Thursday, January 30, 2025
Rachel’s Corner-Try “Shakshuka[5]”
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
(Luke 2:4-5)
· do a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
· Religion in the Home for Preschool: January
· Carnival Time begins in Catholic Countries.
· Carnival: Part Two, the Final Countdown
· Bucket List trip: Mount McKinley
· Spirit Hour: Foggy Day cocktail
o So, imagine waking up to a day filled with offbeat possibilities. Start your morning by drawing a whimsical dinosaur to embrace the creativity of National Draw a Dinosaur Day. Then, venture to the kitchen to whip up some buttery croissants for National Croissant Day. For a touch of adventure, plan a mini escape to a nearby park or trail for National Escape Day.
o As you stroll, collect some unique seeds to exchange with neighbors for National Seed Swap Day. Spread some positivity by promoting non-violence and peace on the School Day of Non-violence and Peace. This could be as simple as sharing kind words with others or engaging in a peaceful activity.
o As evening approaches, unleash your inner yodeler and serenade your neighbors for Yodel for Your Neighbors Day. Round off the day by setting a humorous answering machine message for National Inane Answering Message Day.
o This medley of activities may seem random, but it’s a great way to break the monotony and add some fun to your day. Embrace the spontaneity and make the most of each quirky holiday. Who knows, you might discover a new passion for drawing, baking, gardening, or yodeling along the way. Cheers to celebrating the unconventional!
· 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
Best Place to visit in January: Palm Desert, California
I’m a big fan of this quirky destination which is located next to Palm Springs in the sun-baked Coachella Valley in California. I’m always won over by this zen-like spot filled with natural hot springs, luxury hotels, country clubs, gourmet restaurants, golf courses and upscale spa resorts.
I going on a warm desert sun here when most of the Northern Hemisphere is hunkered down for winter – it’s not too hot or too cold this time of year, so I find it’s perfect for all sorts of activities, from hiking and biking to desert treks and golf.
When here, I loved just simply lounging by a swimming pool before heading off to indulge in a relaxing floating session at the Desert Serenity Float & Spa.
Visitor’s Center Address: 73510 Fred Waring Dr, Palm Desert, CA 92260
Average temperature – 59-72
My highlights…
Staying at the creative Hotel Paseo – I loved staying in their fun 1950 Airstream Trailer Suite, the trendy poolside cabana bar and the boutique vibe it had!
Taking a trip on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and taking Instagram-worthy shots of the breathtaking Chino Canyon.
Celebrity spotting at the glamorous Palm Springs International Film Festival which takes place during this month.
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.
Dinner Menu
JANUARY 30 Thursday
Know, therefore, that they are not
gods; do not FEAR them.
“Take
courage; get up, he is calling you.” (Mk: 10:49)
Christ calls us to a greater
purpose:
No man or woman of good will can renounce the struggle
to overcome evil with good. This fight can be fought effectively only with the
weapons of love. When good overcomes evil, love prevails and where love
prevails, there peace prevails. This is the teaching of the Gospel,
restated by the Second Vatican Council: "the fundamental law of human
perfection, and consequently of the transformation of the world, is the new
commandment of love"…Christians must be convinced witnesses of this truth.
They should show by their lives that love is the only force capable of bringing
fulfillment to persons and societies, the only force capable of directing the
course of history in the way of goodness and peace…By Christ's death and
resurrection, made sacramentally present in each Eucharistic celebration, we
are saved from evil and enabled to do good. Through the new life which Christ
has bestowed on us, we can recognize one another as brothers and sisters,
despite every difference of language, nationality and culture. In a word, by
sharing in the one bread and the one cup, we come to realize that we are
"God's family" and that together we can make our own effective
contribution to building a world based on the values of justice, freedom and peace.[1]
Aids
in Battle The Enemy’s Strategies
·
The
adversary of our human nature examines from every side all our virtues:
theological, cardinal, and moral. Wherever he discovers the defenses of eternal
salvation to be the weakest and most lacking, there he attacks and tries to
take us by storm. ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA
·
[St.
Catherine of Siena reports that Our Lord said to her:] I have told you that the
Devil invites men to the water of death— that is, to the things he has. Then,
blinding them with the pleasures and circumstances of the world, he catches
them with the hook of pleasure through the lure of something good. He could
catch them in no other way; they would not allow themselves to be caught if
they saw that no good or pleasure for themselves could be obtained in this
manner. For the soul, by her very nature, always relishes good. Yet it is true
that the soul, blinded by self-love, does not know and discern what is truly
good and profitable to the soul and to the body. So the Devil, seeing them
blinded by self-love, wickedly places before these souls diverse and various
delights, colored so as to have the appearance of some benefit or good. He
tempts each one, according to his condition, to those principal vices to which
that soul seems to be most disposed.
·
When
the sly demon, after using many devices, fails to hinder the prayer of the
diligent, he desists for a little while. But when the man has finished his
prayers, the demon takes his revenge. He either fires the man’s anger and thus
destroys the good condition produced by prayer, or he excites an impulse toward
some animal pleasure and thus mocks the man’s mind. ST. NILUS OF SINAI
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 233 1716-1729
PART
THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION
ONE-MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE-THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Article 2-OUR
VOCATION TO BEATITUDE
I. The Beatitudes
1716 The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching.
They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. the
Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the
possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of
evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
1717 The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ
and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated
with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions
and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical
promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the
blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples;
they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.
II. The Desire for Happiness
1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for
happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human
heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:
We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there
is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully
articulated.
How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking
you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for
my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.
God alone satisfies.
1719 The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the
ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is
addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the
new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in
faith.
III. Christian Beatitude
1720 The New Testament uses several expressions to
characterize the beatitude to which God calls man:
- the coming of the Kingdom of God;
- the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God"
- entering into the joy of the Lord;
- entering into God's rest:
There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we
shall love and praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what
other end do we have, if not to reach the kingdom which has no end?
1721 God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve
him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us "partakers of the
divine nature" and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into
the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.
1722 Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers
of man. It comes from an entirely free gift of God: whence it is called
supernatural, as is the grace that disposes man to enter into the divine joy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God."
It is true, because of the greatness and inexpressible
glory of God, that "man shall not see me and live," for the Father
cannot be grasped. But because of God's love and goodness toward us, and
because he can do all things, he goes so far as to grant those who love him the
privilege of seeing him.... For "what is impossible for men is possible
for God."
1723 The beatitude we are promised confronts us with
decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and
to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is
not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human
achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and
art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and
of all love:
All bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the
multitude of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth;
and by wealth they measure respectability.... It is a homage resulting from a
profound faith ... that with wealth he may do all things. Wealth is one idol of
the day and notoriety is a second.... Notoriety, or the making of a noise in
the world - it may be called "newspaper fame" - has come to be
considered a great good in itself, and a ground of veneration.
1724 The Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, and the
apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of
heaven. Sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we tread them, step by step,
by everyday acts. By the working of the Word of Christ, we slowly bear fruit in
the Church to the glory of God.
IN BRIEF
1725 The Beatitudes
take up and fulfill God's promises from Abraham on by ordering them to the
Kingdom of heaven. They respond to the desire for happiness that God has placed
in the human heart.
1726 The Beatitudes
teach us the final end to which God calls us: the Kingdom, the vision of God,
participation in the divine nature, eternal life, filiation, rest in God.
1727 The beatitude
of eternal life is a gratuitous gift of God. It is supernatural, as is the
grace that leads us there.
1728 The Beatitudes
confront us with decisive choices concerning earthly goods; they purify our
hearts in order to teach us to love God above all things.
1729 The beatitude
of heaven sets the standards for discernment in the use of earthly goods in
keeping with the law of God.
Croissant Day[2]
The legend of how the
croissant came to be is that in 1683, the Turkish Empire laid siege on Vienna,
Austria. The Turks made several attempts to conquer the city by force, but were
unsuccessful, so decided to try underground tunnels. The bakers of Vienna, who
worked in the basement storerooms, heard the sound of digging and alerted the
city’s army. For their vigilance, the bakers received high honors and thanks
for their assistance in outwitting the Turks. In celebration, they baked their
bread in the shape of a crescent moon—the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. After
the Turks were defeated, it became custom to serve morning coffee with the
crescent-shaped pastry! The legend continues to say that over a hundred years
later, Marie Antoinette introduced the pastry to the French who dubbed it a
“croissant”. Celebrate Croissant Day
in style by eating an abundance of this tasty treat!
On September 12, 1683, the great army of Turks which had besieged the city of Vienna for two months was finally attacked by the combined forces of Germans, Austrians, and Poles under the titular command of King John Sobiesky of Poland. The fierce battle lasted from dawn to evening, when the Turks, utterly beaten, retreated in headlong flight. Among the immense booty, the victors found a great number of sacks filled with strange green beans. They took them to be fodder for the camels which the Turkish Pasha had brought along. Since the camels had fled with the army, this part of the booty seemed useless, and it was decided to dump it in the Danube. However, one of the inhabitants of the city, a man named Kolsinsky, who had been a prisoner of the Turks and knew their ways, explained that it was a fruit from which the Turks, after roasting it, made a popular drink. In return for valuable services rendered during the siege he asked permission to open a shop where he could sell this Turkish drink. Permission was readily granted, and he opened the first "coffee house" in the city. When the people of Vienna tried the new drink, they found it not to their liking, for Kolsinsky served it the Turkish way — in small cups, with the grounds, black and unsweetened. A friend then advised him to make the drink more acceptable: "Strain it," he said, "so the grounds won't grit between the teeth. Add some milk to make it look brighter and sugar to make it sweet. And serve it together with something to eat. Why not use a new kind of pastry? Shape it in the form of the Turkish half-moon?" (The Turks had put their Mohammedan crescent on every church steeple in the place of the Christian cross.) Kolsinsky followed the advice, and his products immediately became very popular. The people now enjoyed drinking the coffee prepared in this manner, and they gleefully devoured the "Turkish Crescent," the sight of which had filled them with terror during the war. Thus, started the custom, which has since spread from Vienna all over the world, of drinking coffee without grounds in the cup, of mixing it with milk or cream, and sweetening it with sugar. The pastry in form of the Turkish half-moon (crescent, croissant, Kipfel) also has remained a familiar sight on coffee tables up to this day.
Recipe[3]
DIRECTIONS
Dissolve
yeast in water. Combine sugar, butter, salt and milk. Add milk mixture and egg
to yeast when cool. Stir in flour; beat well. Turn into greased bowl. Cover and
let rise in warm place to double in bulk. Turn dough onto lightly floured
board; knead for 1 minute. Return to bowl and let rise again to double in bulk.
Roll dough to a very thin sheet, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 5-inch squares.
Cut each square diagonally into 2 triangles. Brush with melted butter. Roll
triangles, beginning on diagonal. Shape in crescent shape. Place on greased
baking sheet, let rise until light. Bake in 400° oven for 15 minutes.
National Escape Day[4]
The idea of taking a vacation has been around for a long time, although it’s hard to trace it back exactly. In the past, the ability to take time to rest and escape from normal life would have typically been an option only for those who were particularly wealthy or powerful because average workers simply couldn’t afford to take the time off.
As
the world has been industrialized and modern workers have gained rights for
themselves related to safety and working conditions, the practice of taking
paid vacations or paid time off has evolved. Today, at least in most developed
countries, it is now commonplace to allow regular, full-time workers some sort
of time off for rest and vacation.
In
Europe, the standard is four weeks each year. In the United States there are no
legal requirements for paid leave, but many companies offer from two weeks to
four weeks or more (including sick days), based on seniority and other factors.
For
many people, whether it’s taking a vacation or just taking a day off from the
normal grind, the end of January is a perfect time for some “me time”. And
that’s why National Escape Day was established as a reminder to get away for a
day (or more if possible), gather yourself and come back refreshed and ready
for the next thing!
Daily Devotions
· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: An End to Addictions
·
Rosary
[1]https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20041216_xxxviii-world-day-for-peace.html
[3]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=1105&repos=3&subrepos=4&searchid=1864685
[5] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods
To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (p. 892). Workman Publishing
Company. Kindle Edition.
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