Tuesday, August 13, 2019


ST. HIPPOYTUS-FILET MIGNON DAY-TEA WEEK

Judith, Chapter 11, Verse 1
Then Holofernes said to her: “Take courage, woman! Have no fear in your heart! I have never harmed anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of all the earth.

Beauty meets the beast while he is reclining in bed. He wants her almost as much as Jerusalem.

Two Speeches[1]

Holofernes, servant of the King of Assyria, tells the apple of his eye assuming she serves his king to take courage. He is blinded to the fact that she serves the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and is a servant of Yahwah. Holofernes promises good treatment for a servant of Nebuchadnezzar. Judith answer is a mixture of cunning and truth. She states, “If you follow the words of your maidservant, God will successfully perform a deed through you, and my lord will not fail to achieve his designs.” She flatters and he loves it. In truth she states:

·         As for Achior’s speech in your council, we have heard it…So then, my lord and master, do not disregard his word, but bear it in mind, for it is true. Indeed, our people are not punished, nor does the sword prevail against them, except when they sin against their God.
·         But now their sin has caught up with them, by which they will bring the wrath of their God upon them when they do wrong; so that my lord will not be repulsed and fail, but death will overtake them. Because their food has given out and all their water is running low, they have decided to kill their animals, and are determined to consume all the things which God in his laws has forbidden them to eat.
·         They have decided that they would use the first fruits of grain and the tithes of wine and oil, which they had consecrated and reserved for the priests who minister in the presence of our God in Jerusalem—things which the people should not so much as touch with their hands.
·         As soon as I, your servant, learned all this, I fled from them. God has sent me to perform with you such deeds as will astonish people throughout the whole earth who hear of them.

A Mark of True Love is generosity.

Amoris Lætitia[2] Love in Marriage Love is generous (101-102)


To love another, we must first love ourselves. Paul’s hymn to love, however, states that love “does not seek its own interest,” nor “seek what is its own”. This same idea is expressed in another text: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil 2:4). The Bible makes it clear that generously serving others is far more noble than loving ourselves. Loving ourselves is only important as a psychological prerequisite for being able to love others: “If a man is mean to himself, to whom will he be generous? “No one is meaner than the man who is grudging to himself.” (Sir 14:5-6). Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that “it is more proper to charity to desire to love than to desire to be loved,” indeed, “mothers, who are those who love the most, seek to love more than to be loved.”  Consequently, love can transcend and overflow the demands of justice, “expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35), and the greatest of loves can lead to “laying down one’s life” for another (cf. Jn 15:13). Can such generosity, which enables us to give freely and fully, really be possible? Yes, because it is demanded by the Gospel: “You received without pay, give without pay” (Mt 10:8).

Christians at Rome in Post-Apostolic Times[3]


The Saint of today-St. Hippoytus was a priest and a person of some importance in the Church in Rome who in his book, “The Apostolic Traditions”, displays the liturgical life of the Christian at Rome in the first centuries. Of interest is the tradition of the hours.

Divine Office:

6 a.m. Prime: "All the faithful, men and women, upon rising in the morning before beginning work, should wash their hands and pray to God."

9 a.m. Terce: "When you are at home, pray at the third hour and praise God. But if you are away when this hour comes, pray in your heart to God. For at this hour Christ was nailed to the Cross."

12 p.m. Sext: "In a similar way you should pray again at the sixth hour. For at the time when Christ was nailed to the Cross, there came a great darkness. Prayer should therefore be said in imitation of Him who prayed at that hour, viz., Christ before His death."

3 p.m. None: "The ninth hour too should be made perfect by prayer and praise . . . in that hour Christ was pierced by the spear."

6 p.m. Vespers: "Once more ought you to pray before you go to bed."

Matins: "At midnight rise from your bed, wash yourself and pray. If you have a wife, pray together in antiphonal fashion. If she is not yet of the faith, withdraw and pray alone and return again to your place. If you are bound by the bond of marriage duties, do not cease your prayers, for you are not stained thereby. It is necessary that we pray at that hour (i.e., Matins), for at that hour all creation is resting and praising God. Stars, trees, water are as if they were standing still; all the hosts of angels are holding divine services together with the souls of the just. They are praising almighty God at that hour." What an inspiring passage!

Sunrise-Lauds: "In like manner rise and pray at the hour at which the cock crows . . . full of hope look forward to the day of eternal light that will shine upon us eternally after the resurrection from the dead." Motivation for these "hour prayers" of the early Christians was the conviction that daily they were reliving Christ's death and resurrection. Every new day was a day of resurrection, and daily they were raised with Christ on the Cross. It is an example that should spur us on to give the Mass, the Breviary, and the Bible the place of honor in our lives.

Filet Mignon Day[4]


When you’re a failure in Hollywood, that’s like starving to death outside a banquet hall, with smells of Filet Mignon driving you crazy.”
~ Marilyn Monroe
There is a cut of meat that is the very definition of luxury and decadence, one that falls from the lips of the common people and the rich debutante royalty of Hollywood in equal measure. Filet Mignon is French for “dainty fillet” and first found its way into the world in the 1906 book,” The Four Million. Filet Minion Day celebrates the history of this steak and the delicious role it has played in exquisite meals. Tenderloin. The very word implies a rich and succulent meal that absolutely melts on the tongue, but even in this most perfect cut of meat, there is a portion that is unquestionably the best. This portion is the fabled Filet Mignon. This delicious cut is served in 4 to 8oz portions and comes prepared in one of three varieties, seared in a pan, grilled over coals or the most famous, wrapped in bacon. The bacon is typically added to enrich the piece with fat, as Filet Mignon tends to leanness. Even though it comes from the tenderloin, there are still multiple cuts of Filet Mignon one can choose to indulge in. The prime cut is the most popular and is available from any form of cattle, the Angus Cut, however, comes specifically from vegetarian fed beef and is far and away one of the best forms of beef available. If you’re truly feeling decadent, you can purchase a 32oz whole Filet Mignon Roast. It may set you back about $65 a pound (That’s $130) but it’ll be worth every succulent bite.

How to Celebrate Filet Mignon Day
If you don’t have a talent with cooking, you can head out to your local steakhouse and enjoy an expertly prepared cut of Filet Mignon. If you’re feeling more adventurous you can head down to your local butcher and get an excellent cut of meat that you can prepare yourself! Marinate it in a wonderful sauce while you get the coals ready, wrap it in bacon, and set it upon the grill to cook. Gently though! Filet Mignon is best-served medium rare so that the soft tender nature of the meat will be preserved. This is just the first step on enjoying Filet Mignon Day, but it doesn’t have to be the last!
Carpetbag Steak[5]
Australian Australia’s carpetbag steak combines two of the country’s most celebrated products: fresh, sea-bright oysters and (ideally) free-range, grass-fed beef. The name of this specialty derives from the shape of the finished dish. Although many recipes call for broiling the steaks or grilling them over charcoal, those methods tend to dry out the meat and prevent its beefy juices from mingling into the oozy lushness of the salty oysters. Better to sauté the steaks for a moistly tender result with maximum flavor contrast. Carpetbag Steaks

Serves 4

Necessary equipment: Kitchen string and a trussing needle or small satay-type skewers 4 filet mignon steaks, each about 2 inches thick or 7 to 8 ounces Salt and freshly ground black pepper 8 medium-size oysters, as freshly shucked as possible 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 to 3 anchovy fillets (optional), finely mashed

1. Using a very sharp knife with a thin blade, cut a 2-inch-long horizontal slit on the edge of each steak to make a pocket about 2 inches deep.

2. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto both sides of each oyster. Slip 2 oysters, side by side, into the pocket of each steak.

3. Close the opening of each pocket, either by sewing it shut using kitchen string and a trussing needle, or by fastening it with a small skewer. Pat the steaks dry on both sides with paper towels.
4. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron or copper, over moderate heat. When the bubbling subsides, arrange the oyster-stuffed steaks in the skillet, making sure that they do not touch one another.

5. Cook the steaks on one side until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes, then turn them over and lightly brown them on the second side, about 3 to 4 minutes time. Reduce the heat to low and cook the steaks, turning them frequently, 7 minutes longer for very rare steak, or 9 to 10 minutes for medium-rare. Anything more cooked than that will hardly be worth eating. Transfer the steaks to individual serving plates.

6. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and stir in the parsley. Spoon some of the parsley butter over each steak before serving. If you like the edgy sophistication that anchovies can impart, stir the mashed fillets into the parsley butter before spooning it over the steaks. .

Afternoon Tea Week[6]

Sometimes the wait for dinner is far too long, and lunch passed too many hours ago, and the length of the day is starting to wear at you. When this happens, its time to settle in with a warm cup of tea and some light sandwiches, take some time to appreciate the day, and bolster yourself for the rest of the evening. Afternoon Tea Week taps into the British Tradition of afternoon tea to help bring a bit of elegance and pomp to an otherwise unremarkable time of day. Afternoon Tea Week was established to help secure a tradition that has graced British afternoons since the 1840s. In those days, dinner often wasnt served until 8pm, and lunch wasnt actually a thing, so what was a hungry person to do? Create a new mini meal in the middle of the day of course! Traditionally this meal contains tiny finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and sweet dainties like cakes and pastries to help lift the spirits, bolster energy, and see you through the rest of the day. This simple afternoon meal grew into a social event, especially for those who spent their lives in the upper echelons of the days society. This became even more prominent once Queen Victoria herself took part in this tradition. At that point the concept of the tea reception was born, lavish and fancy afternoon repasts that could host anywhere from a close collection of friends to a couple hundred of societys most important faces. As the name suggests, tea was a central part of this meal, a tradition started by Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford. She often found herself feeling weary or worn down in the middle of the day, and a pot of tea with a snack just seemed to be the best way to take care of it. She soon invited friends to join her for walks in the field, and the snowball that would become Afternoon Tea began.


How to celebrate Afternoon Tea Week



Celebrating Afternoon Tea Week is simple, for the length of a week make a pause for Afternoon Tea a part of your day. Warm tea, a few sweets, and a small repast will help lift your spirits and drive you through the rest of your day. If you really want to go all out you can organize a tea reception, and even go so far as to wear Victorian Costume to honor the history of this holiday. Even if you just have a cup of tea each day, remember Afternoon Tea Week and take a few breaths to Keep Calm, and Carry On.


August was the Month of Cesar-Wantabe Kings of the Earth-beware of imitators[7]

The North Korean cult of personality surrounding its ruling family, the Kim family, has existed in North Korea for decades and can be found in many examples of North Korean culture. The personality cult began soon after Kim Il-sung took power in 1948 and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994. While other countries have had cults of personality to various degrees (such as Joseph Stalin's in the Soviet Union), the pervasiveness and extreme nature of North Korea's personality cult surpasses that of Stalin or Mao Zedong. The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders, and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The cult of personality surrounding the Kim family requires total loyalty and subjugation to the Kim family and establishes the country as a one-man dictatorship through successive generations. There is even widespread belief that Kim Il-sung "created the world" and that Kim Jong-il controlled the weather. Korean society, traditionally Confucian, places a strong emphasis on paternal hierarchy and loyalty. North Korean authorities have co-opted portions of Christianity and Buddhism, and adapted them to their own uses, while greatly restricting all religions in general as they are seen as a threat to the regime. An example of this can be seen in the description of Kim Il-sung as a god, and Kim Jong-il as the son of a god or "Sun of the Nation".



Daily Devotions
·         Drops of Christ’s Blood
·         Pray for our nation.




[1]The Collegeville Bible Commentary, 1986.
[2] Pope Francis, Encyclical on Love.
[5] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List.
[6] https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/afternoon-tea-week/

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