Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
April 12
Saint of the day:
Saint Teresa of Los Andes
Patron Saint Against disease, Against illness, Ill people, Young people, Santiago, Chile, Los Andes, Chile
Friday of the
Second Week of Easter
2 Maccabees, Chapter 15, Verse 18
Today’s meditation:
Where is God’s consecrated Sanctuary?
I asked Bing AI:
Is
it the in the body of a holy catholic soul God’s consecrated Sanctuary?
The
Catholic Church also teaches that the Eucharist is the true presence of Christ
in the sacrament of the altar. By the words of consecration, the bread and wine
are changed into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. The Eucharist
is the source and summit of the Christian life, and it is the most perfect way
of communion with Christ and his Church. The Eucharist is also a sacrifice,
because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The faithful
who receive the Eucharist are united with Christ and his sacrifice, and they
offer themselves to God as a living sacrifice.
Therefore,
one could say that the body of a holy Catholic soul is a sanctuary of God,
because it is a temple of the Holy Spirit and a member of the body of Christ.
The body of a holy Catholic soul is also consecrated to God, because it is
dedicated to his service and his glory. The body of a holy Catholic soul
participates in the Eucharist, which is the highest form of worship and the
most intimate encounter with God. The body of a holy Catholic soul is also a
witness of God’s love and mercy to the world, and a sign of hope for the
resurrection.
I
hope this helps you understand the Catholic teaching on the body and the soul.
If you want to learn more, you can check out these sources:
- What Exactly
Is a Soul? | Catholic Answers Q&A
- Catholic theology on the body - Wikipedia
- Catechism of the Catholic Church - United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops
- What Is the Soul? | Catholic Answers Magazine
- How do we know the Eucharist is the Body and
Blood of … - Catholic Online
Friday’s
during the season of Easter-Fast or not?
It’s well known that Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays
during Lent, and that Ash Wednesday and Good Fridays are fast days, in which we
cut back on how much we eat. But what about the rest of the year? Should we be
abstaining and fasting on other Fridays? And in particular, what about right
now, during the season of Easter? It’s easy to sound legalistic in answering
these questions, so let’s begin by laying something of a biblical and spiritual
framework:
First, fasting isn’t optional in Christianity. Jesus says that
“when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure
their faces that their fasting may be seen by men.” Instead, “when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but
by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward
you” (Matt. 6:16-18). So there’s clearly a wrong way to fast (doing it for the
acclaim of men), but that’s not an argument against fasting. Notice that Jesus
says not “if you fast,” but “when you fast.”
Second, we need to fast. God summarizes the
story of Israel by saying that “it was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the
land of drought; but when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their
heart was lifted up; therefore, they forgot me” (Hos. 13:5-6). That’s true of
not just Israel, but all of us. When things are going poorly, we realize our
weakness and (hopefully) cry out to God for help. When things are going well,
on the other hand, it’s easy to buy into the illusion that we can take care of
ourselves just fine without God. For this reason, Moses warned that “when you
eat and are full, then take heed lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt” (Deut. 6:11-12). Fasting is one of the concrete ways in
which we allow ourselves to be shaken out of this forgetfulness and
self-delusion.
Third, fasting is a practice of the Church, not just a private devotion. It’s great to
decide for personal reasons that you need to fast for a particular period of
time. But it would be a mistake to think all Christian fasting is like that.
When Jesus says “when you fast,” he doesn’t use the second-person singular, as
if it were up to each of us to decide when and where to fast. Instead, he says
“you” in the plural, like “when you all fast.” We see concrete instances of
local churches calling fasts in places like Acts 13:1-3 and Acts 14:23.
Fourth, fasting on Fridays has always been
part of Christianity. It’s easy to think of fasting on Fridays as a modern thing. But
it actually goes all the way back to the time of the apostles. A first-century
Christian text called the Didache instructs, “Let not your
fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second and fifth day of the
week; but fast on the fourth day and the Preparation.” In other words, one of
the ways that Christians were setting themselves apart from groups like the
Pharisees was that the Pharisees would fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and
Christians would fast on Wednesdays (the fourth day of the week) and Fridays
(the day of Preparation). This wasn’t an empty cultural marker, like wearing
pink on Wednesdays. It was a reminder of the death of the Lord Jesus on Good
Friday, the day of preparation (Mark 15:42; John 19:31). In the modern era,
this has taken the form of abstaining from meat on Fridays, rather than a
full-fledged fast. But the reasoning is the same. As the NCCB (now USCCB)
puts it, “Catholic peoples from time immemorial have set apart Friday
for special penitential observance by which they gladly suffer with Christ that
they may one day be glorified with Him. This is the heart of the tradition of
abstinence from meat on Friday where that tradition has been observed in the
holy Catholic Church.”
Fifth, the joy of Easter trumps the fast. St. John the
Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus why his own disciples didn’t fast, and he
replied, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they
will fast” (Matt. 9:15). That’s the crux: our fasting shouldn’t interfere with
rejoicing in the presence of Jesus. During the Octave of Easter (the eight-day
period from Easter Sunday to Divine Mercy Sunday), we celebrate the bridegroom
returning to us from the grave, so it’s fitting for a
time to set all of our fasting and abstaining aside. Likewise,
there are certainly particularly important feast days (called solemnities) in
which we relax these disciplines in order to highlight the feast.
So where does
all of that leave us?
The Church’s
instructions are clear. Catholics who are able to do so* are required to
abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent (can. 1251), but we should also
treat the entire season of Lent and every Friday
throughout the year as penitential (can. 1250). As the USCCB
explains, “Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the
entire year.” Just as every Sunday is a mini-Easter, every Friday is a
mini-Lent, preparing us for Sunday and Easter.
How do we mark that mini-Lent, outside the season of Lent
itself? It depends a bit on where you live. In the United Kingdom, Catholics are
required to abstain from meat throughout the year. In Canada, Ireland, and the United States, you can substitute
something else for meat (like alcohol). But as the American bishops explained,
the point of this was not to abolish Friday penance, but to urge Catholics to
come up with “other forms of penitential witness which may become as much a part
of the devout way of life in the future as Friday abstinence from meat.”
All of this is relaxed entirely if “a solemnity should fall on a
Friday” (can. 1251). That always
includes the first (but only the first) Friday after Easter,
since the Universal Norms specify that
“the first eight days of Easter Time constitute the Octave of Easter and are
celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord.” For the rest of Easter season, we’re
back to Friday penances. Perhaps the best way to understand why is to consider
the counsel of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who says in his
rules for discernment, “Let him who is in consolation think how he will be in
the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for then.” The Fridays of Easter keep our Easter
highs from getting so high that we forget the cross, just as the Sundays of
Lent keep our Lenten lows from getting so low that we forget the Resurrection.
So this season, let us keep that spirit of Friday penance,
without losing an ounce of our Easter joy!
*Those
who should not fast or abstain are exempted, including young kids, pregnant/nursing moms, and people who are suffering from
illness. Fasting and abstaining
from meat should never endanger your health or the health of your child.
Grilled
Cheese Sandwich Day[1]
Grilled cheese sandwiches are a delicious, toasted delight popular all across the world. They even have their own holiday, Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, when it’s practically your duty to indulge in them.
Melting cheese on top of bread is a
culinary concept that has been around since the time of the Romans, but grilled
cheese sandwiches as we know them didn’t become popular until the 1920s. Due to
the ready availability of cheese and sliced bread, they became an American
staple, but also spread around the world. Naturally, the best way to celebrate
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day is to make and eat a grilled cheese sandwich. All
you need is bread, cheese and butter, although you can experiment by adding
more ingredients of your choice. You butter the outside of each piece of bread
and grill the sandwich while the cheese melts on top. Delicious!
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER ONE-THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE
UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER
2566 Man is in search of God.
In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence.
"Crowned with glory and honor," man is, after the angels, capable of
acknowledging "how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the
earth." Even after losing through his sin his likeness to God, man
remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls
him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for
God.
2567 God calls man first. Man
may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or
accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God
tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer,
the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is
always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself,
prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and
actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history
of salvation.
Fitness Friday
·
Try the St.
George Universal Man Plan and slay dragons.
NIC’s Corner
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Coachella--April
12-21--Get your music fill at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The annual
2-weekend, 3-day fest kicks off in Indio, CA, with m ore than 150 performances.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Holy Priests, Consecrated, & Religious
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 8 day 3
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
30
Days with St. Joseph Day 24
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