Church of the Madalene

We can have the surf but not the turf on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during lent. Okay. Why? I believe it was St. Jerome who said that ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ. I’m going to be so bold as to add to that by saying ignorance of our Catholic faith is ignorance of Christ’s Church. Nothing diminishes our faith quite like ignorance does. To the outside world it makes us look like unreasoning robots and to our children we lose respect, all because we claim a faith but don’t seem to know why.

So why do we eat fish but not “meat”?

This practice goes all the way back to First Century Christians who chose not to spill warm blood on the ground in recognition of the blood that Christ spilled on the cross. With modern conveniences like meat packing plants, grocery stores, and refrigeration, it is easy for us to forget that in ancient times if you wanted meat, it more often than not had to be slaughtered just prior to preparation. So revered was the respect for Christ’s sacrifice, early Christians would not casually spill blood from a slaughter upon the ground since it might be seen as diminishing His sacrifice. That my friends is why we can have the surf but not the turf.

Let’s not keep this fact to ourselves. As our non-Catholic friends look at us making this small sacrifice in commemoration of Christ’s Great Sacrifice, let’s tell them why, and by following this practice show them how much that Great Sacrifice means to us.