficial. A blog is personal, expressive, and you are in here blogging for you - not to check up on everyone else. There is a big difference. Anyway...I just wanted to encourage you to keep it up. There is a difference between blogging and Facebooking. One is for you and whoever else you choose to let in. The other is for everyone else, pretty much. I don't think anyone should be judged by what they do in their own personal blog. You were so sweet to invite us all to peer into the windows of your soul. These are private, contemplative thoughts. And I, for one, consider myself very lucky to have been invited to be a part of it. I know you did this for everyone else to be able to keep in touch with you since we all will miss you on FB during your Lent. May God speak to you during this time. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Angela, for your kind words. What you describe is exactly what I intend for my blog. I still don't fully understand why the purpose of my blog bothers "anonymous" but until he or she chooses to confront me personally, there is nothing further I can do to clarify. I am glad that those who are my friends and who truly do know me get that I am in no way shape or form trying to act or think that I am better than anyone else. And I am glad that my sharing can help people who aren't Catholic see and understand a little more about what Catholicism is and what Catholics believe. Having not understood it for a majority of my life and after having had several misconceptions as a Protestant about what Catholics believe, it is my hope to shed some light on things, and I do hope that if someone has a specific question, that they will ask me, because I will try my best to explain it. I have a viewpoint that cradle Catholics don't have, I understand the Protestant world and practices. I have had to explain Protestantism to Catholics as well as vice versa. There is a lot of lingo/vocabulary from both groups that the other doesn't understand. And yes, you hit the nail on the head, this is still rather new for me. (Which is why a lot of times I have a disclaimer that I don't have all the answers as I am still learning.) It is new and I am excited about it! I am not going to hide because I am afraid of being misunderstood, or because I may come across the wrong way to one individual person. If someone really wants to know, and really respects me, they will do so by asking questions with an open mind and an understanding that I don't profess to have all the answers. If they don't, it really doesn't matter what I say, because they probably already have their mind made up, and nothing I say is going to change that. Anyway, I did want to thank you for your comment.
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