A Lint-y Lent - My Sunday Best - 02

Has this happened to you? I was listening to a podcast earlier this week and I almost had to stop it midway because I was going crazy hearing the podcaster say "Lent". Not because she was overusing the word (I mean, it was an episode about Lent after all) but because she was saying it like "lint."

"Lint is coming!"

Well, turns out the joke is on me because MSB left me absolutely covered in the stuff - so really the podcaster was right after all. I should have listened (and been prepared with a roller/brush).

Poncho: from my mom, Jeans: from Target

In other Mass-related news, today's kid antics were sufficiently blush-inducing. I had almost hoped that having my parents in town would help make mass attendance better, but I quickly learned after Ash Wednesday's service that having Grammy and Poppy next to my children doesn't help them behave much better at all. Alas. So anyway, I went into Mass today with normal expectations. And things were going normally until the little dude started his requests for "boo time" (nursing time). He's not asked for this for a LOOOONG time, but he did it on Wednesday and it made Poppy laugh, so I think he was trying it again for the reaction. But when it didn't work, he went over to my husband, climbed up into his lap and then told the people behind us, "Mommy has boobies and I have boobies!"

Oh child. Glad you're learning anatomy.

Not to be outdone, the wee girl also wanted her chance in the spotlight and she timed it for Communion.

"Mommy, I want one of the breads that's round and has a cross in it that Fr. Ron gives."
"Oh, yes, you want that? It is very special. That's the bread that Fr Ron asks God to change into the Body of Christ. You need to prepare yourself for that, and we prepare ourselves by taking a class. So once you take the class you can have Communion with us. But until then, remember, Fr. Ron also gives you special blessed bread after Communion."
"But Mommy I want the round one with the cross on it."
"Honey, it's special and you have to prepare yourself. Come on. It's time to go up."

So of course, she goes up and receives a blessing from Father but then when I turned to go, I didn't notice that she stayed in front of him. Waiting for the bread. That, of course, he wasn't going to give her. So I grabbed her hand and pulled her away at which point she threw herself down on the floor and started crying.

Oh my sweet girl. Bless your heart (really. Not like in that patronizing way.)

Friends, what would you have said in that situation? Anything you would add? (Or not say? I need that too). I don't know that she fully understands what's going on, but she obviously is paying attention and since this is actually the second week that she has said this, I don't think it's an issue that's going to go away - not that I really want it to, but I do at least want to help her understand better.

In any case, all was made right when she got both a mini-bagel and a pizza from our favorite fast food place afterwards. (It doesn't take much when you're a 4-year old I guess.)

Sharing a strawberry milkshake with Dad probably helps too.

There's more good stuff happening over at Rosie's! And if you got any pointers for next week, lemme know!

Ash Wednesday (aka "Weird Wednesday")

Today was the first day in I-can't-remember-how-long that I received ashes on my forehead. My mom reminded me to "Wear your ashes proudly." and so, I'm trying. Actually, I'm standing on the corner of 2nd and E Streets trying to decide if I should walk against the light or not. Can people see the smudge on my forehead? If they can, maybe I should stay here - I doubt jaywalking would look favorably on my Christian witness. But if they can't...

Only one person has asked about my ashes - the girl across the street who is my niece's age. Of course, it didn't start out as a question, but as an observation: "Sara, you have a black smudge on your forehead."

"Yes. They're ashes."

"Uh, why?"

"Because today is Ash Wednesday and Catholics get ashes on their forehead to mark the beginning of the 40 days before Easter."

I neglected to mention that this period was called Lent - but I don't know that that would have made any difference as she had already checked out and skipped off. (I guess that also makes it doubtful that I performed a Spiritual Work of Mercy of "Instucting the ignorant". Darn.)

So I'm thinking about this exchange as I continue to walk home (after waiting for the light to change first, of course) and what gets me is both my neighbor's acceptance and "meh"-ness towards my ashes. At first, she was curious, but then she got her answer, it ceased to be a curiosity, and she moved on. Did she not find it bizarre? I feel like if I hadn't grown up Catholic I would find it strange and want to know more.

Or maybe she did find it bizarre - but no less bizarre than any other number of things thrown at her in this day and age. I mean, kittens on the internet is a thing. Slow TV is a thing. Bizarre.

If anything, that should be an encouragement to "Wear your ashes proudly." Life today is so strange that you may not stick out as oddly as you think you will.  But maybe we worry too much about how we look?  The mass the littles and I attended this afternoon was packed. Packed! And of course, it was just one of the many masses that happened today in the 4 parishes in my hometown. Yet, while I was out and about a few hours later, I didn't seem to see anyone else with ashes on their foreheads. Bummer. I would have liked to show some solidarity with my Catholic brothers and sisters. We would have smiled and nodded to each other, "Nice ashes."  "Yours too - they actually looks like a cross! Rock on!"

Oh well, I will just choose to believe that either
1) there weren't any other Catholics to run into where I was downtown or
2) everyone took Jesus's words in Matthew 6:1 to mean that they should clean their ashes off before continuing on with their day.  I suppose that would be legitimate. But I feel like we Christians believe some pretty bizarre things, so it should only make sense that we follow it up with some bizarre actions. We say we believe there is a God, and that we are not God - that we came from dust and to dust we shall return - so why not walk around with that reminder for a day?

When the ashes were placed on my head, the minister spoke these words over me: "Repent and believe the Good News." I confess that sometimes I have a hard time remembering what the Good News is exactly. Today's reminder was that it is Good to do the bizarre: to take wee ones to Mass, to believe that my Savior was present to me in the bread and wine, to wear ashes on my head as a sign of my mortality. This stuff is what's Really Real. These choices have positive impacts that last longer than the moment they happen in... at least, that's also what we believe.

And that's bizarre too.

A Small Thought

A quote from Wearing God...

What I Would Share on FB if I was on FB

Happy 2nd Week of Advent!

To... whoever you are who may be reading this. :)

I signed off of Facebook this Advent in the hopes of spiritually preparing myself for Christmas, but unfortunately, and all too predictably, I'm only finding out how much I *loved* to surf the Facebooks in my down moments. Today has been particularly hard, hence why I'm writing this blog post. ;)

So what have I been doing/reading since I'm not on FB? Well, let me play a little show and tell...

-1-

Expecting During Advent: The Tender and Terrifying Truth

This post by Laura is lovely. It closes with some words by Madeleine L'Engle that I found particularly challenging: "Yet Love still takes the risk of birth." Such a good meditation on the darker side of Advent.

-2-

I Don't Care How You Advent

Bonnie's post was the first I saw that touched on the theme of "You Don't Have To Do It All" and I liked how she said it. But apparently it didn't sink in because I still needed to read

-3-

Baby Steps to Living Liturgically

Kelly's post. It was almost like she stepped into my head:

"Okay, you’re married, have a young family and after stumbling across some Catholic mommy blogs you want to celebrate the liturgical year like Kool and the Gang. You’ve bought some Tomie dePaola books, downloaded coloring pages, and attempted a new recipe but thus far your efforts only lead to tears of frustration and feelings of being the worst Catholic in the world..."

So where we differ here is that I haven't bought any Tomie dePaola books. I've bought this one though.  And this one. And this one. But not any of Tomie's... yet. So the paragraph above doesn't describe me at all. Except that it does. So that's why I read it two times over and encourage you to do the same.

-4-

Finally: The Story of Jake the Dog

This lady cracks me up. NFP dog!! HA!!

-5-

How a Conservative-Led Australia Ended Mass Killings

One of these links is not like the others... Seriously, though. We gotta do something about this.

-6-

If I Believe in Water But Will Not Drink...

I think what I liked about this one was that I was 1) surprised by who wrote it (it just didn't sound like her at all) and 2) I was challenged (again) to make use of the sacraments. Confession: I need to go to Confession. I don't know how to make it work with my two littles, but if I can wrangle them to Mass by myself then I can (and should) find a way.

-7-

Instagram

Well, I have to get my social media fix somehow! (sigh.) ;)

Thanks to Kelly for hosting SQT yet again and letting me tag my little blog along too...

The Things That Have Been Taking Up Brain Space...

(if there's 7 of 'em, we'll make it a 7QT - and that's a big IF. So we'll see...)

-1-

I just took a moment to reread my last post about how we're making our Catholic family more... um, Catholic-ey (Catholickey? Catholocist-like?). And I had to chuckle because just last night I was lamenting to my husband that I didn't think I was doing a good enough job. Re-reading the post, though, encouraged me that we *are* working on it and I must remember that if I'm seeking perfection then I'm entirely off-base.

Any advice you might have wanted to give me about learning to do something new has now
been usurped by this card. Sorry. (This woman gets me.)

-2-

Jesse Tree Update! Things are progressing along nicely I think!

I actually have more than just these 5 done... but the other pictures are hiding somewhere on my phone. These ones look the best though.

Just one piece of advice... do not craft, drink wine and listen to podcasts at the same time. Or *this* might happen:

Add this to my "Hall of Shame"

-3-

Where (contrary to what -1- says) I am failing as a Catholic: The Spiritual Works of Mercy

While a lot of these need work, it's that last one - praying for the dead that I've really been thinking about. The Catholic church specifically sets aside the month of November to pray for the dead - for which many of my friends will probably ask, "Why?" And to be honest, my friends, I was right there with you. And kinda still am... but kinda am not.
It has to do with that subject that I feel no one I know wants to talk about: purgatory (and on a related note, indulgences). Purgatory is the place where saved souls "go" before they are accepted into the presence of God. (This is not the same as Limbo - something which the Church has never taught as official doctrine - and for which I would encourage you to read this post (especially the quote at the end from St Bernard))
James Martin, SJ helped me understand the purpose of purgatory a little bit better when he posted on Facebook:

"Purgatory is a time of preparation for entrance into heaven. It comes from the same root as the word for "purgation," and in this case is a kind of ridding ourselves of our sinfulness. To put it in the most homey way, which of us here, should we, say suddenly get hit by a bus after coming from a daily Mass, feel completely ready to meet God? On the other hand, exiting church and going immediately to heaven is probably not such a bad way of presenting yourself to God! You say, “Hey look, I just came from Mass!”
But the point is that most of us are probably not completely prepared to meet our Creator, even after many years of prayer, penance and preparation. And for those of us who are guilty of great sins, and who have turned away from God in a serious way, the process of purgatory is probably even longer, or, to put more accurately--since there's no time in heaven--more complete. Sin is a complete turning away from God, and it may take some time for people who have lived sinful lives a while before they can admit their sinfulness, and accept God's forgiveness"

And this is why we pray for the dead: we all need grace to accept God's mercy. It's something I have heard in almost every bible study I've ever done (and something my experience bears witness to) God's mercy is radical and oftentimes hard to accept. We need His grace to accept his Gift. All of us, dead and alive. I'll be honest. It's still an odd thought to me. But if there's something I can do about it, then I want to do it.

-4-

Which brings me to the indulgences part. The week following All Souls Day (not to be confused with All Saints day) the Church grants special indulgences for those who specifically commit themselves to praying for All The Souls by going to a cemetery and praying for the departed.

This was a big "Woah. Woah WOAH. Hold up." moment for me. I had thought indulgences had been reformed out with the Reformation. But, to my surprise, they have not. They are still very much a part of church teaching (and not of the part that I can choose whether I want to believe it or not - cause guess what? There are actually some church teachings that the church says "You can believe this if you want to, but if you don't want to, no biggie."  Like you, I'm doubly surprised.)

But unlike purgatory, indulgences baffle me. Because I can't just say the prayer and call it good. There are stipulations before the indulgence can be granted (by who? and how? and for what, again? So many questions.) So I'm still doing my research. Really, I'm only bringing it up because the title of this post was "Things that have been taking up brain space" and this ranks right up there.

So, uhm... yeah. I'm just going to leave this right.... here.

-5-

My little ones are growing up right before my eyes. This week, both of my chilluns made huge (in my mind) milestones. First, the spitfire went to the doctor's office for her yearly checkup and she cooperated with the nurse and didn't cry! (Well, until she got her flu shot, but that's to be expected.) I was stunned, but was doing my absolute best to remain and cool and confident on the outside while inside I was jumping all around wanting to celebrate how my little girl was being so brave. We talked it up all the way home and to everyone we met that day though. I'm so proud of her.

And then a couple days later the little dude started for-reals-crawling! He's been army crawling since he was 6 months, but on Wednesday night he army crawled into his sister's room and then when I called for him, he right on proper crawled his way out. It was truly like a switch had flipped. Yet it didn't happen over night - it happened in a post-nap-pre-dinner moment. My eyes still bug out at the thought of it.

-6-

Facebook. It's been taking up far too much brain space. I turned off notifications on my phone for it, which helped a little, but still it's too big of a time sink.  I think I might need an intervention or something. Any help here friends?

-7-

Ok, I just gotta pull a 7th one out here because, I'm sooo close! Think think think! What else has been taking up space in my brain?

Oh... I know. *insert sly smile here*

And no, it's nothing like that! (Shame on you.)

It's just simply the best Chicken Pot Pie ever. Really. Fall's here everyone, so go ahead and give this one a try. You will love it. (and yes, it's 2 teaspoons sherry. and yes, it's completely necessary.)

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Source: www.thekitchn.com

Course: Main Course

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• For the filling
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large leek chopped
• 1 cup onions chopped into small dice
• 1 cup carrots chopped into small dice
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups green beans cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¹⁄₂ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock hot
• 1 cup whole milk warmed
• 2 teaspoons dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 3 hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• For the topping
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter melted
• ¹⁄₂ cup whole milk or 2%

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. For the filling, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot on medium heat. Add the leeks, onions, and carrots and sauté until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the green beans in a pot of salted boiling water until tender and bright green, about 5-7 minutes (see note). Drain the beans and set aside.Transfer the sautéed vegetables to the same bowl as the green beans, season with salt, and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the flour and cook until a thick paste forms. Continue stirring for a minute or so. Add the chicken stock and milk and cook, whisking constantly until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sherry, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the vegetables and cooked chicken into the cream sauce. Season generously with salt and pepper. (Seriously, don't go light on the salt here, but taste as you go.) Pour the filling into a 2- to 3-quart greased casserole dish. Arrange the boiled egg slices over the top.
4. For the topping, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and melted butter, and whisk until combined. (Just a warning, the batter will seem fairly runny. That's okay.) Pour the batter evenly over the casserole dish.
5. Bake the pot pie for 45 minutes, until the biscuit topping is light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
6. Notes:
7. • I poached 4 pounds of bone-in chicken thighs with aromatics--carrots, celery, onions--until cooked through. I shredded the chicken and used the stock for the pot pie. (I also added the remaining bones and extra chicken back to the pot with more water to make additional stock for using later.)
8. • For extra flavor, blanch the green beans in the reserved stock from poaching the chicken instead of boiling water.

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So there it is! 7 Quick Takes. Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum has more (and probably better ones) to read, so share the click-thru-love.

All the things.

So many times over this last month I have thought to myself, "I should write a post about that...." But of course, as so often is the case with me, I find other things to do (or they find me - ahem, I'm looking at you little ones)

Who... us??

So here, in the order that they are coming out of my head (not necessarily in any particular order) are those things:

1. Blessed Brunch - Bezerkley style

...which means no brunch - just afternoon coffee break. :) However there was some super delicious quiche that I should have either gone back for seconds of, or asked the recipe for, but I digress.

I had emailed the BIS-folks back in July about hosting a brunch up here in Northern California - however, once my hubs scheduled his surgery, that went out the window. Blessedly (for reals) another lovely lady stepped up - 2 actually! - and I was so glad to go to her house on Saturday 8/8. I really didn't know what to expect, but since starting this blog and (before then) returning to the Catholic church, I was so hungry to get to know other women who really take this faith seriously. (Translation: I don't know what I'm doing, and really need some mentors/role models!*)

It did not disappoint.

We prayed, we ate, we introduced ourselves, we shared... really, for a bunch of women who for the most part, only met through a Catholic devotional on the internet, I could not have asked for a more beautiful time with such lovely people. And yes, I did learn some things! For instance, there's a Montessori-style bible study for kids - I just love this. And I remember a lot of the women saying they prayed (or at least wanted to pray) the Liturgy of the Hours. Maybe I will too, someday...

2. Our Littles were Baptized!

I mentioned earlier how I'm not always aware of appropriate behavior in church, so as the date for the wee ones baptism approached, I got more and more worried that I wouldn't be doing it right. In fact, it was only 1 week before the baptism that I learned the chilluns should be dressed in white. (Seeing all of Kendra's pictures obviously didn't teach me anything.) Ack! Where do I find white baptism outfits that aren't going to cost me an arm and leg in less than 7 days? Amazon.com to the rescue!!

Not bad, eh? :)

Both children did much better than I expected them to - our little guy only cried a tiny bit and even "the spitfire" cried up until the water hit her head and then she stopped. (Given her lifelong dislike of the water, I did not see that coming!) I was touched by all the parts of the ceremony - and the smell of the chrism lived up to the hype. But it was the prayers for the mother and father that got me crying. I don't even know if I can say what exactly it was that made me tear up.  I just felt so blessed and grateful - and hopeful! So much grace was poured out on them, and me, that I am sure we will be changed for the good because of it.

The baptism was followed by some family pictures - which was really just a front for getting my sister to her 40th birthday surprise.

It worked spectacularly :)

I don't want to make this post toooo long, so more to come soon...!

*This needing a mentor even extends into my French baking attempts... I tried making madeleines for the Blessed Coffee Break and well... um...

Madeleines these are not. We shall call them "madel-ain'ts!"

At least they were delicious!

A beautiful grace

I wonder sometimes if our priest thinks I'm completely loco. Actually, I sometimes wonder if every priest thinks I'm crazy... or just terribly terribly catechized. Like that one time I asked the priest up in Seattle if I could bring my coffee in and just leave it in the back? Whoowee. You would have thought by the look that he gave me that I asked if I could burn the baby Jesus right there in his little manger up on the altar. (Doesn't he know that coffee in Seattle just tastes better than anywhere else? I didn't want to let it just go to waste!)

Or that time I asked if my non-Catholic, but extremely devout Christian friends could be my children's godparents?  Same look. (Well, not really. It was more of a "You've got to be kidding me" look. But still.)

I'll admit it. I must have been poorly catechized to be asking such questions. But in my defense - at least the holiness of the Eucharist has never been lost on me. To whit, one of the first chapel services I attended at the protestant college I went to was a communion service. Everything was going as expected, until in quite a visual display, the chaplain demonstrated "This is the body of Christ BROKEN for you!" and made a very crusty French loaf explode all over herself, the table and the floor. I sat there stunned and waited for the lightning to fall from heaven.  There were little bits of Jesus everywhere!! Why wasn't anyone rushing in to clean Him up? After a few minutes when the lightning didn't strike, I wondered if maybe I should help clean up the body of Christ all over the floor... what to do? What to do?

So, this last week when our priest made a home visit to anoint my husband and bring him Holy Communion before his surgery - it should have surprised no one that I was unaware that I could receive the Host for Paul, since Paul could not have any food.

"Really? You can do that?"

"Well, you *are* married, right?  It is written that 'The two shall become one...'"

Oooooohhhh. Right.

And then it hit me. Not the red-faced shame that I experienced on the other occasions when I asked my ignorant questions... but the beauty of it all. My husband couldn't take any food. But *I* could. And together we could ask our Father to transfer the blessings to the one I was united to in marriage. 

Some describe grace as "unmerited favor". In this instance, grace showed itself by allowing me to stand in the gap for my husband. Little, poorly catechized me. What a beautiful thing - to be used by God to bless the ones I love in ways I had never imagined I could. Thank you Jesus for your grace. Thank you Jesus for your body, broken for us, that we may be healed. Body, soul and spirit. Amen.