"A unVeiled Idea of Relevant Reverence"

Disclaimer: the following blog entry isn't my usual "recipe with story", but I've been wanting to write this for quite a while. The next entry will have Easter recipes, promise!
This Lenten season has found me pondering numerous things about my life. Some are very, very good while some seem rather mundane or even to the point of wondering why I thought of it in the first place.
Thoughts have ranged from "Do I really want to get up for 7:00 a.m. Mass?" to "What is the Lord teaching me through this pneumonia?" to "What on earth am I going to teach my fencers tonight?" to "I am so excited for Cari to be going to Rome to meet up with her brother for three weeks... will they be able to get around without getting lost?".

A beautifully illustrated plainchant
piece of music

One thought that's been continuing to go around in my head occurs every time I head to Saint Joseph's for Mass or to go to the Adoration Chapel. That is the issue of reverence. As a Catholic "revert" (coming "home to Rome" 1 1/2 years ago), I have been made aware of the changes in the Church over the last 31 1/2 years. I thought, coming from evangelical churches for the last 29 years that I'd appreciate the Mass where the songs are the same as what we sang before coming into the Catholic Church, but it has not been so. Instead of modern praise and worship, I have found my heart soars listening to, as well as taking part in singing, beautiful Gregorian (our favorite album is Chant) or plainchant (see video here) and palestrina (see video here). Don't get me wrong, our family still listens to Toby Mac and David Crowder Band sometimes, but our tastes have definitely taken a turn down the very traditional music path.

Veils- not just for
grandmas anymore

Another part of the reverence issue that comes up is head covering. I have had a veil from my Grandma Pitalo in a dresser drawer for many years with the intention of keeping it as a momento and not planning on ever using it. When we started attending Saint Joseph's, I saw a few women wearing mantillas, veils or scarves, but I didn't want to "yet". I kept thinking I wasn't quite holy enough to wear one. All of that changed (not being more holy, but the wearing of a veil) Christmas Eve Mass 2010 when Joshua asked why his sisters and I weren't covering our heads. The young women he attends school with all wear mantillas or veils to Mass, so he was pretty used to seeing them. I mentioned the not being holy enough to which he laughed gently and gave me the scarf wrapped around his neck to wear for Mass. Since then the girls and I have worn our veils or scarves every time we attend Mass~ no matter where we've been. It's always interesting to be the only ones veiled, for example, at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno or St. Mary's in            Mt. Angel, or to be just one of many, like at The Rosary Bowl and, our home parish of Saint Joseph's. I wore a white veil that I had made when Brian and I convalidated our marriage January 2011, and the girls wore their scarves. A friend saw the family photo on facebook and said we must attend a conservative church. I laughed and told her where we go to church. She was surprised, but then I was able to explain that it was my choice to wear one because I wanted to show reverence for the Lord when I go into church. That is what is comes down to: I am not required to wear a head covering, but I do it out of my love and reverence for the True Presence of Christ at church. It doesn't have anything to do with making a statement. I've been the only one in church sometimes when I have stopped by to take some time to pray, and I still put it on before entering. My girls (22 and 17 years old) both wear scarves when they attend Mass or go to the Adoration Chapel~ the decision to veil their own.*
What it really comes down to, whether with music or veiling or anything else that can help or hinder our time spent in the Lord's presence, is relevant reverence. Does the music we sing/listen to bring us closer to Heaven or help us to simply feel good? Do I care more about what others think or do I want to do whatever it is the Lord is calling me to do, even if that means being the only one wearing a veil? Does what we are doing help us to focus on Him or is it more about us? Webster's online dictionary defines reverence as "profound, adoring, awed, respect". What deserves more awed respect than our Lord? No matter how that ends up looking for each of us, it is something we need to ponder~ during Lent and the rest of the year.


*There are quite a few blogs with really great veil posts. Here are a few of my favorites, if you feel like checking them out.
Standing On My Head
Altcatholicah
Will You Mantilla with Me

A Lenten Bent

The Lenten season has came upon us- not unexpectedly, but rather like an old friend one has been waiting to see after a long absence. Many people do all sorts of things for Lent: give up a food item or beverage, t.v., computer,etc; making a sacrifice of time by visiting shut-ins or relatives they would prefer not to hang out with normally as well as giving "alms" by donating money to worthy causes. Before coming back into the church, I had resisted the Lenten idea of sacrifice deeming it "too Catholic" and refused to give anything up, instead, focusing on doing and giving since that seemed more appropriate to me. During my years at various Protestant churches, the idea of Lent was often talked about, and many times the congregation was "challenged" to think of how to do stuff to prepare for Easter. My kids loved this and were busily choosing something they might give up or do. It was a great "warm-up" for them becoming Catholic. They are still very thankful for all they learned at Salem Alliance about the Bible- especially when they were in the grade school department.
Once we started on our Catholic journey, I thought it would be harder for me to want to follow all the "rules". Needless to say, it was so much simpler than I ever could have imagined- not that it was a piece of cake, but it was something that caused a source of unexpected joy instead of the more likely grumpiness. A lot of people think the Catholic Church is still really strict on what is required to give up during Lent. To be honest, it is pretty minimal (source AmericanCatholic.org):


1) Fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday ONLY
 Fasting as explained by the U.S. bishops means partaking of only one full meal. Some food (not equaling another full meal) is permitted at breakfast and around midday or in the evening—depending on when a person chooses to eat the main or full meal.

Saint Joseph's in Salem

2) Abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent. This would be why fish frys and soup dinners at so many Catholic Churches are popular Friday nights during Lent- including the one David helps with at St. Joseph's.


Compare this to the old calendar which had this on it:

• Ash Wednesday, all Fridays, and all Saturdays: fasting and total abstinence. This means 3 meatless meals -- with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day -- and no snacking. 
• Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (except Ash Wednesday), and Thursdays: fasting and partial abstinence from meat. This means three meals -- with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day -- and no snacking, but meat can be eaten at the principle meal.
• Sundays, of course, are always free of fasting and abstinence; even in the heart of Lent, Sundays are about the glorious Resurrection.                   Source: Fisheaters.com

 To me, even this seems to be something not that hard to do. I think what it comes down to is as Saint Ignatius Loyola said, "Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly." 


I hope to use this year's Lent to do just that and pray for my family to do the same thing. Of course, this also will mean we are planning on trying some fun Lenten recipes. My hope is this post gives you some thought about the next 40 days as we await the celebration of Jesus' resurrection-

Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps.                             

     – Luke 9:23

Party (or at least Eat) Hearty...Mardi Gras 2012

Cereal Muffins

We are once again upon another day before the start of the forty days of Lent~ Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") which has traditionally been the day of partying, including eating a lot of food before Ash Wednesday the next day. I have also read that the foods people have typically eaten are ones they will give up for Lent. Our house is no exception as we have already enjoyed some delicious Cereal Muffins for breakfast, and we are looking forward to Chicken & Leek Casserole for dinner plus pancakes of some sort for dessert. Here's the recipe for the muffins. In order for David to be able to have them, I used half soy and half coconut milk instead of regular milk plus cereal that has no nuts. They turned out moist and yummy~ terrific breakfast goodies!

• CEREAL MUFFINS
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus more for tin
• 1 1/2 cups raisin bran cereal
• 1 1/2 cups honey bunches of oats cereal (we buy the knock-off brand from Grocery Outlet)
• 1 1/2 cups milk- use whatever kind you need, cow, soy, coconut, almond, etc. 
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine cereals and milk; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Stir oil, egg, and sugar & molasses into cereal mixture. Fold in flour mixture. Divide batter among cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in tin 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack; let cool completely, or serve warm. Store up to 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container- if they last that long.

Deliberate Housewives

Ah, the joys of housewifery!

“I enjoy doing housework, ironing, washing, cooking, dishwashing. Whenever I get one of those questionaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It's an admirable profession, why apologize for it. You aren't stupid because you're a housewife. When you're stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare.”  ~Tasha Tudor

SCF- a great place to work!

In the last 26 years of my life, I have discovered that no matter what else I was doing, I have always tended, like Tasha Tudor, to proudly write housewife when the occasion arose. Whether it was signing mortgage papers, tax forms, little league sign ups or church documents, I have always put down housewife even when holding another job outside the home. It seemed so easy when the kids were younger since my only outside endeavors were of the volunteer-kind. For the last seven years, I have been employed at Salem Classical Fencing- going from an instructional assistant, to an assistant instructor to a full-fledged certified instructor and coach. Even with this, I still am pleased to wear the badge of housewifery. 
Part of this has always been trying to instill in my kids the case of frugalness (I'd call it being cheap, but my dear husband always reminds me "frugal" is such a better word to use). Our long and winding road towards the frugal land has not always been smooth- there have been a few bumps and bruises along the way. I remember making my own baby food & wipes (easy) and going with cloth diapers instead of disposable (good, but not always so easy). There have been homemade mixes for everything from bisquik to my own spice mixes (great Christmas presents this year). I had even taken some of my homemade taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix to Africa on my first missions trip to give as a gift to missionaries serving in Guinea.

Great and inexpensive composter!

The homemade goodness of cooking items has always made sense to me, but I've never thought of homemade cleaning items until the beginning of this year. With two kids in college, I've been trying to come up with ways to save money in any little ways I can. Besides having gotten an Earth Machine composter last summer and just this last month having gone down a size in the trash can we use from our garbage company, we are producing less waste and recycling more. That saves a little bit each month, but I knew there was more I could do. I set out to find homemade "recipes" for everyday cleaning items as these tend to bite into our limited budget much more than they should. I don't take credit for creating any of the following concoctions, as there are a number of sites that come up when you search on the internet. I've been experimenting with a bunch of different ones, and I have found that I like the following the best~

Keatley Laundry Soap

LAUNDRY DETERGENT
2 cups finely grated Fels Naptha soap (found at Winco)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Powder (not detergent, but it's found by the laundry stuff)


Mix all ingredients together & store in sealed container. Use 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons per 
load (I was using 1 1/2 but have found 2 works better in our front load HE washer)


FABRIC SOFTENER
6 cups hot water
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups hair conditioner (I've used White Rain as it's cheap and you can choose your favorite scent- you can use whatever brand you want)


Mix conditioner and hot water well, until conditioner is dissolved completely. Add vinegar and mix well. Store in large container.
Use 2 tablespoons in washer per load.


LIQUID HAND SOAP
4 oz. natural bar of soap (I've used the tea tree soap from Trader Joe's, but you can use anything that is all-natural)
1 gallon water
1 T. glycerin, if desired


In large pot, steam water over medium heat. Grate soap. Take water off heat.
Add soap to pot and let sit 15 minutes. Blend with hand mixer or immersion blender until well mixed; let sit overnight. Blend again the next morning, adding glycerin, if desired (I don't use it, but some people like it). 
Using funnel, pour into soap dispensers. Store remaining soap (I use a clean empty milk jug to store ours).


DISHWASHER SOAP
(This is the newest concoction to try- it looks just like the stuff you buy, but it's way less expensive)!


2 cups Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
2 cups lemi shine (Brian bought at Target)
1 cup Kosher salt


Mix all ingredients well and store in airtight container. Use 1 tablespoon per load in dishwasher.


DISHWASHER RINSING AGENT
I read on a bunch of sites about using white vinegar in place of Jet Dry in the dishwasher. I was a little skeptical, but it totally works. The dishes come out clean and don't smell like 
vinegar, either. Obviously, this is a whole lot less money too!


SINK UNCLOGGER
This last one is a bit of a bonus~ you may not want to take the time, but I was getting desperate one day, and so I tried it. Not only was it inexpensive, but it worked great.
You simply take 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup white vinegar and pour it down the drain (whether it's backed up or not). Let it sit for 1 hour then pour 1 teakettle's worth (about 6 cups) of boiling water down the drain. Your clog should be gone!


I hope you try some of these ideas. We housewives are often overlooked unless we are somewhere other than home fulfilling our first calling. The next time you feel frustrated when it's time for another load of laundry or another meal to be made, remember this quote from Saint Frances of Rome~


“It is good to be devout as a housewife but sometimes you need to leave God at the altar to find Him at home. ”



We must remember our duty to the Lord is duty to our family. I know I haven't always done this as well as I could have, but thankfully that is why there is grace. I continue to be encouraged by others as I travel on in this journey of being a deliberate housewife.