Tu Bishvat[1] at Sundown begins
Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט, literally: the 15th of the Lunar Month of Shevat) is the New Year for trees (similar to Arbor Day). It falls in January or February each year, typically when almond blossom is seen in Israel. It is one of the four New Years in the Jewish Calendar. According to the Jewish Law (Halachah), the 'New Year for trees' defines the beginning of the year for separating tithes for the poor and Levite. Tithes are 10% portions of a product, which are allocated as charity to either the Levites or the poor. Torah Law requires, that when the Holy Temple was standing, these tithes would be removed from the produce, before it was 'fit for consumption'. There was a seven-year cycle, culminating in the Shimittah year, when fields lay fallow. After every seven seven-year cycles, a Jubilee, 50th year was celebrated.
Tu Bishvat Facts & Quotes
·
It is customary on Tu Bishvat to eat fruits of
the Land of Israel, particularly those of the Biblical verse A land of wheat,
and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive,
and honey (Deuteronomy 8:8). The honey in this verse refers to date
honey, according to tradition. Another custom is to plant trees in
Israel.
·
On Tu Bishvat, we remember that Man is a Tree of
the Field (Deuteronomy 20:19). It explains that we may not cut down
trees during the siege of a city. The tree of the field is man's life to
be used in and after the siege.
·
The Code of Jewish Law states that on Tu
B'Shevat fasting and eulogies are forbidden, and all penitential prayers are
omitted. One of the most important authorities, the Magen Avraham, adds
(131:16): It is the custom to eat many different kinds of fruit. The
Arizal suggested the eating of fifteen kinds of fruit (on the fifteenth of the
month).
·
It should be noted that all Jewish holidays
begin at sundown one the eve before the Gregorian date specified for the
holiday.
Tu Bishvat Top Events and Things to Do
·
Make a Tu Bishvat Fruit Plate. Magen
Avraham, a leading Jewish authority suggested the eating of fifteen kinds of
fruit (on the fifteenth of the month).
·
Say Blessings for new Fruit. Two blessings
are said for new fruits (which have not yet been eaten that year), namely the
standard blessing for fruits ..Who created the fruits of the tree and ..Who
kept us alive, and sustained us and allowed us to reach this day.
·
Attend a Tu Bishvat tisch which is popular in
Hasidic communities. A Tisch is the Yiddish word for table. It
refers to a festive meal with Holy Land fruits, wine, bread, fish and other
foods.
·
Sing a Tu Bishvat Song. There are many songs on YouTube about Tu
Bishvat in both Hebrew and English.
"we will plant Trillions of Trees now"[2]
Planting Trillions of Trees will Cancel Out Decades of CO2 Emission say Scientists. There is enough room in the world’s existing parks, forests, deserts and abandoned land to plant trillions of additional trees, which would have the CO2 storage capacity to cancel out decades of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new analysis by ecologist Thomas Crowther and colleagues at ETH Zurich, a Swiss university.
Trees are “our most powerful weapon in the fight against climate change,” Crowther told The Independent. Combining forest inventory data from 1.2 million locations around the world and satellite images, the scientists estimate there are 3 trillion trees on Earth — seven times more than previous estimates. and they also found that there is abundant space to restore millions of acres of additional forests, not counting urban and agricultural land.
“There’s 400 gigatons [of CO2 stored] now in the 3 trillion trees,” Crowther said. “If we were to scale that up by Planting trillions of more trees now, because that’s in the order of hundreds of gigatons captured from the atmosphere – and anthropogenic emissions will completely be wiped out.”
Planting Trillions of Trees will Cancel Out a Decades of CO2 Emissions, Scientists Find. How to erase 100 years of carbon emissions? Plant trees—lots of them. and there are more than 2000 species of trees with edible fruits and nuts and berries and olives and trees have medicinal properties.
[1]http://www.wincalendar.com/Tu-Bishvat
[2]https://www.christianforums.com/threads/trump-says-we-will-plant-trillions-of-trees-now-because.8147047/
Second Sunday After Epiphany
Religious freedom day
Sirach,
Chapter 17, Verse 8-10
8
He put FEAR of him into their hearts
to show them the grandeur of his works, 9 that they might describe the
wonders of his deeds 10
and praise his holy name.
It is in and through the Mass that we can see the
grandeur of God. Perhaps after Mass would be a great time to take a trek
outdoors and in wonder of nature praise his holy name. Create a list of places
of grandeur to wonder at the art of God. Start with three or four with a goal
of doing one per each season of the year. Here is mine[1]:
· March
19. St.
Joseph of the Mountains Shrine.
·
June 4-6. Early morning hike Fay Canyon
meditate on precious blood of Christ and then hike after breakfast Devils Bridge.
Stay Crescent Moon Ranch Cabin.
· September or October. Beaver falls are notoriously difficult to access but once you arrive the site is breath taking. They are the fifth set of falls in the area and are directly after Mooney Falls. Originally some parts of the fall were fifty feet in height, but the floods of 1910 destroyed some of the area. When you are at the site you can see the markings around that show how high the water rose during the flood.
·
January 22-24. Santa
Fe Loretto Chapel-Feast
of the Holy Spouses.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
IV. OFFENSES AGAINST THE DIGNITY OF MARRIAGE
Adultery
2380 Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom
at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even
transient ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere
desire. The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely.
The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery; they see it as an image of the
sin of idolatry.
2381 Adultery is an injustice.
He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury to the sign of
the covenant which the marriage bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse,
and undermines the institution of marriage by breaking the contract on which it
is based. He compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of
children who need their parents' stable union.
DIES HOMINIS
Sunday: Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity
The "full joy" of Christ
56. Beyond
particular ritual forms, which can vary in time depending upon Church
discipline, there remains the fact that Sunday, as a weekly echo of the first
encounter with the Risen Lord, is unfailingly marked by the joy with which the
disciples greeted the Master: "The disciples rejoiced to see the
Lord" (Jn 20:20). This was the confirmation of the words which Jesus
spoke before the Passion and which resound in every Christian generation:
"You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy"
(Jn 16:20). Had not he himself prayed for this, that the disciples would
have "the fullness of his joy" (cf. Jn 17:13)? The festive
character of the Sunday Eucharist expresses the joy that Christ communicates to
his Church through the gift of the Spirit. Joy is precisely one of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14:17; Gal 5:22).
Second Sunday after Epiphany[3]
Christ manifests His
divinity and His mystical union with the Church with His first miracle at the
Wedding of Cana.
THE
Introit the Church invites us to thank God for the incarnation of His only
begotten Son: “Let all the earth adore Thee, and sing to Thee, O God; let it
sing a psalm to Thy name, shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing ye a psalm
to His name, give glory to His praise”.
Prayer.
Almighty
and everlasting God, “Who dost govern all things in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the prayers of Thy people, and grant us Thy peace in our days”.
Amen.
EPISTLE.
Rom. xii. 6-16.
Brethren:
We have
different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to
be used according to the rule of faith, or ministry in ministering, or he that
teacheth in doctrine, he that exhorteth in exhorting, he that giveth with
simplicity, he that ruleth with carefulness, he that showeth mercy with
cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil,
cleaving to that which is good: loving one another with the charity of
brotherhood: with honor preventing one another: in carefulness not slothful: in
spirit fervent: serving the Lord: rejoicing in hope: patient in tribulation:
instant in prayer; communicating to the necessities of the saints: pursuing
hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with
them that rejoice, weep with them that weep: being of one mind one towards
another: not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. Be not wise in
your own conceits.
What
lesson does the Apostle give us in this epistle?
That we
should hate that which is evil, and love that which is good; that we should
love one another, and practice works of mercy; that we should be solicitous and
fervent, as in the service of God. We should cooperate with the grace of God,
and pray instantly.
PRACTICAL
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUPERIORS.
They
must expect a severe judgment who seek office only for the sake of emolument,
caring little for their duty, and regarding bribes and presents rather than
justice. Hmm…sounds like Nancy and Joe to me.
Aspiration.
O God,
give us Thy grace to follow faithfully what St. Paul teaches us of humility and
charity, that we may have compassion on all who are in need, and not exalt
ourselves above our neighbors, but, humbling ourselves with the humble, may
merit, with them, to be exalted. Amen.
GOSPEL.
John ii. 1-11
At
that time there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was
there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the
wine failing, the Mother of Jesus saith to Him: They have no wine. And Jesus
saith to her: Woman, what is to Me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His
Mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye. Now there
were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the
purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to
them: Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And
Jesus saith to them: Draw out now and carry to the chief steward of the feast.
And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine,
and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the
chief steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: Every man at first
setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drank, then that which is
worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples
believed in Him.
Why was Jesus present at the
wedding with His Mother and disciples?
1.
In order there to reveal His majesty, and by that means to establish and
confirm the belief in His divinity.
2.
To show that marriage is pleasing to God.
3.
To let us understand how pious the bridegroom and bride were.
4.
To teach us that those pleasures are permitted which are in accordance with
reason and Christianity, and neither sinful nor leading to sin.
Why did Mary intercede for the
bride and bridegroom when the wine was failing?
She was sorry for them, for she is the tender-hearted
mediatrix of the afflicted and destitute. Besides, the number of the guests had
been considerably increased by the presence of Jesus and His disciples, so that
the wine was not sufficient for all.
What is the meaning of the words, “Woman, what is that to Me and to thee?”
According
to the idiom of the Hebrew language, they mean as much as, Mother, be not
anxious; I will provide the wine as soon as the hour appointed by My Father is
come. Jesus did not mean to rebuke His Mother, but He thus gave her and all who
were present, to understand that He had not received the power of working
miracles as the son of woman, but that He possessed it as the Son of God and
should use it according to the will of His Father.
Lent is a month away[4]
The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time is
exactly 31 days before Ash Wednesday. The Church has entered Tempus ad Annum,
"The Season Throughout the Year," most commonly referred to as "Ordinary
Time" and will soon enter the six-week period of Lent culminating in
the heart of the Liturgy and the Liturgical Year: Easter, the Paschal Feast. Although
not a liturgical season of the Church, the weeks after Christmas are
unofficially known as "Carnival," a season of balls, parades, parties
and rich food. There is no set beginning as Carnival begins on various dates
all over the world. Rio de Janeiro and Venice begin two and a half weeks before
Ash Wednesday. Most Americans are familiar with the South Louisiana Mardi Gras
which begins on Epiphany.
Regardless of when Carnival begins or
how it is celebrated, the celebration intensifies the closer it gets to the
beginning of Lent and comes to screeching halt on Ash Wednesday.
The word "carnival"
literally means "farewell to meat." In earlier times in the Church,
Lenten fasting, and abstinence had more stringent rules. Foods such as meat,
butter, cheese, milk, eggs, fat, and bacon were all forbidden in Lent, so
Carnival was a time to indulge and use up (and not waste) these foods. While
Lent doesn't have the formerly strict regulations, the word carnival in
a broad sense is also saying farewell to fleshly or worldly pleasures (even if
they are mere indulgences and not sinful) before our Lenten penances and
mortifications.
Carnival's Spiritual Connections
For centuries, all over the world,
this has been known as a time for preparing for Lent. "Preparing for
Lent" is an odd way to describe what goes on during Carnival, but it does
have religious connections. Perhaps some have forgotten the original intention,
but Carnival is a time of mental and physical preparation for the Lenten time
of self-denial. This is a time for family, food and fun before we face Ash
Wednesday and fill our days with prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Although it seems like such a secular
and materialistic celebration, without the spiritual grounding there can be no
Carnival. As Josef Pieper explains:
Wherever festivity can freely vent itself in all its
possible forms, an event is produced that leaves no zone of life, worldly or
spiritual, untouched.... There are worldly, but there are no purely profane,
festivals. And we may presume that not only can we not find them, but that they
cannot exist. A festival without gods is a non-concept, is inconceivable. For
example, Carnival remains festive only where Ash Wednesday still exists. To
eliminate Ash Wednesday is to eliminate the Carnival itself. Yet Ash Wednesday
is obviously a day in Christendom's liturgical year (Josef Pieper, 1963, pp 33-34).
And Bernard Strasser elaborates on
this spiritual connection:
These carnival days in particular contain a remarkable
lesson of spirituality for us. According to their origin and the Church's
intention they are anything but days of thoughtless conviviality, and certainly
not of dissolute merrymaking. They are not a carryover from pagan times, of
which the Church was unable to destroy the memory and observance. Rather are
they an integral part of the Church year, with the significant task of
illustrating graphically the first part of the Church's sermon text for this
season: "You are fools, all of you who seek your final end in earthly
things! I your Mother will during the coming weeks of Lent show you where true
happiness may be found, Who it is that brought it, and how He merited it for
us" (Carnival
and Ashes, Orate Fratres: A Liturgical
Review, Vol. XVII, No. 4, 146).
Of course, over the centuries there
have been abuses of extremes, and the Church has counterbalanced by providing
spiritual balance, such as encouragement for Shriving (confessions), Eucharist
Adoration, especially the Forty Hours devotion before Ash Wednesday.
There is a juxtaposition of Carnival
and Lent. As Pieper mentioned that Carnival festivity "leaves no zone of
life, worldly or spiritual, untouched," similar to our observance of Lent.
The Church gives us this time to reexamine and reorder all aspects of our life.
We can see the contrast of Carnival indulgence and Lenten fasting not just in
foods, but all areas of life.
Balancing Family Fun Time
Maria von Trapp in Around the Year
with the Trapp Family recognized Carnival as a time for family celebration.
She suggested using this time of "merry-making" for dancing, singing,
games, parties and gatherings with family and friends. Perhaps some of her
suggestions seem subdued and old-fashioned for a very electronically connected
generation, but her emphasis was to enjoy the togetherness. Our attention is
focused outward nurturing family connections and friendships, with
opportunities in practicing dancing and music. The opposite is true in the
season of Lent: it is a season to reduce social activities, to turn off the
extra noise and visuals (electronics) and to turn inward to talk to and listen
to God.
In the modern world our lives are not
as connected to the days and the seasons of nature except as inconvenience or
enjoyment. Many of us are also disconnected to the rhythm of the Liturgical
Year, with its contrasting seasons and feasts. Maria von Trapp explained this
so beautifully:
Nobody could stand a Thanksgiving Day dinner every day of
the year. There can only be mountains if there are also valleys. It is a pity
that the Reformation did away not only with most of the sacraments and all of
the sacramentals, but also, unfortunately, with the very breath of the Mystical
Body — that wonderful, eternal rhythm of high and low tide that makes up the
year of the Church: times of waiting alternate with times of fulfillment, the
lean weeks of Lent with the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, times of mourning
with seasons of rejoicing. Modern man lost track of this. Deep down in the
human heart, however, is imbedded the craving to celebrate, and, in a dumb way,
the other craving to abstain, perhaps to atone. In general, these cravings are
no longer directed in seasonal channels, as they are for the Catholic, or even
for the aborigine who participates in some tribal religious belief.....
It should be our noble right and duty
to bring up our children in such a way that they become conscious of high tide
and low tide, that they learn that there is "a time to weep, and a time to
laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance." The rhythm of nature as it
manifests itself in the four seasons, in day and night, in the individual's
heartbeat and breathing — this rhythm we should learn to recognize, and to
treat with more reverence. Modern man has become used to turning day into night
and night into day according to his whim or pleasure. He has managed to lose
contact completely with himself. He has lost the instinct for the right food
and drink, stuffing himself with huge quantities of the wrong things and
feeding himself sick. But worst of all, and this sounds almost ridiculous, in
the process of growing up he forgot the right kind of breathing....
Again, it is our faithful friend, Holy
Mother Church, who leads her children first back to nature in order to make
them ready to receive supernatural grace. "Gratia supponit naturam."
Looked upon in this light, the weeks
of Carnival are a most necessary time for the individual as well as for
families and communities. This period is set aside for us to "let off
steam," "to have a good time." And for this we need company.
Therefore, Carnival is most obviously the season for parties and family
get-togethers...with the avowed intention of having that good time together.
Carnival is the time to be social, to give and to receive invitations for
special parties. It is the time to celebrate as a parish group... (Maria von
Trapp, Around the Year with the Trapp Family, Carnival
or Mardi Gras).
Mrs. Trapp shared different activities
that her family enjoyed, such as folk dancing, singing folk songs, and playing
games. Growing up my family enjoyed similar ideas, even though we weren't as
musical as the Trapp Family. We loved to learn songs in rounds or harmony to
sing together. Other ideas: taking hikes that end singing around a campfire,
and Bunco parties, which any age can enjoy. Our local homeschool group just had
a sock-hop open to all ages, and checkers and chess tournaments on cold winter
days. Some gatherings can be quiet, like family movie nights with popcorn. And
don't forget just nurturing mothers with little social gatherings, maybe with
themes like a little craft or recipe exchange or just coffee or wine and adult
conversation. I have hosted socials where my friends and family come to learn
and practice writing pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs). Later in Lent we have
quiet times where we work on our eggs as meditative work, but during Carnival
time it's more of a fun social gathering. The object is to enjoy this time with
others.
Carnival is a season with a spiritual
focus that encompasses the entire person. It provides contrasts with the
spiritual and material, with feasting and fasting, and with Ordinary Time and Lent.
We can embrace this time and find ways for merry making, focusing on family and
friends to highlight those contrasts in preparation for Lent. Happy Carnival
Time!
Religious Freedom Day[5]
Religions and religious organizations
have been responsible for a great deal of good being done in the world, from
the founding of worldwide charity organizations to simply inspiring people to
be kinder and humbler on a daily basis, as well as more sympathetic to the
plight of his fellow man. Unfortunately, an often-observed characteristic of
many religions is that their faithful often try to convert others to their
faith, and when those others refuse, the consequences can be grave. From the
Roman persecutions of Christians in the ancient times, to the infamous Spanish
Inquisition, to the witch hunts of Puritan America, to the Islamic Jihads (or secular progressives for that matter)
still occurring today, it is easy to see how dangerous religions can be if not
checked, and how overzealous believers in a certain god or no god at all can be
in attempting to force everyone else to believe as they do. This is why it is
enormously important to make sure religious freedom is granted and protected to
all, and this is why the Founding Fathers of the United States of America saw
this as such.
On January 16, 1786, soon after the
United States of America came into existence as a sovereign nation, the
Virginia General Assembly adopted Thomas Jefferson’s landmark Virginia
Statute for Religious Freedom. This statute then became the basis for what we
know today as the First Amendment, which guarantees religious freedom to all
people residing in the U.S.A. Every year since then, a statement is released on
this same day by the president of the United States officially proclaiming
Religious Freedom Day.
How to Celebrate Religious Freedom Day
A good way to celebrate Religious
Freedom Day is to do some research about what life used to be like before
religious freedom was protected, and every person had the right to believe as
he or she chose.
·
“The Name of the Rose” is both an excellent book
and an excellent movie, which quite accurately depicts what life was like
during the Inquisition, and how far the inquisitors were willing to go to find
and punish people they suspected of sorcery.
· The young adult novel titled, “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” can also help one understand what it was like to be the least bit different from the rest of the villagers in 17th century New England, and just how dangerous it was to avoid church.
·
1951’s Quo Vadis, on the other hand,
demonstrates how badly Christian were persecuted during the reign of the
Emperor Nero in Ancient Rome.
· “The Diary of a Young Girl”, written by Jewish teenager Anne Frank during the height of the Nazi persecution of Europe’s Jewish population is both interesting a heartbreaking when one thinks about all of the other innocent children like Anne who died horrible deaths for simply being of the wrong religion.
·
The works of Salman Rushdie could also prove to
be a very insightful read, as the author himself received years of death
threats after the release of his acclaimed novel “The Satanic Verses”, which
was critical of Islam was published.
·
Now. What if you refuse abortion tainted vaccines?
It could also be an interesting idea
to have several of your friends of different faiths get together for coffee and
discuss how positively religious freedom and the freedom to not practice any
religion at all impact all of your lives and help make them better. Religious
freedom is a wonderful thing, that should be fully appreciated and celebrated.
Today is my sister’s birthday; Denise
Gail (her name means “To be devoted …to the joy of the father); please pray for
her intentions.
Daily Devotions
·
Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day
to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t
forget the internet.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: For
the Poor and Suffering
· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
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