Today get to confession then go for a hike (Cambio) to honor the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James.
We have a special page dedicated to the feast of St. James. We answer questions
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
July 25
Saint of the day:
Patron Saint of pilgrims and Spain
Rachel’s Corner
The work of justice will be peace, the effect of justice, calm and security forever. Isaiah 32:17
· Let Freedom Ring Day 19 Freedom from Syncretism
· Religion in the Home for Preschool: July
Thursday Feast
Thursday is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself up for consumption. Thursday commemorates the last supper. Some theologians believe after Sunday Thursday is the holiest day of the week. We should then try to make this day special by making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel, Mass or even stopping by the grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the blessing of the week and thank our Lord. Plan a special meal. Be at Peace.
· According to Mary Agreda[11] in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother of God and she gave her fiat.
My Mother was born in Natick, MA and my aunts lived in a brown stone house in Charlestown.
- Boston's 15 Most Iconic Drinks
- New England clam chowder
- Boston baked beans
- Cod fish cakes
- Lobster mac and cheese
- Boston cream pie
Places to Visit in July[12]
Boston, Massachusetts
I personally think Boston is an extra special travel spot in July as it hosts the fabulous Summer Pops Concerts and breathtaking Fourth of July fireworks over the River Charles.
These are connected to Harborfest, a week-long celebration of the city’s unique maritime history that kicks off on Independence Day.
When here, I recommend chilling out on one of the fantastic city beaches, grabbing a picnic and a bottle of wine, enjoying Shakespeare on the common, or watching an outdoor movie under the stars.
Boston has beautiful parks, fantastic architecture (both old and new) and a splendid esplanade, perfect for romantic summer strolls and plenty of picnics.
I also love the excellent food and craft beer scene, the al fresco dining options, harbor cruises, and the incredible whale-watching opportunities (May to October).
Visitor’s Center Address: 139 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02111
Average temperature in Boston in July – 82 degrees
My highlights…
o Hopping on a boat tour, sailing around Boston, and viewing the spectacular city differently.
o Sunbathing along the Boston Beach at the main waterfront.
o Watching the Red Sox at Fenway Park!
JULY
25 Thursday-Feast of Saint James, Apostle
ST
CHRISTOPHER-Wine and Cheese Day
Joshua, Chapter 4, Verse 14
That
day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel,
and so during his whole life they FEARED him as they had feared
Moses.
Sometimes
we are tempted to follow any leader who is revered by the media.
We
forget God’s warning about following the proud and evil hearted,
for lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when
all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming
will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of
hosts. (Mal 3: 19)
We may think that following the leadership of our
bishops is a waste of time.
You have said, “It is useless to serve God; what do we
gain by observing God’s requirements, and by going about as mourners-before
the LORD of hosts? But we call the arrogant blessed; for evildoers not only
prosper but even test God and escape.”
(Mal 3:14-15)
God
knows the heart of a man and if his heart be true God raises that man up as He
did Joshua and Moses. God is not a God of the past and continues to this day in
the action of raising a man up and He does so in our Priests and Bishops. Just
like an architect that uses rocks and sticks to become temples or bridges God
uses men to build his Kingdom. Strive therefore to be God’s man or women.
Emulate Joshua in proclaiming,
if it is displeasing to you to serve the LORD, choose
today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or
the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my
household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15).
We
should have a holy fear of our Priest and Bishops. We should follow their
guidance as we would a beloved father or brother. Like Joshua that led the
armies of God today the former Bishop Olmstead of Phoenix asks us men to enter
into the breach.[1]
We
must stand in the breach to defend life.
Marriage: The Gift of Love and Life[2]
C.S. Lewis once wisely observed: “When everyone is rushing
headlong towards the precipice, anyone going in the opposite direction would
appear to be mad.” In July of 1968, the world at large thought Pope Paul VI had
lost his mind. For in that month, he issued his long-awaited encyclical Humanae
Vitae (July 25, 1968), which reiterated the Church’s age-old ban on every form
of contraception. A tidal wave of angry dissent erupted over the pope’s
decision. Catholic and non-Catholic alike berated “the celibate old man in the
Vatican” for hindering the Church’s full entry into the modern era. As we
approach the fortieth anniversary of that historic document, I wish to emphasize
its importance for our times. As a
backdrop for my remarks, I would like to place it in the context of its time.
In the same year that Pope Paul issued Humanae Vitae, another Paul—Paul
Ehrlich— published a book entitled, The Population Bomb. In that 1968
bestseller, Ehrlich made some stark predictions. For example:
·
“The battle to feed humanity is over. In the 1970s the world will undergo famines
…hundreds of millions of people (including Americans) are going to starve to
death…”
o
Fact:
Food production worldwide is well ahead of population growth, and obesity now
kills 300,000 Americans a year.
·
“India couldn’t possibly feed two hundred
million more people by 1980.”
o
Fact:
Since 1968 India has doubled its population by half a billion and is still
self-sufficient in food.
·
Comparing population explosion to a cancerous
tumor, Ehrlich prescribed “cutting out the cancer [too many people]” as the
only remedy to save humanity.
o
Fact:
Today Europe is dying, with most countries fluctuating around the 60%
replacement level.
Against this foreboding background, the reaction to Pope
Paul’s encyclical came as no surprise, even though it only restated what the
Church has taught for 2,000 years. Namely:
“There is an inseparable link between the two meanings of the
marriage act: the unitive meaning [making love] and the procreative meaning
[making babies]. This connection was
established by God himself, and man is not permitted to break it on his own
initiative.” (H.V, no. 12) In
Deuteronomy 18:21 we learn how to tell an authentic prophet from a false one:
Has the prophecy materialized or not? Judged by that benchmark, Paul Ehrlich is
a false prophet. What about Paul VI?
Pope Paul predicted four dire consequences if the use of
contraception escalated:
1) increased marital infidelity.
2) a general lowering of morality, especially among the
young.
3) husbands viewing their wives as mere sex objects; and
4) governments forcing massive birth control programs on
their people.
Forty years later the moral landscape is strewn with the
following stark reality:
1) The divorce rate has more than tripled.
2) Sexually transmitted diseases have increased
from six to fifty.
3) Pornography—especially on the Internet—is a
plague, addicting millions annually.
4) Sterilization is forced on women in third
world countries, with China’s one-child policy in the vanguard.
In the waning years of his life,
St. Augustine wrote his mammoth work, The City of God. According to Augustine,
the whole world is comprised of two communities: The City of God and the City
of Man. Citizens of each city are determined not by one’s birthplace or
residence, but rather by the object of one’s love: placing the love of God
above self, or the love of self above God. The two cities are still with us.
Paul Ehrlich and Paul VI could well serve as icons of each city. In one case,
death and darkness prevail—in the other, life and light.
Death or
life?
The choice
is ours!
The
Transmission of Human Life Is a Most Serious Role[3]
Married people must collaborate freely and responsibly
with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even
though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships. The fulfillment of
this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but
the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked
new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern
matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings. The
changes that have taken place are of considerable importance and varied in
nature. In the first place there is the rapid increase in population which has
made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than available
resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries
would be faced with greater hardships. This can easily induce public
authorities to be tempted to take even harsher measures to avert this danger.
There is also the fact that not only working and housing conditions, but the
greater demands made both in the economic and educational field pose a living
situation in which it is frequently difficult these days to provide properly
for a large family. Also
noteworthy is a new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in
society, of the value of conjugal love in marriage and the relationship of
conjugal acts to this love. But the most remarkable development of all is to be
seen in man's stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of
the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control
over every aspect of his own life—over his body, over his mind and emotions,
over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the transmission of
life.
Unlawful Birth Control Methods
·
Read Humanae
Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human
sexuality.
·
We base
Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage
when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the
generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for
therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of
regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium
of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether
of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.
·
Similarly
excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual
intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end
or as a means.
·
Neither
is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is
deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater
one, or that such intercourse would merge with procreative acts of past and
future to form a single entity, and so be qualified by exactly the same moral
goodness as these. Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a
lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to promote a
greater good," it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do
evil that good may come of it—in other words, to intend directly something
which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore
be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote
the welfare of an individual, of a family or of society in general.
Consequently, it is a serious error to think that a whole married life of
otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately
contraceptive and so intrinsically wrong!
Feast
of St James the Greater, Apostle[4]
JAMES, by birth a Galilean, a son of Zebedee and Salome, was brother to St. John the apostle, with whom he was called by Jesus to follow Him. He was present at the transfiguration on Mount Tabor, at the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, and other like miracles, and at the bloody sweat in the Garden. After the sending of the Holy Ghost, he preached the doctrines of Jesus in Judea, Samaria, and in Jerusalem, where Herod caused him to be beheaded in the year 44. His body was brought to Compostella, in Spain, where it is venerated by vast numbers of the faithful, who make pilgrimages to his grave. St. James was the first of the apostles who shed his blood for Christ.
The Introit of the Mass is as follows: To me Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened. Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me: Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up.
Prayer.
Be Thou, O Lord, the sanctifier and guardian of Thy people, that, defended by the protection of Thy apostle James, they may please Thee by their conduct, and serve Thee with secure minds.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. iv. 9-15.
Brethren: I think that God hath set forth us apostles the last, as it were men appointed to death: we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ: we are weak, but you are strong: you are honorable, but we without honor. Even unto this hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode, and we labor working with our own hands: we are reviled, and we bless: we are persecuted, and we suffer it. We are blasphemed, and we entreat: we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all even until now. I write not these things to confound you: but I admonish you as my dearest children: for if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus by the Gospel I have begotten you.
GOSPEL. Matt. xx. 20-23.
At that time: There came to Jesus the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of Him. Who said to her:
What wilt thou?
She saith to Him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom. But Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask.
Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?
They say to Him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink: but to sit on My right or left hand is not Mine to give to you but to them for whom it is prepared by My Father.
Prayer to St. James.
O heroic apostle, who first of all didst, after the
example of Jesus, drink of the chalice of suffering, but now, in the kingdom of
His Father, livest upon the holy mountain of Sion, obtain for me, I beseech
thee, from Jesus the grace not to shrink from the chalice of suffering and
tribulation, but patiently to accept whatever the hand of God may present to
me, whether agreeable or disagreeable, and thereby to become worthy one day to
be inebriated with the streams of heavenly joy.
The Pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela[5]
The history of the
pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela stretches back more than 1000 years to the
discovery of the body of St. James during the reign of King Alfonso II
(792-842). St. James was already believed to have been the great evangelist of
Spain and for many hundreds of years there had been a scholarly and literary
tradition supporting this belief. The discovery of the relics of St. James then
became a focal point for pilgrims. Though a few pilgrims to Santiago are
recorded in the 10th century, and many more in the 11th, it was in the early
12th century, and particularly under the energetic promotion of Archbishop
Diego Gelmírez (1100-1140), that Santiago came to rank with Rome and Jerusalem
as one of the great destinations of medieval pilgrimage. The first Cathedral
was built over the site of the tomb, and gradually houses were established, for
example by monks from Cluny in Burgundy and from Aurillac in Cantal, France,
along the developing pilgrimage route.
The 12th and 13th
centuries are considered to have been the golden age of the pilgrimage to
Santiago. Subsequently the years of the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe
led to a decrease in the number of pilgrims. However, pilgrims still made their
way to Santiago throughout the centuries. In 1884, following academic and
medical research, Pope Leon XIII issued the Bull, Deus Omnipotens, which
proclaimed that the relics in Santiago were those of St. James. This is
recognized as the start of the modern development of the pilgrimage. It was
thought that in the 20th Century the growth of mechanized means of transport
such as cars and airplanes might lead to a reduction in the number of pilgrims
travelling to Santiago on foot or on horseback. This was not to be the case and
in the last 30 years in particular there has been a huge growth in interest and
in the number of pilgrims travelling on foot, on horseback or by bicycle.
Pilgrims were encouraged by the visits by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and in 1989
when World Youth Day was held in Santiago. The number of pilgrims continues to
grow. In 1985 1,245 pilgrims arrived in Santiago. In the 2010 Holy Year 272,703
pilgrims qualified for the Compostela.
Things to
Do[6]
·
Learn more about St. James.
·
It is traditional in Spain to make a yearly
pilgrimage to St. James of Compostela on July 24. Read
more about this custom. From Catholic Culture's Library: Pilgrimage
To The Stars and Cycling
through time on the Camino de Santiago.
·
Read about Santiago de Compostela,
the third largest shrine in all of Christendom.
·
Learn more about the pilgrimage to St. James.
·
Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia
and final destination of the famous pilgrimage way is certainly among Spain's
most beautiful cities. You can take a virtual tour and learn all about this
area of the world here.
·
Watch this Spanish news
broadcast of the faithful bringing flowers for Our Lady of the Pillar on
October 12 during the celebration of the feast at the cathedral, notice the
open devotion and enthusiasm offered to Our Lady. Tradition says that Mary
appeared to St. James before her Assumption. Read more about the apparition
here.
·
Plan your own pilgrimage to a nearby shrine.
Pope John Paul II said, "To go in a spirit of prayer from one place to
another, from one city to another, in the area marked especially by God's
intervention, helps us not only to live our life as a journey, but also gives
us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself
set out on man's path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who
became our traveling companion." Read
this letter and try to incorporate its spirit into your pilgrimage.
Way of St. James[7]
Hikers travel the trail
across the Castilian plateau. It’s a long walk to Santiago de Compostela on the
Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), but the Christian faithful have made the
pilgrimage since the bones of St. James the Apostle were unearthed here in the
9th century, spreading the cultural rebirth of Europe. The apparition of St.
James was said to aid Christian armies in battles with the Moors, so Spaniards
adopted Santiago Matamoros (aka St. James, the Moor-slayer) as their patron
saint. Modern hikers follow in the footsteps of El Cid, Louis VII of France,
and St. Francis of Assisi to this pilgrimage destination that’s on a par with
Rome and Jerusalem. Whether their motives are spiritual or not, the experience
of the walk lingers. Most travelers follow a variant of the French Route, which
begins in the Basque village of Roncesvalles, in the Pyrenees at the
French-Spanish border, and trek 500 miles through the Rioja wine country (see
here) and the former kingdoms of northern Spain. Hostels, inns, and restaurants
along the entire stretch cater to the pilgrims. Those who lack time or stamina
for the 4-plus-week journey by foot walk only the final 62 miles, through
rugged but green inland Galicia. At Monte de Gozo, 2 miles from Santiago de
Compostela, tired but elated travelers typically get their first glimpse of the
twin towers of Santiago’s cathedral. Construction of the majestic Cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela began in 1078, on the site of a 9th-century basilica
destroyed by the Moors, and Maestro Mateo’s original designs rank among
Europe’s finest Romanesque art. The cathedral’s elaborate, two-towered Baroque
façade, added in the 18th century, protects the now restored original Porta de
Gloria from weathering. The impact of the cavernous interior—as simple as the
façade is ornate—is heightened by the golden-cloaked, bejeweled statue of St.
James above the main altar, embraced by arriving pilgrims. The cathedral shares
the vast Plaza del Obradoiro (“work of gold”) with the Hotel Reyes Católicos (Catholic
Kings), built by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel in 1499 as a hospice for
pilgrims. Now one of the most renowned paradors in Spain, it has rooms
overlooking the square and the cathedral and many more overlooking four
courtyard cloisters. Only a short walk away, the Palacio del Carmen has
transformed an 18th-century convent into comfortable if less majestic lodging.
Where: Santiago de Compostela is 375 miles/603 km northwest of Madrid. The most
popular route of the Camino de Santiago starts in Roncesvalle and runs 500
miles/800 km across the northern regions of Spain, from east to west. How:
U.S.-based Saranjan, Inc., offers 1- to 2-week tours by minibus, on foot, or on
bicycle. Tel 800-858-9594 or 206-720-0623; www.saranjan.com. Cost: 8-day
hiking/biking tours from $3,150; all-inclusive. Originate in León. Hotel Reyes
Católicos: Tel 34/981582200; www.parador.es; in the U.S., Palace Tours,
800-724-5120; www.palacetours.com. Cost: from $105 (off-peak), from $225
(peak). Palacio del Carmen: Tel 34/981-552444; www.palaciodelcarmen.com. Cost:
from $100 (off-peak), from $115 (peak). Best times: late Feb or early Mar for
Antroido (carnival); last 2 weeks of Jul for succession of fiestas; Jul 25 for
feast day of Santiago, celebrated with fireworks, music, and processions.
St.
Christopher-Bearer of Christ[8]
St. Christopher's feast day is still July 25, and the proper of the Mass in his honor is found in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal still authorized for the Tridentine Mass. The confusion over whether St. Christopher is still a saint arose when Pope Paul VI revised the Liturgical Calendar, which includes the feast days of saints that are commemorated at Mass. Due to the proliferation of the number of feast days over the centuries, the Second Vatican Council in its "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" proposed, "Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church, or nation, or family of religious. Only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorates saints who are truly of universal importance" (No. 111). With this in mind, a special commission — Consilium — examined the calendar and removed those saints whose historical base was more grounded on tradition than provable fact, changed the feast days to coincide with the anniversary of a saint's death or martyrdom whenever possible, and added saints that were recently canonized and had universal Church appeal. Moreover, local conferences of bishops could add to the universal calendar those saints important to the faithful in their own country. In no way did the Church "de-canonize" St. Christopher or anyone else, despite the lack of historical evidence surrounding their lives. St. Christopher is still worthy of our devotion and prayers, and each of us should be mindful that he too is called to be a "bearer of Christ."
Novena
of St. Ann[9]
Daily Prayer to Saint Ann
O
glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and
with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my
troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present
intention which I recommend to you in your special care.
Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it
before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue
to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me
the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the
saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .
O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at
the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
NINTH
DAY
Good St. Ann, I have reached the end of this
novena in your honor. I have asked and ask again. Good mother let not your kind
ear grow weary of my prayers, though I repeat them so often.
Bounteous Lady implore for me from divine
Providence all the help I need through life. May your generous hand bestow on
me the material means to satisfy my own needs and to alleviate the plight of
the poor.
Good St. Ann, fortify me by the sacraments of
the Church at the hour of my death. Admit me into the company of the blessed in
the kingdom of heaven, where I may praise and thank the adorable Trinity, your
grandson Christ Jesus, your glorious daughter Mary, and yourself, dear St. Ann,
through endless ages.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 41
285 Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own. Ancient religions and cultures produced many myths concerning origins. Some philosophers have said that everything is God, that the world is God, or that the development of the world is the development of God (Pantheism). Others have said that the world is a necessary emanation arising from God and returning to him. Still others have affirmed the existence of two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, locked, in permanent conflict (Dualism, Manichaeism). According to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the physical world) is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind (Gnosticism). Some admit that the world was made by God, but as by a watch-maker who, once he has made a watch, abandons it to itself (Deism). Finally, others reject any transcendent origin for the world, but see it as merely the interplay of matter that has always existed (Materialism). All these attempts bear witness to the permanence and universality of the question of origins. This inquiry is distinctively human.
286 Human intelligence is
surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. the
existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by
the light of human reason, even if this knowledge is often obscured and
disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in
the correct understanding of this truth: "By faith we understand that the
world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of
things which do not appear."
287 The truth about creation is
so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal
to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject. Beyond the
natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator, God
progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation. He who chose the
patriarchs, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and who by choosing Israel created
and formed it, this same God reveals himself as the One to whom belong all the
peoples of the earth, and the whole earth itself; he is the One who alone
"made heaven and earth".
288 Thus the revelation of
creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the
one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this
covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love. and
so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigor in the message
of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom
sayings of the Chosen People.
289 Among all the Scriptural
texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique
place. From a literary standpoint these texts may have had diverse sources. the
inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in
their solemn language the truths of creation - its origin and its end in God,
its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and
the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred
Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the
principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "beginning":
creation, fall, and promise of salvation.
Wine (Whine) and Cheese Day[10]
There are some things in
the world that were just meant to go together, like Chocolate and Peanut
Butter, oil and vinegar, and of course wine and cheese! Since time out of mind
wine and cheese have been paired together and served at all the most important
of events among the highest class of people. Wine And Cheese Day celebrates
this eternal bonding and the elegance it engenders.
Learn
about National Wine and Cheese Day
National Wine and Cheese
Day is a date that celebrates the ultimate pairing of cheese and wine. For a
lot of people, there is nothing that goes together better than a great glass of
wine and some premium quality cheese. A lot of wine-producing cultures pair
regional wines with local cheeses, and so this is an art that is recognized in
many parts around the world.
Not only does National
Wine and Cheese Day give you the chance to celebrate this tradition, but it
also gives you the opportunity to expand your knowledge in terms of pairing
different types of wine and cheese. There are so many different types of wine and
cheese – it would be impossible to name them all! This means that there is
always something new to learn when it comes to the art of pairing these two
treats together. And, of course, while there are some general guidelines to
follow in terms of determining what sort of cheese is going to go well with the
wine you’re serving, you can also learn a lot by simply trying out different
combinations.
History
of Wine And Cheese Day
There is an interesting
element to all of the pairings mentioned in the introduction, with the possible
exception of chocolate and peanut butter. Pairings of food almost universally
involve pairing an astringent food, like wine, with a fatty food like cheese.
The reason isn’t just incidental, but in fact is one of the secrets of culinary
science that’s used in creating truly delectable meals.
Astringent foods have a
tendency to bind with the elements in saliva that lubricate and cause them to
clump and lose their ability to lubricate. This tends to leave us with a
puckered mouth and nobody loves that! Even worse, the more you consume astringent
foods the drier they make your mouth! While we all agree that wine and tea are
both delicious, no one wants a puckered mouth!
This is where the cheese
comes in with its fatty texture and often pungent flavors. Each bite tends to
coat our mouths just a little more making it lubricated with fat, often to the
point of being slimy! We love the flavors, but the constant buildup of flavor
can often be overwhelming, and that’s when wine comes to the rescue!
Wine And Cheese Day
celebrates this pairing of foods and the ways they interact to make each one
even more enjoyable!
How
to celebrate Wine And Cheese Day
The best way to celebrate
Wine and Cheese Day is by hosting a wine and cheese tasting of your very own!
Get together with your friends and plan out the evening with every variety of
cheese you can imagine. Bring your Port Wines and your blushes, your champagnes
and your reds and whites, and for each of them bring a parade of cheeses to be
sampled. We’re not talking simple Sharp Cheddar but exotics like blue cheese
and Limburger, Gorgonzola and Mizithra, all the wondrous cheese of the world!
Here are some tips to help
you pair wine and cheese together effectively:
- When
in doubt, a firm and nutty cheese won’t let you down.
- Cheeses
and wines that come from the same place pair well together. Remember what
we said about the French brie earlier?
- Sparkling
wines work beautifully with creamy, soft cheeses. This is because the wine
has high carbonation and acidity, which acts as a palate-cleanser for the
sticky and creamy cheeses, like Cremont, Camembert, Muenster, and Brie.
- Sweeter
wines and funky cheeses go together perfectly. Sweeter wines like Late
Harvest dessert wines and Moscato go well with the blue-veined cheeses.
This is because the sweetness from the wine helps to balance out the
‘funk’ in the cheese.
- Aged
cheeses and bold red wines go well together. Look for cheeses that have
aged for at least a year when serving a bold red wine. This is because the
cheese’s fat content will counteract the high tannins in the wine. The
cheeses you can serve include the likes of Provolone, Gouda, Manchego, and
Cheddar.
- Pair
cheeses and wines that equal intensity. If you were to opt for a Cabernet
Sauvignon and Gruyère, for example, the cheese would be overwhelmed by the
bold and big flavors of the wine.
With these tips, you
should be able to come up with some great wine and cheese pairings that you and
your loved ones can enjoy. You could even get everyone to contribute a wine and
cheese pairing each, and then you could see who has been able to come up with
the best match. After all, there is nothing like a bit of friendly competition,
right?
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: The
sanctification of the Church Militant.
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Go to MASS
·
Rosary
[2]http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/awareness-week/upload/HV-40-Marriage-Gift-of-Love-and-Life-Galeone.pdf
[3]http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html
[4] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[7]Schultz, Patricia.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: Revised Second Edition (pp. 265-266)
[9]Blessed Sacrament Fathers, ST. ANN’S SHRINE, Cleveland, Ohio
[11] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
[12]https://globalgrasshopper.com/destinations/north-america/20-of-the-best-places-to-visit-in-july-in-the-usa/
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