Homily Aimed At Your Face...

Okay, not directly from 'Il papa', but I had one of those moments yesterday.  Even when it's just something you needed to hear and didn't know, it's nice to feel like the Father aligned the cosmos just to bring you a little reminder.  It makes you feel special, as you should.

I had been having a rough time lately, and made it just in time for daily mass at noon (it's wonderful that I work next to a church and can pop in as part of my lunch break).  It's always refreshing to be at mass, but when the priest began to say, "When people, especially us men, like to be in control of things around us, and when things tend to get out of control, that's when we are at our most distressed..." it was exactly what I needed to hear (chills and all), to remind me that I'm not always in control, but that I can depend on His Divine Providence to show me the Way.

So, naturally, everything melted away and I've been much better ever since.  I'll continue to work on not getting so worked up.  I just have to go with it; it's not my path, but I've got to follow it to where it leads.

Let us take some time and see if we can put our feet back on the pathway that leads Home, and not so much on our personal pathway that just goes in circles.

And I did receive a signal grace (at least I think) the other day, another good reminder.

Happy Wednesday,
Nick

Currently listening to:

Thoughts of the Day / Return

Today is the day, I will finally return to some of this public writing which we set out on over a year ago, and the last entry of mine took place in March.  Needless to say, it's been a while.  

Coming back to this was one of my goals of Advent and of the Year of Faith.  I think this is the springboard that will finally create the good habits we sought for our Year (yes, I know, it started October 11).  We've begun several things, it's just putting them to practice where the obstacle lies, always in the ever-consuming path of time.

As I sit here and write, I'm more relaxed than I've been all day, listening to some chants & polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey, which I highly recommend (And it's an hour long, like it was made for adoration).

We began a bible study especially for the Y.O.F., written by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, of which we've only done one lesson, but as we progress we plan to share our learning here.

I began to journal while in contemplation, either in the church sanctuary, adoration chapel, or just a quiet place. The long term goal for that is to become a book, hopefully to be used in prayer and contemplation, and God willing, conversions.  But even as I write that, I've been bogged down everywhere, and haven't been to it in weeks.

What else...oh, yes I've begun a pile of book reading, which isn't really out of the ordinary for me, but now it's all geared toward the renewal of my faith and strengthening my knowledge of it. The Catechism (10 paragraphs down, 2855 to go), continuing in 'In Defense of Sanity' by G.K. Chesterton (excellent), 'Angels & Devils' by Joan Carroll Cruz
,
'The Fathers Know Best' by Jimmy Akin, daily scripture readings, and currently some Advent reflections.  I'm halfway through Humanae Vitae, and I'll probably add something about the Second Vatican Council's documents.  One book that really helped me return to my faith a few years back, was the one below about the life of Padre Pio.


But with all of these things on the plate, as much as I would like it to be my focused plate, it's not the only one in the house, so to speak.  There's always work that takes up a good bit of the day, then home maintenance if there's time or daylight.  But before all of that comes my wife, which I gladly defer attention to anytime.  She is my closest companion and best friend; I really do wish we could spend all day together.

So yes, it is hard to find the time for these things.  But sometimes God doesn't exactly just give us what we request, sometimes he gives us the means, because he knows we can accomplish it.  And I have to constantly remind myself to trust.  I get discouraged.  I get overwhelmed.  Good gracious, that I'm human.  And then usually I get frustrated with myself, thinking that I should have gotten the hang of it by now.  I fall into pride, because all of my life I've been pretty quick to learn anything (except calculus, but we won't go there), but when it comes to discerning God's will for me, I've got to go the limits of my patience sometimes, and trust.

I will try my best to add something in here every day, maybe just a thought, or something to share, nothing this long.  I work with a wonderful group of people now, and I think sharing ups and downs of our days can bring us closer as members of the Body of Christ, and thus closer to Him.  I invite anyone to share here, too, in the comment boxes.

It's like I needed to come back to my outlet, not venting, that seems more like complaining, but really sharing, without having to repeat myself.  God knocks on the door, he gets your Guardian Angel to remind you, but until you answer you'll never know what he has in store for you.  Another thing that we all can come to practice this Year is to find God in the silence.  There's obviously a lack of it most places we are, but if we can find time to escape it, and be open to receive what He has to say, we may discover that depth of God-created soul we've been dousing in work and noise.

There are several journal entries that I'll summarize here later, so much to talk about.  Another thing for me was to conquer the fear of writing again.  A friend told me that fear doesn't come from God, so get writing!  Fear of failure, it's a hard one, but if we keep in mind our human imperfection, then it kind of goes with the territory.  Kind of relieving...

Talk to you soon,
Nick

Having Doubts?

I found this nice little video with a good summary of the events that took place.

Some other good resources that I use often are:
www.catholic.com
(Catholic Answers is one of our favorite shows on the radio, and now they have a youtube channel)
www.newadvent.org
http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm
www.catholicunderground.com
And the good ole Catechism, that one's chock full of answers!

Now, going eat a nice Lenten meal with the family!

Buona notte,
Nick

Successful Experiment, Pleasant Weekend

This past weekend, Becca and I make a good visit to our friend Fr. Chris down in St. James. We had an excellent time catching up with him and his work with his parishes.  It's always good to leave your home 'dome' and get away for a few days, visit with friends, have some laughs, and most of all, have some good eats!

 On Friday evening we traveled to the nearest 'bright lights' section of Thibodeaux for some amazingly delicious sushi, probably some of the best I've had, and I've had a lot, at Geaux Fish.  If you're ever down there, you should definitely have a try.  If you're into a frozen alcoholic beverage, there's also a Daiquiri Explosion on the way into Thibodeaux, but we were nice and full from the sushi so we didn't venture to test how volatile the daiquiris were.  Though we did venture to the Rouses (which I thought seemed very rotunda-like) for some other 'supplies', of which was a Turtle King Cake, a new and wonderful experience.


On Saturday morning we enjoyed delicious coffee from his fancy shmancy Keurig brewing contraption (if you haven't seen one, check it out, very cool; makes tea and hot chocolate too!).  That afternoon, we were thinking of going to Oak Alley (the plantation has a restaurant) for lunch, but the weather decided to go all 'hurricane' on us, so we searched for a place with a bit of an overhang.  Upon Father's suggestion, we went for B & D's Seafood Market and Cajun Restaurant (market on one side, restaurant on the other).  Super fresh and palate-pleasing! We had corn nuggets for appetizers, which is exactly what it sounds like, sweet corn in a fried ball, so worth it! I ventured for a simple item of a Fried Shrimp Po-boy; probably rivaled anything I've had down in New Orleans; delicious corn batter instead of flour made for just the right texture; A+.  Becca went for a Shrimp & Crab-stuffed Potato, and she ate the whole thing!  So that tells me a lot, because most meals are too much for her and I usually finish them! 

Saturday evening brought a good opportunity to visit with 2 other 'bayou' priest friends who concelebrated our wedding with Fr. Chris.  We had a very blessed time together, and shared the experiment for which this post is named.  That morning I found a recipe in one of the kitchen's cookbooks and decided to go for it (see below).  Other than the food, we were very grateful to see our friends.  Although they seemed a bit tired, they're young (as I so often hear about Becca and me), and they seem to be doing very well in their parishes down there.  We hope you can join with us in continued prayers for them and all priests.  They do so much for us, the laity, yet they are human and need God's grace and strength too.  So we were all too happy to prepare a simple, and hopefully good, meal for them.  Hopefully you can enjoy the recipe, and make variations of your own!

Ingredients (increased amounts from the recipe, as the tenderloins we worked with were larger, here's the modified recipe...sort of)

-1 small onion, finely chopped
-2 tbsp garlic, minced (I used some out of a jar, worked fine)
-Cooking spray (I used Olive oil)
-1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I excluded these in our try)
-10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained (don't forget to thaw it!)
-6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
-2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
-Salt and black pepper to taste (and other things)
-2 (3/4 pound each) pork tenderloins, trimmed (we used a 4.5 lb pair of tenderloins)


For the glaze:
-4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
-2 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed (till it looks good)
-1 tablespoon dried oregano (till it looks good)
-1 tablespoon dried thyme (till it looks good)
-1 tablespoon pepper (till it looks good)
-1/2 cup Chablis (I think we used a Pinot Grigio, any dry white will do)

Directions

1. Cook onion and garlic in a pan sprayed with olive oil, over medium heat, stirring constantly until onions are tender.
2.  Add mushrooms (if you used them) and cook, stirring constantly, for three minutes. Stir in the spinach, bacon, one tablespoon Dijon mustard, salt and black pepper; set aside.
3.  Slice each tenderloin lengthwise down the center. Cover with plastic wrap and pound into a 12 by 8 inch rectangle (or just till its flat).
4.  Spoon 1/2 of the spinach mixture over tenderloin, up to 1/2 inch of the edges. Roll jellyroll style, starting with the short side. Tie with strong string at 1 1/2 inch intervals. Repeat with second tenderloin. Place them seam side down in a shallow pan coated with cooking spray (or olive oil).  -Instead of rolling 2, I filled 2 separate ones but tied them openings-together as 1.
5.  Combine the glaze ingredients, mix well. Spread evenly over both tenderloins. (on the bottom too).  Add wine, might want to use more than 1/2 cup, after an hour, most of it baked out)
6.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes (time extended for more meat).
7.  Remove from oven, let the tenderloins rest for 7.25 (just kidding, let it cool silly!) minutes before slicing.

I just had the thought that maybe at the stuffing point, you could add a little feta cheese, bet that would be good.   Other than that we had steamed veggies and some nice ciabatta bread to go with.
Enjoy!


~Nick


P.S.  I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Lent, and may we all draw nearer to our Lord...my goal this season is to write, write, write!  Drop me a line, I miss you people!

Pondering the Body of Christ - part 1

Over the last year or so I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ.  I'm certain that if I thought of nothing else for the rest of my life I would never cover it all, but I'll just share my thoughts a little at a time.

Colossians 1:18 tells us that Christ "is the Head of the body, the Church."  We enter the Church through the Sacrament of Baptism, therefore through Baptism we become members of the Body of Christ.  We find a very detailed description of this Body in 1Corinthians 12:12-26, comparing each of us to a foot, an ear, and so on.  Verse 26 concludes that each member should treat all the other members equally, and that when one member suffers, all suffer, and when one is honored, all rejoice.

If we stop to think about this we will hopefully, through the Grace of God, gain some understanding of how this correlates to sin.  Sin is "failure in genuine love for God and neighbor", "an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law" and it "wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity." 
(See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1849.)  
When one person sins, the entire human race is affected.  Because sin distances us from God, each of us is that much farther away from Him because of the sins of everyone else, and therefore, everyone else is farther away from Him because of OUR sins.  

~Becca