Feast Day: May Crowning and Our Lady of Fatima

This year we chose May 13th, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, as the date to crown our Marian statue. It turned into a very propitious day as we not only sent off all our closing documents for the house in Colorado -- which is good to go for May 18th (John Paul the Great's birthday!) -- but we also got approval for a contract on a house here in Virginia.

What a day!

String Bean made the crown ... with chenille stem roses that perfectly match the real roses in front of Our Lady statues. Note the St. Joseph statue to the right of Mary ... he has been our constant companion throughout all this house rigamarole and we've prayer through his intercessions and now have developed a very deep devotion to the foster father of Jesus.

The cloth is our Easter Cloth, one that I made in 2001 for our Easter table to help us remember, in four different languages, that "Indeed, He is Risen!" We keep it on our table throughout the 50 days of the Easter season, and have a white candle burning whenever we are gathered together at the table.

Here's the prayers we used for the coronation (we got these prayers from the University of Dayton's Marian pages):
Brief Instruction
We have come here to crown this statue of the Virgin Mother of God. As we begin this celebration, let us be attentive and listen to the word of God in faith. This ceremony has a lesson to teach us about the Gospel: that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who are foremost in serving and in love. Our Lord himself came to serve, not to be served; he drew all things to himself when he was lifted up from the earth, and he reigned from the tree by the power of gentleness and love. And our Lady, whose glory we proclaim today, was the humble servant of the Lord when she was on earth: she gave herself utterly to her Son and his work; with him, and under him, she was an instrument in our redemption. Now, in the glory of heaven, she is still the God-bearer to Christ's brothers and sisters: she cares about their eternal salvation; she is minister of holiness and queen of love.

Let us pray:
O God, since you have given us Mary, the Mother of your Son, to be our mother and our queen, grant that we, who have come here to crown her image, may attain the glory of your children in the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SING :
Bring flowers of the rarest, bring flowers of the fairest
From garden and woodland and hillside and vale;
Our full hearts are swelling, our glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest Rose of the vale.
Refrain:Oh Mary, we crown you with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.:
Our voices ascending, in harmony blending,
Oh, thus may our hearts turn, dear Mother, to you.
Oh, thus shall we prove you how truly we love you;
How dark without Mary life's journey would be. (Ref.)

Concluding Prayer:
Dad: Queen of our hearts, your destiny is meant to be our destiny. Teach us to love our God as you did, to love our neighbors as you did and, above all, to love our family as you loved yours. We consecrate ourselves and our loved ones to you with the ancient prayer:
All: My Queen, my Mother, I give myself entirely to you, and to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my entire self without reserve. As I am your own, my good Mother, guard me and defend me as your property and possession. Amen.

Crowning our Marian statue is such a wonderful annual event ... each year is different and yet the same. We mix tradition with something different every time and the kids love to help with the organizing, decorating and choice of songs.

Let me know when y'all do a May Crowning ... I'd love to see what others do.

Feast Day: JP2's anniversary

Today is the fourth anniversary of Pope John Paul the Great's death ... four years ago today I was pregnant with my 6th child (and miscarried on the day Pope Benedict was elected). I can still remember listening and crying as I heard the stories about the Pope dying as he's always been such a large part of my life. It was Fall of my Senior year of high school when he was elected ... we are of Polish descent and this was a BIG deal to have a Polish pope!

I can remember in 1981, walking back from lunch in college and hearing the report that the Pope was shot ... we cried and headed to the campus chapel.

I can remember in 2000, going to Rome for the first time and seeing St. Peter's. LegoManiac was just over a year and String Bean was in the stroller -- you should have seen us going thru security! Oy vey! But then being right there when the Popemobile came thru and JP2 was steps away from us ... the long wait in the hot sun was well worth it!

I can remember in 2003, months before we left Austria with dh and his masters, we got to go see the Pope and a surprise "private audience" with all but Brikhead getting a personal blessing. Our own Bam-Bam, all of 4 months old, got a blessing that I'll never forget -- thank goodness for professional photographers taking pictures as there's no way I was calm enough to take pictures!

And I remember the Saturday afternoon when we heard the Pope died.....

Today, we celebrate that JPtheGreat is most probably up in Heaven helping us out and playing soccer with my dad. We had a Polish day: books, movies and food. Tonight, I made Pierogi for the first time ever (recipe below) and Babka (Polish Easter Cake) ... both were well-received by the family and the Babka will definitely become a staple for celebrating JP2 as his anniversary will always occur during Lent or Easter!

Here are the resources we used for our JP2 Day:
Books –
For the Children: Words of Love and Inspiration from His Holiness Pope John Paul II – great book for copywork quotes that JP2 spoke or wrote specifically to children throughout his pontificate. Great photos of the Pope with children from all over the world.

Karol from Poland: The Life of Pope John Paul II for Children (M. Leonora Wilson, FSP) – written just at the change of the millennium, this book walks children through the Pope’s life from birth up to his 22nd year as Holy Father. The illustrations are a bit simpy, but the text is readable and quite good.

Life Commemorative: Pope John Paul II – a wonderful “photo album” to the Pontiff’s life from birth to death. Wonderful to see formal and informal pictures of the man who led the Catholic Church out of some pretty tough times.

Pope John Paul II (Rev. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv) – a small picture book that leads the reader gently through the Pope’s amazing life right up until his death in 2005. The emphasis in this short book is the love JP held for all children, as well as his devotion to serving God.

Pope John Paul II: Comic Book – although this is labeled a comic book, the details and information covered in this book are wonderful! The books covers his life from Wadowice to Krakow and on to Rome. The original has been revised to include his death in 2005.

Videos –
The Jeweller’s Shop – a video dramatization of JP2’s play that seems to be semi-autobiographical as a young priest helps his young friends through engagement to marriage and through marital problems to fully experiencing the sacramental bond of a true marriage. Wonderful cast including Ben Cross and Olivia Hussey.

Pope John Paul II – a movie about the Pontiff’s amazing life. This is my kids’ favorite movie (and we have to limit viewing to only once or twice a year!). Cary Elwes (Wesley from Princess Bride ) plays a wonderful younger Karol while Jon Voight does a phenomenal job as the aging and Parkinson-ridden pope. Ben Gazzara, Christopher Lee and James Cromwell (Hoggett in Babe) round out the cast in this wonderful movie.

Witness to Hope – a movie summarizing George Weigel’s ground-breaking work about the Holy Father and his life. Excellent summary, especially if you don’t have time to read the rather heavy tome.

We also did some Math real living books -- after all, JP2 was a very learned man (so much so that Polish jokes even ceased once he gave his first audience!) -- and had a lot of fun reading Cindy Neuschwander's Sir Cumference books:
Neuschwander, Cindy – Sir Cumference and the First Round Table: A Math Adventure – tells the tale of how to create other regular shapes from a rectangle as well as a description of diameter, radius and circumference.
Neuschwander, Cindy – Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure – tells the tale of Pi and proves the measurement is always 3.14159…...
Neuschwander, Cindy – Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland: A Math Adventure – tells the tale of how to measure angles and describes acute, right, obtuse and straight angles.
Neuschwander, Cindy – Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone: A Math Adventure – tells the tale of how to create other regular shapes from a rectangle as well as a description of diameter, radius and Euler’s Law that says that any straight-sided, solid shape that, if the numbers of faces on a solid is added to the number of points (or vertices), then subtracted from the number of its edges, the answer will ALWAYS be two – works for every polyhedron.
Neuschwander, Cindy – Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter: A Math Adventure – tells the tale of Per and her cousin Radius and their discovery that an area of a circle equals half the circumference times the radius (also, area = pi x radius-squared).

What a great day!
=================
Recipes:

Pierogis
Dough:
3 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 tbs oil
1 cup water
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and begin to knead/mix it together. When you've gotten it all to stick together in a ball you can remove it from the bowl and begin to knead it on a clean surface. It may still seem to stick to your hands and the counter but don't worry. After ten minutes or so of kneading it the dough should be smooth and only a little tacky. Put it back in the bowl and cover with a damp (not wet) towel until your ready to use the dough.

Cut your dough in half. Place half back in the bowl and recover. Roll pieces into flat circles (altho there is no great art to this!). Fill with a filling (see below for the potato mix) -- about a tbls or so -- and then fold them over and pinch them together. Make sure that they are completely sealed all the way around. Boil these in a pot of water with a little oil added to it. I recommend only boiling about five or six at a time so they don't end up sticking together. It will only take about 5min before they float to the top. Remove them from the water and place on a baking rack to cool and dry. You can go ahead and eat them at this stage. Or you can fry them
in a pan with butter or even bake them at 325 for about 30 minutes or till "toasted".

Filling: Potato and Cheese
4-5 potatoes
1 onion
1 8 oz package of “cream cheese”
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 pound of bacon
Peel cut and boil your potatoes until done and drain. In a separate frying pan fry bacon till crispy. Drain bacon slices, reserving grease to fry onions. Add your onions and bacon fat to the potatoes and begin to mash them. Slowly add the cream-cheese, cheddar to the mixture. Add bacon pieces (broken to small pieces) and then set aside to cool. Place a tbls or so in each Pierogi. If extra potatoes, add a bit of milk and maybe a bit more butter and whip together -- serve mashed potatoes with the pierogi or save for another day.

BABKA (Polish Easter Cake – babka = grandmother)

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbls baking powder
1 tbls grated orange peel
1 tbls cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1-3/4 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tbsl finely ground bread crumbs (for dusting pan)

Glaze: 1/8 cup warm orange juice + 1 cup powdered sugar

Combine flour, baking powder, orange peel, cornstarch and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Gradually add flour mixture, vanilla, 1/4 cup of oj. Mix thoroughly. Stir in raisins.

Lightly grease a 10-inch bundt pan and dust with bread crumbs. Pour in batter. Bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pan and than place on a rack. Make glaze by combining ingredients. Poke holes in top of slightly cooled cake and spoon glaze over top. Cool completely on a wire rack.

From: Kathy Cutler’s Holiday Dessert Book

Remember the words of John Paul the GREAT: BE NOT AFRAID!

Feast Day: Feast of the Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of our favorite feasts -- first, because it is such a wondrous example of obedience, Mary's resounding YES! to the Angel's message. Here is the plaque I made to add to our growing collection of Marian plaques (made from Shrinky Dink plastic). I added a personal touch to this lovely picture (see below for the answer if you can't figure it out!).

The Feast of the Annunciation is also a special day around here because 11 years ago, dh and I said "I do" in front of our pastor, family, friends and most of the parochial school where we were both teaching. It was a gorgeous, early Spring Wednesday afternoon and a glorious ceremony.

Since then, we've lived in Austria, moved to SC, moved to Colorado, and now in Virginia. We've had three more kids (to add to our combined five others) and even a puppy for a short time. We pledged our troth in a lovely chapel in Clemson, SC and renewed that pledge yesterday in the lovely chapel at dh's high school. We spent the early evening eating a sumptuous dinner at the Globe & Laurel (you should have seen the size of dh's "small" prime rib!) and then spent a relaxing, slow hour at a nearby Starbucks ... a sensationally, wonderfully romantic evening!

Hope your Annunciation was wonderful, too! Our Blessed Mother is a wonderful role-model for all moms ... a wonderful intercessor to whom we can pray through to her Son ... a lovely guide for us all.

Annunciation Prayer
Lord who came down from heaven and stayed in the womb of St. Mary, after making the annunciationto her through his head of angels, is blessed. The Lord is blessed whom the heaven and earth,Angels and mankind are praising always. Oh Lord let the intercession of your mother be a fort for us all. Peace be unto thee, Mother of the Sun of righteousness. Peace be unto thee, the palace of holiness, Peace be unto thee the ship full of blessings,the fruit of your virginity is blessed, Holy Mother please pray for us,so that we would also be holy like you in our lives. Lord have mercy upon us. Lord Jesus,who was kind enough to take the presence in humble virgin,kindly live in us and redeem us from the strong bondages of sins and death. Lord make us good and worthy divine homes,so that you could stay in us. Lord who had been kind enough to take the human body from the virgin, unite us all in your peace.Unite us all with your grace. Fill your love in us so that we could share the love with you and among us all. Make us worthy to praise thee with your blessed Mother and all the saints. Holy virgin Mother, you are blessed, By thy prayers let the Holy church and her children be saved from all sorts of calamities and let all the departed get forgiveness for their sins. Amen.

* the little personal touch I added is that the Blessed Mother is knitting ... and has dropped one needle to the floor!

Feast Day: St. Joseph ... otherwise known as ...

... the saint I forgot but have now found!

It's funny: I'm a cradle-Catholic from a fairly Catholic family; we celebrated feasts and the liturgical calendar; we lit candles at Advent and avoided desserts during Lent. But somehow, we never really did much for St. Joseph. Our grammar school was run by Sisters of St. Joseph, so we did have our school/parish festival on St. Joseph's Day ... but honestly, that's all I can remember!

But this year is different. Worrying about the house not selling in Colorado (yep, it's still available if you want it!), worrying about dh worrying about the house, discerning what we should do .... and on and on ... has been a blessing in many ways: I'm praying much more and have really discovered a strong devotion to St. Joseph, the patron of everything and anything.

Often, when you have trouble selling a house,folks will suggest burying a St. Joseph in the front yard. This is not the St. Joseph to whom I've found a devotion, the St. Joseph of superstition and magic.

The St. Joseph to whom I have a new-found devotion is the one that is described by St. Bernard of Clairvaux:

"There are some saints who have the power of protecting in certain specific circumstances; but St. Joseph has been granted the power to help us in every
kind of need, and to defend all who have recourse to him with pious
dispositions."

St. Teresa of Avila is even more specific: "to other saints our Lord has given power to help in one sort of need, but this glorious saint helps us in EVERY need."

How cool is that ... a saint who is second only to our Blessed Mother in closeness to Jesus and thus, God; a saint who wants to help us and only needs to be petitioned!

We've been praying the St. Joseph Novena to petition the good saint for help with our house in Colorado and discerning God's will. One part of the prayers is particularly apropos for us now: obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the Divine will. Wonderful stuff!

I particularly like this image of St. Joseph ... the father working hard while his son sits and chats and learns. When I see this, I think of my own dh gardening or working on the car and the boys sitting and talking with him, learning from him. And learning more than just a skill ... learning how to be an adult and how to love. Georges de La Tour (1593 - 1652) painted this painting titled, St. Joseph the Carpenter.
Here's the St. Joseph Litany we prayed at the end of Mass:

V/ Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
V/ Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
V/ Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
V/ Jesus, hear us. R/ Jesus, graciously hear us.
V/ God, the Father of Heaven, R/ have mercy on us.
V/ God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, R/ have mercy on us.
V/ God, the Holy Spirit, R/ have mercy on us.
V/ Holy Trinity, One God, R/ have mercy on us.

R/for ff: pray for us.
Holy Mary,

St. Joseph,

Renowned offspring of David,

Light of Patriarchs,

Spouse of the Mother of God,

Chaste guardian of the Virgin,

Foster father of the Son of God,

Diligent protector of Christ,

Head of the Holy Family,

Joseph most just,

Joseph most chaste,

Joseph most prudent,

Joseph most strong,

Joseph most obedient,

Joseph most faithful,

Mirror of patience,

Lover of poverty,

Model of artisans,

Glory of home life,

Guardian of virgins,

Pillar of families,

Solace of the wretched,

Hope of the sick,

Patron of the dying,

Terror of demons,

Protector of Holy Church,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R/ spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R/ graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world. R/ have mercy on us.
He made him the lord of his household. R/ And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray. O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever. R/ Amen.

Can you see why I'm enthralled with this quiet saint about whom little is known? As Fr. Z. said at Mass today, Joseph was silent only when he needed to listen; he talked when it was necessary. A distinction I need to practice more!

So what did we do today to celebrate this wonderful feast in the Liturgical Calendar? Had a great time learning about St. Joseph through reading and discussing the wonderful meditations in this month's Magnificat. After, we each did a different craft ... String Bean did a "virtual St. Joseph altar" by coloring, cutting-out and pasting the pieces to cardstock; Bam-Bam colored a glorious picture of Joseph holding the infant Jesus; Lego-Maniac wood-burned a picture of St. Joseph while I did a shrinky dink plaque (see the beginning of this post).

Then we ran errands, including stopping at the Lego store to purchase more bricks so the kids could be "carpenters" while we watched another couple of episodes of The Adams Chronicles. Dinner was a veritable feast of St. Joseph inspired items:

• boneless-skinless chicken breasts marinated in italian dressing
• garlic-butter breadsticks (that looked like Joseph's staff) -- see recipe below
• salad with Italian dressing
• shell-pasta with butter and garlic
• Fritelle di San Guiseppe -- see recipe below

After dinner, we sat and watched the classic The Dog of Flanders, a great movie with a strong parental character, a "not sure he wants to be a father" paternal figure and a few grumpy men who should NEVER be fathers!

St. Joseph, Protector of the Holy Family, pray for us!

Recipes:

St. Joseph's Staffs (garlic butter breadsticks)

1 tbs yeast
1 1/3 c. Warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
3 tbs Vegetable oil
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups All-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. honey

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the flour, the oil, honey and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, scraping dough from side of bowl, until soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 45 minutes. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Stir down dough by beating about 25 strokes. Turn dough onto generously floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Divide into 18 equal parts. Roll and shape each part dough into a rope, about 9 inches long, sprinkling with flour if dough is too sticky. Place on greased cookie sheet. When baking, bake until crust is deep golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Store loosely covered.
Garlic-butter: while sticks are still hot, brush with mixture of 1/4cup melted butter, a minced clove of garlic, and 1 tsp dried parsley.

Frittele di San Guiseppe (from Evelyn Birge Vitz’s A Continual Feast) -- St. Joseph Fritters

2-1/4 cups milk
1 cup rice (I used brown)
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbls flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs fruit brandy (optional – I didn’t use)
Grated rind of 1 large orange
1/2 cup golden raisins (original called for just 3 tbls)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (called for pine nuts, but I used chopped pecans; original called for just 3 tbls)

Oil for frying; powdered sugar for dusting fritters

The night before or very early on St. Joseph’s day: bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan. Add the rice, salt, vanilla and sugar. Cover the pan and simmer gently until rice is cooked and the milk absorbed – about 30-45 minutes. Let the rice cool overnight or for several hours.

Mix the cooled rice with the eggs, flour, baking powder, orange rind, raisins and nuts.

Heat oil to 375 for deep-fat frying. Drop the frittellle mixture 1 tbls at a time into the oil. Cook a few at a time, keeping the frittelle separate. Fry till golden.

Drain on a paper towel. Serve hot, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Both of these recipes are definite keepers -- good thing St. Joseph has another feast in the calendar -- St. Joseph the Worker on May 1st!

Feast Day: St. Patrick's Day ...

St. Patrick's Prayer, also known as, "St. Patrick's Breastplate"

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the threeness,

Through the confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the Judgment Day.
I arise today

Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In the service of archangels,

In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In prayers of patriarchs,

In predictions of prophets,

In preaching of apostles,

In faith of confessors,

In innocence of holy virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of sun,Radiance of moon,Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,Swiftness of wind,Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,Firmness of rock.
I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me:

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

From snares of demons,

From temptations of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today

Against poison,

against burning,

Against drowning,

against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,Through confession of the oneness,Of the Creator of Creation

Amen!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all .... we've actually been enjoying the great Saint's feast for the past few days. We started Saturday with:

the parade in Manassas.

And, man, was it cold for March 14th (somewhere round about hi-30s)!

The Young Marines marched and looked wonderful -- LegoManiac, being one of the height-challenged boys, is in the very back of the group, but he didn't mind one bit!

We also watched the others prance, dance and drive past: Irish dancers, wolfhounds and even

the good Saint himself!

We then came home (mostly to warm up!) and the kids watched one of their favorite Irish movies, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, a classic story of the big bad American coming to Ireland to capitalize on the pristine beauty only to find more than he bargained for! Great stuff. They followed that with Darby O'Gill (a classic when I was little; that young Sean Connery is a joy to behold). Tonight, they'll watch The Quiet Man, while I head out for a theology lecture at dh's high school.

For dinner, I'm making this amazing Irish Beef and Guiness Stew from Jessica on Catholic Cuisine. If the smell is any indicator, this stuff is going to be great! I've also made two loaves of cranberry soda bread that is always a big hit and with a salad, we should have a really great meal.

We've also been talking lots about the saint and what he did to help spread the gospel throughout Ireland. Much of his life is shaded in myth, but there are bits that are true -- primarily that he evangelized the faith to a country that stayed Catholic through the Reformation and beyond, bringing their strong faith to the new world as they emigrated from their homeland! It's said that on St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Irish -- but we truly are and we're very proud of that fact!

================================================

Recipes:

Irish Beef and Guiness Stew (Jessica on Catholic Cuisine)

Ingredients:
· 2 pounds lean beef stew meat
· 3 tbs vegetable oil, divided
· 2 tbs all-purpose flour
· salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
· 1 pinch cayenne pepper
· 2 large onions, chopped
· 1 clove garlic, crushed
· 2 tbs tomato paste
· 1 1/2 cups Guiness stout beer (or other Irish Stout)
· 2 cups carrot, cut into chunks
· 1 sprig fresh thyme
· 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Directions:Trim the meat of any fat, cut into 2 inch cubes, and toss them in a bowl with 1 tbs of the vegetable oil. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Toss the meat in the mixture to coat.Heat the remaining oil in a deep pan over medium-high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. Add the onions and crushed garlic. Stir the tomato paste into a small amount of water (to dilute); pour into the pan, stir to blend, cover and cook gently (reduce heat if necessary) for about 5 minutes. Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, scrape any bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This adds a lot of flavor to the broth. Pour in the rest of the beer, and add the carrots and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.Yields: Six to Eight Servings

[NOTE: I added 3 potatoes, cleaned and chopped up as what's Irish Stew without potatoes!]

Cranberry Soda Bread -- If you're not already a fan of soda bread, you will be after you've tried this variation. To achieve the right texture, you should cool it before serving.

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup dried sweetened cranberries

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a large baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal. Measure the oats into a bowl, then stir in the buttermilk, honey, and oil. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and make a well in the middle. Pour the liquid into it and stir briskly with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls together in a shaggy mass. Let the dough rest for 3 minutes. Turn it onto a floured surface and gently knead the dough for about 30 seconds. Next, divide it in half and form each half into a football shape with rounded ends. Place the loaves on the baking sheet with plenty of room between them and cut a shallow slit down the center of each. Bake the bread for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake another 25 minutes, or until the loaves are golden and crusty and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Cool before serving. Makes 2 loaves.

Feast Day: Our Lady of Lourdes

This is one of those feast days that really means alot to me and mine!

Dh and I met at Our Lady of Lourdes School in North Carolina -- we were both teaching and it was the wedding of science (him) and technology (me). The middle schoolers thought it was SOOOO romantic. [Don't tell anyone, but so did I!]

After we got married, we took our (then) four children to Europe for pilgrimage during the 2000 Jubilee Year. We made a special trip to Lourdes ... to see the Grotto, join in the celebration of a few Masses (Brikhead got to read the English-language petitions at the big Mass), attend the candle-light ceremony and rosary (Kotch got to read the English-language decade of the rosary) and receive the Sacrament of Confession. It was a most memorable trip -- not least of which was being dunked in the miraculous waters (including String Bean who was just three-months old!). We were also lucky enough to visit French-Basque region where my great-grandparents were born (Oloron-Ste-Marie, just above Lourdes; and Arles-sur-Tech, closer to the Med).

The next year, when we were moving to Europe, we again pilgrimaged to Lourdes, staying in the same lovely hospitality house run by the L'Emanuelle community, and again participating in much of the spiritual activities of the Shrine.

Millions of people visit this Shrine each year -- and they're not all Catholics, either. This is an amazing site where all come to seek the intercessions of Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. Here, Pope John Paul the Great came to pray before the Shrine. I like this picture as it gives a great idea of the magnificence of the natural grotto ... a place of peace and hope ... a place of faith!

Me and mine owe so much to Our Lady, particularly under this particular name. We continue to invoke the intercessory powers of Our Lady of Lourdes ... and she is a powerful ally. So, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is a big deal around here.

We were able to attend Mass this morning at dh's high school, but unfortunately won't be eating together as a family tonight due to various commitments on Wednesday nights (which I wish I could change, but no such luck.) I did go ahead and make one of our favorite French desserts, Clafouti (French Cherry Dessert), which I've made every year since our first pilgrimage to Lourdes!

String Bean and I MIGHT leave some for the others .... or not ....

Here's the recipe:

Clafouti -- French Cherry Dessert
(from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz)

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:
3 cups cherries (either fresh, frozen or canned/drained)
1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups milk
1 tbls vanilla
2 tbls butter
Powdered sugar

Place butter in a 9-inch square or 9/10 inch round pan. Place in pre-heated oven and allow to melt – swirl melted butter around pan to “grease”.

Thaw/drain cherries and set aside.

Mix the flour and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each. Beat in the sugar. Gradually add the milk and vanilla (yes, one tablespoon!), stirring until the batter is very smooth.

Put about 1/4-inch layer of batter (almost one cup) in the pan and bake for 5 minutes or until lightly set. Remove the pan and spread the cherries over the surface, covering (pouring gently) with the remaining batter. Return and bake for 70 minutes or until puffed and brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

You can also use any fruit … apples, peaches, pear … using 3-3-1/2 cups of peeled, sliced fruit ... but we love cherries!

Feast Day: Presentation or Candlemas

Yesterday, February 2nd, was a feast day in commemoration of the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus to the temple, all in accord with Hebrew law of the time. It's also called Candlemas as it traditionally ended the Christmas season for the Catholic Church and the faithful brought their candles to be blessed ... as Jesus is the true Light of the World!

Our celebration of this feast turned into a wonderfully fun dinner party. The French teacher at dh's high school offered to make and serve the traditional crepes; I made ham/spinach lasagne and homemade bread. Talk about a feast.

The ham/spinach lasagna was a big hit! The recipe is so easy because you don't have to make the noodles first; you put them in the pan dry and they come out perfectly cooked! The recipe as we made it is included below.

Just before dinner, our very own french chef made the crepe batter (as it has to sit chilling for one hour). Kotch was her sous chef (and now we have someone trained to make these anytime for us -- pretty smart, eh?). Ms.K. also gave us a great handout on this French tradition, explaining that this holiday is called La Chandeleur, Fete de la Lumiere, or Crepe Day. It is traditional to hold a coin in your writing hand and a crepe pan in the other and flip the crepe into the air. If you manage to catch the crepe in the pan, your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year.

Discretion being the better part of valor .... we didn't tempt fate by trying this! But here is how we made the crepes:

Crepe Recipe:

2 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 large eggs

Blend all ingredients together, making a smooth batter. Cover batter and chill for one hour. Once chilled, heat an 8-inch nonstick crepe pan or skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan; quickly tilt pan in all directions to make a large circle (that is fairly thin). Cook about 1 minute. Carefully life the edge of the crepe with a spatula to test for doneness. The crepe is ready to turn when it can be shaken loose from the pan and the underside is lightly browned. Turn crepe over, cooking for another 30 seconds or until center is set. Place crepe on paper towel to cool. Place on a plate in a 200-225 preheated oven to keep warm while finishing the remaining batter.

Once you are ready to serve ... put out different types of sweeteners (we used white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar and honey), melted bittersweet chocolate, jam or just plain butter and allow guests to make their own. Place a small amount of filling down the center of the crepe, roll-up and eat with your fingers -- DELICIOUS!

Here's the promised Ham/Spinach Lasagna recipe:

Ingredients:
16 oz. cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
16 oz. jar tomato sauce
1-2 cups chopped cooked ham
1 package lasagna noodles (1 used 15 noodles)
16 oz. frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1 tbls minced garlic
2 tsp each dried basil, dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350. (I actually put this together in the morning; covered and refrigerated it; I removed the pan from the fridge when I started the oven preheating and then put it in the oven one hour before dinner).

In large mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, half of the mozzarella, garlic and herbs. Set aside.
Spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan; put a layer of dry lasagna noodles then a layer of half the cheese mixture; half the ham and spinach scattered atop. Do another layer of sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, ham and spinach. Finish with a final (3rd) layer of noodles, layer of sauce, and the second half of the mozzarella cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, removing the foil during the final 15minutes of cooking.

Advent: early Advent saints' feasts

I had a discussion this morning (0-dark-30!) with dh about celebrating Advent with all the feasts or celebrating Advent by fasting and repentance in preparation for Christmas. I weigh in definitely on the "teach the kids the joyful with the sorrowful" so since I'm the main teacher, we celebrate as many feasts as we can throughout Advent in our home education journey.

-----*-----*-----

Yesterday, Decemember 3rd, was the feast of St. Francis Xavier. This is one great guy: not only is he Basque (even tho he's from the Spanish side rather than the French side of the Basque region, we'll happily claim him!), he was a Jesuit when Jesuits were "the good, the true and the beautiful", and he evangelized India, Japan, Phillipines and died on his way to China. He was born to wealth and gave it all up to be missionary to Asia. Ya gotta love this guy!

We had gone to Mass at dh's high school in the morning, so we'd heard from Father all about FX's exploits in the Far East, but when we got home we learned even more. 12 years AFTER he was in Japan, his converts still had the neophyte's zeal for his/her faith. This is an amazing achievement as so many other missionaries failed to convert the Far East native populations.

So, in honor of this Basque nobleman who had such an impact on Japan, we (thanks to MaryM's suggestion) did Japanese Origami ornaments for our craft-time (and thus created Christmas decorations at the same time). It was great fun to experiment and play with the origami paper -- I wish we had foil or other fancy patterned paper for this craft, but I could only find the tradtional colored/white paper. For the green one, I glue-sticked the red to the green and altho it was a little heavier than should have been, I really like the way it turned out!

For our Christmas reading we read: Strega Nona: Her Story (where we hear about her early life) and Merry Christmas, Strega Nona (where we find out just how much Big Anthony loves Strega Nona).

We finished up our day with a meeting of the St. Francis (nature study) and St. Clare (needlework) clubs -- the boys cut fresh wild holly for us while the girls crafted plastic-canvas stars. We didn't do any Christmas treat making because dh and Kotch had to be at her school for a Shakespeare night (she recited Horatio's soliloquy) while LegoManiac had a mandatory altar server meeting and I stayed home with StringBean, BamBam and an adorable 4-year-old friend (and made costumes for the kids' drama production next Saturday).

Today, December 4th, is the feast day of St. John Damascene (or John of Damascus). This is the last of the Greek Fathers and a Doctor of the Catholic Church named "Doctor of Christian Art" for his unceasing and direct defense of iconography.

We followed up our learning about St. John with a reading of Gloria Whelan's beautiful book, The Miracle of St. Nicholas. The kids really liked this one: a story of a boy who changes his village forever by dreaming of opening the 60-year-closed village church in time for Christmas Mass. Just beautiful.

This book is such a wonderful tie-in both with today's feast and St. Nicholas' feast in two days. St. John Damascene is famous for his defense of iconography -- what better way to "own" this than to become an iconographer for the day? So, I had the idea to have the kiddoes drew their idea of the book's St. Nicholas icon. StringBean, who really likes the Impressionists (Monet is her favorite artist) did her impression of the icon, while LegoManiac did his almost identical to the picture -- but since he couldn't get the hands right, he just removed the hands and the Scriptures).

They drew these icons to the smell of Syrian Biscochos (basically sugar cookie bars). Since I wasn't sure how these would taste -- check out the list of ingredients: WOW! -- I only made a half batch. The recipe I've included below is half the original -- and it made about 2-1/2 dozen bars. The cookie dough had an odd flavor but a beautiful color; the baked cookie had a great flavor but an odd color. A recipe of paradoxes, huh?

Here's the Biscochos recipe from Food DownUnder's "Syrian recipes" I used (I've given the halved version):

□ 1 cup butter, softened (the original recipe called for shortening, but I just can't bring myself to have that stuff in the house!)
□ 1/4 cup granulated sugar
□ 1/2 tsp salt
□ 1/2 tbls anise
□ 1/4 tsp ground cloves
□ 2-1/2 cups flour
□ 1/2 cup red wine (the original recipe said "wine"; checking around for a more definitive ingredient description, I found the recipes all said "any kind of wine" -- I used burgundy which accounts for the beautiful pink color of the batter)
□ Cinnamon-sugar mix to roll after baked

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine butter with sugar; add salt, anise and cloves.
Slowly add flour and wine to form dough. Continue adding flour (more than given above) until dough doesn’t stick to hands.
Roll out about 1/8-inch think and cut into squares.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375.
Remove and roll in cinnamon-sugar mix while still hot. Cool and eat!

These cookies are REALLY good -- and it turns out there are other countries who "claim" these cookies: Spain, Mexico and it's even the "state cookie" of New Mexico! Who knew?

Feast Day: St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

On Tuesday, we read and discussed about an American saint named St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852). Her feast day was Tuesday the 18th, but we didn't get around to cooking a treat for her until today (long story short, we needed walnuts and the only ones we had were still in their shells and I couldn't unearth the nutcracker from wherever dh put it before/after our move!).

St. Rose was an amazing woman, born in Grenoble, France in 1769, she came to the United States in order to work with the Native Americans and others in the Mississippi River valley region (primarily around Missouri). At first frustrated by her attempts to work closely with the Indians, she did great work up and down the Mississippi -- from St. Charles, MO to Opelousas, LA.

She was in her 70s before she finally got the chance to evangelize the Native Americans in Sugar Creek, KS. Although by this time she old and frail, she spent long hours nursing the sick and many more hours in prayer. The Potawatatomi called her "Woman who prays always" in honor of her extensive periods of time spent kneeling before the blessed sacrament.

St. Rose died at the age of 83 and when her remains were moved three years later (for re-interment in a new cemetery), her body was found to be incorrupt. Pope John Paul 2 canonized this self-less woman on July 3, 1988.

In honor of her birthplace, we searched the 'net for a recipe from Grenoble and found this absolutely amazing Grenoble Tart (seems Grenoble is famous for its walnuts!). Here's our version:

St. Rose's Grenoble Tart

Crust:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk

Filling:

2 cups raw, shelled walnut halves

Caramel Sauce:
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tbls heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream crust ingredients until a ball forms. Press dough into bottom and sides of 9-inch pie-pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges turn light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Fill browned tart shell with walnuts.

Prepare Caramel Sauce by combining brown sugar, 1/4 c butter and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan and bring to a rapid boil over medium heat without stirring. Let boil for one minute without stirring. Remove from heat; whisk in 2 tbls heavy cream.

Pour hot Caramel Sauce over walnuts and bake 10 minutes or until bubbly. Cool thoroughly. Serve with dollop of good vanilla ice cream.

Tip: Tart can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.

This is WAY better than Pecan Pie (and I love Pecan Pie!).

Feast Day: St. Martin of Tours

I love the Catholic Church -- we have such great role-models and feasts to celebrate! My boys particularly love today. Not only is it Veterans' Day here in the U.S., it is also the feast of St. Martin of Tours, a soldier himself!

St. Martin was this really cool guy back in the 4th Century in Hungary who converted to Christianity (despite his parents' objection) and ended up becoming the Bishop of Tours. On the way to his bishopric, legend tells us that he sacrificed half his military cloak -- which would have been a sign of his rank -- to a freezing man on the side of the road. Later, he dreamt about this man who, in his dream, was Jesus.

The boys eat this stuff up!

Today, we not only celebrated Veterans' Day and St. Martin's Day, we celebrated a visit from one of dh's fellow teachers for dinner! This is always fun for the kids as they can spout college football stats, practice joke-telling, and generally entertain an unsuspecting audience. This is particularly fun when the faculty member is a, single or b, married but childless!

Tonight we had a nice Italian man from Orange County so we served spaghetti and meatballs, spinach salad and St. Martin's Horseshoe cookies (a recipe we got from Catholic Culture -- see below).

Although St. Martin's life was austere and sober, his day was always celebrated in the Old World manner, with feasting, merriment, and thanksgiving for harvest foods. In Poland rich cookies shaped like horseshoes were baked for St. Martin's snow-white horse, on which he "comes riding through the snow" when one least expects him.

ST. MARTIN HORSESHOE COOKIES
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar·
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats, uncooked
DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 325. While pre-heating oven, toast the oats in a pyrex pan. Cream butter or margarine; add sugar gradually while continuing to cream; beat until fluffy. Stir in vanilla, flour, and salt. Blend in toasted oats. Taking a hefty tablespoon of dough in floured hands, quickly roll into a "cigar" shape and then curve into a horseshoe. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.Bake at 325° for 20 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove carefully, as cookies are very rich and break easily. (about 1-1/2 doz horseshoes)

A GREAT time was had by all!

St. Martin of Tours, pray for us!

Feast Day: St. Leo the Great

Today the Catholic Church celebrates a Pope and Saint -- a man who is just one of two given the appellation "great" (Servant of God John Paul II has been called "great" but it's not totally official yet!) -- the other being St. Pope Gregory the Great.




Anyway, St. Pope Leo the Great who reigned as Pope from 440 to 461 was a man who fought heresy, divisiveness within the Church, secular issues such as Attila the Hun at the Gates of Rome, and other issues of his day. He fought all these challenges with thoughtfulness and prayer and charity toward all. His writings have garned him a spot on the list of Doctors of the Church (only 33 Saints have been given this title -- a title given to those whose writings, prayers and speeches are judged by the Catholic Church to exhibit eminent learning, a high degree of sanctity, and proclamation by the Church).

One of the many things the St. Leo the Great wrote about was the need for understanding, mercy and charity in all relations ...

Among other aspects of human frailty belongs the fact that no boon of
well-being remains safe, since everyone ought to fear what anyone at all is
capable of falling into. All human beings, regardless of who they happen
to be, should come to terms with the fact that they have a mortal nature subject
to change -- and usually for the worse. In view of this shared condition,
let them have sympathy toward their own race.

This comment by St. Leo really struck me today, as we mark the seventh day since the election. I have been involved in such divisiveness, lack of charity and mercy toward anyone who didn't vote the way I think they should have voted.

But we're all children of God -- and ALL deserve charity.

Some of the burden of our current culture of death is on MY shoulders because I didn't persuade or pray enough for those who put economics before life because they don't know better. This is my shame. I will work harder over the next years to work toward a conversion of heart for those who don't understand the pro-life movement, a movement that asks that human rights be guaranteed from the moment of conception till the moment of natural death. I will work toward persuading those who don't understand rather than spend my time kvetching with those who believe as I believe.

St. Leo the Great, pray for us!

Feast Day: All Hallows Eve

All Hallow's Eve -- the night before All Saint's Day when we remember all the saints, named and unnamed, of the Catholic Church. We have so lost the whole point of this feast, but y'know, tonight we had a blast!
LegoManiac was a "ninja warrior", String Bean was Mary Poppins herself and BamBam was a knight. The costumes were organized a bit last-minute as I usually just don't agree with kiddoes roaming a neighborhood and begging for candy. But tonight was different.

Dh and I met up with another home-educating family and walked their neighborhood ... with the little ones running back and forth, alternating between being scared out of their costumes and laughing and bragging at all the candy they were reaping! Besides our three, we had with us another Ninja, Batman, a ghoul and "Raggedy Ann" (altho the sweet little girl kept saying she was "Maggie Ann"). Here's a close-up of the "practically perfect in every way" lady. Note the paper flowers in the hat ... and yes, the shawl, gloves and carpetbag are all designed and knitted by String Bean's official hand-knit designer (me!).

We did make the kids eat before heading out ... I made empanadas (in honor of the Mexican "Day of the Dead") and lentils with rice -- a meal that kept that charged for the great candy-collecting!

Here are the recipes:

Pisto Manchego Empanadas
Ingredients:
16 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 sweet onions, chopped
3 peppers (mix of colors)
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 double-crust pie crusts

Preheat oven to 350. Chop the zucchini and peppers into bite-sized pieces; open and drain the tomatoes. Heat olive oil in frying pan and sauté onion and garlic until onion is clear. Add peppers and sauté five more minutes, constantly stirring. Add zucchini and stir five more minutes. Add tomatoes, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove cover, add remaining seasonings and increase heat, allowing the extra juices to boil off. Be careful not to allow to dry to the point of sticking.

Roll out pastry dough and cut into 6” circles. Fill with 2-3 tbsp of filling and dab olive oil around edge of circle. Fold circle in half, forming tarts and pinch closed with fork tines. Place on cookie sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake at 350for 30 minutes. Turn on broiler and brown tops for 5 minutes.

Lentils and Rice
INGREDIENTS:
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 large white onion, sliced into rings
1 1/3 cups uncooked green lentils
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onions, and cook about 10 minutes, until browned. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. Place lentils in a medium saucepan with enough lightly salted water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 15 minutes.
3. Stir rice and enough water to cover into the saucepan with the lentils. Season with salt and pepper. Cover saucepan, and continue to simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until rice and lentils are tender.
4. Mix half the onions into the lentil mixture. Top with yogurt or sour cream and remaining onions to serve.

I'm thinking this meal may just become a tradition: fun to make, the kids ate it all, and it seems to have held them nicely.

Feast: Our Lady of the Rosary

Today is a lovely feast -- Our Lady of the Rosary commemorates the amazing victory of the European troops (led by Austrian Don Juan) against the Turks at Lepanto. This was the battle that GKChesterton immortalized in his poem, Lepanto (which we read today to give the kids the flavor of the battle).

[here's Bam-bam's version of the "ships" -- they then got out all their stuffed animals (I mean, Turks) and proceeded to fire on them!]

Here's an article from EWTN that explains the origins of the feast:

[this painting, by an unknown artist, shows the port of Lepanto during the battle]

On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under thecommand of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage,the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.

At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. St. Padre Pio,said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!

The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716 (who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712).

Here's what we did today to help remember this lovely feast:
Coloring page from our ever-resourceful Waltzing Matilda ...and "shrinky dink" plaque for the Marian feast.
We then put together a "Rosary Book". I bought "rosary cards" from Magnificat last May (but with moving, etc, never used them) and ...

we pasted those on card-stock. Here is the card for 5th Luminous mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist. Each set of mysteries is separated with a "summary" sheet so we know which mysteries on which days! All the cards are put in order in sheet protectors and the final page of our book is this quote from Servant of God, John Paul the Great:

… it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of
the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labors and endeavors which go to make
up our lives. “Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:23).
To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ
and his Mother. … I feel the need to say once more, as a warm invitation to
everyone to experience it personally: the Rosary does indeed “mark the rhythm of
human life”, bringing it into harmony with the “rhythm” of God's own life, in
the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life's destiny and deepest
longing. (paragraph 25, Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

And for dinner ... well, since Don John of Austria is the main man behind the Battle of Lepanto, we opted for an Austrian feast -- sausages, potatoes with apples and beer (add a salad and you got a great meal!). Since dh's birthday is tomorrow, we didn't make any sloppy-gloppy dessert as those will come over the next days (dh really likes to celebrate his birthday with food!).

Feast: Guardian Angels

"From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (the angels) watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united to God."
- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 336.

I'm so thankful for God's gift a protector, shepherd, helper for each one of us. This was a gift I never thought much about until I had children.

And boy, do my kids keep their angels hopping ... especially Bam-Bam. I know his particular GA is ever aware of just exactly what he has gotten up to. The fact that we've yet to need a run to the ER or the orthopedic surgeon or even an unscheduled doc visit is proof of the pudding!

Today we used the Guardian Angel prayer for copywork and while I read St. Patrick's Summer, the kiddoes worked on their very own GA's ... I figure I will post the hand-written prayers and angels near the kids' beds.