Today is the only day that we kneel during liturgy. During that time we will recite the kneeling prayers. Typically we will say the first one. These prayers are part of the Pentecost vespers that are said on Sunday evening.

1st kneeling prayer

Again and again on bended knee let us pray to the Lord

O Lord, most pure, incorruptible, without beginning, invisible, incompressible, unsearchable, unchangeable, unsurpassable, immeasurable, and forebearing: you alone have immortality; you live in unapproachable light; you made heaven and earth and the sea and all things created in them. You grant to all their requests even before they ask. We pray to you, and we beseech you, O Master who loves all people, the Father of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. For our sake and for the sake of our salvation, he came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and Mary, the ever-Virgin and the most glorious Godbearer. At first he taught us with words which were then later confirmed through deeds when he endured the saving passion, giving us, your humble, sinful, and unworthy servants, the example of offering supplications to you, with necks bowed and on bended knees, for our sins and for the people’s acts done in ignorance.
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Many out there know I am Eastern Rite Catholic, which is more akin to Orthodoxy than to Roman Catholicism (well it should be, however it seems the leadership of the Eastern Churches are hell bent on making us theologically RC than EC.)  This is NOT a slam at the Roman Catholic Church.  The East and West are parts of the same body who look at things with different views.  The base theology is the same, but in the Eastern Church it may sound different, or we may look at a different aspect of the same idea.

A very good example of this is what is called the Feast of the Epiphany and in the East we Celebrate the Theophany (the baptism of Christ in the Jordan.)  They are both sides of the same coin.  Christ reveals himself in two ways, the West looks at the revealing of Christ to the Wise men, the East looks at Christ’s manifestation of the Triune God in the baptism of our Lord.

Now we enter Holy Week, or what we call Great Week in the Eastern Churches

Beginning on the evening of Palm Sunday we enter the services of the Bridegroom.  This name is given from the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.

The first part of Great week gives us many themes that are based on the Passion of our Lord.  Which are centered on Jesus’ divine sonship, the kingdom of God, the Parousia, and Jesus’ contempt of the corruption of the religious elders of the time.  The first three days constitute a single liturgical unit.

The Orthros of each of these days is called the Service of the Bridegroom (Akolouthia tou Nimfiou). The name comes from the central figure in the well-known parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). The title Bridegroom suggests the intimacy of love. It is not without significance that the kingdom of God is compared to a bridal feast and a bridal chamber. The Christ of the Passion is the divine Bridegroom of the Church. The imagery connotes the final union of the Lover and the beloved. The title Bridegroom also suggests the Parousia. In the patristic tradition, the aforementioned parable is related to the Second Coming; and is associated with the need for spiritual vigilance and preparedness, by which we are enabled to keep the divine commandments and receive the blessings of the age to come. The troparion “Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night…”, which is sung at the beginning of the Orthros of Great Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, relates the worshiping community to that essential expectation: watching and waiting for the Lord, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Here is the troparion for Monday Night.

My laptop, with my recipe software is in the shop at this point, so you won’t get all the pretty formatting. What the heck, it is lent, so we are supposed to give up stuff. I guess I am giving up HTML formatted recipes

Lowcarb Lenten Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

2 Teaspoons of Olive Oil
1 small Onion grated
2 carrots grated
1 small summer squash grated
1 small zucchini grated
1 egg beaten
1 to 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 3/4 cups of Flax Meal
1 1/2 cups of Almond Flour

Dirctions:

Grate the carrots, summer squash, and the zucchini and place in paper towels to get rid of the extra moisture. If you don’t do this your burgers will be mushy in the center and not firm.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil under low heat and add the onion and garlic and cook till tender (about 5 minutes)

Add the veggie mix to the skillet and cook for a couple of minutes.

Take the Veggie mix, move to a bowl, add the flax meal, the egg, and the soy sauce. Mix together and place in a refrigerator for about an hour. This will let the flavors come together.

Once it has finished in the fridge, take out the mixture, put the almond flour on a plate.

Preheat the oven to 350

Fashion 8, 3 inch patties out of the veggie mixture and them lightly cover them with Almond flour.

Once the oven is heated put the patties on a greased jelly roll pan and place in the oven for 20 minutes. You can choose to turn the patties after 10 minutes to crisp the other side.

If you try this recipe, post in the comments how you liked it and how it came out for you. I am working on this recipe and will update the recipe for different ways to cook these burgers.

As many people know I am back on Atkins.  Which if you understand the Atkins diet you realize that it is mostly protein.  Which means that you have MEAT, and fish, veggies (which you can have in certain amounts)

Now many of you know that I am Eastern Catholic (I try to think of it as being Orthodox in Union with Rome, even tho my bishops would disagree.) and try to follow the Orthodox fasting regulations.

Now you must realize that these two really don’t fit… Unless you do some heavy modifications.

Lets just say that I am not going full balls on orthodox fast with respect to the backbone.  Some Orthodox fasting regulations say that you can’t eat anything with a vertebrate.  Which would mean fish.  Sorry guys..  I love you and I love the Lord, and I think the Lord wants me to be healthy i.e. weigh less, so.. I have personally added fish back into the mix for myself.  Also I do allow small portions of cheese, if I need a protein pick me up.

Now realize I am NOT eating pounds and pounds of Cheese, so the idea isn’t that I am bingeing on cheese the idea is to know your body and try to be as faithful to the fast and to your weight loss program as you can be.

So what do I eat…

Tuna, lots of tuna, lots and lots of Tuna.  Salads, lots of salads, lots and lots of salads. Veggies, but I try to keep the number of Carrots low, and work with mostly the green veggies, which are lower in carbs.

These are what you can eat

These veggies are slightly higher in carbs:

You want to keep these veggies down to less than 12-15 carbs of your daily intake when you are in induction.

Induction is the first stage of the Diet where you cut down your carbs to a minimum and this gets your body working on your fat.  It takes fat out of your body, and produces keotones, which then the body uses for energy.  This is a win win situation, you lose weight and your body gets energy.

So what is a typical day of the fast for me you ask?  Well here is one of my menus:

Breakfast:  2 Eggs, Fried using Pam on the pan or equivalent.

Snack:  1 or 2 oz Almonds, or 1 oz Macadamia Nuts

Lunch:  Large Salad, Romain Lettuce, and A serving of canned Greenbeans

Snack:  Same as above, or 1 to 2 servings of Green beans

Dinner:  Tuna Salad with Mayo (yes, I know there is oil in it… get over it) or another 2 or 3 fried eggs.

At this time I am taking a multivitamin because I know that nutritionally I am out of whack.  Even when I was eating crap, I was nutritionally out of whack, so what else is new with this life?

What we are taking is an imbalanced system, mine, and working it in the best way that we can.  My body can’t handle sugar, because of the years of abuse I put it through my Pancreas is too good and taking sugar and making fat out of it.  By removing the sugars from the body we then make the pancreas do the opposite.  The body can’t find sugar to burn, so it eats the energy it has stored in my cells.

In regular atkins, I would be allowed to eat almost anything that I wanted as long as there were no carbs, so I could have four pieces of chicken, but with the lenten fast, I can’t do this.

Atkins during Lent takes some doing, but IT CAN BE DONE.  I am now one week into the Great fast, I am running less than 20 carbs a day, I am not eating meat, Cheese is used for emergency use i.e. if I get to the point where the body needs a boost, I allow myself a 1/2 ounce to an ounce, but I have only had to do this once, and it was yesterday.

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.

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.