Good Friday

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,

our sufferings that he endured,

while we thought of him as stricken,

as one smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our offenses,

crushed for our sins;

upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,

by his stripes we were healed.

We had all gone astray like sheep,

each following his own way;

but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted

and opened not his mouth;

like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers,

he was silent and opened not his mouth.

Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,

and who would have thought any more of his destiny?

When he was cut off from the land of the living,

and smitten for the sin of his people,

a grave was assigned him among the wicked

and a burial place with evildoers,

though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12

So this is a very pivotal day for the Church. Jesus is condemned and put to death today -- so from 12-3 on Good Friday, we pray and meditate and read and just think about all that Jesus did and does for us. It is a day of fasting and abstinence.

Today, hot cross buns are made. The tradition is that a monk in England (when merrie olde England was still Catholic) distributed these buns to the poor on Good Friday and that they didn't go stale and sustained the people until the end of the fast.

Last night, we mixed up a batch of hot cross buns; this morning I got up before the house and popped them in the oven. All declared the buns a sensation .

Here's the recipe (note that this is a "high altitude" bread recipe):

1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup scalded milk
2 tbls butter
2 tbls sugar

1 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
3 cups whole-wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup candied fruit

1/2 cup raisins (either golden or seedless)

NIGHT BEFORE:

Stir yeast into the 1/4 cup lukewarm water to disolve. Scald milk. Stir in butter, sugar, salt and 1 cup lukewarm water. Cool to lukewarm. Add to yeast.

Sift the flours and spices together. Place 2 cups flour in the yeast mixture, and using a wooden spoon, stir/beat until smooth. Add remaining flour.

Stir/knead until dough is smooth and elastic.

Grease bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover with damp cloth. Set to rise till double.

Punch down dough and work the edges to center, turn dough bottom side up and knead very lightly. Re-cover and set to rise till double.

Punch dough down. Knead candied fruit and raisins into dough. Once well-distributed, make rolls by pinching dough and making about 18 rolls and one small loaf (or you can make bigger rolls and not make a loaf).

Place rolls (with space to rise) in a pyrex baking dish and cover and put in the 'frig.

NEXT MORNING:

Take rolls/loaf out of 'frig and let come up to room temp (about 30-60 minutes depending on house temp). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425.

Once rolls are at room temp, cut a cross in the top of each, place in preheated over for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and bake till done (about another 25-30 minutes).

Allow to cool then frost with icing (powdered sugar, 2 tbls butter, bit of vanilla and some milk till "squirtable consistency") by placing icing in ziploc, cut corner tip off and "squirt" icing onto cross.

ENJOY!