22 February 2008

Lenten levity


For all my minnow munching friends

Lost on a rainy Friday night during Lent, a priest stumbles into a monastery and requests shelter there. Fortunately, he's just in time for dinner and was treated to the best fish and chips he's ever had.

After dinner, he goes into the kitchen to thank the chefs. He is met by two brothers who greet him with, "Hello, I'm Brother Michael and this is Brother Francis."

"I'm very pleased to meet you. I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful dinner. The fish and chips were the best I've ever tasted. Out of curiosity, who cooked what?"

Brother Charles replied, "Well, I'm the fish friar."

Father turns to the other brother and says, "Then you must be...."

"Yes, I'm afraid I'm the chip monk..."
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An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Mayo, walks into the pub and promptly orders three beers.

The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone.

An hour later, the man has finished the three beers and orders three more.

This happens yet again.

The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers.

Finally, a week later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. "I don't mean to pry, but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers?"

'Tis odd, isn't it?" the man replies, "You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America, and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond."

The bartender and the whole town was pleased with this answer, and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and source of pride to the hamlet, even to the extent that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink.

Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers. The bartender pours them with a heavy heart. This continues for the rest of the evening - he orders only two beers. The word flies around town. Prayers are offered for the soul of one of the brothers.

The next day, the bartender says to the man, "Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother. You know-the two beers and all..."

The man ponders this for a moment, then replies, "You'll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well... It's just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent."
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(From Belief.net)

John Smith was the only Protestant to move into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill.

Meanwhile, all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday of Lent. On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John. He was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn't take it anymore.

They decided to try and convert John to Catholicism.

They went over and talked to him. John decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic, which made them all very happy.They took him to church, and the priest sprinkled some water over him, and said, "You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, and now you are a Catholic."

The men were so relieved, now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved.

The next year's Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and, just at supper time, when the neighborhood was settling down to their cold tuna fish dinner, the smell of steak cooking on a grill came wafting into their homes. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses! WHAT WAS GOING ON?

They called each other up and decided to meet over in John's yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent. The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, "You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish."

7 comments:

Vincenzo said...

Hehehe

Anonymous said...

Those are great stories--but I'll have you know--I'm really hungry at this very moment--ahhh, food.

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

LOL!
We just had fish'n'chips. The kids call id Finnish-chips for some reason!
Grace from Dh was "Thank you God for making cod."

I just realised I haven't got around to doing the middle name meme...must do that...

swissmiss said...

When my hubby and I are in England, the first thing I HAVE to eat is fish and chips. I think fish and chips are what I eat most of the time, whereas hubby loves curry which is widely available. One night we (meaning I) drove from Glasgow to Oban. We got in very late and were starving, and the local fish and chips store was still open and doing a bustling business, and a few doors down was the Indian restarant. We both grabbed ourselves some take-out and headed back to our B&B for a feast! My husband spent a lot of time in England for work and lived on curry.

gemoftheocean said...

Never could stand curry....but fish and chips is to die for. Extra Malt Vinegar, please!!!!

[It's not the same but I note during lent Mickey D's is offering fillet of fish sandwiches for a buck 29.

Karen

ArchAngel's Advocate said...

Karen, Mickey-D's was one of the few places that purposely provided for us Catholic folk when all Friday's were meatless (I think Ray Kroc was one o' us). "Minnow Muncher" is a new label for me, I thought we were "mackrel snappers"

Cathy said...

McD's only has their double filet o fish during Lent.

(Yeah, you're eating fish, but you're eating TOO MUCH of it!) :)

Stupid me gave up fried food for Lent. What was I thinking?!

Also, if any of you have Portillo's restaurants (or is that just a Chicago thing?) husband reports that they have introduced a grilled tuna steak sammich that is TO DIE FOR.

Right on, Portillos!