Feast Day of the Apostle of Youth

January 31st

"Enjoy yourself as much as you like – if only you keep from sin."

~ St. John Bosco

One of the mottos of our life -- especially since we've raised teenagers, these words of Don Bosco's are simple to understand, but, boy, they can be difficult sometimes for a young person to carry out! St. John Bosco knew the problem well, caring for the bodies and souls of  scores of boys and girls in Italy in the late nineteenth century, and parents today know the same challenge.   It doesn't matter when in history a child lives, life can be full of confusion and trouble -- especially when the child is trying to find his footing on the way into adult life.  In Don Bosco's day, just as in ours, enjoying one's self while not sinning could be a trick to pull off.   Going out to have fun with friends very often carried the temptation to walk the tightrope of morality  in the best case -- and to jump right off, in the worst.

And it is tough out there to "keep your nose clean," especially in the teen years -- when everything's in turmoil, anyway. But, as if that weren't enough, our children today are bombarded with assaults to their purity, their integrity, and their faith at every turn. There's practically no escaping it!  It's too easy for the best of kids to give into pressure and believe that enjoyment means fun that is "adult" or illicit. In their hurry to grow up in a world that forces adult themes on them from day one, it can be easy for young people to forget the simple pleasure of wholesome fun.

I guess most of us here in the choir probably see the problem.  But what can we do?

Here are some thoughts -- stream-of-consciousness style:
(Do please feel free to skip this meandering if you like! It's long!)

Stress wholesome fun!  This is easy.  Just play! * Start with rolling the babies  a ball, end with pitching it to them. * Teach your toddlers to roll the ball to one another. * Teach one to praise the other when they catch it.  Never forget what a joy your babies and toddlers are!  (They grow up so fast!) * Make dimples in your cheeks more than you creases in your forehead.  * Praise one another behind each other's back.  * Never criticize behind another's back.  * Correct, when necessary, gently and in privacy.  * Choose your children's friends wisely and exclusively for as long as you can. * Be ruthless about it.  * Teach them to discriminate friendships safe and unsafe for their souls so that when they can choose for themselves, they'll do so wisely.  * Make up softball (or football or volleyball) teams with parish families and make sure to play together after Mass every Sunday possible. ( This is far more valuable for children's far-reaching growth and development than any "organized" sport you will ever enroll them in.) *  Never take for granted what a joy your single-digit children are! (They grow up so fast!) * Play card and board games as a family. * At the drop of a hat. * Often.  * Turn off the TV.   * Laugh. * Laugh as often as you can.  * But never tease. * See good wholesome movies. * Screen them ahead of time (Google them!) for content and make a big deal out of seeing them together and with friends. * Explain why these movies are good movies. * Explain why you don't see other movies.  * Be a good example; don't see a movie you wouldn't want your children seeing.  * If in doubt, don't go see a movie (or play, or concert) you wouldn't invite the Blessed Mother to attend.  * Enjoy every moment with your adolescents and young teens! (They grow up so fast!) * Read good, wholesome books. * Tell your children about them.  * Read out loud.  * Every day. * Recommend good books to everyone in the family.  * Explain why they're good books. * Explain why others are not. * Tell the story of your life. * Detail your best moments * Include your embarassing moments. * Laugh at the silly stuff!  * Explain your mistakes. * Tell what you should have done differently and why. * Listen to your children's stories. * Ask them about their day.  * Even if you've spent the whole day with them!  * Apologize when you're wrong  * Spend one-on-one time with each child (and your spouse!)  as often as you can. * Even if it's just while you load the dishwasher. * Sing. * Sing a lot. * Loudly. *  Even if it's badly. * Spend every moment you can with your teens and young adults!  (They grow up so fast!)  * Praise good behaviour; never qualify bad behaviour as anything other than bad, but discuss it always in relationship to Our Lord's Sacred heart.  *Talk about God. * In everything you do.  * Be on a first-name basis with the saints.  * Include them in all the good stuff, not just the trouble!  * Blend the Church calendar in with all the other calendars that are important to your family.  * But make God's appointments always take precedence.  * Be sure your children know it is an occasion to be sad for others when they pressure you to put God second (or third, or worse), and never never give in.  * Introduce Mary as a second mother; love her tenderly; depend upon her. * Pray.  * Smile and even laugh when you pray. * Pray alone. * Pray in pairs when you go out walking.  * Pray in groups altogether. * Pray in the morning.  * Pray at night. * Never miss the family rosary.  * Pray when you get in the car.  * Pray when you arrive home safely.  * Bless heaven and earth with smiles and laughter.  * Enjoy every minute of it.  * As much as you like.  * Only keep from sinning.


We're still in the trenches here at our house, in this business of child-raising  -- and I guess we will be until the day we die.  We've found out that parenthood most definitely doesn't end when the children move out of the house!  Out of our ten, we have four sons officially "on their own" now and have been parenting for twenty-three years.  And we're still learning; make no mistake!   Each child and each passing year brings its own challenges and lessons.  We don't have it all figured out and never will.

But we have learned a couple things: 1) We can never, ever rest on our laurels; the devil would like nothing better and the world is a tough competitor for our children's hearts and souls.  We have to keep vigilant, keep studying, keep praying.   And, 2) We must always call on our heavenly patrons for their invaluable help. By prayer, and when possible, by reading their words of advice. There is little we've learned about raising children (especially teenage boys), for example,  that we haven't gleaned from St. John Bosco and the Salesian method.  Anything we might have thought we figured out ourselves, we later learned was a teaching of the good Salesian Fathers. You have to know, then, that it's with great caution that I suggest anyone follow any of our examples, but with the greatest confidence I recommend you to the writings of Don Bosco and his the traditional method of his Order.  It's for good reason that our saint is called the patron of youth; his influence with them was great on earth -- and is still great today from heaven.

Good Don Bosco,  Pray For Us!


Prayer to Saint John Bosco

O glorious Saint John Bosco, who, in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to form them in the light of faith and Christian morality, didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst found a fitting religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from our Lord a holy love for young people, who are exposed to so many seductions, in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen

(Indulgence of 300 days)

Prayer of St. John Bosco to the Blessed Virgin Mary

O Mary, powerful Virgin, thou art the mighty and glorious protector of holy Church; thou art the marvelous help of Christians; thou art terrible as an army in battle array; thou alone hast destroyed every heresy in the whole world. In the midst of our anguish, our struggles and our distress defend us from the power of the enemy and at the hour of our death receive our souls in paradise. Amen.

(Indulgence of 3 years)


Books for children:
Stories of Don Bosco
St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio (Vision Book)

For us older folks:
Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco: The Apostle of  Youth
Biography: St. John Bosco (F.A. Forbes)
Several pamphlets about the Salesian method and Don Bosco can be found here, as well.

Some former posts with more ideas for today's feast day, plus links, here.

Feast of St. Francis de Sales

January 29th

(Reposted from Last Year)

St Francis de Sales is another one of my favorite saints. (How many does that make now?) Another of the saints from big families, St. Francis was the oldest of six brothers!  It's hard not to love his gentle, nature-filled lessons and practical kind wisdom.  But as gentle and kind as he always seems in his letters and sermons, I've read that he started out life with a choleric disposition, impatient and inclined toward anger. You'd never know, though. That he could reform so completely, by the grace of God and much perserverence, gives me hope!

Here is an online reprint of St. Francis' Treatise on the Love of God .

St. Francis' Introduction to the Devout Life  can be read online here.

St. Francis de Sales is the Patron Saint of:

Authors
Deafness
Journalists
Writers

Prayer of St. Francis
(from the Treatise on the Love of God, Bk 10)
 
Lord, I am yours,
and I must belong to no one but you.

My soul is yours,

and must live only by you.

My will is yours,

and must love only for you.

I must love you as my first cause,

since I am from you.

I must love you as my end and rest,

since I am for you.

I must love you more than my own being,
since my being subsists by you.
I must love you more than myself,
since I am all yours and all in you.
Amen.

Here is my particular prayer to our patron of the day:

Dear St. Francis de Sales, patron of communicators, pray for all of us who navigate the modern world through the internet. Help us to use it as a source of edification and a means of communicating to others only what is pleasing to God. Amen.
 
 Quotes from St. Francis de Sales:
 
"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."
 
“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly
 
“Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”
 
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
 
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.”
 
“If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in Our Lord's presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed.”
 
“Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue.”
 
“While I am busy with little things, I am not required to do greater things.”
 
“Have patience to walk with short steps until you have wings to fly.”
 
"If we say a little it is easy to add, but having said too much it is hard to withdraw and never can it be done so quickly as to hinder the harm of our success. "
 
"When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time."
 
"Always be as gentle as you can, and remember that more flies are caught with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar."




"When the bee has gathered the dew of heaven and the earth's sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven, and true son of Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food."
 
To Celebrate the Feast

Due largely to these last two quotes of St. Francis, his tendency to use analogies from nature, and the golden sweetness and purity of his counsel, it seems only right and good to celebrate his feast day by cooking with honey!


To that end, Catholic Cuisine offers a honey breakfast bar recipe to celebrate this feast, and here is one of many sites which lists many recipes using honey.  One of our favorite honey-based recipes is our homemade granola.  Here's our recipe:

1 box (6 cups) rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts (we like almonds)
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup honey (or honey mixed with maple syrup)
1/3 cup oil, any kind, but we like safflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 - 1 cup raisins
1/2 - 1 cup chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Combine the first 5 ingredients. Warm the honey, add the oil and vanilla. Drizzle the honey-oil over the dry ingredients and toss to coat. Spread the mixture onto 2 cookie sheets. Bake about 30 minutes until golden, stirring every 10 minutes.

When done, remove from oven and stir in dried fruit if used. As the granola cools, it will lose its stickiness and become crunchy. Makes about 9 cups. Store in airtight containers.  Be amazed if it lasts 2 breakfast-times.

Oh! And There's This:
Our girls are having a baking with honey contest this afternoon.  Daddy and the Littles are being the judges.  Cathy says I shouldn't be a judge, though, because I "wouldn't want to have to pick one and hurt someone else's feelings."  She'll make a good Mama someday, I'm thinking...  I'll let you know what goodie is chosen the winner and post the best recipes!

Click, copy, and print for a coloring page.


* Reposted from last year.

The days are short,

The sun a spark

Hung thin between

The dark and dark.

 

~ John Updike

from "January"

Just Sayin'

I was out shopping last night and was waited on by the cutest little college-age girl -- who spoke just like Snow White --  in a very, very high, very feminine, sweet little voice.  She was adorable.  We talked about how it's a pain to take the hangars off of some of the clothes and how the young man who was supposed to be helping someone at the jewelry counter couldn't have moved much slower to get over there.  It wasn't until she handed me my bags, and I said good-bye and "have a good evening," that I realized I was talking in a high-pitched voice that matched hers.  Um, oops.  I hope she thought that's how I always talk.

My Mom does this when she's around her southern relatives -- and I may actually be guilty of it, too.  We don't even know we're doing it, but we pick up the accent -- and sometimes even the mannerisms -- of the person we're with.  That sweet drawl just sorta rubs off, ya know?  It's contagious!

I never thought I had an accent. My whole life I figured I spoke in "news broadcaster" standard midwestern -- like my Dad (who was meticulous about speech and pronunciation and eschewed my mother's occasional southern twang). But then I got to know the guy who used to spray our house for bugs. I needed an excuse to keep an eye on this bug-guy while he poked around all the corners of my house, so I engaged him in conversation while I trailed after him. One day, in the middle of some comment I was making, he stopped me mid-sentence, exclaiming, "Where the heck do you come from? You have the craziest accent!"

Well! I beg your pardon!? Me? I don't have an accent!  Hmph!

I mean, seriously.  At the time I didn't have Google to look this stuff up and prove him wrong.  But, now I do.  And, let me tell you, it's fascinating research! I've spent more time than I should this morning trying to classify everyone I know, myself included. Scrolling through the dialects at this site, I think I have pinpointed my patterns as mostly Tidewater Mid-Atlantic dialect, crossed with a smidge of Baltimorean, and a dash of Dixie.  But flattened out by Military Basic. This is because my Dad's family is from Maryland, my Mom's family is from the woods of North Carolina,  but I spent my formative years in the Tidewater region of Virginia.  And I was a Navy brat.

So I prounounce orange like ahr-ange, and Florida like Flahr-ida.  My long i's occasional soften out to ah's, but I don't throw r's around indiscriminately like some Tidewater Mid Atlanticans and I don't add extra syllables into words like there;  I never say they-ah, in other words. (No pun intended.)  And my o's don't sound like the back-rounded inflection, eou (pronounced as one syllable), of my Baltimore relatives, nor do I say "youse all" and flatten out my oi's to sound like aw's. If I spoke real Baltimorese I would say, "Youse all deount spawl yer dinner; I'm bawlin crabs fer crab cakes.  Hon."  But I do say fahr'ed for forehead and I pronounce Norfolk as Nah-fk and Baltimore as Bal-di-mr.  So you can tell I'm not a native, but I'm hip to the lingo of my ancestral climes.

Isn't it int'restin'?   And proves exactly what I'm saying.  I don't have an accent.  Everyone else does.

Just sayin'.

Words Wednesday

Reader Gabe, Kindergartener Extraordinaire

"I WILL GET A PAN AND BAKE A

 PIE FOR THE APES AT THE ZOO."

For Paul

Our Marine whose sleep has been disturbed lately.

(Six week old baby, wisdom teeth extraction)

We feel for ya, hon!

Your poor mouth is bound to stop bothering you any day now.

Afraid I can't say the same thing about the baby.

(Though, I have to say, I wouldn't mind one little bit being up at night with scrumptions Gavin.) 

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

~ Parmigianino

Would that we could have the Heavenly Father throw some loved ones we know off a horse to the same end.  Or do you think maybe He actually does that sometimes?  I wonder if the trials we see our dear fallen ones face are not the same tactic, but their free will hasn't kicked in yet to lead them to the Faith.   Paul could have despaired after he fell and was blinded,  he could have thrown up his hands in disbelief at the voice of God, and continued to live his life blind and bitter.  But he didn't.  We only know about him, in fact, because he heard God's voice in the middle of his misfortune, opened his heart and jumped over that invisible barrier between doubt and faith; he looked for God and found Him.

I think God still speaks to us, the faithful and the blind ones still stumbling.  I don't think He ever stops talking.  And sometimes He tips us off our horses to get our attention.  How many times, I wonder, has He done that to me in my life and I just didn't get it?  I'm sure He's tried to wake me up out of my stupor of bad habits and apathy dozens of times, but, instead of noticing who it was that had just shoved me out of the saddle, I blamed my hard luck or got mad or galloped off on a pity trip -- without my horse. It's sad how dense I can be.  The metaphor of Paul's blindness is an apt one. 

On this feastday, I pray that St. Paul will help me realize when God is trying to teach me a lesson -- and that he'll help me to learn it.  And I also beg his intercession for the conversion of those near and dear to all of us who have either lost their Faith or never been blessed with it. 

St. Paul, pray for us!

In Honor of Saint Paul
(An ancient Coptic prayer)



O God of knowledge and giver of wisdom, who bringest to light the hidden things of darkness, and givest the word unto them that preach the gospel with great power, who of Thy goodness didst call Paul, who was sometime a persecutor, to be a chosen vessel, and wast pleased in him, that he should become a chosen apostle and preacher of the gospel of Thy kingdom, O Christ our God. Thee also do we now entreat, O Thou good and that lovest man. Graciously grant unto us and unto all Thy people a mind without wandering and a clear understanding, that we may learn and understand how profitable are Thy holy teachings, which are now come unto us by him; and even as he was made like unto Thee, the leader unto life, so make us to be like unto him in deed and doctrine, that we may glorify Thy holy Name and ever glory in Thy Cross. And Thou art He unto whom we ascribe praise and glory and worship, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, now and ever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.

* Found here



These Plates...

...painted by the hands of my children during a Christmas week outing,

Make My Monday!

I think it was Christmas Thursday that we gathered everyone  -- well, almost everyone; Kevin's plate is missing because we hadn't given him and Emily fair warning and they made other plans* -- and went to the Fat Cat Pottery, a little ceramics shop in the town down the road from us. We brought a mirror and a mission and just a little bit of goofiness, and came up with these,
                                      
 my Christmas presents from the children:



Super Family: Paul, Nicole, and Gavin (our little cherub)
I love that Paul sees his family the same way we do.  :)

  

Jon and Dominic
Dig the piano keys around the edge of Jon's plate.  And the Latin on Dominic's:  Ecce Homo; Ecce Quam Bonum ~ Behold the man; behold it is good.  (snickersnicker. It is!)



Michelle and Theresa
Shell is known as "Chicky" to her brothers and looks so pretty in just the shade of teal she chose.  I love Theresa's smile and her red glasses match her real ones.



Gabe and William
You can tell they had help... and we arranged for Daddy to
come and get them them after about an hour, because we
knew it was going to be a marathon event, with all the
perfectionists in our group.  And it was.  We shut down
the place, having spent about four hours there.



Anna and Cathy
Can you see who is the silly goose here and who is the prim and proper girl? 



I'm planning to group them on a wall but haven't decided where yet.  I'll let you know what I figure out.

*So, you owe me a plate, Kevvy...  Maybe at Easter?

Make sure and run over to Cheryl's for more Makes My Monday posts!

Lord, I am not worthy...

In honor of today's Gospel (another of my favorites), I wanted to embed the clip from Jesus of Nazareth, where the Centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant.  I love Mr. Borgnine in this cameo!  Having enjoyed Jesus of Nazareth at Easter time almost every year of my life, it's Ernest Borgnine's face that  I see as the Centurion when I hear the Gospel read from the pulpit on the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany or when I read the story in the New Testament (Matt. 8: 1-13).  Mr Borgnine played the role with such humility and sweetness; it always brings tears to my eyes. 

So, anyway, I wanted to share the clip here, but for some reason, embedding was disabled for all the  versions of this clip I could find.  :(  Drat.

Still -- if you like, you can go see it here.

**********************************************

An aside: On Ernest Borgnine, one of my favorite actors -- I have mixed emotions.  I've enjoyed him in any role that I've seen him play (If you've never see him in Academy Award winning  Marty, you have to check it out!), and, judging from the quotes below, I think he and I would  agree on a lot of things in the larger spectrum of the world and society, in general -- but, this son of Italy, a Navy vet, was also a 33rd degree Mason and has been married five times.  Yikes!  Anyway,  he's still alive (about 93 years old) so we can pray for him!  Where there's life, there's hope -- and I can't help but think he must have a slew of Italian relatives in heaven who are rooting for him.  And maybe the Centurion, too.

Wisdom from Mr. Borgnine:  

Everything I do has a moral to it. Yes, I've been in films that have had shootings. I made The Wild Bunch (1969), which was the beginning of the splattering of blood and everything else. But there was a moral behind it. The moral was that, by golly, bad guys got it. That was it. Yeah.

Ever since they opened the floodgates with Clark Gable saying, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn,' somebody's ears pricked up and said, 'Oh boy, here we go!'. Writers used to make such wonderful pictures without all that swearing, all that cursing. And now it seems that you can't say three words without cursing. And I don't think that's right.

"I didn't see it and I don't care to see it ... If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave." - On Brokeback Mountain (2005)

[On his $5,000 salary for playing the eponymous lead in Marty (1955), which won him a Best Actor Oscar] "...I would have done it for nothing."

I like my women a little big. Natural. Now, they shave this and wax that. It's not right. I love natural women. Big women. This trend in women has to go. Bulomia, anorexia. That's just wrong. You know what will cure that? My special sticky buns. One lick of my sticky buns and your appetite will come right back.

I hate hippies and dopeheads. Just hate them. I'm glad we sent the men off to war. They came back with a sense of responsibility and respect. We should have grabbed the women, given them a bath, put a chastity belt on them, and put them in secretary school.

On the 38th Anniversary

Today marks the anniversary of the decision of our American Legal System allowing the murder of innocent life in the womb.   Millions of words have been written condemning the Roe v. Wade ruling in an effort to save the lives of babies.  And there is no doubt that these appeals have saved babies in individual cases, thank God, but, in the big picture, our world is still blind to the evil it's allowing.  Just as in the days when the evil of slavery soiled our world, the conscience of our culture needs to be awakened and retaught in this matter, equally as grave, if not more so -- because the sin goes beyond the de-valuing of life that we saw when another human could "own" another -- to the legalized destruction of life for the convenience of another.

These are truly sad times -- not just because such a thing as abortion exists, because it's been around since the beginning, but because it's accepted and even celebrated. God help us.

But, no sense wasting more words here on truths that anyone visiting me likely sees already. I know I'm preaching to the choir. But a reminder today to pray that the crime of abortion will be seen as just that -- a crime -- sometime soon in our country. Only God knows how this change of heart and laws can take place. So, we join all the faithful people of our country and our world today in praying for His interference to save the lives of babies -- to save the souls of their mothers.

The offering of the Mass and the daily rosary are our strongest weapons against evil, but here is another prayer, written by the National Director of Priests for Life that encourages a commitment to action along with prayer. 

Prayer to End Abortion
(by Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director Priests for Life.)

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life, And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part in ending abortion. Today I commit myself Never to be silent, Never to be passive, Never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, And never to stop defending life Until all my brothers and sisters are protected, And our nation once again becomes A nation with liberty and justice Not just for some, but for all, Through Christ our Lord. Amen!

The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow.

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

The Feast of St. Agnes

* A repost from last year, but with some cool new links at the bottom in blue.  Also, make sure and run over to Waltzing Matilda to check out Charlotte's new beautiful coloring page for St. Agnes!

St. Agnes  is the sweet little saint who reminds us of the importance of purity.  She was only twelve years old when she was martyred during the reign of Diocletian (c.350) for having been betrayed as a Christian to the Roman authorities, but also for her steadfast purity. After refusing to offer incense at the altar of Minerva, Diocletian threatened the young girl with various tortures to entice her to relinquish her Faith.  But Agnes never lost her calm, accepting torture and death over sin.  When the soldiers tried to put her in chains, her tiny hands slipped through the cuffs, but she walked unbound to the place of her torture.  She was then stripped and dragged through the streets, but even as she predicted, Christ did "guard His own."   Most of the crowd, moved to pity, averted their eyes, but one young man, daring to turn his eyes upon Agnes, was struck blind and born away "half dead with pain and terror."  Offered riches and marriage,to save her life, Agnes refused, saying, "Christ is my Spouse: He chose me first, and His I will be."  And, thus her death sentence was procurred.  "At one stroke her head was severed from her body, and the angels bore her pure soul to Paradise."

What an example St. Agnes is in a world that's become so desensitized to sins of impurity!  Movies and television programs glorify sinful lives and we barely even think about it.  How many story lines out there don't include premarital affairs, extramarital affairs, and/or broken families?  If we're vigilant, we can avoid watching these things, but some things are harder to stay away from.  I'm constantly amazed, for instance, at the billboards and magazine covers at the checkout stands with their skimpily-clad models.  We turn the magazines around backward in their displays when we see these, but there's not much we can do about the billboards but avert our eyes.  It's shameful!  And our children are assaulted with this on a daily basis.  It's a hard thing to teach custody of the eyes and an awkward explanation to make to pure little souls.  But, it's a necessary one, more today than ever. It's vitally important that our sons learn a distaste for the kind of girl who would dress like a magazine cover, and our daughters learn the importance of dressing modestly. Our Lady warned the children at Fatima: "Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much." 

 Pope Pius XII, speaking to a sodality convention in Rome, reiterated the Blessed Mother's warning and took it a step further:

"You live in a world which is constantly forgetful of God and the supernatural, where the only interest of the crowd seems to be the satisfaction of temporal needs, well-being, pleasure, vanity....
"How many young girls there are who do not see any wrongdoing in following certain shameless styles like so many sheep. They certainly would blush if they could guess the impression they make and the feeling they evoke in those who see them. Do they not see the harm resulting from excess in certain gymnastic exercises and sports not suitable for virtuous girls? What sins are committed or provoked by conversations which are too free, by immodest shows, by dangerous reading. How lax have consciences become, how pagan morals!"

And this was in 1954!

The feast of St. Agnes is a wonderful opportunity to remind our children about the importance of purity and what that means in their own lives.  One of the important outer walls to defend agains impurity is modest dress.  Some of my favorite sites, not only teaching the importance of modesty, but cheerleading the beauty and benefit:

*  Marylike Standards of Modesty as set down by the Vatican.
*  Catholic Modesty website
* The Forgotten Virtue: Modesty in Dress on Catholic Online
* Modest Clothing at Catholic Home and Garden
* Colleen Hammond's website, with links to her book, Dressing with Dignity
* Betty Beguiles: Marriage Moxy and Modesty with a Vintage Twist 
(and check Betty Beguiles' blogroll for other modesty-inspired blogs and sites)

Interesting Facts and Ways to Celebrate the Feast of St. Agnes

*An interesting custom is observed on St. Agnes' feast day. Two lambs are brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to the Pope to be blessed. On Holy Thursday they are shorn, and from the wool is woven the pallium which the pope gives to a newly consecrated metropolitan archbishop as a sign of his jurisdiction and his union with the pope.


*Saint Agnes is the patron saint of young girls; folk custom called for them to practice rituals on Saint Agnes' Eve (20–21 January) with a view to discovering their future husbands. This superstition has been immortalised in John Keats's poem, "The Eve of Saint Agnes."

*She is represented in art as a young blonde girl in robes, holding a palm branch in her hand and a lamb at her feet or in her arms.

*In the historical novel Fabiola or, the Church of the Catacombs, written by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman in 1854, Agnes is the soft-spoken teenage cousin and confidant of the protagonist, the beautiful noblewoman Fabiola. (Theresa is reading Fabiola now -- and is so excited that the feast days of the characters in her novel "coming to life" in the liturgical year right now!)
(The above four notes from Wikipedia) _

* A coloring page for the day can be found here (copy and print the engraving).  Or here -- a lovely one, compliments of Jordana at Curmudgeonry.
* There are a whole page of lamb crafts to choose from here -- and especially here, at Catholic Icing.

*  You can also find a bunch of thee cutest lamb cupcake and other goody ideas at here at Catholic Icing.  Plus, there is a simple lamb cake here -- or a more complicated one that I found here (Neither needs a special pan.).

Pens

H/T:  Kath-a-leen M.  ;)

I have one question...

(at least right at the moment...)

What's with the flipflops the girls are wearing these days in mid-January? 

 LADIES!  There's snow on the ground, for crying out loud!

Take a hint from the yaks!

Yaks in Winter
Dressed for the Weather



You don't have to wear a fur coat,
but at least wear Mary Janes!

Simple Monday, January 17th

Outside my window... it's a hazy day, chilly but not cold.  Everything is taupe and grey.

What I'm hearing...  More than usual for a Monday mid-morning because today is school day off.  The background music at the moment: Cathy tickling William; William laughing.  Anna trying to read Theresa's book aloud -- which is interesting because Anna is a second grader and Theresa is reading Pride and Prejudice.

Around the house... The tree and all the ornaments are finally down, packed, and back out in the barn. We were depressed about the house looking bare, though, especially after our very room-consuming tree was added to the wood pile, so we came up with some fun, winter-cheering clutter to fill some space in our great room:



We left up our snowmen as we figure they're more "winter" than
 Christmas, specifically.  And they're bright and cheerful. We
also left our woodland "throws" on the backs of the sofas (below).



We added a new piece of furniture, an extremely functional one.
One of our favorite Christmas gifts, Gabe's new little school desk
works perfectly for a side table.  I'd like to find a matching one
for the other side of the couch -- but that may be a needle in the
haystack. 



We rearranged our furniture a  bit to add a little reading nook by the wood stove.  This is Theresa's new favorite spot.



And here's Cathy's new favorite spot: a crafting center we originally placed by the woodstove.  We ended up moving it to the other side of the room, but, here you can see Cathy working on a special homeschool project: a little gnome village, inspired by the knitted gnome we found recently  at an antique store -- and by the fact that we couldn't  bear to pack  away the" skinny trees" that were around our Nativity.



And here are the "skinny trees" making up the forest
for Cathy's gnomes.  She's been making new characters
for her little world and composing stories about them
for Creative Writing projects.  Lots of fun!  I'll
post some more pictures of the little gnomes when
I can.  And some of her stories if she doesn't mind.


What I'm wearing...  blue jean skirt; earthtone and blue butterfly- printed tee with sparkles; brown cardigan with blue trim, red fuzzy slippers (because one shouldn't match too perfectly on a vacation day).

What I'm reading...  Trying to actually get through the whole New Testament without breaks of months and years in between. Also re-reading an Amelia Peabody mystery just for fun: The Curse of the Pharoahs. 



Dominic, pictured here
serving at Gavin's
Baptism.



We're praying for... all seminarians this start of the new year, but especially our good friends, Brother Anthony, Brother Michael, Carlos, and our son, Dominic who started his first classes at the seminary the first of this month.

From the kitchen...  Fifteen Bean Soup, a winter staple.  The prepared bags of beans are inexpensive and easy to cook up with my own spices and a hambone or leftover ham and rice.  For a quickie, no-recipe, taste-as-you go idea of how we make it: 

For a whole bag of 15-(or16) bean soup mix (already picked, boiled, and prepared as directed on the bag), I add a scant cup of brown rice to the pot (which should be about two-thirds beans, one-third water, give or take), two cans diced tomatoes, one can tomato sauce, a couple tablespoons of beef buillon, a  liberal scoop  of prepared cajun spice, a good sprinkling of basil (because I just like basil), one diced onion and four diced cloves of garlic sauteed in butter, sea salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, cover, and set to simmer for however long it takes to get the kids rounded up and the table cleaned off and set, plus maybe a rosary if you're gang is fast.  (Roughly about an hour).  But the soup can be set to simmer longer, if it's on very low heat and watched so the water doesn't cook down too low.  If you make a great big pot like I did Saturday, there'll be plenty for left-over lunches all week long.  Yum!

But pass out the "Bean-o" because, um, well, ya know....  those beans can be an issue...

  My Mom says that a pinch of baking soda cooked in can help with the after-effects.  But the jury's out here on whether that actually works.  Maybe it's a coincidence, but certain ones of us have this problem with or without the baking soda... Of course, maybe it has nothing to do with the beans at all. Maybe some people are just full of hot air...  Or something.  Anyway...  'Scuse the digression verging into eight-year-old humor.  But it is one of those complex problems of daily home life, right Moms?   How to use those wonderful, healthful, inexpensive beans without the malodorous effects...  

Anyone know of any other natural preventatives?

One of my favorite things...  The way a teeny baby nestles into the curve of your neck and scrunches up its wee legs so that its cute little diapered butt pooches out.  Sorta like Gavin over there on the right, snuggled up to his Momma, sucking on his fingers.  (Mommom's sweet little guy...) And I love that baby smell.  I think it's the closest sense we have of a heavenly joy on earth.

 Some other picture thoughts I'd like to share...

Uncle William

Uncle Gabe

Sepia Saturday

Back in the days when computers were serious...

That's my Dad on the far right -- when he was still just a sailor.

My Dad was a communications officer in the Navy when I was growing up, and it was a big treat for us kids to visit him every once in a while aboard ship. I remember what must have been one of our first chances to go to my father's "work."  Since I was only five or six at the time, it would have been the first four of us kids. We were so proud to walk alongside Dad in his uniform; I remember the goosebumps of delight when the enlisted men saluted him and his fellow officers chatted with him, remarking on us kids as they added information to the little tour speeches Dad gave as he led us around to the authorized-kid-touring places onboard.  We marched behind my Dad like well-trained little soldiers, the bunch of us, speaking when spoken to, and trying to absorb everything in case there was a test later.

 You never knew with my Dad; there might be a test
.
But, we didn't mind because time with our father was precious and it really was a pretty neat experience; the ships were enormous and we got to see a lot of the cooler bells and whistles from the helm to the torpedo deck, but what I remember most --  besides all the neato ladders and hatches -- was the big computer room.  You could hear the humming and whirring coming from that room as soon as you climbed down the ladder to that deck.  The closer you got, the louder it got.  And it smelled kinda funny for some reason, as I remember it.

Funny the things you remember.

But, anyway... I digress. 



Me.  An eighth as old,
a quarter the size.

 Located somewhere in the bowels of the ship (you had to know where it was to know where it was), the computer room was a long and narrow space -- maybe twenty feet long by twelve feet wide -- and it was lined wall to wall with floor- to-ceiling rows of humming computers.  In the middle of the room were several rows, as well, all with buttons and lights and sliding knobs -- all very mysterious.  And very, very solemn and serious.  Dad only let us poke our heads in, before he quickly shuttled us out, explaining in the most cursory way, that this was -- well, it was the computer room.  Like we knew what that meant.

What my little brain  inferred was that the whole thing was purposely veiled in secrecy. Maybe there was coding going on.  Something having to do, maybe, with the evil empire, the Communists.  Or the Vietnamese.  Who knew?  One thing for sure, though, we obviously weren't supposed to be anywhere near those computers. Dad sure herded us out of there pretty quick.  And then he headed us straight to the mess hall where he gave us doughnuts -- to make us forget about what we'd seen.  Or something like that.  Anyway, what little Lisa, Kindergartener, came away with that day was that computers were a very grown up, complex, and vauguely frightening  thing.  Something I'd probably never understand.  Certainly not something I'd ever own.

Isn't it amazing?

Thirty-some years later*, here I sit, Lisa, twenty-first-century Momma, typing at our desktop computer, communicating via the internet with people all over the world. In a minute here I'm going to look for a crazy free online zombie game that Gabey keeps telling me about.  Dan's in his office working on his laptop, and the children have several "kiddy" computers that they pull out to play games on all  the time.  Our cars are computerized, our cellphones are computerized, our music comes from tiny computerized devices that we plug into our ears.  Even my coffepot has a chip in it, that programs it to grind the beans on schedule for our morning coffee. And here's the thing -- the computer function of my coffee pot would probably have taken a whole wall of the computers on my Dad's ship thirty years ago.  Maybe even two walls.

Amazing.

To Join in on Sepia Saturday fun, run over here.

* Alright, alright.  Ya got me.  Make that forty-some.

Winter Time

Snowy meadow on the way to Telluride, Colorado, Epiphany week, 2011. Click for the better effect of the larger picture...

Winter-Time

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,

A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;

Blinks but an hour or two; and then,

A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,

At morning in the dark I rise;

And shivering in my nakedness,

By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit

To warm my frozen bones a bit;

Or with a reindeer-sled, explore

The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap

Me in my comforter and cap;

The cold wind burns my face, and blows

Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;

Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;

And tree and house, and hill and lake,

Are frosted like a wedding-cake.

Just When I Thought We Were Finally Done With All the Christmas Goodies...

I come home from running errands and Cathy has made these:

You know the chocolate oranges you get in your Christmas stocking?
  If you like those, you'll like these.

Double Chocolate Orange Cookies

ingredients

5 oz unsalted butter, softened
2 oz light brown sugar
8 oz all purpose flour
2 oz unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 oz dark chocolate (chopped or in chips)
Gragted zest of 2 oranges
2 tbsp orange juice

makes
30 cookies

method

Preheat oven to 350.  Line two cookie sheets with baking parchment.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl, until pale and fluffy.  Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking powder together twice and then carefully fold into the butter and sugar mixture.  Add the chopped chocolate, orange zest, and orange juice and gently mix together to form a smooth dough.

On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.  Cut into approximately 30 cookies with a 2 inch fluted cookie cutter. (Alternatively, "ball" them as you do when making chocolate chip cookies, and flatten to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness) 

Cook in the center of the oven for 12 - 15 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool on the sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

(New Year's Resolution?  What New Year's Resolution?)

Other People's Fitness

I saw this morning that Forbes has rated Washington D.C. as the nation's fittest city. 

Um, seriously?

Did the figures that Forbes used come from the PR people in our nation's capital, ya think?  We have such faith in those guys.

Do you know what key factor figured in on this ranking?  How many gyms, parks and fitness trails the city has paid to have built. 

That's a good indicator, now, isn't it? Those people in Washington D.C. expend lots of calories spending our money on their parks.

But, they say, folks in D.C. eat large quantities of fruit and hardly anyone there smokes.

Yuhuh.  Riiiiight.

{pause} =sigh=

Well, alright.  This may be true.  Who knows?  It's not charitable, I guess, to doubt Washington D.C. and  Forbes' word on it.

But, if the citizens in our nation's capital really are so fit, I'm thinking that an abundance of fruit and parks have less to do with it than that city's long-standing ranking as the murder capital of the United States.

 If you live there, you've got to be a good runner. 

(To find some real fitness junkies, come to Colorado.  Denver has lots of parks and trails and gyms, but the statistic that Forbes doesn't count is how many people hang out in the natural terrain around a given city.  Doesn't matter what time of year it is here, you cannot hike a trail practically anywhere in the mountains of this state and find yourself alone. Some of us may be huffing and puffing, but we're out there!) 

An Interesting Thought

...in light of the recent snowy weather all over the United States, and the threat of other disasters that could theoretically trap one inside one's home, like... say,
* hungry wolves surrounding your house (Little House on the Prairie),
* a mudslide trapping you ( Columbia this past December.
* mutant zombie hoardes showing up  (I am Legend)
* government taxation on air (*See below)

...one wonders how long one could survive.

Based upon the following quizlet*, with amazingly thorough and penetrating questions (not),

Not too bad I guess for a household of seven people.  But, this is only if we boil and eat our leather coats and shoes and possibly our pets, under which circumstances I'm thinking I'd settle for two hundred days and call it good. 
                                           -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

** A partial list of the various ways in which citizens of the US are taxed:


•Accounts Receivable Tax
•Building Permit Tax
•Capital Gains Tax
•CDL license Tax
•Cigarette Tax
•Corporate Income Tax
•Court Fines (indirect taxes)

•Deficit spending
•Dog License Tax
•Federal Income Tax
•Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
•Fishing License Tax
•Food License Tax
•Fuel permit tax
•Gasoline Tax
•Hunting License Tax
•Inflation
•Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money)
•Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
•IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
•Liquor Tax
•Local Income Tax
•Luxury Taxes
•Marriage License Tax
•Medicare Tax
•Property Tax
•Real Estate Tax
•Septic Permit Tax
•Service Charge Taxes
•Social Security Tax
•Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
•Sales Taxes
•Recreational Vehicle Tax
•Road Toll Booth Taxes
•School Tax
•State Income Tax
•State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
•Telephone federal excise tax
•Telephone federal universal service fee tax
•Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
•Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
•Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
•Telephone state and local tax
•Telephone usage charge tax
•Toll Bridge Taxes
•Toll Tunnel Taxes
•Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
•Trailer Registration Tax
•Utility Taxes
•Vehicle License Registration Tax
•Vehicle Sales Tax
•Watercraft Registration Tax
•Well Permit Tax
•Workers Compensation Tax
(From here)
*Warning: Though this quiz is harmless, I strongly suggest against allowing children or teens to peruse the site from whence it came.  Not all is wholesome there.