Vinny’s Day Try “Aligot”
· Manuary is a time for men to show their stuff by growing out their facial hair
· Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
· Spirit hour: In honor of St. Canute an Aquavit Fizz
· Carnival Time begins in Catholic Countries.
· Bucket Item trip: Cambridge, England
· National Winnie the Pooh day
o As a child of the “Iceman” life was “fun” and it was “real”, but it wasn’t “real fun”. One summer the “Iceman” took us on an adventure to the Scout Training center at “Philmont”. I was about 7. On the trip we stopped at a McDonald’s to eat, and they were selling CD’s, and we brought one to listen to on the road as we were traveling in route to Philmont the area was wild and there were no rest stops. We all needed to relieve ourselves but there was nothing but the woods. All of the sudden the song for “Winnie the Pooh” came on. But the Iceman feeling the urge to purge started singing along with the song. “Really got to Poop” “Really got to Poop” Really, really, really, really, really got to Poop. We made it to Philmont at last not too late. That evening in the community meal during prayer I decided to repeat sing my dad’s rendition of “Winnie the Pooh”. I think he was embarrassed.
· How to celebrate Jan 18th
o Begin your day by channeling the carefree spirit of Winnie the Pooh. Wear something yellow, grab a jar of honey, and head to your local park for a picnic. Embrace the simple joys of nature and indulge in some delicious honey treats.
o Next, treat yourself to a fancy cup of gourmet coffee. Hit up a local cafe or cozy up at home with some special brews. Take a moment to savor the rich flavors and aromas, finding a moment of bliss in every sip.
o Now, it’s time to celebrate Michigan with a virtual tour of the Great Lakes state. Explore online resources to learn about Michigan’s unique history, culture, and natural beauty. Test your knowledge with a fun quiz or plan a future road trip to experience Michigan in person.
o Feeling adventurous? Whip up a batch of Peking duck at home. Follow a simple recipe and impress yourself with your culinary skills. Gather your loved ones for a homemade feast or savor the delicious meal solo.
o As the day winds down, focus on your health with Women’s Healthy Weight Day. Take a brisk walk, try out a new workout routine, or prepare a nutritious meal. Invest in your well-being and feel empowered in your journey towards a healthier lifestyle.
o Wrap up your day by expanding your vocabulary on Thesaurus Day. Challenge yourself to use new words throughout your conversations or written communications. Dive into a thesaurus to discover a treasure trove of synonyms and elevate your language game.
· 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
January 18 Saturday
Psalm 19, Verse 10-11
10 The FEAR of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the LORD are true, all of them just; 11 More desirable than gold, than a hoard of purest gold, Sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb.
Our Lord showed no fear of the money changers or the priests when He overturned the tables in holy zeal for the statutes of the Lord.
Is the Holy Spirit moving you to make a real change today?
Are you being called to be holier, stronger, more committed to God and better prepared for the trials and persecution of our world?
Consider the message of The Holy League.[1]
The Holy League
History-Pope St. Pius V formed the original Holy League in response to the dire situation in which Christian Europe found itself in 1571. Small bands of Catholic men and remnant armies from various nations came together under the spiritual leadership of the saintly pontiff and the military leadership of Don John of Austria. By prayer and fasting, they implored the help of God’s grace, through the intercession of the Mother of God, and, by the grace of Almighty God, on October 7, 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, the Christian fleet won a crushing victory over the OttomanTurks, saving Christendom and western civilization.
The Battle Today
At this particular moment in time, the Church finds itself in a similar situation to that of the Church in the late Sixteenth Century. However, instead of a physical enemy on the horizon, the Church and the family (the domestic Church) are threatened daily by relativism, secularism, impurity, and confusion regarding Church teaching. The battle today “is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6: 10-12). To combat the forces of evil in today’s society, the Holy League strives to call men back to the state of grace and to transforming the culture through prayer.” The Holy League, in fidelity to its mission as a Roman Catholic solidarity movement:
·
Provides a Holy Hour format which
incorporates: Eucharistic adoration, prayer, short spiritual reflections, the
availability of the Sacrament of Confession, Benediction and fraternity.
·
Encourages consecration to the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Purest Heart
of Joseph.
·
Promotes the Precepts and
Sacraments of the Church; especially through devotion to the Most Blessed
Sacrament and the praying of the Most Holy Rosary.
·
Creates a unified front, made up
of members of the Church Militant, for spiritual combat.
· Strives to have a regular monthly Holy League Holy Hour available to men in every Roman Catholic parish.
Holy League Vision
The Vision of the Holy League is to develop a network of parish based regular monthly Holy Hours with confession and fraternity for men.
Our Mission
The Holy
League, in a Spirit of Marian Chivalry, under the patronage of Our Lady of
Guadalupe and Saint Joseph, seeks to provide opportunities for the faithful to
unite in prayer, especially monthly Eucharistic Holy Hours, for purification
from sin and predisposition to Supernatural Grace for the fuller exercise of
the threefold offices of Priest, Prophet, and King received at Baptism. The
particular prayer of the Holy League is the monthly Eucharistic Holy Hour.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day
220
Marriage under the pedagogy of
the Law
1609 In his
mercy God has not forsaken sinful man. the punishments consequent upon sin,
"pain in childbearing" and toil "in the sweat of your
brow," also embody remedies that limit the damaging effects of sin.
After the fall, marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of
one's own pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to
self-giving.
1610 Moral
conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage developed under
the pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs
and kings is not yet explicitly rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to Moses
aims at protecting the wife from arbitrary domination by the husband, even
though according to the Lord's words it still carries traces of man's
"hardness of heart" which was the reason Moses permitted men to
divorce their wives.
1611 Seeing
God's covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and faithful married love,
the prophets prepared the Chosen People's conscience for a deepened
understanding of the unity and indissolubility of marriage. The books of
Ruth and Tobit bear moving witness to an elevated sense of marriage and to the
fidelity and tenderness of spouses. Tradition has always seen in the Song of
Solomon a unique expression of human love, a pure reflection of God's love - a
love "strong as death" that "many waters cannot quench."
Marriage in the Lord
1612 The
nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the
new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming incarnate and
giving his life, has united to himself in a certain way all mankind saved by
him, thus preparing for "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."
1613 On the
threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's
request - during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to
Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the
goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an
efficacious sign of Christ's presence.
1614 In his
preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man
and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning permission given by Moses
to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The
matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined
it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
1615 This
unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have
left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize.
However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too
heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original
order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to
live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following
Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be
able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with
the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of
Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.
1616 This is
what the Apostle Paul makes clear when he says: "Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might
sanctify her," adding at once: "'For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.
This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the
Church."
1617 The
entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the
Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial
mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath which precedes the wedding
feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious
sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it
signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true
sacrament of the New Covenant.
January
18-Ice trapped the Endurance.
Antarctic
explorers like Ernest Shackleton who wrote this famous advertisement for men of
courage.
Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of
complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of
success.
Loyalty-Sir
Ernest Shackleton[2]
Sir Ernest Shackleton,
like so many of his generation, were ultimate adventurers – part hero, part
daredevil – fighting the elements and the odds, too far from civilization to
call for help – laying it all on the line purely for the love of adventure.
Shackleton led a doomed expedition to miraculous survival through the sheer
force of his motivational leadership. In 1914, he set out with a crew of
twenty-eight men on a quest to be the first to travel across the entire
Antarctic continent by way of the South Pole. His ship, Endurance, became caught
in ice and was crushed. After abandoning the ship, he and his men faced
incredible hardship from a variety of brutal Antarctic conditions – from
shifting weather to shifting ice, along with the trials of hunger, illness, and
discouragement – for more than a year.
Yet every man got home
safely when the entire expedition would have perished under weaker leadership.
Incredibly, the only casualty was frostbitten toes on one man. He had passion
for the adventure of the mission, but he also had passion for the men he led.
When he was forced to abandon his doomed ship and realized he would not achieve
his goal of reaching the South Pole en route to the other side, he kept his
disappointment to himself while he shifted his priorities to the well-being of
his men. He said to another leader, F.A. Worsley, “It is a pity [to miss the
crossing], but that cannot be helped. It is the men we have to think about. “He
put his men above himself.
He understood that the
survival of them all might well depend on the quality of his leadership. He
also realized that he could provide better leadership if he served as well as
led. “Shackleton shared the physical labors as well as the watches…[He] would
forego his own rations in order to feed the undernourished or the ill. And he
often did so without anyone knowing it…Shackleton always put the needs of his
men ahead of his personal comfort, and as a result he saved them all.” He
realized that in order to survive they would have to stay healthy – mentally as
well as physically.
When we are trying to
survive, having fun is the farthest thing from our minds. It may even be seen
as trivializing the suffering. But during harsh tribulation it is more important than ever to find something to
enjoy. During hard times we need to find a source of joy in order to maintain a
healthy perspective. As a leader, Shackleton accepted responsibility for
maintaining the spirits as well as the health of his men. Yes, they were brave
adventurers just as Shackleton was, well able to take care of themselves.
Still, Shackleton knew that as a leader he could provide a unique kind of
influence that would be empowering, energizing and uplifting. He continually
sought out ways to boost morale. He set aside time for recreation. They
improvised various forms of entertainment. Several of the men had chosen books
among the possessions they salvaged, and they read aloud to each other. They
played soccer on the ice. “Humor…played a role, with Shackleton telling stories
or teasing his men. What Shackleton was doing was keeping his men alive inside;
by encouraging them to read or sing, he was keeping their spirits from sagging
or dwelling on the inhospitalities that in other circumstances might have
overwhelmed them.” He Inspired Loyalty.
Shackleton’s passion for
his mission and for his men, his passion for leadership, and his passion for
motivation were a source of energy and courage during times of severe
adversity. These virtues made him a leader that people wanted to follow. Even
when his men may not have wanted to do something for themselves, they would do
it for him. He inspired this kind of loyalty because he gave it to his men.
They respected and trusted him because he respected and trusted them. They took
care of him because he took care of them. They put him first because he put
them first. He was a wonderful example of what a role model should be.
Shackleton dedicated South, the book he wrote about their
extraordinary exploits, “To My Comrades.” In one especially moving passage he
observed: “In memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside
things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at
glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in His
splendors, heard the text that natures renders. We had reached the naked soul
of man.” Sixty years after they had been rescued, the expedition’s first officer,
Lionel Greenstreet, was asked how they had done it, how had they survived such
a deadly misadventure. Greenstreet gave a one-word response:
“Shackleton.”
The Ice is Nice and Chee-Chee is Peachy
Over 100 years ago Roald Amundsen on March 7, 1912, announced
his success in reaching the Geographic South Pole to the world. This is the
story about the construction of the South Pole Station in Antarctica in 1973-4
by Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB71), also known as the ICE
Battalion, which the author was a member of. The difficulties encountered in
the construction of the station were monumental; enduring temperatures reaching
45 degrees below zero with wind chill factors reaching 80 below. This station
was comprised of a 52-foot-high geodesic dome, weather balloon launch station
and an observation tower for monitoring auroral phenomena. This Battalion was
on the ICE for almost five months and worked around the clock to complete the
project. This was an amazing fact when you consider that most of the
construction was completed in freezing temperatures at a high altitude; for the
South Pole is nearly two miles high by construction engineers less than 20
years old. The physical and mental stresses of working in this "frozen
desert" took its tolls on these young men. This story chronicles the
authors experience in this hostile environment, with bawdy engineers; humorous
antics; hard drinking and temporary insanities and the authors faith journey
amid the beauty and grandeur of the earth's last frontier: Antarctica. The
title of the book is also the motto of the ICE Battalion—it refers to our
mission and our R&R (rest and recreation) in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“THE ICE IS NICE
AND CHEE-CHEE IS PEACHY”
Today’s menu is from Antarctica where
Shackleton proved his medal.
- Shackleton
blended malt scotch Whiskey
- Hoosh
Also,
according to the Almanac
“Sale of pre-sliced bread banned in U.S. (law
rescinded March 8), WWII, 1943.”
Better than Sliced Bread.[3]
Around
1928, a Missouri jeweler named Otto F. Rohwedder invented the automatic
bread-slicing machine and became the darling of American kitchens. Bakeries
began advertising the pre-cut loaves as "the greatest forward step in the
baking industry since bread was wrapped," prompting Americans to coin that
immortal phrase: "The greatest thing since sliced bread."
But
America's love of sliced bread wouldn't stop the government from later banning
it.
Starting
January 18, 1943—the midst of World War II—sliced bread was barred from
American bakeries and homes. New baking regulations set by the Office of Price
Administration had boosted flour prices, and the government wanted to prevent
these costs from getting passed down to the consumer. By banning the use of
expensive bread-slicing machines, the government was hoping bakeries could keep
their prices low. Officials were also worried about the country's supply of wax
paper—and sliced bread required twice as much paraffin wrapping as an unsliced
loaf. (It prevented the slices from drying prematurely.)
The
decision was extremely unpopular. On January 26, Sue Forrester of Fairfield,
Connecticut wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times complaining on
behalf of the country’s housewives. "I should like to let you know how
important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household,"
Forrester wrote, saying she was forced to hand-cut more than 30 slices of bread
every day for her family. It was a waste of American time and energy, she
argued. It was also a waste of money: A good bread knife was difficult to find,
let alone afford, during the war.
The rule
was so disliked that nobody in the government apparently wanted to confess to
having the idea. The ban was ordered by Food Administrator Claude R. Wickard,
but the office of Price Administration blamed the idea on the agricultural
department, which blamed the baking industry.
"The
'off-again-on-again' ban on sliced bread today has all the earmarks of a
bureaucratic thriller," Illinois's Belvidere Daily Republican reported.
"The mystery over 'whodunnit' in the first place is surprised only by the
confusion in high places and the pointing of fingers at the next guy or anyone
within pointing distance."
The rule
also apparently took everybody by surprise. (Or, as the Daily Republican put
it, "[B]akers were caught with their wrappers down, so to speak.")
According to the Chicago Tribune, "[T]he governmental ban on the sale of
sliced bread, effective yesterday, caught hundreds of Chicago housewives by
surprise and sent them scurrying to hardware stores to raid depleted supplies
of bread knives."
The ban
applied to everybody except hotels, restaurants, and railroad dining cars,
which were awarded a 60-day reprieve to prepare. Bakeries that refused to abide
by the regulation and continued using their bread slicers faced steep fines.
The New York Area Supervisor of the Food Distribution Administration, John F.
Conaboy, warned bakeries that the government was "prepared to take stern
measures if necessary."
But even
the law's biggest proponents couldn't seem to get behind it. Emil Fink, a
prominent baker and member of the New York City Bakers Advisory Committee,
pushed hard for the bread-slicing ban. But one year later, Fink was in
court—for slicing bread. According to The New York Times, a U.S. Attorney
chastised the bakery-owner: "[Fink] called upon the Government to enforce
the regulation rigidly and, at that very time, his bakery was violating the
law." Fink was fined $1000.
According
to a February 1943 report in the Harrisburg Telegraph, the ban wasn't even
saving money—in fact, bakers in the area saw sales drop as much as 5 or 10
percent. "While all bakers have varied reasons for the prevailing
decrease, they all agree that the absence of sliced bread is at least playing
some part in the drop," the paper reported.
Not only
did the rule fail to save money, it didn't even save that much wax paper. On
March 8, 1943, the ban was rescinded, prompting jubilant headlines across the
country. As The New York Times trumpeted: "Sliced Bread Put Back on Sale;
Housewives' Thumbs Safe Again."
Hmmm…anyone for banning gas stoves?
Do you fear, tolerate, despise, or trust and
respect your government?
Daily Devotions/Practices
·
Today's Fast: Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Conversion
of Sinners
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: January
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
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