Tuesday after Epiphany
sT. eLIZABETH ANN
SETON-11TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Sirach, Chapter 6,
Verse 16-17
16 Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;
those who FEAR God will find them. 17 Those
who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will
their neighbors be.
It has
been said a man is never poor who has friends. If making friends has always
been difficult for you try these tips that I gleamed from an old public domain
book authored by Henney, Nella Braddy, published in 1922, The Book of
Business Etiquette, that has some timeless advice.
·
People
are now more dependent on one another than they have ever been before, and the
need for confidence is greater. We cannot depend upon one another unless we can
trust one another.
· We ask
you, then, to remember that our growth—and your opportunities—depend not only
upon the friends we make, but the enemies we do not make.
·
Remember
names and faces.
·
Listen
to and help those around you.
·
“We
are all nobly born; fortunate those who know it; blessed those who remember.”
·
No
man has a right to impose his opinions and prejudices, his sufferings and
agonies, on other people. It is the part of a coward to whine.
·
A
lack of understanding, which is a form of ignorance, is the cause of nearly all
discourtesy.
Married love should be a union of two friends but because of human nature each friend in order to give themselves fully to the other must practice the virtue of chastity. To do otherwise is to invite unhappiness.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
II. THE VOCATION TO CHASTITY
2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
The integrity of the person
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech.
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice of an ascetic adapted to the situations that confront him, obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer. "Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered together and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity."
2341 The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason.
2342 Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life. The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man day by day builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth."
2344 Chastity represents an eminently personal task; it also involves a cultural effort, for there is interdependence between personal betterment and the improvement of society." Chastity presupposes respect for the rights of the person, in particular the right to receive information and an education that respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life.
2345 Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God, a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort. The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.
Widow Saint[1] Elizabeth Ann Seton
With COVID 19 & the teachers
union we pray the Lord will send us good teachers for our children
This
wife, mother and foundress of a religious congregation was born Elizabeth Ann
Bayley on August 28, 1774 in New York City, the daughter of an eminent
physician and professor at what is now Columbia University. Brought up as an
Episcopalian, she received an excellent education, and from her early years she
manifested an unusual concern for the poor.
In
1794 Elizabeth married William Seton, with whom she had five children. The loss
of their fortune so affected William's health that in 1803 Elizabeth and
William went to stay with Catholic friends at Livorno, Italy. William died six
weeks after their arrival, and when Elizabeth returned to New York City some
six months later, she was already a convinced Catholic. She met with stern
opposition from her Episcopalian friends but was received into full communion
with the Catholic Church on March 4, 1805.
Abandoned
by her friends and relatives, Elizabeth was invited by the superior of the
Sulpicians in Baltimore to launch a school for girls in that city. The school
prospered, and eventually the Sulpician superior, with the approval of Bishop
Carroll, gave Elizabeth and her assistants a rule of life. They were also
permitted to make religious profession and to wear a religious habit.
In
1809 Elizabeth moved her young community to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she
adopted as a rule of life an adaptation of the rule observed by the Sisters of
Charity, founded by St. Vincent de Paul. Although she did not neglect the
ministry to the poor, and especially to Negroes, she actually laid the
foundation for what became the American parochial school system. She trained
teachers and prepared textbooks for use in the schools; she also opened
orphanages in Philadelphia and New York City. She died at Emmitsburg on January
4, 1821, was beatified by Pope John XXIII in 1963, and was canonized by Pope
Paul VI in 1975.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - Day
Eleven[2]
Elizabeth Seton was born of a
wealthy and distinguished Episcopalian family. She was baptized in the
Episcopal faith and was a faithful adherent of the Episcopal Church until her
conversion to Catholicism.
·
Day Eleven activity (Story Time)
·
Day Eleven recipe (Colonial Wassail)
Spaghetti Day[3]
One of the world’s favorite dishes, spaghetti is more than deserving of its own little holiday. And because it is both simple and delicious, spaghetti is the perfect dish to make to bring out your inner chef, even if you don’t have all that much cooking experience!
Many
people don’t know that the first historical reference to boiled noodles
suggests that the Arabs invented the dish thousands of years ago, long before
it became a staple of Italian cuisine.
What’s especially remarkable about this is that historical records actually refer to dried noodles being purchased from a street vendor, which means that pasta has been sold in stores since at least the 5th century A.D.! Of course, today we associate pasta with the Italians, who revolutionized the dish and invented a wide variety of pasta shapes.
The first Western pasta was likely long, thin forms made in Sicily around the 12th century; till this day, spaghetti is the most common round-rod type of pasta and in Italian, “spaghetti” means “little lines.” However, the popularity of pasta only spread across the whole country of Italy after the establishment of pasta factories in the 19th century, substantially shortening the time needed for making dishes like spaghetti and enabling the mass production of pasta for the Italian market.
The
steady flow of Italian immigrants to the United States brought traditional
Italian dishes with it, and spaghetti was offered in restaurants as early as
the 19th century. Spaghetti then gained popularity all over the world.
Spaghetti Day Recipe
Ingredients: (serves 2)
1/2 medium onion
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
200g tin chopped tomatoes
20g pack basil leaves, chopped finely
200g dried spaghetti (roughly half of a 500g pack)
100g ball mozzarella
a few pinches of salt & a bit of oil for the pasta
Preparation:
Peel the onion and the garlic and chop both finely. Set a large
frying pan over medium heat and when hot, pour in the oil then add the onion.
Cook the onion for about 4-5 mins, or until it softens, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic, cook 2 mins more until fragrant. Then, add the tomatoes and
half the basil. Leave to gently bubble for 15 mins or so, stirring
occasionally–the sauce should become thick and pulpy. Break up any large clumps
of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.
Pour water ¾ of the way up your largest pot. Heat over a high heat
and add several large pinches of salt and a spoon or so of oil. When water has
reached a rolling boil, put the spaghetti in it. Giving it a stir every now and
then stir to separate the pasta, cook it according to pack instructions,
usually about 10 mins. Before you finish cooking it, taste a strand of the
pasta. It should be just soft, but not mushy. Scoop out a cup of water before
draining and set aside (this will help to loosen your sauce). Put the
drained pasta back into its cooking pan, then pour in the tomato sauce.
Give everything a good stir. The sauce should just coat the pasta,
but if it is thick and looks dry, stir in a few spoons of the pasta water you
set aside before. If it is watery, cook over a low heat for 2-3 mins or until
evaporated, stirring often.
Use your hands to break the mozzarella into chunky pieces and stir
through the pasta along with the remaining basil leaves.
Serve straight away.
Christmas Calendar
Read: Today we remember the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized as a saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Reflect: Only if people change will the world change; and in order to change, people need the light that comes from God, the light which so unexpectedly [on the night of Christmas] entered into our night.
Pray: Pray for the intersession of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton today.
Act: Aim to put these practices of building a domestic Church into action.
11th day
of Christmas the
11 pipers piping is a sign for the eleven faithful apostles. It is
interesting to note that Judas’ sin was due to fear, greed, pride and
envy. Today would be a good day to read about the remaining 11 pipers and
their courage to create a Kingdom of God that changed the world.
Daily
Devotions/Activities
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: An
increase of the Faithful.
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face-Tuesday
Devotion
·
Pray Day 6 of
the Novena for our Pope and Bishops
·
Tuesday:
Litany of St. Michael the Archangel
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Plan
winter fun:
o
Soak in hot
springs
o
Hit the snow slopes
o
Ride a
snowmobile
o
Go for a
dog sled ride
o
Ride a hot air balloon
·
Rosary.
[1]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-01-04
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