Friday, April 12, 2024

- April 06, 2024

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

They were not so much concerned about wives and children, or family and relations; their first and foremost FEAR was for the consecrated sanctuary.

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?

According to the Catholic faith, the human body is not just a material object, but a living being that is animated by a spiritual soul. The soul is the principle of human consciousness and freedom, and it is created by God in his image. The soul and the body are so intimately united that they form one unique human nature. The soul is also the “form” of the body, meaning that it gives shape and meaning to the body’s matter. The soul is immortal and does not die with the body, but it will be reunited with the body in the final resurrection.

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:

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.