Meaty Dispensation

Tomorrow is March 25th. That's 9 months before Christmas. And so tomorrow is the Annunciation of Jesus, the day we remember Gabriel's visit to Mary and what happened. This day is considered a solemnity. Solemnities are solemn if you didn't know. And that means they are meant to be gravely serious. But being serious doesn't necessarily mean being somber. Solemn is definitely a sad sounding word. It isn't like some words that sound much happier, like twinkle. Twinkle is a very happy sounding word. Solemn is depressive just listening to it, and so that's probably why so many of us automatically assume that solemn occasions are meant to be mirthless. But it also means awe-inspiring and holy. Like that sunrise was a solemn beauty. Not like, I was at the grocery store looking at cereal when a solemn beauty walked by.

So solemnities can mean sad and some can mean glad depending on the situation. Well that's great, tomorrow is a solemnity on a positive note, which means it's really a day to be serious about celebrating. There are other days like it too. Christmas and Easter are two that spring to mind. I suppose they don't have to be religious based, but saying something like Flag Day is a solemnity doesn't sound quite right. It's like when I get a five line piece of code working and I say "that's awesome" and my co-worker says "You've done what any half competent ninth grader can do, atta-boy, but forgive me for not dropping to my knees in awe at its magnificence." I sort of just ruined the word 'awesome'. Likewise marking other days, like Opposite Day, as solemnities might start taking away from it's powerful meaning.

But there's a small problem. This particular solemnity happens to fall on a Friday in Lent this year. So some of us aren't allowed to eat meat. In fact for some, Friday's tend to be rather miserable every time of the year. A lot of people don't eat meat on any Friday, and perform other small sacrifices as well, out of remembrance of Good Friday, which we could call a bitter-sweet solemnity. But it's hard to go to a party as a good guest while saying "I'm here, but I'm not going to partake in the celebration cause it happens to be a sad day of the week in history." A few centuries ago, Christmas happened to fall on a Friday. And some friars at a monastery weren't quite sure what to do. Friday's were days of fast and penance, not frivolity, but it was Christmas. So they went to their head brother, and one of them, Brother Morico, asked their head brother, Francis, if they were obliged to abstain from meat since it was Friday. St. Francis responded, "On a day like this I want even the walls to eat meat, and if they can't at least let their surfaces be smeared with it." Here was a man who was serious about having a good time.