Today

So last night I wasn't ashamed to admit I cried. Well, today, of course, I'm embarrassed that I admitted it! Oh well. Chalk it up to the 1/4 Irish in my blood, along with a glass of red wine which helped drown my sorrows.

I still believe what I said, however: America is lost. We've lost our understanding of freedom and what it means to be an American. We've lost our moral bearings completely (well, not completely, as gay "marriage" bans passed in California and Florida). We've lost our economic freedom because we're indebted to the tune of trillions of dollars.

Today, it's time to figure out what we're doing next.

Michele Malkin says "gird your loins, conservatives".

Feminine-Genius says "God's will in all things", and also encourages us to:

• Pray and work to defend the marriage bond;
• Pray and work to defend the sanctity of all human life;
• Pray and work to restore life-giving collaboration between men and women;
• Pray and work to restore cherished devotions and a Catholic culture.
• Stay close to the sacraments and allow God to use use you as He will.

The Anchoress has a huge round-up of reactions.

My thoughts:

• I'm thankful that we had a peaceful election (though I can't say I'm sure it would have been that way had the outcome been reversed, based on the attacks, bullying, and intimidation that happened during the campaign).
  

• Since we might not always have talk radio or conservative blogs, we should start planning other ways for conservatives to stay connected to each other.

• If you still have your kids in public school, take them out immediately. We simply cannot have any more children brainwashed by the leftists in charge of government schools and textbooks. Send them to private schools, or better yet, homeschool them. You can do it, trust me. You certainly won't do any worse than most of the public schools, and you'll probably do much better at teaching your children the truths of faith and freedom. More about this later.

• Figure out what you personally can do to build a culture of love and life. More about this later, too.
  

Back to work here ... a house to clean, kids to take to various things, and supper to cook... the beauty of quotidian activities.

Wall to wall coverage of the Pope's visit

By the Love2Learn Blog.

Shepherd One has landed!

The kids and I watched the arrival of B16 a few minutes ago. Very exciting!

We rang a little bell (as suggested by EWTN via Leticia via Love2Learn Blog) and cheered his safe arrival and his meeting with President and Mrs. Bush.

I hope that the Pope's visit here will have an inspiring effect on all of us.

Speaking of inspiring, this story of Pope Benedict baptizing a former Muslim is worth reading.

The Annunciation

Beautiful meditation today on the Feast of the Annunciation from Feminine Genius:

There is one more truth that the Annunciation teaches us, and it is so appalling that I can think of nothing uplifting to say about it that will take the sting away: perhaps it is best forgotten, because it tells us more about God than we are able to understand. The Almighty Father creates heaven and earth, the sun and all the stars; but when he really wants something done, he comes, the Omnipotent and Omniscient, to one of his poor, weak creatures — and he asks.

And, day by day, he keeps on asking us (From Universalis).

Hie thee, read the whole thing.

Powerful examples of faith

The Today show has been covering an amazing story of mistaken identity. Two years ago, two young women coming home from a college function were in a horrible car crash; one died and one survived but with serious head injuries.

But the identities of the girls were mixed up, so that the deceased girl's family, the Von Ryns, thought their daughter, Laura, was still alive, and the living girl's family, the Ceraks, thought they'd buried their daughter, Whitney.

For five weeks, one family kept vigil at a girl's hospital bed, while the other mourned the the loss of their daughter, and yet praised God for her life and trusted that she was with Him in heaven.

Then the injured girl came out of her coma. And during a therapy session, she wrote her name: Whitney.

So the families had to switch places: The Ceraks could rejoice that their daughter was alive, while the Van Ryns had to grapple with the fact that their daughter was already buried.

From this article:

As people of faith, didn’t they ever ask, “How can God allow this to happen?”

“Not so much,” Don Van Ryn replied. “Over the years, God has shown himself to us, and we kind of know his character. We know that bad things happen to good people. We believe that God is sovereign, and he takes an active part in our lives, and even in sorrow there is joy.”

And this morning, when Whitney was trying to explain her thoughts about why all this happened, one of the things she said was:

"To glorify His name through all of us, even at the hardest times."

I'm always very moved when families with a strong faith are interviewed on TV; I think they often confound the interviewer and probably a lot of the viewers. Something terrible happened to you: Where's the bitterness? Why aren't you suing someone? Surely you don't still believe in God? And as Matt Lauer explicity asked this morning, "Where's the anger?"

And to everything, the foundation of their answer is always, "We believe." And implicitly, "We love."

Without a doubt, the most heartrending example of this was the Willis family. They lost six of their children in a horrific car fire on I-94 in Milwaukee. Their testimony of faith in a good God, in spite of the terrible loss they suffered, is humbling:

"Psalm 34 says, 'I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. O, taste and see that the Lord is good.' Janet and I want to praise and thank God. There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise Him in all things. God is a great God."

I hope I never am tested in that way, but whatever bad things happen in my life, I hope I will have that same response: I believe, I trust, I love, I praise.

Easter Joy

We've got it now!

Just got back from our annual pre-Easter family confession, which would have been yesterday, but 15 inches of snow will put a crimp in the best of plans.



But in spite of all the snow, we know that spring will be here soon. Those flower pots will soon be brimming with impatiens, bright spots of color and life in the shade of the birch tree.



Those "winter interest" perennial stalks will soon have new green shoots.



The glider swing will be available for use again, free and unencumbered.



And these battered and broken evergreen bushes, weighted down by this year's snowfall -- the 2nd snowiest winter ever in Milwaukee -- will soon be standing up tall, showing new growth, ready to start anew.

Are you feeling the metaphor with me here? I hope so. It's all part of the Easter joy!

As Lent draws to a close

This Lent has been bookended with snowstorms.

On Ash Wednesday, a storm dumped about a foot of snow on us; we had to cancel our plans to go to Confession and receive ashes.

Today, another storm is covering our part of the world with a foot or more of snow. Once again, our good Lenten plans are canceled. Today we're missing our tradition of family confession, a fish fry, and the beautiful Tenebrae service at the Basilica.

But, as my friend Love2Learn Mom noted, Lent isn't about making plans and sticking to them. As she says, "The theme of Lent this year seems to be "*YOU* are not the one in control."

So very true.

Not all of our plans had to be abandoned, of course. We did our usual "give ups", which are always fruitful. You learn how attached you've become to certain perfectly legitimate treats, and how beneficial it is to mortify the flesh by denying it those good things. We tried to increase our prayerfulness, and did some wonderful Lenten projects (which I always meant to blog about... one of these days....) We also tried harder to prune away those thorny sins of selfishness and lack of charity toward each other.

But most of our "offering up" this Lent was handed to us by events. The snowstorms, for sure, but much more.

There was sickness. This was one of the worst winters we've ever had for viruses that swept through the whole family, again and again. It's hard for me to remember a stretch of more than a week or so where somebody wasn't sick. And it continues: I came down with a miserable cold-achy-coughing virus yesterday.

There was the sadness and stress associated with having to admit Dad to the hospital again for testing, and for another stint in rehab. There's no way of sugar coating that, really: it's a nursing home, and nursing homes -- even the really good ones, which this is -- are hard places to be.

My Dad is doing a little better, thank God, but it's been a cross of loneliness and suffering for him. Between my mom and my three siblings in town, we're there many hours every day, but still, he keenly feels the separation from home when he's alone.

It's been hard for all of us, too, (though obviously not nearly as difficult) with time away from our homes and families, time spent traveling to the rehab center, all the worries about how Dad is doing, and just an aching sorrow at the cruelties and indignities, big and small, inflicted on us by aging.

So, Lent came to us according to God's will, in a much more meaningful way than if we'd been able to complete all our carefully made Lenten plans, according to our own wills. And that certainly helped teach us the life lesson that "we are not the ones in control".

Our Catholic Seder / Holy Week Passover Dinner

Some years ago I started hearing about Catholic families who hold a version of a Jewish Seder on Holy Thursday night. After a year or two of trying different things, some successful, some not so much, we've finally settled on a tradition that really works for our family.

First I have to say that this is in no way meant to be an authentic Seder dinner, obviously, as we are Catholic, not Jewish.

It's also done with the utmost respect for our Jewish friends, our "older brothers in the faith" (that includes a blogger friend I've never actually met, and my Jewish cousins-in-law). They'll very quickly see that there is nothing kosher about what I do with this meal. I hope they won't be horrified by that, but instead will understand the spirit in which it's done.

There's also a chance that my Catholic friends will be horrified by the amateurish nature of our Seder / Passover meal ... but I hope they'll remember that amateurs do things for the love of it. This is definitely a labor of love.

So, as I said, instead of trying to re-create an authentic Seder, which would of course end up being very inauthentic, we've adapted some of the elements of a traditional Jewish Passover meal to our Catholic Holy Week traditions. My hope is that we'll learn more about our Judeo-Christian heritage, appreciate the beautiful symbolism of the elements of a Seder, and come to a deeper understanding of the relationship between the Last Supper, which was a Passover meal, the Passion of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Mass of the Catholic Church.

A couple of things:

• The whole family needs to be very familiar with the story of the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, of the first Passover which required them to kill and eat an unblemished lamb and paint their doorposts with its blood, and of the Exodus into freedom and ultimately (years later) the Promised Land.
• We've sometimes had our Seder on Holy Thursday, sometimes on Holy Saturday, and this year, we had it yesterday. It's a moveable feast, for us, depending on what's happening with the family at the time. The only non-negotiable for me is that it happens during Holy Week.
• I've also made our Passover dinner considerably shorter than a true Seder, as a concession to our very late dinner hours. With a late-working husband, and now a daughter who works till 7 or 8 p.m., we have to keep to just the basics so that bedtime doesn't become insanely later than it already is.

But, we still manage to make it special! And it's become a tradition that I really look forward to.

So, here's our simple, homemade version of a Catholic Passover Supper. You'll need the following directions for the food and table preparation, and then this Word document with the traditional four question and answers adapated for a Christian ceremony.

For the main meal (serves 6 - 8)

4 small lamb chops (for just a taste of lamb per person, or, if you want to splurge, buy a leg of lamb, or enough chops for the whole family)
1 roasting chicken (if you're only providing a "taste" of lamb for everyone, as I do)
Side dishes according to your preference (I often make asparagus and rice or potatoes; no leavened bread, however!)

For the charoset

1 apple
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons red wine
Cinnamon to taste

Core and dice the apple; put it and the walnuts into a medium size bowl. Add the honey and wine (the quantities are approximate; add more or less to taste) and mix. Add a little bit of cinnamon to taste (optional). The charoset should be a pleasantly sweet, sticky, tangy mixture that holds together a little bit. (Add more honey if you need to.)

For the ceremonial dipping

1 bunch green leaf or romaine lettuce, parsley, or other "bitter" greens or herbs
1 package Matzoh (or other unleavened crackers in a pinch, as when the store is sold out, as happened to me yesterday...)
1 small bowl or custard cup filled with salt water

For the ceremonial cups of wine

Have sparkling grape juice for the kids, and real wine for the adults. (If you were my German grandmother, you'd pour a thimble-sized wine glass of real wine even for the little kids. Good for the digestion, you know. But that's beside the point, and completely politically incorrect these days.) A true Seder would have four separate cups; we use the same wine glass with enough in it for four (generous) "sips".

Putting it all together

Place the bowl of salt water in the middle of a decorative tray. Surround it with the lettuce or other greens. The salt water represents the tears of slavery. Sin enslaves us today, just as much as the Pharoah enslaved the Israelites thousands of years ago.

Place the matzoh on another decorative tray or serving plate, with a custard cup of charoset in the center. (Plan to refill that cup often!) Charoset represents the mortar that the enslaved Israelites used between the bricks when they were enslaved in Egypt, when building for the Pharoah.

If you're making chicken, roast it as you normally would. Roast the lamb, or, if you're having just a few lamb chops, you can pan fry them as I do. In a true Seder, my understanding is that no roasted meat would be eaten. Ever since the destruction of the Temple, just a roasted lamb bone is present on the table as a reminder of the original sacrifice. However, we Christians eat the lamb in remembrance of both the original Passover, and Eucharist of the Lamb of God.

Prepare the side dishes so that they'll be ready at serving time with a minimum of fuss, as you want to be seated at the table for the ceremonial part of the meal which comes first. I try to keep the food pretty simple.

Set a fancy table: This is where I break the "keep it simple" rule. You need your good company tablecloth, the good china and crystal, and candles. Yes, I mean it. Yes, I know it means hand-washing the dishes. It's worth it. This is special. The only concession I've made to the "good dishes" rule is that when the kids were really little, I used those plastic disposable champagne or wine glasses for them. But now, even the 8 year old gets the good stuff. It works out just fine.

For a centerpiece we used the fresh palms from last Sunday, laid down the middle of the table.

Put the two serving trays (with the lettuce or herbs on one, and the matzoh on the other) on the table.

And if you have them, give everyone a small sofa pillow or other small pillow to sit against on their chairs, to approximate reclining at table.

Call everyone to come sit down. Have Dad light the candle.

Then, use the this script, or any version of it that you like. I cribbed this together from a whole lot of sources (including several Catholic Culture pages and this one that I think is by a Rabbi. My version is, let's just say, succinct.

After you've completed this ceremonial portion of the meal, serve the rest of the dinner.

Over the years, we've used other elements of a real Seder, such as having a roasted (hard-boiled) egg on the table, hiding a piece of Matzoh, having an extra chair for the unseen guest, and so on. This version is stripped down to the basics, but it works for us.

If you want a much more detailed -- and I'm sure deeper, richer, and holier -- version, I would suggest reading Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder for Holy Week written by a Jewish woman who converted to Catholicism. I haven't read it yet myself, but it comes highly recommended by my friend Kristen McGuire.

If you try my simplified approach, or if you have your own version of a Catholic Seder -- or even if you just read this far! -- I'd love to hear about it.

Stations of the Cross

For Holy Week:

These life-size bronze figures were sculpted by Mickey Wells. They're located just outside of Groom, Texas, about 70 miles from Amarillo. Check this link for "Cross Ministries" to learn a little bit more about it.

The slide show doesn't have all the stations in the correct order, but it's very moving nonetheless.

H/T to a dear friend who emailed me the photos (thanks, K.!). Some Googling this morning found them online with an embed option.

Just maybe the best video I could ever put into a post.

Do yourself a favor and WATCH THIS! The whole thing is powerful, but especially the ending.

Is this not beautiful?

Deep calls to deep
At the thunder of thy cataracts;
All thy waves and thy billows
Have gone over me.

By day the Lord commands his
Steadfast love;
And at night his song is with me,
A prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 42:7-8

Reading the whole Bible in one year

I stumbled across a really cool thing earlier this year: an way to read through the entire Bible in one year, using a handy set of bookmarks listing four short readings each day.

If I can remember the blog that deserves the hat tip, I'll be sure to update here.

In the meantime, here are the bookmarks for the first half of the year, and here for the second half. Print them, cut them out, match them up, glue-stick them together back to back, and you're ready to start. Just don't laminate them, as I originally thought I'd do, as then you won't be able to use the handy checkboxes to mark off the sections as you read them.

It doesn't matter if you're not starting on January 1; just start now, and pretend it's January 1st! You'll be done a year from today instead of next New Year's Eve, that's all.

Besides, they've very kindly planned for only 25 days of reading each month, so you have about 5 extra days for "catch-up", if needed. (And for me, it's always needed, sad to say.)

I really like this format: insteading of starting with Genesis and reading straight through to Revelations, each day you read a little from the Old Testament, a Psalm, a little bit from a Gospel, and then a bit more of the New Testament starting with Acts of the Apostles.

The only downside is that this isn't based on a Catholic Bible, but you can always use the extra days for the extra books.