Today my UCC Lenten Calendar has the following:
February 15 - "Fish on Fridays is a Catholic traditions and not a bad idea. Eating fish twice a week is recommended by the American Heart Association. Good for your brain, too."
I don't know about you but I certainly could use something for my brain.
I found myself researching where fish on Friday started. There is an old story about a Pope way way back that decided to help a small fishing village by proclaiming one needs to eat fish on Friday. However the Vactican says there are no records to that effect and that actually fasting is what was suppose to be followed.
According to Wikipedia - The Catholic Church observes the discipline of
fasting or
abstinence at various times each year, especially during
Lent. For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food, which may or may not include abstinence from meat (or another type of food).
According to Christian teaching, Jesus died on a Friday, and his death redeemed a sinful world. People have written of fasting on Friday to commemorate this sacrifice as early as the first century.
Technically, it's the flesh of warmblooded animals that's off limits — an animal "that, in a sense, sacrificed its life for us, if you will," explains
Michael Foley, an associate professor at Baylor University and author of
Why Do Catholics Eat Fish On Friday? Fish are coldblooded, so they're considered fair game. "If you were inclined to eat a reptile on Friday," Foley says, "you could do that, too." (Anybody for snake on Friday)
Any way - all this talk of fish takes me to the VBS song:
Today is the day for which I've been waiting
Jesus is a preaching and I going there
I'm packing my lunch it won't be empty.
I'm bringing plenty so that I can share
One basket, two fish and five loaves of barley bread.
We know the story - Jesus feeds the 5000 with just 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread that a young boy brings. A line in the song proclaims
Everyone agreed it was a MIRACLE! - which I love to shout out when singing the song
Miracles are around us everyday - we just don't notice them - just like yesterday's Lenten message which told us to "notice everything, notice ourselves" today's is notice the miracles. However small they are, like a flower, a bird flying overhead and especially a baby's cry, these are all small miracles.
The other day I felt like I experienced a miracle. On my way to work Wednesday I came to a three way stop, I was just ready to make my right turn when I heard or felt "wait" and sure enough here came a car down the street, never saw and never stopped at the stop sign. I would of been hit in the driver's side of my car. After I made the turn, I said a small prayer, just simply "thank you God, thanks for that".
Today, be aware of the miracles ....they do happen, and when they do, say thanks.
Whew - good thing for me since I cannot see myself as a vegetarian or vegan. I like the occasional hamburger and eat a lot of chicken and turkey. I love fish, but my family, not so much. So whenever I go out for dinner I get fish. 
