From an Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

 

The Lord's descent into hell "What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. ‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise. ‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person. ‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden. ‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image. 'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one. `I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you. ‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God. "The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages." HT: The Vatican (From the Office of Readings for today)

Good Friday: Living Stations

 

Gospel Desserts Week 3 and 4

 

The Gospel for the third Sunday had Jesus cleansing the Temple by making a whip of cords (and flipping tables and what not).

I went with the theme of "whipped," and we had a whipped pistachio mousse topped with whipped cream.

I totally cheated on the mousse.  It's instant pistachio pudding (a long time guilty pleasure), sifted to remove the nut fragments and folded into whipped cream to lighten it up.

Honestly: super easy and soooooo good!

Which brings us to last Sunday when it was an extremely complex and abstract Gospel, and Laetare Sunday, and Pi Day, AND Daylight Savings Time horrible switch.

And it's the only day for dessert, so...

We had pink lemonade (pi)es with chocolate chip snakes on them because Jesus mentioned "Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the dessert desert, so will the Son of Man be lifted up."

He also talked about being the light of the world, and the pies were super light and fluffy.

Did I mention the time change may have made me a little loopy?

Anyway, it's another easy dessert: 1 can of pink lemonade concentrate, two tubs of whipped topping, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and one (softened) brick of cream cheese.  

The original recipe had no cream cheese and 2 cans of condensed milk, but I knew from experience that that would be too sweet for us, and the cream cheese also stabilized the texture.

Gospel Desserts Week 1 and 2

 

The first Sunday of Lent always has the gospel about Jesus going into the dessert desert.

This year's gospel was the super short one from Mark.  It doesn't give a lot of detail, but it mentions that Jesus was in the desert for 40 days among the wild beasts.

Beasts are good!  I have a ton of animal cookie cutters!

I made sugar cookie dough and kept adding cocoa powder so that I had 4 different shades of dough that, when the chunks were mixed together,  blended beautifully as I rolled them out,.

They were pretty, but not very sweet, especially as we got into the darker cocoa sections, so I made them into sandwiches with a bit of frosting.  

 

That had the added effect of halving the number of cookies so that they all disappeared the same day!

The second week's gospel was the Transfiguration, when Jesus revealed his glory.

So we made this nice chocolate cake...

That, when opened, revealed a "glorious" interior!

Poem of the Week: Primary Wonder

Primary Wonder

Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; cap and bells.
                                                        And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng's clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, O Lord,
Creator, Hallowed One, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.

Denise Levertov (1923–1997)

HT: Journey With Jesus

Lent!

Can you believe we are nearly half way through Lent?!

 

This year we are doing our usual vine and branches project.  It's a 7 foot tall vine cut out of brown paper with branches for each member of the family. 

 We cut out tons of leaves and grapes and put them in a basket. Whenever anyone sees someone doing something good (bearing fruit), they put a leaf or fruit on that person's branch. 

On the central vine we have a few relevant scripture quotes from John 15, verses 1, 5, and 12.

 

We have out Lenten altar with our sacrifice bean jar.  One bean for each sacrifice or good work, and on Easter they are replaced with jelly beans to show that Jesus' sacrifice makes our sacrifices sweet

 I had thought this was the year my kids were too old for the Walking with Jesus poster, but it turned out they meant that they just wanted a smaller roadmap for our Lent. 

And maybe something a bit different.  I think at this stage of the pandemic, we all want something a little different!

So instead of footsteps, we have different references to the week's Sunday Gospel.

This year the kids are all doing special things of their own for Lent. Personally, I made my phone grayscale (only black and white) which has been a particularly constant reminder of Lent.

We are also doing pretzels in the cookie jar (at this point, nothing says Lent to me like pretzels in the cookie jar!), more daily Mass, and, of course, Gospel Desserts on Sundays.

Lastly, Choclo and Oob will be confirmed shortly after Easter, so we are doing the My Path to Heaven children's Ignation retreat.

Catching up Holy Week

I took a vacation for Easter week!  I mean, I was still here, along with the other 9 people in the house, but after all the work and planning for Holy Week and Easter, I just needed a break.

In fact, I did most of the things I usually do except homeschool, but I also spent some time just relaxing, and it felt marvelous!

So, catching up, for Palm Sunday and Easter, we decided to decorate the church the way we usually do (but with fewer flowers since our flower shop was closed).

Holy Saturday morning

It turned out beautifully, and I was really glad we did it.  It was still Easter, after all, even if there was no one to see it except God and our priests.

Well, it turned out, I should have been checking the parish website, because they were actually taping the Masses and putting them on You Tube!

Then I was really glad we had gone ahead and decorated!!

The Triduum at our house was really lovely.  We streamed the services, of course.

The Zoomlians did the living stations for us.

And we each did a variety of meaningful things on Good Friday.

















As well as some beautiful music that I can't figure out how to upload.

And then it was Easter, but I think I need to put that on another post!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Lent

Someone was commenting that in 2018, Ash Wednesday was on Valentine's Day and Easter Sunday fell on April Fool's Day, and we were all sure that would be the weirdest Lent in our lifetimes...

This has been SO strange, and yet so full of grace.

I can see that the Good Shepherd will always tend us and supply every need, even in the face of the impossible.

Blessed be God forever!

Poem of the Week: Brier

Brier: Good Friday

Because, dear Christ, your tender, wounded arm
      Bends back the brier that edges life's long way,
  That no hurt comes to heart, to soul no harm,
    I do not feel the thorns so much to-day.
  Because I never knew your care to tire,
    Your hand to weary guiding me aright,
  Because you walk before and crush the brier,
    It does not pierce my feet so much to-night.
  Because so often you have hearkened to
     My selfish prayers, I ask but one thing now,
 That these harsh hands of mine add not unto
     The crown of thorns upon your bleeding brow.

 

By EmilyPauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)

HT: All Poetry

Poem of the Week: Temptations

Temptations

Creature comforts
And why not?
All you have to do is
Give up a few rocks
These sun-baked stones
That burn your hands and cut your feet
Could soon become a desert treat!
Stop being so hard on yourself!


Fame
All yours for the taking
All you have to do is
Leave this lonely wilderness
Head right to the center of the noisy crowd
Drop in your branding clear and loud
Start showing what you've got!

Power
Not as easy, but well within your reach
All you have to do is
Want it more than anything
Make it your top priority
Your one and only deity
Instead of your strange, silly God
Of Suffering
Solitude
And Silence

By Brother Eckhart
HT: Journey With Jesus 

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Ready or not, here we go!


If you're still contemplating what to give up...


More serious advice:


Here's a quick link to our family Lent ideas and ideas for Lent with younger kids.

Lastly, we are beginning our Lent Video Retreat with Aquinas 101 (The Thomistic Institute) today in a separate post.

Lent for Little Kids

Talking to Jesus also makes Him smile!

I've been talking to friends who still have little ones, and it made me think about what I learned from all those Lents with littles (I'm thinking 2-4 year olds, but if you're just starting to celebrate Lent, this would apply up to around age 8.  Below 2 it seems like it's enough for them to watch you).

I know I just did a big post on ideas for Lent, and a lot of those ideas work for little kids, but here's what I learned specific to young children:

The most important thing you can do is to share your love and joy in the Lord with them.

If I only had really young kids, I would just do the Walking with Jesus poster so they could see where we were on the journey, and each day I would ask: What could we do today to make Jesus smile?

I would explain "the gospel on five fingers," Mother Teresa's explanation that the heart of the Gospel is Jesus' saying that whatever you do to others "You Did It To Me."

If they had trouble coming up with something in the beginning, I would make suggestions, but pretty much whatever they came up with I would try to do, and add flowers around the footprints for each "smile."

I'd also skip sweets except on Sundays (although we ate a lot of sweet dried fruit which my kids called God's candy"), but that's it!  You can always add more as you go if you decide you need more.

Keeping it simple and doable was the key for me, not only for keeping the kids engaged, but for giving me a real love for Lent which I didn't really have before I started celebrating with my kids.

Ideas for Lent

Here are some of our favorite ideas :

The vine and the branches.  Basically it's a 7 foot tall vine cut out of brown paper with branches for each member of the family. We cut out tons of leaves and grapes and put them in a basket. Whenever anyone sees someone doing something good, they put a leaf or fruit on that person's branch.  We often put a picture of Jesus and the "vine and branches" quote on the vine.  I love having the focus of catching others bearing fruit, it really encourages us to look for the good in others. Picture here

Gospel desserts! No desserts or sweets except for Sunday, and the Sunday desserts are related to the Gospel of the day.  We have a lot of fun with this!  Although I haven't lived down the time I made an angel food cake and devil food cake for the temptation in the dessert.  Also, we keep the cookie jar filled with pretzels.

Sacrifice bean jar. One bean for each sacrifice and on Easter they are replaced with jelly beans to show that Jesus' sacrifice makes our sacrifices sweet.  A friend just told me a twist on this: popcorn kernels that you pop each Sunday.  That has the huge advantage that they can really see how much they are doing each week.  We're going to try the popcorn this Lent.

 

 

The Lenten Cross  This is made of 40 squares of light purple paper, each the size of a post-it note.  You do a scripture reading, have a kid draw a representation of the reading on a square, and then tape the square to a wall. By Easter the squares form a large cross representing Salvation History.  We've done this several times and the kids love it, but we seem to alternate years doing it. You can find the readings and more info here.

 

The Walking with Jesus poster:  I look at the readings for the Sundays of Lent and draw out a map on a big roll of paper for where we will be going with Jesus. Then I draw footsteps for all the days in between. We start at the heart on Ash Wednesday ("Turn to me with your whole heart...") and go into the desert for the Temptation, then the mountain for the Transfiguration, you get the idea. Along the way, as we make little sacrifices, acts of kindness, or extra time with Jesus, we draw flowers near the arrow for that day. We are strewing flowers on Jesus' path. Here is a blog post with a picture for Lent Cycle A

For older kids we try to do all the Works of Mercy during Lent.  There's a great resource here that can work for elementary kids: Look to Him and Be Radiant: Year of Mercy Resources

Here's the master post on Lent ideas with the resources linked.  That has tons more ideas for all ages, but we end up just doing the ones our kids love over and over because if we try too much we crash and burn four weeks in...

My basic plan is to follow the classic Lent idea: Prayer , Fasting, Alms-giving.  The no sweets thing takes care of the fasting, and we'll decide together which charity to save for during Lent. We make a jar decorated with pictures related to the people for whom we are raising money. For prayer we try for daily Mass more often and we make a Lenten altar in the dining room where we can pray and just be reminded of Our Lord in a Lenten way.

God bless and happy Lent!

Poem of the Week: Christians and Pagans

Christians and Pagans
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in July 1944:

People turn to God when they’re in need,
plead for help, contentment, and for bread,
for rescue from their sickness, guilt, and death.
They all do so, both Christian and pagan.

People turn to God in God’s own need,
and find God poor, degraded, without roof or bread,
see God devoured by sin, weakness, and death.
Christians stand with God to share God’s pain.

God turns to all people in their need,
nourishes body and soul with God’s own bread,
takes up the cross for Christians and pagans, both,
and in forgiving both, is slain.


HT: Patrick Comerford

Poem of the Week: Temptations

Temptations

Creature comforts
And why not?
All you have to do is
Give up a few rocks
These sun-baked stones
That burn your hands and cut your feet
Could soon become a desert treat!
Stop being so hard on yourself!

Fame
All yours for the taking
All you have to do is
Leave this lonely wilderness
Head right to the center of the noisy crowd
Drop in your branding clear and loud
Start showing what you've got!

Power
Not as easy, but well within your reach
All you have to do is
Want it more than anything
Make it your top priority
Your one and only deity
Instead of your strange, silly God
Of Suffering
Solitude
And Silence

By Brother Eckhart
HT: Journey With Jesus 
Image HT: Thinking Faith

How to Make an Empty Tomb

 This is one of those crazy ideas.

I was thinking about how to decorate my parish church for Easter, because, it turns out, now is the time to order Easter lilies, and it's my job to do that.

I was thinking how great it looked at Christmas to have the Nativity in front of the altar, and I wished we had an Easter set like that.  That's ridiculous, of course.  Nativity sets that are parish sized are crazy expensive, let alone a much rarer Easter set!

But then I realized, all I really wanted was the empty tomb.

I may not have the skill to make people, but I can do rocks!

 I wish I had thought to take pictures earlier, but it's pretty simple.

Get a base around the size you want.  Cardboard is fine, but we used about 2' x 4' of thin paneling.

Shape a cave out of chicken wire, and duct tape it to the base. Ours started out like a big bubble that was open towards the front.  We shaped it to look more cavelike after we taped it down.  You could also staple it to the base if you have a heavy duty stapler.

I added a strip of chicken wire to close off part of the front, leaving open space for the door.

Then I sprayed the whole thing with spray foam.  This project took about three cans, but be sure to go slow and leave space for it to expand!

I also made a circle on paper and filled it in for the stone.

About 8 hours later I spray painted the whole thing.  I originally was going to do brown based stone, because it looks more like the actual rock in the Holy Land, but the combination of the rounded lumpy exterior and the brown looked... too organic, shall we say!

I carved off (with a steak knife) the tops of the really rounded bumps to give it a rough hewn rocky look.





Then I spray painted it all again in dark gray. Conveniently, Rustoleum has a primer in a nice flat dark gray, you don't want it to be shiny. (Not getting paid by Rustoleum, or Great Stuff, which is the spray foam I used.)

 This is the base, and it's already starting to look like rock.

 Then I dry brushed everything with acrylic paints.

Dry brushing is done by taking a coarse bristled brush, dipping it lightly in paint, blotting it so there's barely any paint on the brush, then brushing it over  a textured surface.

The bits of paint collect on the high points and give it texture, depth, and realism.

I first used a dark brown, then light gray.  I think I also made a darker gray that I pushed into deeper places to make shadows.

Lastly, I cut away the rest of the base and resprayed the inside black to make it really dark.

I'm hoping to put a dark bench in there with a white strip of fabric like the shroud.

And of course, the whole thing will be surrounded by plants and flowers, hopefully scaled so it looks like the tomb is in a garden.

If I were using this outside, I'd spray it again with clear matte spray paint.

Lent Gospel Dessert, Week 2

This year, the second Sunday of Lent crossed over with St. Patrick's Day.

The gospel was the Transfiguration, so we made our St. Patrick's Day cupcakes into a mountain for the Transfiguration.

After a week and a half of Lent, all that chocolate felt glorious!

Lenten Gospel Dessert Week 1

This week's gospel was the temptation in the desert (Matthew's version).

We had a desert dessert: this tan spice cake with sprinkles of brown sugar "sand."

It was delicious, if a bit ironically dry.

The majority of the comments were not on this cake, but relief that I didn't do the devil's food and angel's food cakes.  For some reason.