Holy Week & Easter Recap - 2013

Da Vinci's Last Supper Craft, courtesy of Catholic Icing.  A perfect craft for Holy Week. We are dabbling in Da Vinci right now, as we are headed to the Da Vinci exhibit at the Arizona Science Center later this week. Perfect timing!

After we enjoyed a Holy Thursday meal, our family read the Gospel account of the Last Supper, and then did our own ceremonious footwashing.  

 Beginning with the oldest (Tom) washing the feet of the next oldest (me), we dribbled a little water on our feet and dried them.

The littlest ones especially loved this. I think its a new tradition for our family. 

 Good Friday morning. Making pretzels and the whole family joins in.

The were soooooo yummy. Was hard to quit with one. But, as we were fasting, this was our lunch. It was also nice to keep ourselves busy on such a solemn day. We followed this by doing family Stations of the Cross, then went to the 3pm Good Friday service. It was 3 hours long. The entire Gospel of the Lord's Passion was sung in chant by the professional choir. Lovely, but very very long. 

Beautiful Easter! Dawson and I attended the vigil on Saturday night. I left the house with instructions for Tom and the girls to put Resurrection cookies (Easter Story cookies) in the oven for overnight. They were going to form lovely, hollow meringue cookies, according to the DIRECTIONS WITH PICTURES FOR EACH STEP on Lacy's blog.

Instead, I came home to this:

No matter. We'll try again next year. 

 Lots of family in AZ this year. Some of us hanging out in the shade on a hot Easter Sunday, just enjoying a good visit.

And the days following Easter? Just lots of relaxing in the sun.

Day and night.

Catch up with you all later!

xo

Tuesday Fasting - Join Me?

Holy Week.

Traditionally for Catholics, the first few days of Holy Week are spent giving your home a top to bottom cleaning. The best cleaning of the entire year. Also, much of the latter part of the week is spent baking for Easter. This year, we are away, so I am doing neither. Except, of course, for fasting. You can fast wherever you happen to be.

While I'm sure many of you are increasing your fasting and penance and other spiritual practices this week, I'd still like to invite you to join me in a Tuesday lenten fast. Fast from a meal, fast from snacks or fast from all your food today, the choice is yours. And don't forget to double your dose of Christ then, to replace the food. Pray, meditate, take a little more time to nourish yourself with the Word of God. In a house full of kids, that generally translates into stolen moments and prayers muttered under your breath while your feel you are going to blow your top. Its okay, my confessor once told me such prayers are more effective amongst these distractions.

What does the rest of your Holy Week look like? Ours will be simple enough. I don't have a lot of craft supplies with me, we don't have specific commitments to any activities, and my husband is on vacation this week and next - he's never home during Holy Week so that is something new too.

Holy Thursday - Lent ends this afternoon and the Church celebrates a great feast that is Holy Thursday - where Christ gave us both the Eucharist and Holy Orders. We have decided, for this feast, to make a nice supper of roast beef, salad, potatoes and gravy, and a simple dessert, like ice cream. We will do our own reading of the Last Supper and a foot-washing ceremony of some sort. I'm ok with that since I recently had a pedicure ha! I think we will be super-primed to enter into the Triduum Liturgy which will begin at 7pm.

The other activity for Holy Thursday I'd like to try and pull together is the Last Supper Craft from Catholic Icing. Just need a few basic supplies I think I can orchestrate, with the help of my sister's printer. That would be great, too, because we're planning on attending the Da Vinci exhibit at the Science Center here in Phoenix - so it would be another opportunity to familiarize ourselves with him.

Good Friday - things are a little different here in that most parishes have outdoor Stations of the Cross at 3pm and the Veneration of the Cross at 7pm. The only close parish with a 3pm Veneration does pretty much the entire service in chant. Which is fine, except the chant is highly elaborate chant, and exceptionally long. Either way, my plan is not to take the little girls - Tom and I will either switch hit different services or we will have extended family watch the little girls. Three hours is just sooooo long for sitting still ...   But we will make the traditional pretzels for lunch on this day of abstinence and fasting.

Holy Saturday - we wait. The church is in waiting. I think we will spend this day colouring and decorating Easter eggs if we haven't done it by then already. Did that last year and it was a good activity to keep the littles and even the bigs busy. We will also do the Easter Story Cookies. Yum Yum.  We won't be attending the vigil service here as it isn't practical for the littles but we'll attend the Easter Sunday outdoor Mass bright and early Sunday morning.

That's our plan. What's yours?

Fasting with Friends and a Thought about Sacrifice

How is your Lenten fast going?

Never mind the fast, do you have your eyes glued to your Conclave or Pope Election apps or something similar?

No, wait, back to fasting. Actually, its a PERFECT day to fast. The Conclave is already underway, and our Cardinals will need all the prayer and fasting possible as they choose our new Papa. Via the Holy Spirit.  I'm so excited!

Fasting, its a sacrifice, isn't it? 

Here's a thought about sacrifice by Fulton Sheen from his Lenten Meditations (only $1.95 on your handy dandy Kindle):

An Acceptable Sacrifice

There is a world of difference between

a gift and a sacrifice. A sacrifice is a gift 

plus the love and personality of the giver.

A gift comes out of the pocketbook; a 

sacrifice out of the heart.

"The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; 

a broken and contrite heart, O God, 

you will not despise."    Psalm 51:17

A sacrifice is a gift PLUS the love and personality of the giver. That will be something to meditate on throughout the day. Fast, yes, but send your prayer intentions on Up together with your love and personality! 

Please fast with me today. Even if I never know who you are (don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing) there is something comforting about knowing you aren't alone in your struggle, right? So, struggle a little today and fast.  Fast from one meal, fast from all food, or follow the Church's guidelines (one main meal; and two small snacks which together wouldn't exceed one meal) for fasting. As long as you are offering your fasting, whatever that looks like, with love, God will honour that. 

Tuesday Fasting with Friends - Isaiah 58

This post, right up to the *****,  is a paraphrase of Kevin Perrotta's reflection on Isaiah 58, taken from his wonderful book/bible study, Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. 

"Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" (The people are asking God why He isn't answering their prayers.  He replies, through the prophet Isaiah, basically calling them hypocrites):

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.

In other words, you can't fast from food without fasting from treating others sinfully, if you want God to hear your prayer. 

But God suggests a better way in verses 6-8:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; 
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

And a promise of answered prayers to those who fast in this manner:

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, 
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say,
Here I am.

So why bother fasting then? Can't we just work on being better people, practice the works of mercy, work on relationships? Sure, you can. And you should. 

But fasting changes us. By fasting, we willfully resist our desires as a way to express commitment to do what God wants instead.  By fasting, we willfully turn away from what would give us pleasure and satisfaction in order to focus on the needs of others. Make sense?
Want to give it a try?

*******

So, what are your prayer intentions today?  Give them wings of fasting and almsgiving (St. Augustine)!  Join me, friends, fasting in solidarity for all our petitions and with thanksgiving! Let's lift each other up in spiritual unity. And while you're at it, why not put together of a bag of clothes you haven't worn for a long long time and drop them off at your nearest donation center. Make a special effort, while you fast, to be merciful and kind to those around you today. Don't fast to serve your own interest (you know, like doing it to shed a few extra pounds), instead put everyone else ahead instead.

Let's go!

Tuesday Fasting with Friends

There is something about a season of preparation.

I was chatting with a friend, of a different faith background than me. She remarked about how we Catholics (and some other faiths) celebrate Advent and Lent as preparatory seasons for a big feast. She seemed to appreciate the sense of it all, though her faith community does not partake.

And frankly, so do I. Because it makes sense! It would be so weird if life just went along and then one day it was Easter. Or Christmas. And you celebrated it and then it was done and that was that for another year.  I mean, sure, maybe you prepared and marked your calendar to see what day Easter falls on this year and you bought a ham or a turkey and Easter candy, and maybe you organized a neighbourhood egg hunt because that would be fun for the kids and you would be really popular, but ... did this grow your faith? Why is Easter a celebration for you then?

No.

That's NOT how its supposed to be.

I challenge you to do more.  To relish the preparation. To take the lenten journey, which is really a small likeness of our earthly journey to Heaven. Share and pass down the faith to your little ones and if you don't feel your faith is strong enough for that then now is a good time have a chat with God and give it up to Him. Pray. Meditate on the sacrifice of Christ. Fast. Count down the days till you feast again. Prepare your heart. Preparation is a good thing, right?

The first Christians fasted (Acts 13:2; 14:23). Here we are, 2000 years later, and today I warmly invite  you to join me and several of my friends in a fast.  Make it a one-meal fast or an only-water-to-drink-fast - God will honor whatever you choose, if its done with the right motive and attitude - that is - love and humility.

Let's talk a minute about last week's fast. A friend and I emailed several times during the day as we fasted, and that was really helpful! The interesting thing? She said it was one of the easiest fasts she's ever done.  And I wonder.  I wonder why that was.  Was it because we knew we had moral support along the way? Aren't we supposed to help bear one another's burdens?  But on the other hand, I wondered if a harder fast is more sanctifying. You know? What do you think?

A couple of tips for fasting:

• decide what you're going to do (bread and water? one main meal and two small snacks?)
• keep yourself well-hydrated and drink lots of water throughout the day
• have an intention on your heart as you fast and when you feel those hunger pangs, reach out to God with your intention
• have your Bible close by at all times! I have read that Scripture comes more alive when you are fasting, so fill yourself up with God's word today! And every day!
• if you are eating something today, give thanks for it. 
• consider adopting a "catch-phrase" to ponder on when you are feeling hungry or like you are going to give in. Here are a few good ones:
•  "When I am weak, I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10)
• "My grace is sufficient, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9)
• "I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13)
• expect a little spiritual warfare, but know that God is on your side
• enlist the prayer support of a friend or group. Text or email each other. Or post in the comm box. We are social beings after all, and meant to live with the support of a community. It really helps!

Shall we give it a go?

Fasting - Exercise in Self-Discipline - Join Me?

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied."  Matthew 5:6 (NAB)

I used to think that this passage from the Beatitudes meant that those people in the world who naturally craved (hungered and thirsted for) justice would one day, in Heaven, be satisfied because our God is a just God. And He will ensure justice comes to pass. 

But it can be looked at differently, especially in the context of fasting and doing penance. Our Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us of our call to penance, suggesting we are to go hungry and thirsty for the sake of justice. I get it now. 

I invite you, on this first Tuesday and every following Tuesday of Lent, to hunger and thirst a little, out of your love for Christ.  Its an opportunity to practise self-discipline, and isn't self-discipline what is required to develop and grow in virtue? St. Paul tells us that "every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one." (1 Cor 9:25)

I received an email from a reader after my last post inviting you to fast, which I think reflects how many of us feel. She said she read the post and had an interior tantrum; she didn't want to fast because it would be too hard, and was indeed "pouting a bit." But then quickly made the decision to go for it. Yay! 

Let's lift each other up in the process. Maybe you'd like to share a specific prayer intention.  Maybe you'd like to keep completely anonymous. We are not supposed to flaunt our fasting and I hope you don't think I'm trying to do that here. I'm not. I'm trying to encourage.  It seems more "manageable" to do hard things when you are doing them with a friend or a faith community, yes? I don't know about you but I need that spiritual support coming through the airways!

How you fast is up to you of course. I'll be having my main meal after sundown, and two very small meals during the day. No snacks. Not a "hard-core-body-cleanse-type fast" but believe me, I'll feel the burn. I want to feel the burn. It will remind me to turn to God often. 

May our fasting make us stronger in the service of the Lord!


  

Fast with me Friends?

Recall Matthew 4: 2-4 (NAB). Jesus was baptised but immediately following was driven out to the desert and was tempted by the devil:

"He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy, and of course the devil knows Scripture well so it was appropriate for Jesus to reply in this way.

"He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your ancestors, so you might know that it is not by bread alone that people live (emphasis mine), but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3

So, during Lent its quite appropriate for us to fast, not only from food but from other things we might be attached to.  When we "tame our senses" in this way, we naturally open up a little window for God to enter. We can feed ourselves with the Living Word of God, right? 

What is your personal experience with fasting, specifically from food for the day? Have you ever seen the fruits?  Several years ago when I was coming back to my faith, I joined with an online Catholic mothers community in fasting from food every first Friday of the month. We ate nothing all day, just drank water. We messaged each other to lift us up in prayer and get through the fast. We had prayer intentions and we were encouraged to fast out of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Each hunger pang reminded us why we were fasting. Each hunger pang reminded us to pray! Of the several intentions I had, each one was fulfilled in some way. Miraculous really. Even my then non-believing husband began to join me in fasting on Fridays because he saw what amazing things were happening in my life - how God was working. He became Catholic 2 years later :). 

In actuality, the Catholic Church's definition of fasting is not stringent - you are permitted one main meal and then two lighter meals which together do not exceed a main meal. And really, that fasting specifically from food only applies on two days of the year - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - though we are encouraged to fast (in different ways) and give alms (time, talent & treasure) during all of Lent. Heck, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast for a month from dawn to sunset and that includes no food, liquid, smoking, sex and swearing. Now that's a fast!  Really, what we are asked to do in fasting during lent is not a stretch, but it IS good for us.

During Lent, I always have good intentions to do lots for Our Lord. To detach myself from those things like Tim Horton's French Vanilla Cappuccino. To rekindle (take up rather than give up) our good habits of Scripture study and put more focus on building family relationships. To do without things we usually think nothing of purchasing - like snack foods, new fabric or clothes, a toy here and there for the kids - and we do without these things as a small way to identify with the poor. To help us count our blessings a little more purposefully. 

And usually I end up failing in most of these areas somehow. Cause I'm weak.

But I soooo look forward to the Easter Feast - and the thought of knowing I have "fought the good fight" as per St. Paul. Nothing worse than reaching Easter and knowing I copped out much of the time.

So here is what I propose.

I'm wondering if any of you are interested in joining me by fasting from food one day a week during lent, on Tuesdays (random choice of day). Its built-in support and solidarity in a very tangible way. I'll post something each Tuesday and we can support each other via the comm-box during the day, if you like.  St.Augustine apparently said that if you want your prayer to reach God, give it wings of fasting and almsgiving (humility and charity) - so that's something we can do. No? 

Let's do this! I know we can, and I know God will honor our efforts!  What do you think?

Meatless Fridays, here we come!

Today's Gospel Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast."

And so the bridegroom (Christ) has been taken away from us and we are fasting. Its Friday, and in our family we fast from meat. I wish we had more fish 'n chips on Fridays but everyone else in my family does not like fish! Historically, fish was the "poor man's" meal and that is where the tradition of abstaining from meat and eating fish came from. So that we can relate more with the poor. Edited to add that Friday, being the day Jesus died, is not a time for feasting, and to abstain from meat (a rich man's feast) was a way to acknowledge in a small way the cost of our salvation.

Instead of fish then, we are having one of my all-time favorites:  Black bean soup (courtesy of Rachel Ray's Express Lane Meals) with foccacia bread.  I follow the recipe but don't usually do the shrimp part.

Spicy Black Bean Soup with Limed Up Shrimp

5 Tbsp EVOO

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 Tbps chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

Salt & black pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Zest & juice of 2 limes

1/4 Cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

16 jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, & butterflied

2 14 oz cans black beans, rinsed & drained

1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

5 Cups chicken stock

1/2 Cup heavy cream (optional)

Hot Sauce, to taste

Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat with 2 Tbps of the EVOO (twice around the pan). Add the onions, three fourths of the garlic, the chili powder, cumin, salt, & pepper. Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the onions are tender, stirring frequently.

While the onions are cooking, in a shallow dish combine the remaining garlic, the remaining 3 Tbps of EVOO, the red pepper flakes, lime zest, parsley, & a little salt. Add the shrimp and coat them thoroughly in the mixture. Let the shrimp sit while you move forward with the spicy black bean soup.

Add the black beans to the skillet with the onions. With a potato masher or the back of a rubber spatula, smash the equivalent of half of the beans – the mashed-up beans will thicken the soup. Add the fire roasted tomatoes, chicken stock, and heavy cream (if using) to the pot, stir, and turn the heat up a bit to bring the soup to a bubble. Once at a bubble, turn the heat back down to a simmer and let it cook for 10-12 minutes. Give the pot a stir every now & then to ensure that it’s not sticking.

While the soup is simmering, preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the shrimp & cook them for 2-3 minutes on the first side. Flip the shrimp, add the lime juice, and continue to cook them for 2-3 more minutes or until the shrimp are opaque.

Taste the soup & adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, & hot sauce. To serve it, place a few ladles full of the spicy black bean soup in shallow soup bowls, and arrange 4 shrimp standing up in the center of each bowl.

*We all modify recipes to some degree, and for this one I add an extra can of black beans.  I also haven't sought out the fire-roasted tomatoes so just use regular.  For seasoning I like to play with a little liquid smoke in addition to the above, and we generally avoid the hot sauce.

Black bean soup with a dollop of sour cream.  Served with foccacia bread and oil/vinegar to dip.