Always Advent

Just a link today—to one of the front page articles at Catholic Exchange:

The Mystery of Divine Mercy

I don’t make them every year, but hot cross buns are a nice Good Friday tradition that you can use as a teaching moment with children and as a way to connect with other families.

Make 11 buns according to your favorite recipe. Whether you add a cross of frosting or just cut them into the top can vary from year to year. Some people omit the frosting cross because of the traditional Lenten observance of avoiding sweets during Lent and Holy Week. I usually include it because it is a traditional reminder of the sweetness of the Cross, on which was hung our salvation.

Bring the plate of 11 hot cross buns to someone’s house or invite a family over to your house. Ask any children present to count how many there are, then ask if anyone knows why there are only 11 instead of a nice even dozen. (Answer: there are 11 hot cross buns in honor of the 11 faithful apostles. Remember that Judas was gone by this point in the Passion.)

The recipe I have is from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz

Ingredients:
1 pkg dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (about 100-100 degrees F)
1 teasp. white or light brown sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sweet butter
1/3 cup brown or raw sugar
1 teasp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 to 4 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teasp. cinnamon
1/2 teasp. ground cloves
1/2 teasp. nutmeg
1/2 teasp. ground ginger (or substitute allspice)
2/3 cup dried currants
Optional:
1/3 cup finely diced or julienned citron

Frosting:
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar (more if needed)
grated rind of 1 lemon

Directions:
Sprinkle the yeast into the lukewarm water. Stir in 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit until frothy.

Scald the milk. Add the butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until blended. Cool to lukewarm. Beat the eggs until light, and combine with the milk mixture. Add the yeast.

Sift 2/3 cups of the flour with the spices into a mixing bowl. Make a well, and pour in the yeast mixture. Beat for 5 minutes.

Toss the currants, and citron, if using it, with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Mix into the dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. The dough should be fairly firm, otherwise it will not take the cuts for the cross.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover the dough with a towel and put it to rise in a draft-free spot until doubled in volume. This will take about 2 hours.

Punch the dough down. Shape it into 2 dozen buns. (See my note above–I recommend making 22 buns with this recipe, or halve the recipe and make 11)

Place the buns 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart on well-greased cookie sheets or in muffin pans. With a sharp knife cut a cross into the top of each bun. Allow them to rise until doubled in bulk, 30-45 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

For the frosting, mix the milk with enough sugar so that the icing is not runny. Add the rind. Brush a cross on the top of each bun.

Photo above is a detail from Pieta, by Giovanni Bellini.

Our pastor taught us this little prayer (which he says the nuns taught him as a child):

I have found Him whom my soul loves.
I will hold Him, and never let Him go.
(based on Song of Songs 3: 4)

The nuns as his school growing up taught the kids to say this prayer during the elevations of the host and chalice.

I usually save this one for when I return to my seat after receiving Holy Communion, because the one I learned to say at the elevations is:

My Lord and my God!
(at the elevation of the host)

and

My Jesus, mercy.
(at the elevation of the chalice)

I have a friend who’s a Dominican priest, and when he was in seminary he started praying the Divine Praises after communion. My kids and I recite these together right after Mass–they’re usually right there in the inside back cover of the missalette, although by now we’ve pretty much memorized them. One of the kids or myself leads them, out loud but quietly, and the others repeat each line.

These are all excellent ways of increasing your devotion to Jesus, especially in the Holy Eucharist and for keeping your focus on Him during the Mass.

Note: these prayer practices are not approved for public liturgical use–they’re just prayers I and my children say as private devotions.

My mom has a friend from Greece. When I first met her she greeted me with an embrace and that famous European “double kiss” –- one on my right cheek, one on my left.

She took note of my surprise. “You’re not familiar with this greeting, Clare?”

I told her I had seen people greet each other that way many times, but no one had ever greeted me that way.

She asked me if I knew the symbolic meaning of a kiss on both cheeks.

I told her I did not.

“In Greek culture, it means that when I greet you, I greet and accept both sides of you, the good and the bad.”

I thought that was great, but…

…I imagine it’s sometimes easier to greet a stranger that way than someone you know well. Haven’t most of us experienced the hard reality that the people you know best are sometimes the hardest ones to accept and to love? Are there times, even in Greek culture, when people can’t bear to offer the “double-kiss” greeting? What do Greeks and others who practice that custom do at those times?

How about when looking in a mirror? Can I accept the fact that there are two sides to myself: the “new creation,” transformed in Christ, and the “old man,” still struggling for dominance years after I’ve “formally” broken ties?

That’s part of the great battle everyone fights.

Give your children the gift of a blessing–often.

Try this simple formula every morning before school and every night at bedtime:

With your thumb, trace a cross on your child’s forehead and then say, “May the Lord Jesus bless you and give you peace, and may the prayers of the saints and angels preserve you.”

Some parents add a little sprinkling of holy water when they do this. Another form I’ve heard of is to say, “Jesus bless you, Mary keep you.” Or make up your own wording.

If you’ve never done anything like this before, it may feel awkward at first, both for you and for the children. But everyone will get used to it in time and the children will even ask for it if you forget.

Note: this blessing is not approved for use in any public liturgy. It is just a simple prayer I made up ans a simple thing I do with my children.

God bless you and them!

These are the intercessions from the Liturgy of the Hours today: Morning Prayer, Wednesday of Week 4 of Lent:

Help us to receive good things from your bounty with a deep sense of gratitude, and to accept with patience the evil that comes to us.

Teach us to be loving not only in great and exceptional moments, but above all in the ordinary events of daily life.

May we abstain from what we do not really need, and help our brothers and sisters in distress.

May we bear the wounds of your Son, for through his body he gave us life.

Amen.

Just a link today: an article from Denise O’Leary at Mindful Hack that I thought was interesting:

http://mindfulhack.blogspot.com/2007/12/mario-beauregard-on- cbc-radio.html

I’m following up a bit on a “Soul Hack”** post of mine from a couple days ago about a Lenten all-media fast. Here’s a bit more on that subject from an excellent article in GodSpy by Angelo Matera:

Pascal said “the sole cause of man’s unhappiness” is that he doesn’t know “how to stay quietly in his room.”

That suggests something you can do for Lent—nothing. It’s not too late.

and

One reason we’re addicted to activity is that it takes our mind off questions we don’t like to ask—What’s the meaning of life? What happens when we die? Why does God allow evil? These are the questions that Pascal said gave rise to distractions like fox hunting—and today, monster truck shows. Being a Christian doesn’t settle these questions, otherwise theologians would be out of work. And the spiritual growth that comes from grappling with the answers is a life-long process.

To read the full article go here: The Joy of Nada: Doing Nothing for Lent

** “Soul Hack”? What the heck is that? A Soul Hack is a spiritual Life Hack–a technique or trick that makes things in your life and work better, easier, more efficient, more organized. If you’ve never heard of Life Hacks before, try these two websites:

LifeHacker
Lifehack

I did a quick Google search on “Soul Hack” and I don’t think anybody’s using it in the sense in which I’m using it–something you can do to shake things up in your spiritual life in order to better effect your ongoing transformation in Christ. Perhaps I just coined a phrase. Clever me! :)

Critics of the Catholic Church sometimes cite the Bible’s admonition against “vain repetition” as evidence that prayers like the Rosary, Litanies, Novenas and other Catholic devotions are no good.

A friend of mine recently said this in response to that kind of criticism: “Repetition is not vain if the prayer truly comes from the heart.”

Of novenas he said, “Repeating our intentions for nine consecutive days shows the Lord that we are earnest in our request and that we are willing to wait for His timing in answering our prayer.”

Food for thought! Have a relaxing Sunday tomorrow everyone.

I came across this excellent book at my local public library, on the “new books” shelf:

The Catholicism Answer Book by Rev. John Trigilio Jr., PhD and Rev. Kenneth Brighenti, PhD (2007, Sourcebooks Inc.)

Straight-up, no-nonsense, get in/get out question & answer format. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but it passes all the tests for good, Catholic books: orthodox, faithful answers to the hot button questions about sexual morality (contraception, homosexuality, fornication), life issues (abortion, capital punishment, cloning, embryonic stem cell research), clergy (male priesthood, priestly celibacy), history (the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Da Vinci Code) and the Bible (questions of creation, reading the Bible correctly). And so on.

Best place for this book? On your coffee table, bedside, or the reading rack in your bathroom. Highly recommended.

The authors also wrote Catholicism for Dummies.