Ash Wednesday and Lent

Repost from last year.

"Christ in the Desert" by Ivan Kranskoi
Browsing through the Catholic Encyclopedia, I found a few articles that are definitely worth a read to get a better understanding of the season of Lent.

Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a good place to start is the entry on:

Ash Wednesdsay

(As a side note, I think I found a potential answer about the difference in the US and Rome. From the above article, it says that the faithful received ashes in the form of a cross upon their forehead, and that clerics would receive ashes in the form of a cross upon their tonsure (top of their head). One problem is that "tonsure" no longer exists. Another problem is that so many modernists don't like to distinguish between clerics and laity (as if that is something bad or clericalist). Not sure what or why the differences today.)

With that comes the observance upon Ash Wednesday (and Good Friday) of the:

Fast

On fascinating part mentions how fasting has been seen not only as just a religious observance, but also one of natural virtue as it fosters temperance.

It also explains many of the differences we have heard of in fasting, whether it be be not eating at all, having only one meal (The Black Fast), or having one normal meal with two small meals. Overall the conclusion becomes what is demanded by Church law and most importantly common sense.

Then this brings us fully into the season of:

Lent

Which shows a rather varied form of observance throughout the Church in both East and West due to Lent's rather "late" development compared to other annual feasts like Epiphany.

One interesting perspective was something of Saint Gregory the Great in looking at the fasting of Lent as a tithe to God:

"In the time of Gregory the Great (590-604) there were apparently at Rome six weeks of six days each, making thirty-six fast days in all, which St. Gregory, who is followed therein by many medieval writers, describes as the spiritual tithing of the year, thirty-six days being approximately the tenth part of three hundred and sixty-five."

And here are the relavent Canons on fasting and abstinence:

BOOK IV, PART III, TITLE II, CHAPTER II.

Days of Penance

Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

All of these articles are definitely worth a read, and can help give us a proper understanding and more focused observance of Lent.

RS

Thanksgiving and a meditation of gluttony.

Turbaconducken (Turducken (Turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken) wrapped in bacon). As seen at bacontoday.com.
Just my annual reminder about not being gluttonous on Thanksgiving, with a link to a good article on the nature of gluttony (it's not just eating too much).

Gluttony by Christine Fletcher

I highly recommend the whole article.

RS

Mmmm ... mmmm ... good!

Wow, I have got to make a road trip. I already love bacon. It's sort of like the candy of meats ... so easy to just keep eating it.

Well, of course in the spirit of Texas, just like at the State Fair, this guy has taken bacon to another level. Even without the bacon, who can't resist a place where the owner says about their steaks "we don't use ounces in this place ... it's pounds."



Mmmm, I can feel my arteries hardening already!

RS

Information on Ash Wednesday and Lent.

"Christ in the Desert" by Ivan Kranskoi
Browsing through the Catholic Encyclopedia, I found a few articles that are definitely worth a read to get a better understanding of the season of Lent.

Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a good place to start is the entry on:

Ash Wednesdsay

(As a side note, I think I found a potential answer about the difference in the US and Rome. From the above article, it says that the faithful received ashes in the form of a cross upon their forehead, and that clerics would receive ashes in the form of a cross upon their tonsure (top of their head). One problem is that "tonsure" no longer exists. Another problem is that so many modernists don't like to distinguish between clerics and laity (as if that is something bad or clericalist). Not sure what or why the differences today.)

With that comes the observance upon Ash Wednesday (and Good Friday) of the:

Fast

On fascinating part mentions how fasting has been seen not only as just a religious observance, but also one of natural virtue as it fosters temperance.

It also explains many of the differences we have heard of in fasting, whether it be be not eating at all, having only one meal (The Black Fast), or having one normal meal with two small meals. Overall the conclusion becomes what is demanded by Church law and most importantly common sense.

Then this brings us fully into the season of:

Lent

Which shows a rather varied form of observance throughout the Church in both East and West due to Lent's rather "late" development compared to other annual feasts like Epiphany.

One interesting perspective was something of Saint Gregory the Great in looking at the fasting of Lent as a tithe to God:

"In the time of Gregory the Great (590-604) there were apparently at Rome six weeks of six days each, making thirty-six fast days in all, which St. Gregory, who is followed therein by many medieval writers, describes as the spiritual tithing of the year, thirty-six days being approximately the tenth part of three hundred and sixty-five."

And here are the relavent Canons on fasting and abstinence:

BOOK IV, PART III, TITLE II, CHAPTER II.

Days of Penance

Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

All of these articles are definitely worth a read, and can help give us a proper understanding and more focused observance of Lent.

RS

Gluttony: A meditation before Thanksgiving Dinner

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Article ----> Gluttony by Christine Fletcher
(In case you get distracted by all the pictures)

Gluttony?
even wearing a safety helmet, do not try this
No, I'm not trying to ruin your Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. There's nothing wrong with preparing a nice meal and making sure all the particulars are well taken care of ... as long as you don't obsess (or excess) about it. As long as tomorrow is a day in which we do thank God for all He has given to us, don't become scrupulous over what you might read in the linked article at the end of the post.

Fox channel's annual "Glutton Bowl"
(shown on Thanksgiving Day)
Anyway, I found a really good post regarding guttony. The interesting thing is that in many places in today's world, we don't necessarily suffer from the "traditional" idea gluttony of just eating and eating without reason. We are becoming more conscious about how much we are eating. A more subtile form of gluttony is what is referred to as "gluttony of delicacy." Another way of saying it is that we are often way too picky about what we eat.

Record breaking hamburger (over 100 lbs).
This article by Christine Fletcher is an excellent analysis of gluttony and its different forms. I recommend a full reading of it. And I figured I'd post it today to give you a better chance of getting around to read it since tomorrow will probably be busy for those in the U.S. who celebrate Thanksgiving.

Article ----> Gluttony by Christine Fletcher
(Don't get all distracted by the pictures now!)

(Funny, after I read the article, suddenly when I'd got to other sites, food advertisements started showing up in the pages' advertising sections ... the first advertisement was for McDonalds. Guess my computer has been having too many "cookies.")

A 100x100 In & Out Burger (100 patties and 100 slices of cheese). Calorie count: over 19,490 Calories. Full story here: In-N-Out 100x100

I'm hungry, think I'll go get something to eat. :P


Article ----> Gluttony by Christine Fletcher
(In case you got distracted by all the pictures)

RS

Is Ronald McDonald really trying to kill me?

No, he's just trying to steal from me by trying to nickel and dime me.


Had a goofy little experience at McDonalds today. I found it interesting given all the hoopla about McDonalds and health, especially around the time Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me" was released.

As a side note, the movie was actually pretty good. I sort of expected some bleeding heart liberal truth bending attack on the fast food industry like you'd get from Michael Moore. Yet, this did not go in the direction of a Michael Moore flick. The gimmick of the flick is the 30 days of nothing but McDonalds. But rather than it being a war on fast food companies, it really just calls people to realize that we have to take responsibility for ourselves and can't rely on corporate America to look out for our best intrests when they are trying to look out for their own (profit). It just shows corporate America for what it really is: business and making money. That in and of itself is not evil, it's just the nature of business. A company cannot survive if it does not make money. It's also a good little motivator to help you think about your diet.

Anyway, with all the media McFlurry (pun intended), one of the "results" was that supposedly McDonalds would not longer have a "supersize" option. Well, that's not really what happened. They just took away "supersize" and instead made all their combos have options of small, medium, or large. Or some weird "upgrade" thing for only a few cents more! So, really just getting the large or upgrade, you get the "supersize." This actually helps them, because they can post the price of the smaller combo so it looks cheaper, then you upgrade it and pay more anyway. Almost a hidden cost, yet you asked for it.

So I just ordered the combo, I didn't say "supersize," or "large" or anything like that. And it is supposedly McDonald's policy to not even offer to upgrade anymore. So when I pull around and see the lady is about to hand me the ginormous 55 gallon drum of diet coke that comes with the large combo (and the price was more than advertised even with tax), I have to ask her what size I was about to get. She told me large. Interesting. So, I told her I had only wanted the medium, she "downsized it" for me and gave me back the difference. Of course who would really expect McDonalds to suddenly care about all that stuff. Overall, they just want my money. (Had they been "smart" they would have given me the large combo anyway and just given me back the difference, that would have had a much more likely result in repeat business which would have been greater than the little difference they "saved" by downgrading my combo.)


Now, I realize that McDonalds is not healthy. Their main value is that they are convenient. That's really the only reason I ever go there. I rarely have a craving for McDonalds, and unless the french fries are done just right, I never think "I'm Lovin' It" while I'm eating it. [gasp!] (I must be growing up!)

Now to just get over my love of Starbucks hazelnut lattes.


RS

Solemnity on a Friday!

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(NB-Comparison of Prayers for this Sunday will be posted tomorrow.)

EDIT: I was admonished for not mentioning what Solemnity it is today, so:

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.


Usually a Catholic grizzly eats fish on Fridays.


But even though today is Friday, it's also a Solemnity, which means we can eat meat today!

Canon Law

Canon 1251: Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. [emphasis added]

Yea, Meat!


RS

Cooking blog

Dadwithnoisykids' family now has a cooking blog.

The Noisykid Kitchen

Might get some cooking ideas now!

RS

Nutrition Facts of the Eucharist

Ironic Catholic has a great post on what the FDA nutritional label would look like for Holy Communion.
(You'll have to visit Ironic Catholic for the high res pic)

Grace Before Meals

I am not one to watch much TV (I don't even own one), but when I do visit my folks, I will find that when the TV does come on at home, I find myself watching the Food Network.

I learned quite a bit about cooking at the monastery in Norcia, so when I came back to the United States, I was able to do many more (and better) dishes. Since I am just a single guy living in an apartment, I can't exactly invite my homeschool-family friends over for dinner. Thus I have gone over to their houses and cooked for them on occasion.

While I was catching up on the posts over at the blog COSMOS-LITURGY-SEX, I came across an entry that mixes these ingredients together then adds a extra kick of priest (puns intended).

Now, my immediate reaction was, "this is going to be corny." However, I watched the trailer and found it to look quite interesting and entertaining, especially since his basis is getting the family together and encouraging that togetherness through meals. He also seems to have a great sense of humor.

You can see the trailer for his PBS show "Grace Before Meals."
(If the video is choppy, just let it get to the end and then refresh your browser window)

EDIT - Curt Jester also pointed out that there is a short pilot of the show too. It isn't a full episode, but I liked what I saw. He seems to have good taste as I noticed he had an Orvieto wine, and it looks like he does a lot of Italian type dishes.

Since we do Latin here too, I'll add the meal prayers for those who might be interested:

Prayer Before Meals
Bénedic, Dómine, nos et hæc tua dona, quæ de tua largitáte sumus sumptúri.
Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.
R. Amen.
Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

Prayer After Meals
Ágimus tibi grátias, omnípotens Deus, pro univérsis benefíciis tuis. Qui vivis et regnas in saécula sæculórum.
R. Amen.
V. Fidélium animæ per misericórdiam Dei requiéscant in pace.
R. Amen.
We give Thee thanks, Almighty God, for all Thy benefits. You Who live and reign forever and ever.
R. Amen.
V. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
R. Amen.

Maybe I'll even post some of my own recipes on occasion.