Lent

Yes, if you wish. If you choose not to do so than it's your personal expression of belief.

Thank you for that clarification. I don't think the Protestant sects insist on it - I was nominally Anglican and I don't recall that having any hard-and-fast fast rules; but either way it is still really a matter for the individual to express his or her own belief in his or her own way when at home. In practice the menu you outline is not very different from that of many adults in their day-to-life anyway, irrespective of theology.

Abstinence The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

Lent is based on Christ's 40-day fast in the desert, representing the 40 years that the Hebrews wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt and before entering Israel.

The Catholic Church's abstinence laws consider that meat comes only from LAND animals such as chicken, cattle and pigs - all of which live on land. Birds are also considered meat; on these grounds, chicken is prohibited.

Fish are a different category of animal - sea animals - and therefore are permitted to be eaten during Lent.

According to a Q&A from the website catholic.com, the answer is Yes:

Q: Can you offer any biblical justification for the Catholic Church's former teaching that it's sinful to eat meat on Fridays?

A: Yes, but, if you recognize the fact that Christ's Church is divinely authorized to teach, sanctify, and govern, there should be no need to "prove" it with biblical examples. If you don't recognize that, consider the following biblical facts.

Jesus guaranteed that when his Church teaches it teaches with his authority and that anyone rejecting his Church's teachings rejects him (Luke 10:16). This authority extends to Church discipline as well as doctrine. When the Church imposes a discipline, its members are bound to obey it, unless they are dispensed for a proportionate reason.

This exercise of authority is seen in Acts 15, where the Church, in its first major council, bound all Christians to the discipline of abstaining from meat that had been sacrificed to idols or that had come from strangled animals (19-29). When the Church promulgated its teaching about abstaining from meat (Acts 15:28-29), no Christian was free to disregard the discipline without committing sin. But since Paul explained that meat in itself is not unclean and the eating of meat is not inherently sinful (Rom. 14:1-23, 1 Cor. 8:1-13, 10:23-32), a Christian who violated the apostolic teaching in Acts 15 sinned not because the eating of meat was wrong but because he disobeyed a commandment of the Church. When the Catholic Church imposes a discipline such as not eating meat on Fridays, the same principle holds.

Consider this parallel example. A mother tells her son not to eat the cookies she just baked because it's close to dinner time and eating the cookies will spoil his appetite. The son ignores his mother's wishes and, when she's not looking, sneaks a few cookies. His sin is not the eating of cookies (a morally neutral act in itself), but of disobedience.

Finally, we should mention why Friday abstinence was imposed. The Church recognizes that, since meat is a chief part of most meals served in most places, and since meat is usually the most valued or expensive part of a meal, abstinence from meat on Fridays is a good way for Christians to unite themselves more closely to the sufferings of their Lord (Rom. 8:16-17, 1 Pet. 2:21) by denying themselves something they enjoy. Abstinence from meat is a sacrifice which unites them in penance and strengthens the solidarity of the Church through mild suffering. It's also a good form of mortification, which disciplines the soul and strengthens its resistance to concupiscence. Paul practiced and recommended mortification: "I drive my body and train it, for fear that after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:27).

The gospels tell us that when Jesus was arrested and taken before Pontius Pilate, the Jews bayed for his crucifixion, even preferring to free Barabbas rather than free Jesus. There seems to have been no one among the Jews who would be satisfied with anything less than his crucifixion.

Mark's Gospel was the earliest of the New Testament gospels and in this Gospel, it is not palm leaves, but leafy branches that are spread on the road as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, just as the Jews used leafy branches in the celebration of the Sukkoth festival. Mark 11:8 says (NAB), "Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields." The words used at the Sukkoth are reflected in Mark 11:9: "And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

John Shelby Spong (Jesus for the NonReligious) says the story came from a Jewish festival actually held at an entirely different time of year: The ]ewish eight day celebration of the harvest, known as Sukkoth, and also called the Festival of the Tabernacles or Booths, was probably the most popular holiday among the Jews in the first century. In the observance of Sukkoth, worshippers processed through Jerusalem and in the Temple, waving a bunch of leafy branches made of willow, myrtle and palm. As they waved these branches in that procession, the worshippers recited words from Psalm 118, the psalm normally used at Sukkoth. Among these words were "Save us, we beseech you, O Lord." Save us in Hebrew is hosianna or 'hosanna'. This is typically followed by "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. (Psalm 118:25-6).

Mark took the Sukkoth traditions and transferred them from autumn to the Passover season for the procession story. Because the Passover season is too early for 'leafy branches' (except palms), John changed this to 'palm branches', creating our modern tradition of Palm Sunday. In the earliest account of Palm Sunday, leafy branches were used, but these were not really available at that time of year, leading to the conclusion that this story is an elaboration to demonstrate a capricious and unpredictable character in the Jerusalem people, who would shortly demand the crucifixion of Jesus.

Lent formally ends at l200 Hours ( Noon, local time) on Holy Saturday. All dietary restrictions are OFF.