NIC’s Corner
Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.
(Genisis 1:26)
· Carnival Time begins in Catholic Countries.
· Get creative “International Creative Month”
· Bucket List trip: Swim with “Flipper”
· Spirit Hour: Tequila Sunrise
· Try “Clotted Cream”
o Start your day by channeling your inner inventor. Get creative with household items and try to come up with a new contraption. Who knows, you might just invent something groundbreaking on National Kid Inventors’ Day.
o For lunch, embrace the bootlegger spirit with a speakeasy-style picnic in a hidden location. Pack some classic sandwiches and homemade lemonade to enjoy on National Bootlegger’s Day. Remember to keep a lookout for any undercover cops!
o After lunch, spend some time mentoring someone in your community. Share your knowledge and skills with others on International Mentoring Day. Whether it’s teaching a new skill or offering career advice, your guidance could make a big difference in someone’s life.
o As the day progresses, honor the wisdom and intellect of Benjamin Franklin. Dedicate some time to reading a book or researching a topic that interests you. You might discover a new passion on Benjamin Franklin Day.
o In the evening, let go of any unrealistic New Year’s resolutions. Instead, celebrate Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day by treating yourself to a guilty pleasure. Indulge in your favorite dessert or binge-watch a TV show guilt-free.
o For dessert, commemorate Art’s Birthday by getting creative. Try your hand at a DIY art project or visit a local museum for inspiration. Let your imagination run wild and express yourself through art.
o End the night on a classy note by dressing up and having a fancy dinner at home. Light some candles, put on some music, and savor a delicious meal on National Classy Day. Who says you need a reservation at a fancy restaurant to feel fancy?
o Cap off the day by cozying up with a hot buttered rum in hand. Toast to the end of the day and reminisce about your favorite Popeye moments on Popeye Day. Cheers to a day filled with creativity, mentorship, knowledge, art, indulgence, and class
JANUARY 17 Friday-Saint Anthony, Abbot
Jeremiah,
Chapter 44, Verse 10
God
knows the human heart we tend to trust in our human strength, or our clout, or
our wealth, or weapons. God knows and He wants us to trust in Him not any of
these things. Even to this very day we have not learned this lesson we in
America have learned to trust in the strength of our Army, which is the
greatest Army in the world and have forgotten the true basis of our strength
which is printed on our money: In God We Trust. Many people in high offices
like to play the prophet: but “A wise person is superior to a prophet” (Bava
Basra 12a) Think a prophet can see the future but a wise person can see the present. God asks us to be present to
each other each and every day. Live in the Present!
Words
of wisdom Saint Teresa of Avila:
“I am
afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help
will fail us.”
“The most
potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I
don’t mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects
[are] those that are followed up by actions—–when the soul not only desires the
honor of God, but really strives for it. “
“You pay
God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”[1]
Saint
Anthony, called
the Great, lived in Egypt between A.D. 251 and 356. At age 18, the gospel text
"If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and then follow
me" so moved him that he left everything behind and retired to an
inaccessible place in the wilderness where he dedicated his life to God in
manual work and continual prayer. In his old age, he imparted wisdom to his
disciples and encouraged them to lead a monastic life. Because he was the first
Christian to retire to a monastic life, he is considered to be the first monk
and also the father of all monks. His feast is celebrated on January 17. Try
this simple, healthy recipe in honor of Saint Antony the hermit.
Catholic
Recipe: Saint Antony of the Desert Soup[2]
INGREDIENTS
3
tablespoons oil of choice
1 cup
barley
1 carrot,
finely grated
2 leeks,
sliced
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup
fresh parsley, minced
Salt to
taste
7 cups
water
1 bouillon
cube, if desired
Chopped
mushrooms, if desired
DIRECTIONS
1.
Heat the oil in a soup pot and add the barley, stirring continuously for one
minute. Immediately add the carrot, leeks, bay leaf, parsley, salt, and water.
2.
Cook the soup over low to medium heat, covered, for 40 to 45 minutes, until the
barley is tender. Add more water if needed. For extra taste, add the bouillon
and the mushrooms during the last 20 minutes of simmering. Remove the bay leaf.
Serve hot.
Recipe Source: From a Monastery Kitchen: The Classic Natural Foods Cookbook by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, Gramercy Books, 1997
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
Day 219
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN
MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN
SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER THREE-THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF
COMMUNION
Article 7-THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
1601 "The
matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a
partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of
the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant
between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a
sacrament."
I. Marriage
in God's Plan
1602 Sacred
Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness
of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the
Lamb." Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its
"mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its
origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of
salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the
Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.
Marriage in the order of
creation
1603 "The
intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has
been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws....
God himself is the author of marriage." The vocation to marriage is
written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the
Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations
it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social
structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to
forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this
institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some
sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures.
"The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian
society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family
life."
1604 God who
created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate
vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of
God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual
love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves
man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. and this love which God
blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of
watching over creation: "and God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"
1605 Holy
Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is
not good that the man should be alone." The woman, "flesh of his
flesh," i.e., his counterpart, his equal, his nearest in all things, is
given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from
whom comes our help. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The Lord
himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by
recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning":
"So they are no longer two, but one flesh."
Marriage under the regime of
sin
1606 Every man
experiences evil around him and within himself. This experience makes itself
felt in the relationships between man and woman. Their union has always been
threatened by discord, a spirit of domination, infidelity, jealousy, and
conflicts that can escalate into hatred and separation. This disorder can
manifest itself more or less acutely, and can be more or less overcome
according to the circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does
seem to have a universal character.
1607 According
to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of
man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As a break
with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the
original communion between man and woman. Their relations were distorted by
mutual recriminations; their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift,
changed into a relationship of domination and lust; and the beautiful
vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth was
burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work.
1608
Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. To
heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of the grace that God in
his infinite mercy never refuses them. Without his help man and woman
cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them "in the
beginning."
Today Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706[3]
Benjamin Franklin is family according to 23 and me
In 1724, on Christmas Eve, a young man aged 18 years old arrived in London from the American colonies. Looking for work, he soon found it with the printers situated in the Lady Chapel. His name was Benjamin Franklin. “I immediately got into work at Palmer's,” he later wrote, “then a famous printing-house in Bartholomew Close, and here I continued near a year.”
Franklin was to spend two years in London. In his autobiography, he relates how his last accommodation was with a landlady who was a Catholic convert:
“My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another in Duke Street, opposite to the Romish chapel. … A widow lady kept the house. … An elderly woman [who] had been bred a Protestant, being a clergyman's daughter, but was converted to the Catholic religion by her husband, whose memory she much revered. … So I remained with her at one shilling and sixpence as long as I stayed in London.”
Also living there at the top of the house was a mysterious figure. Franklin continues:
“In a garret of [the] house there lived a maiden lady of seventy, in the most retired manner, of whom my landlady gave me this account: that she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young, and lodged in a nunnery with an intent of becoming a nun; but, the country not agreeing with her, she returned to England, where, there being no nunnery, she had vowed to lead the life of a nun as might be done in those circumstances. Accordingly, she had given all her estate to charitable uses, reserving only twelve pounds a year to live on, and out of this sum she still gave a great deal in charity, living herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to boil it. She had lived many years in that garret, being permitted to remain there gratis by successive Catholic tenants of the house below, as they deemed it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited her to confess her every day.
Fitness Friday[4]
Health Benefits of Bergamot
If you’ve ever had Earl
Grey tea, then you’ve tasted the flavor of bergamot. It comes from the Citrus
bergamia plant, a fruit tree believed to be native to the Mediterranean
region.
A blend of the sour orange
and lemon (or citron) plant, bergamot produces a fruit that looks like a
round lemon. Although generally too sour to eat on its own, it’s been part of
the Mediterranean diet since the early 18th century.
People use extracts from
bergamot’s sour juice and oil from its peel for a variety of things including:
- Scents
for personal care products
- Aromatherapy
- Health
supplements
Health Benefits
Bergamot has health
benefits include:
Reducing Cholesterol
Several studies have shown
that bergamot may help to reduce overall cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol. It may also help to increase
“good” HDL cholesterol and has the potential to be an effective supplement to
cholesterol drugs.
Depression Relief
Studies have shown that an
aromatherapy blend that includes bergamot may help with depression symptoms in
older adults, people with terminal cancer, and women who are at high risk of
postpartum depression.
There hasn’t been enough
research yet to confirm the results, and there’s no conclusive evidence that it
can help with depression in other populations. However, there have been some
promising early studies with animals.
Scientists have found that
bergamot might protect the joints in people taking aromatase inhibitors as part
of cancer treatment. More research is needed.
Schizophrenia Relief
One study shows that
taking bergamot supplements may help people with schizophrenia think more
clearly. People in the study had better results on several cognitive tests
after taking bergamot. Further research is needed.
Health Risks of Bergamot
Mild side
effects. Some people experience side effects
like dizziness, muscle cramps, and heartburn when they take bergamot with food.
Blood
sugar issues.
Bergamot may cause
your blood sugar to drop. If you have diabetes,
your blood sugar might reach unsafe levels. It’s important to monitor those
levels if you choose to use bergamot supplements.
Even if you don’t have
diabetes, bergamot could make it harder for doctors to control your blood sugar
during surgery. Experts recommend that you stop using bergamot supplements two
weeks before you have surgery.
Daily Devotions/Activities
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Absent
Fathers (Physically & Spiritually)
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
[4] https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-bergamot#1
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