Entering the Holiest Week of The Year

As a child, growing up in pre-Vatican II, pre-Novus Ordo Catholic culture, this coming week was clearly special. Even in the home, things began to be "different".

Of course, we had all fasted and abstained during Lent-even those under age-a good habit which should be done in all Catholic families.

But, beginning the Saturday before Palm Sunday, new and exciting preparations for Holy Week and Easter began.

First of all, we went to confession on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, but then we went as a family once a month.

Second, mother and one grandmother took us to the clothing stores for new Easter outfits, to wear for the first time on Easter day and keep for Sundays. This was a yearly event-buying new Easter clothes, when was an old custom in the family. I would be given a new hat, new dress, new spring coat, new socks with little lace at the top, new shoes and so on. My brothers would get a new shirt, new trousers, and a new jacket. As children grow, they need new clothes and this was the time for the spring buy.

Third, cooking would begin for Easter Sunday. Breads and cookies would be baked and set aside. Later in Holy Week, more food would be prepared and saved for the Pasch. Holy Saturday, kept in low key, almost silent observance, would be the day we colored eggs, but I get ahead of myself.

My mother's great gift, among many, was cake decorating and the baking of cakes "from scratch". She still does this, at 87 and last week she told me on the phone that she made a coffee cake for Dad.

Fourth, we would clean the house from top to bottom. Lent was coming to an end, and the winter clothes were packed, (except for a few in case of a late snowstorm), curtains and rugs washed, windows cleaned, and so on. Easter day would find a house clean and bright.

Fifth, the garden would be put in order. March is the time for pruning rose bushes, especially before the cold weather broke, and we did that. Leaves were cleaned away. Lilies appeared in the house on the dining room and kitchen tables. but only on Holy Saturday.

Sixth, Palm Sunday saw special visits to the grandmothers and the talk of more Easter food prep.
(For me, no more perogies!!!!!!!!!)

As the week progressed, the house fell into a quiet mode of preparation so that all could attend the Triduum. Simple foods for dinner meant that Mom could go as well. When I was much older, many of us in our thirties would get together for a great meal on Holy Thursday, more solemn than Easter, but a gathering of friends to celebrate Holy Thursday before the Triduum began. We would not have a feast such as on Easter, but it was a symbol of the gathering of the apostles in the Upper Room with Christ, and then we would go to Holy Thursday Mass together.

Seventh, when I grew up, Catholic schools let out on Wednesday afternoon and we had Thursday, Friday, and Easter Monday off. I am not sure what the school systems do now. But, this meant we could help Mom get the house ready and be in a proper attitude for the Triduum.

Eighth, Good Friday was a serious day. Mother made us go to our rooms before we went to Church and be quiet. We could not play music, but were encourage to pray or sit and think of the Passion. Even as a young child, I was encouraged to do this We never, never shopped on Good Friday.

Ninth, Saturday was also a quiet day, preparing the Easter dinner with the dishes we could do ahead of time. When I was married, our dinner was, of course, lamb, with Greek dishes, as I love to cook.
Our typical Easter meal was lamb, spanakopita, dolmathes, baklava, some amazing lemon muffins I would make which were a family favorite, and  blueberry cheese cake for desert or a bunny cake.

In my family, we had special wines set aside for different feast days or holidays. For example, Gewurztraminer is and was always our Thanksgiving wine at dinner, port and burgundy for Christmas, along with whiskey for Dad, and for Easter, a Spatlese, Auslese, and Eiswien for desert.

Tenth, visiting the grandmothers was an absolute on Easter Sunday, if one did not come for dinner, which she usually did with one uncle, who lived in the same city. (My family tends to spread out across the entire USA). She would bring something for us all as well, little gifts, usually religious. We would look for our Easter baskets before Mass, (our family went to two Masses after the babies grew up, as Mom and Dad were in the choir), which were hidden around the house in rather obvious places. If we found someone elses, we were not allowed to share the secret.

Eleventh, we attended all the Triduum, especially after the Easter changes of Pope Pius XII.

I have more memories, but these are shared to encourage families to start seeing this week coming up as different, solemn, special.

Too Many Lonely People

What is wrong with Western Culture? I have met so many people, men and women, who will be spending Christmas alone. One man is having Christmas with friends, his first invitation in years.

I cannot understand this. When I was in graduate school and could not get home for Christmas because of the horrible weather, I would invite all those other students in for a meal so that no one would be alone.

And, when I had my own home, we always invited single people who had no families in for dinner and the day.

I cannot understand why families do not invite those who are alone for the day.

Christianity is not merely to be practiced in the immediate family.

Are you aware of people in your parish who may not have anyone with whom to celebrate Christmas or New Year's? Hospitality is a virtue under the larger category of charity.

As a single person, my heart breaks for those who have no place to go. I shall be eating out, with a special person, as neither of us have a place big enough to cook or convenient for company.

How sad that neither one of us was invited to Christmas dinner.

Catholics under persecution will be worse off than this. It is time to reconsider what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

The Inns Are Full

Many good priests have been preaching from the pulpit the necessity for preparation for Christmas in matters spiritual and not merely material.

I am afraid that too many events create four weeks of celebration, instead of penance. I am also afraid that some priests deny that Advent is a penitential time, hence, the purple vestments. Most of the sermons I have heard have emphasized this time of penance.

If we do not make room for the Incarnate God, Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, we cannot celebrate His Coming. If we are busy going to concerts, baking, cooking, shopping, and decorating, we end up like the innkeeper who told Mary and Joseph there was no room at the inn.

Inns were built with courtyards, which filled up with noisy animals and people who did not mind sleeping "rough" as long as they were behind the closed door of the inn. Mary and Joseph needed the quiet, silent place in order for Jesus to come into this world.

Are we making a silent place for His coming? I have some friends who are doing this-taking time daily to read daily prayers, going to extra Masses, and so on.

But, too many are doing less spiritual preparation, and they will end up like the innkeeper. Christ wants to come to them, but there is no room in their hearts, minds, souls, imaginations.

The will has decided that other things are more important than preparation.

We all have habits of self-deceit, because humans do not want to face that they are lacking in some thing, or doing something wrong. To say "I wish I could go to daily Mass, but I am too busy" when one can do so, or visit Christ in Adoration, and read the Scriptures, is self-deceit.

We create our own busyness. We can say no.

I have done little but pray. I have met a few friends who are going to other countries for Christmas and I shall not see them as I shall be gone when they return.

If I were here permanently, there would have been no need to meet up for lunch before Christmas.

I know families who do not have Christmas trees but trees which look like Christmas trees. I call them Advent trees. These family members tell me the trees were put up and decorated weeks ago and will come down right after New Year's day.

I asked these people whether they knew about Epiphany or the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The answer was "no". Sad that such riches of our heritage have been lost. The identity of the Catholic way of celebrating Christmas has been washed away by consumerism and parties in Advent. I refuse to go to concerts or parties. I have said no to years, and people who know me now ask me to come over after Christmas. Many weeks exist for celebration after Christmas.

To go back to work right after Christmas is a creation of both the Puritans, who hated celebrations which were based in Catholic identity, or by the secular pagans, who worship another god-Mammon.

To hold on to Catholic identity in the world is difficult, but not impossible.

I sincerely hope that none of us are like the innkeeper who had no private rooms for Mary, Joseph and the coming Jesus in his inn.

Christ will come to those who have made space for Him. He will manifest Himself to those who are paying attention, waiting for him.

Too many inns are full.

Perfection Series II: xxiv

The Desert Home Re-post

Chapel of Our Lady of Carafa, St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta http://drtandthefamily.blogspot.com/2011/02/malta-st-johns-co-cathedral.html

I have re-posted the necessity of creating the cell in one's mind and heart and soul. Here is a reminder that the only road to perfection for a family is silence and composure at home. I repeat this as part of the second perfection series. Parents, your kids will be saints or not under your care.

Today, it is more important than ever that I shall my Sunday sermon experience. The priest who said the Mass at St. John's Co-Cathedral noted that today, on the Feast of the Holy Family, that parents should make the home a place of  (GET READY FOR THIS) silence and composure.

I could not believe it, but was so delighted with his admonition, that I think I wished I had the computer out taking notes.

The Canon stated that the family must be a place which is conducive to the growth of the Catholic Faith.

Wow. And, this is so true, unless the Faith is preserved and encouraged in the family, it will die.

Not only is prayer important, and the sacramental life essential, but the entire atmosphere should allow 

for reflection.

His ideas fit neatly into the post from earlier today wherein I stressed that the laity must also pursue perfection 

as well as the religious person. We cannot believe the lies of some of the clergy from the past 50 years, 

a Siren's call which allowed the laity to be content with a second-class citizenship of holiness. This attitude, 

so often given in the Confessional,  (not by the excellent priests in Bayswater, by the way, who are great). 

That priests have encouraged sins, such as contraception, is documented and witnessed by some many 

of the laity. One cannot be holy and commit mortal sin.

The Canon this morning pointed to this haven of a home of silence and composure. What does this mean in 

practical terms for us?

One, simplifying life. The kids do not have to do everything.

Two, simplifying life. You do not have to own everything or have the perfect living room or state-of-the-art kitchen.

Three, simplifying life. Mom stays at home and you all take a lower standard of living.

Four, being orthodox in your beliefs; that is, conforming your minds, hearts and souls to the Church.

Five, not having a television, or at least, restricting viewing. We did not have one in my little family and we learned to have times of silence.

Six, why silence? One cannot hear God, nor experience the movements of the Holy Spirit in noise.

Seven, why composure? Anger and hatred, rudeness and lack of manners have no place in the home. The world needs yet more gentlemen and gentle ladies. Composure in a home creates an atmosphere of peace so that children may grow up in respect and love. Noise is not respectful.

That this priest could see the problem is a grace for us and him. Let us all pray how to make our homes places of silence and composure so that the children can learn to hear God and not the noise of the world.

St. John the Baptist went into the desert. So did Christ and St. Paul. Our homes can be "desert homes".

Create a place where holiness and perfection can take root and grow.

Without this, parents are cooperating with God to create saints.

The Laity Used To Be Lay

One of the greatest errors in the thinking of Catholics in 2014, and this is not new, is the clericalization of the laity. I have written on this many times.

Catholics believe that if they are not prancing about the altar, being lectors, EMHC, or choir directors, that they are not becoming holy.

The holiness of the life of the laity is the call to the world.

Are you taking Jesus into your workplace?

Are you evangelizing by spreading the good news of salvation?

Are you proud to be a Catholic?

Are you unifying your parish through good works, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy?

Do you ask yourself, what is my lay vocation? What does it mean to be yeast in the world?

Am I making my family holy by living the life of the virtues?

Am I building up God's Kingdom in the world and not my own?

Am I comfortable being a Catholic lay person, called by God to be in the world but not of the world?

Before Vatican II, the laity were lay. Women chose either to be nuns, or sisters, or wives and mothers.

Careers were chosen but with a view to serve in the world, such as teachers, nurses, taking care of the old and the young.

Women helped each other. Men helped each other.

Maturity and wisdom were passed down to the new generations.

Being lay was being part of the community.

Can people be lay again?

Let us make our homes, "the pledge of a world redeemed"

From today's Morning Prayer-Lauds

Let our striving for your kingdom not fall short through selfishness or fear:

  may the universe be alive with the Spirit, and our homes be the pledge of a world redeemed.

– Father, send us your Spirit.

This prayer seems to me to be particularly timely after all the political events which have caused us all so much distress since the beginning of the year.

Let us not fall into either self-pity, self-centeredness or craven fear. Let us trust Divine Providence, at all times, daily.

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to come to all on the earth.

Let us make our homes, "the pledge of a world redeemed".

A pledge is a promise, an oath, a commitment. A promise of redemption looks towards eternal life.

An oath of redemption is the fulfilment of our baptismal promises. A commitment is our covenant with God, made in baptism, set in confirmation and watered like a precious plant with the grace of the sacraments.

This phrase means to me that we create a space of redemption, a place of solitude and peace, a place where saints can be made and grow, in our very houses.

Forget the mad rush of commercialism and consumerism. Forget the need to be doing something all the time.

Make your homes into signs of redemption.  I repeat; a pledge is a promise, an oath, a commitment.

Make you homes a covenant of grace with the Holy Trinity. Make your homes the Kingdom of God at hand.

Let our striving for your kingdom not fall short through selfishness or fear:

  may the universe be alive with the Spirit, and our homes be the pledge of a world redeemed.

– Father, send us your Spirit.

Tree in Surrey

Once in a while, one finds family.

Like branches of a tree, from the same sturdy centre

Reaching up and out in new life,

So is this family to me.

My Catholic soul-mates.........

A small tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams

There is a great website on Ralph Vaughan Williams. I copy the timeline link below. He is one of my favourite composers and one understands his work more after walking in Surrey.

http://www.rvwsociety.com/timeline.html

And enjoy perhaps my most favourite RVW's composition.

The Lark Ascending.................very poignant to me and lovely.

Goodbye to the Surrey Hills

I am in flux during the next few days, leaving sunny Surrey, which is one of my most favourite places in all of England. I hope to keep up with the posts.

I am in love with the Surrey Hills. I wish the good Lord would let me stay here. This England is in my heart.

I may have to be content with one or two posts a day for a few days, as I travel.

The days are colder this week, which must be hard on all the birds.

Here are a few which are around the Surrey Hills.