When I entered the Eastern Catholic Church I was seeking deeper tradition and deeper religious expression.  Yes, I know this can be found in the West, but those places, sadly, are few and far between.  I believe that I have been lead to the east by our Lord, for he wants me to delve deeper spiritually.

The Blessing of Apples on Theophany

The Cassocks, and the Church

The Monastics

The Vestments

MATT. XXV. 31–41. “When the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit,” says He, “upon the throne of His glory, and He shall divide the sheep from the kids;”[and the one He will accept, because they fed Him, when an hungered, and gave Him drink when thirsty, and took Him in when a stranger, and clothed Him when naked, and visited Him when sick, and came to see Him when in prison: and He will give the kingdom to them. But the others, accusing them for the opposite things, He will send into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.]

Unto this most delightful portion of Scripture, which we do not cease continually revolving, let us now listen with all earnestness and compunction, this wherewith His discourse ended, even as the last thing, reasonably; for great indeed was His regard for philanthropy and mercy. Wherefore in what precedes He had discoursed concerning this in a different way; and here now in some respects more clearly, and more earnestly, not setting forth two nor three nor five persons, but the whole world; although most assuredly the former places, which speak of two persons, meant not two persons, but two portions of mankind, one of them that disobey, the other of the obedient. But here He handles the word more fearfully, and with fuller light. Wherefore neither does He say, “The kingdom is likened,” any more, but openly shows Himself, saying, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory.” For now is He come in dishonor, now in affronts and reproaches; but then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. Continue Reading »

The Holy Apostle commands us saying “Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk becomingly as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” From the time of the Apostles, Prophets and Fathers till our own day, it is evident from the life of the Church that fasting is part of our “armor of light”; it is a mighty weapon against the enemy given into our hands by the Saviour Himself, Who is a type and example for us in all things and Who fasted in the flesh in order to teach us to fast. To those weak and ill, it is a medicine and antidote a bath in which to be washed and cleansed. Armored with holy fasting, St. Elias the Tishbite withstood Ahab and his army singlehandedly and called down fire from the heavens. By fasting St. Moses, the seer of God and the elder of Israel, prepared to ascend the mountain in the desert and behold the Glory of God. By fasting the Three Children were shown forth to be fairer than the other children in Babylon in the house of the king, and Daniel was shown forth to be a shepherd of lions. Fasting, therefore, should always be understood as a thing most necessary in our battle with the evil one. Only a man who has lost his mind would put down his weapons, strip himself naked of his armor and then jump into the line of fire to do battle with the enemy. Such a one would be committing suicide. A man who calls himself a Christian and does not fast, is such a man. In the final analysis he who does not fast does not believe in God, for he does not really believe in the existence of the enemy and the great victory gifted to us over him by our Saviour. He who does not fast does not believe in Him Who said to the enemy, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” This is why Apostolic and Patristic canons proclaim that all who do not keep the fasts have fallen away from the Faith (i.e., have become excommunicated), and our Holy Father St. Seraphim of Sarov instructs us not even to speak with such persons. Continue Reading »

Here is a meatless sauce for pasta.

Here is a quick and easy meat free recipe for those fast days

Now if you are on the Strict Orthodox fast, then the oil blows it. You could try to substitute Applesauce for the oil, and use nonstick spray rather than butter or grease.

Meatfare is the Sunday when Eastern Catholics and Orthodox remove meat from their meals.  This is in preparation of the Great Lent.  Next Sunday will be Cheesefare and that is when we will remove dairy.  After that then it will be 40 days of Fasting until Pascha.

Depending on how hard core you there are varying forms of the fast.

We also reflect on the Last Judgment.  This goes hand in hand with the penitential season of Lent.  Lent is where we look at our lives, removing those things that separate us from God, and enter into a deeper reflection of our lives as Christians.

Commemorated on February 7

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the Last Judgment. It reminds us that while trusting in Christ’s love and mercy, we must not forget His righteous judgment when He comes again in glory. If our hearts remain hardened and unrepentant, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressions simply because He is a good and loving God. Although He does not desire the death of a sinner, He also expects us to turn from our wickedness and live (Ezek. 33:11). This same idea is expressed in the prayer read by the priest after the penitent has confessed his or her sins (Slavic practice).

The time for repentance and forgiveness is now, in the present life. At the Second Coming, Christ will appear as the righteous Judge, Who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6). Then the time for entreating God’s mercy and forgiveness will have passed.

As Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us in his book GREAT LENT (Ch. 1:4), sin is the absence of love, it is separation and isolation. When Christ comes to judge the world, His criterion for judgment will be love. Christian love entails seeing Christ in other people, our family, our friends, and everyone else we may encounter in our lives. We shall be judged on whether we have loved, or not loved, our neighbor. We show Christian love when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. If we did such things for the least of Christ’s brethren, then we also did them for Christ (Mt.25:40). If we did not do such things for the least of the brethren, neither did we do them for Christ (Mt.25:45).

Today is the last day for eating meat and meat products until Pascha, though eggs and dairy products are permitted every day during the coming week. This limited fasting prepares us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent.
Troparion – Tone 1

When You, O God, shall come to earth with glory,
all things shall tremble
and the river of fire shall flow before Your judgment seat;
the books shall be opened and the hidden things disclosed!
Then deliver me from the unquenchable fire,
and make me worthy to stand at Your right hand, righteous Judge!

I here at church and I am feeling sick to my stomach.

:::sigh:::

Lord I am not worthy to recieve you.

IMHO, steve is a bit late on this one.

I knew it was bullshit when they agreed to censor their web searches for the Chinese.

For Google, it is “Do no Evil, unless we make money at it.”

I am preparing Beef Short Ribs today.  About 10 pounds.  Here is what I am doing to them:

Line your pan with foil and spray with Pam or equivalent type of non-stick sparay

Put the ribs on the pan

In a bowl mix the following:

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 teaspoons onion powder
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

This will give you a good greek tasting spice mix.

Rub the spices into the meat, and let sit for a while.  Some people let them sit in the refrigerator over night, I didn’t have the time to day.

Cover the Pan with foil and pop them in the oven at 325 degrees for 2.5 hours.

Take out and eat up.

Contrary to popular belief, true believing Catholic couples do use some forms of birth control.  While believing Catholics are not supposed to use chemical forms of birth control, there are natural forms of birth control that are used by catholics.

NFP – Natural Family Planning is a system of measuring a woman’s body’s temperature  to figure out just when she ovulates.  The couple then abstains from sexual relations during this time.

The barrier method – While the Catholic Church teaches that there are several barrier methods are wrong there are a few barrier methods that are approved.

Here the child acts as a barrier so the parents don’t have time, nor do they have energy to have sex.

Coitus interruptus – There are various forms of this method.

Method 1 – The Toddler that is sleeping down the hall wakes up.  The universe has some sort of perverse sense of humor since it is almost always true that a toddler will wake up and go to their parents room when sex is about to or has just begun.

Method 2 – The door is locked, and you and your spouse are alone, the kids are downstairs watching some sort of movie that they are totally engrossed in.  Chances are, at the moment of contact the following will happen:

Method 3 - Nursing.  This method is used by a subset of Catholic couples.  It is sort of related to Method 1 above, but as it happens, when the circumstances get interesting for the couple.  The nursing toddler or the nursing baby will wake up.

So, there you have it, your introduction to the diverse world of Catholic Birth Control.  Final note, this post is supposed to be a humorous look into parenting and parental relations.  It is NOT intended to be take seriously.