Depositio[1]
The last ceremonial act of the Time
after Epiphany is the bittersweet farewell, or depositio, to the word
"Alleluia," which is suppressed for seventy days in the traditional
Roman rite from Septuagesima Sunday until Holy Saturday night. This ceremony
usually takes after the office of none (i.e., around 3 p.m.) on the Saturday
before Septuagesima Sunday
CROISSANT DAY
Luke, Chapter 1,
verse 65-75
65 Then FEAR came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. 67 Then Zechariah his father, filled with the holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: 68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.69 He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant, 70 even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, 72 to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant 73 and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that,74 rescued from the hand of enemies, without FEAR we might worship him75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
In today’s secular America we also need to have freedom, so we may worship Him without fear.
The heroes of our faith are the warrior saints who have gone before us. God worked mightily and miraculously through them. Therefore, we must study their ways. In humility, obedience, and trust (H.O.T.), we ask: How did they remain so well connected, in such strong friendship with God, so that his river of supernatural grace could flow so freely through them? What do these "SEALS for Christ" teach us about the ideal spiritual disciplines, the ultimate daily regimen of prayer?
Prayer is our outstanding supernatural resource for fighting the wiles of the enemy. St. Alphonsus said, "Prayer is, beyond doubt, the most powerful weapon the Lord gives us to conquer evil ... but we must really put ourselves into the prayer, it is not enough just to say the words, it must come from the heart. And also, prayer needs to be continuous, we must pray no matter what kind of situation we find ourselves in: the warfare we are engaged in is ongoing, so our prayer must be on-going also."
We are being asked to allow God's grace to surge through us to a waiting world, but nemo dat quod non habet (no one gives what he does not have). Fr. John McCloskey in his Seven Daily Habits of Holy Apostolic People correctly points out that the following seven exceptional habits of prayer are the way of storing up spiritual energy to be used to bring Christ to others. St. Bernadette said: "Do not just be a channel for grace, but a reservoir, an overflowing reservoir. No sooner has a channel received grace than it pours it out. A reservoir waits to be filled up and then offers grace to those who come to draw from its superabundance."
Fr. John McCloskey's Seven Daily Habits of Holy
Apostolic People include:
1.
The
Morning Offering
2.
Mental
Prayer (at least 15 minutes)
3.
Spiritual
Reading (at least 15 minutes)
4.
Holy
Mass and Communion
5.
The
Angelus (at 6 AM, noon, 6 PM)
6.
The
Holy Rosary
7. Brief Examination of Conscience
(at night)
(Excerpt from Church
Militant Field Manual).
Day Nine:
Intercession: May the tragic practice of abortion come to an end.
Prayers: Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s, Glory Be
Reflection:
Today, on this 47th
anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we mourn the many children’s lives ended by
abortion and remember in prayer those who suffer the aftermath. The Church
comes together today to pray for the protection of all unborn children and to
make reparation for abortion, trusting that the Lord hears our prayers. Pope
Saint John Paul II wrote, “A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer
which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in
daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the Creator and lover of
life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from
every family and from the heart of every believer” (Evangelium vitae,
100). May that prayer arise in our hearts today and each day forward until
every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.
Acts of Reparation (Choose one.)
·
Learn
how to pray the Angelus (www.usccb.org/angelus), and consider saying it every day
for the next week—on awakening, at noon, or at 6 p.m. (or all three times).
·
Offer
some other sacrifice, prayer, or act of penance that you feel called to do for
today’s intention.
Croissant Day[2]
The legend of how the croissant came to be is that in 1683,
the Turkish Empire laid siege on Vienna, Austria. The Turks made several
attempts to conquer the city by force, but were unsuccessful, so decided to try
underground tunnels. The bakers of Vienna, who worked in the basement
storerooms, heard the sound of digging and alerted the cities army. For their
vigilance, the bakers received high honors and thanks for their assistance in
outwitting the Turks. In celebration, they baked their bread in the shape of a
crescent moon—the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. After the Turks were defeated,
it became custom to serve morning coffee with the crescent-shaped pastry! The
legend continues to say that over a hundred years later, Marie Antoinette
introduced the pastry to the French who dubbed it a “croissant”. Celebrate Croissant Day in style by
eating an abundance of this tasty treat!
Recipe[3]
On September 12, 1683, the
great army of Turks which had besieged the city of Vienna for two months was
finally attacked by the combined forces of Germans, Austrians, and Poles under
the titular command of King John Sobiesky of Poland. The fierce battle lasted
from dawn to evening, when the Turks, utterly beaten, retreated in headlong
flight. Among the immense booty, the victors found a great number of sacks
filled with strange green beans. They took them to be fodder for the camels
which the Turkish Pasha had brought along. Since the camels had fled with the
army, this part of the booty seemed useless, and it was decided to dump it in
the Danube. However, one of the inhabitants of the city, a man named Kolsinsky,
who had been a prisoner of the Turks and knew their ways, explained that it was
a fruit from which the Turks, after roasting it, made a popular drink. In
return for valuable services rendered during the siege he asked permission to
open a shop where he could sell this Turkish drink. The permission was readily
granted, and he opened the first "coffee house" in the city. When the
people of Vienna tried the new drink, they found it not to their liking, for
Kolsinsky served it the Turkish way — in small cups, with the grounds, black
and unsweetened. A friend then advised him to make the drink more acceptable:
"Strain it," he said, "so the grounds won't grit between the
teeth. Add some milk to make it look brighter and sugar to make it sweet. And
serve it together with something to eat. Why not use a new kind of pastry?
Shape it in the form of the Turkish half-moon?" (The Turks had put their
Mohammedan crescent on every church steeple in the place of the Christian
cross.) Kolsinsky followed the advice, and his products immediately became very
popular. The people now enjoyed drinking the coffee prepared in this manner,
and they gleefully devoured the "Turkish Crescent," the sight of
which had filled them with terror during the war. Thus, started the custom,
which has since spread from Vienna all over the world, of drinking coffee
without grounds in the cup, of mixing it with milk or cream, and sweetening it
with sugar. The pastry in form of the Turkish half-moon (crescent, croissant,
Kipfel) also has remained a familiar sight on coffee tables up to this day.
DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast in water.
Combine sugar, butter, salt and milk. Add milk mixture and egg to yeast when
cool. Stir in flour; beat well. Turn into greased bowl. Cover and let rise in
warm place to double in bulk. Turn dough onto lightly floured board; knead for
1 minute. Return to bowl and let rise again to double in bulk. Roll dough to a
very thin sheet, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 5-inch squares. Cut each square
diagonally into 2 triangles. Brush with melted butter. Roll triangles,
beginning on diagonal. Shape in crescent shape. Place on greased baking sheet,
let rise until light. Bake in 400° oven for 15 minutes.
Daily Devotions
·
Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Offering
to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
·
Mass
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