Meatless Friday

It's Friday during Lent. Here's what that means: No meat--at all--all day long. When I was growing up, for supper we would either have Tuna Casserole (a.k.a. Catholic Casserole), or fish sticks with mac & cheese and peas. We've come up with more "creative" ways to deal with Meatless Fridays, including spaghetti with only sauce, and cheese pizza. Then, there's always pancakes.
I'm doing great with my Lenten "promise" as I am calling it. People always talk about giving something up for Lent (like candy, sodas, etc.), but this year I'm going with doing something extra. The whole idea is to make it through Lent so that it doesn't seem like a "chore" to do it during the rest of the year.
Last Sunday at church we had the opportunity to take a "black book" (seriously, that's what it's called: "The Little Black Book") that has meditations of the Passion of Mark as well as some interesting facts. Here's an interesting fact from this week:
There's a town in Germany called Oberammergau that puts on a Passion Play every 10 years. You have to be originally from the town or have lived in the town for 10 years to participate. There are 1700 parts in the play. The origin of the play: The town thought they could escape the bubonic plague if they prohibited people from coming into the town. Someone got in and 84 people died from the plague. The villagers promised God that if he spared the town they would re-enact the story of Christ's death and resurrection every 10 years. The play is scheduled to be held this year for the 41st time.  So, here's what I'm thinking:  If a whole town can keep its promise to God for over 400 years, surely I can keep one for only 40 days.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)