Next year, In Jerusalem

The Little Entrance- Divine Liturgy series

Continuing the series on the Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy, we are at the point in the Liturgy where the priest and altar servants procession with the Gospel book:

LITTLE ENTRANCE

The priest makes three bows, then a procession is formed and the priest carries the Gospel Book around the Altar.

PRIEST (silently): O Lord, our Master and God, Who in heaven established orders and armies of angels and archangels for the service of Your glory, make this our entrance to be an entrance of holy angels, serving together with us, and with us glorifying Your goodness. For to You is due all glory, honor and worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.

Making the sign of the cross towards the Altar, he says:

Blessed is the entrance of Your saints, always, now and ever, and forever.

The priest kisses the Gospel Book, elevates it and says aloud:

PRIEST: Wisdom! Be attentive!

PEOPLE: Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ.

PEOPLE: O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You. Alleluia.

There are many wonderful theologically rich commentaries on our Liturgy that you can find on the internet, so I will just say this- at this point in the Liturgy, I think to myself- wow....we Byzantines are really Bible believers to love the Gospel so much. 

I hope you all have a blessed All Hallow's Eve (yes, All Saints' Day is a Roman-rite feast)- and don't forget to write a comment in my 'little giveaway' post if you are interested in being entered to win.

and this Ukrainian Catholic parish has a good website on the Divine Liturgy

Grocery Shopping Once a Week- 7 QuickTakes

Have you ever been in the grocery line at 6 PM with a full cart of groceries, still not certain what is for dinner? I've been there, and I am sick of the wasted time and money. I am on a once a week shopping kick- I invite you to join me!

1. Plan your meals around your schedule, fasting/feasting times, possible guests. "P's W"- you ask- "Aren't you forty; don't you know this already?"....well, no... Leila of Like Mother, Like Daughter recommends planning all three meals for every day. I'm slowly getting there.

2. Do 'save a step' cooking- again, advice from Like Mother, Like Daughter (just go there- link to the right under 'eclectic links')- basically, if you have meals planned, plan to cook twice (not once a month- who really has time for that? or the freezer space? not me!) what you need- chop and brown ground beef, onions and peppers for today's spaghetti sauce and Thursday's chili. If you plan your meals, you will know if the extras need to be frozen or refrigerated. 

3. Bring one child shopping as a helper. I alternate my 2 big girls for our early Saturday morning shopping trips. We go to coffee and four stores from 7:30 to 9 and then make a big late breakfast. I like bringing one child for a little bonding and comparison shopping learning time; also, I can keep her engaged while we are waiting at the check-out to keep her eyes away from the tabloids.

4. Hide your ingredients. Just because you bought it doesn't mean it is fair game to eat today! I'm not his mother, but I do let my husband know which essentials need to stay uneaten for my meal plan to work. I am also trying to buy official snacks and goodies for him to bring to the hospital so he has something to munch on besides vending machine fare. This week, he has Coke Zero, sunflower seeds and Trader Joe's sesame seed sticks to take to work.

5. Have a few essentials in the pantry so you will never need to shop more than once a week. Flour for emergency bread and chocolate chips for emergency cookies, etc, etc

6. Freeze a gallon of milk. Take out a little to allow for expansion while freezing. Then, when milk gets low in the fridge, take out the frozen one to defrost slowly in the fridge.

7. Have a big box of dried milk on hand (or if you can handle the taste- cans of evaporated milk)- going out for only milk turns into time, gas and money wasted. Who among us only buys milk when only milk is on the list? Not me, I assure you. I have also been using milk powder instead of formula if my bigger-than-average two year old needs something in the night (yes, it should be water- I'm just not ready for the three nights of screaming when we do this change)

--- and why is milk so essential? Well, I need it in my morning tea. 

and a bonus quick take- 

Stop wasting food! In the old country, my mother-in-law doesn't have a garbage disposal, so they don't throw out any food. You finish what is on your plate, beginning with smaller portions than typical American ones. Then, leftovers go into the fridge and are not forgotten. Any scraps like peels and cores are saved to bring to great-grandmother's pigs. Bones and random yucky meat stuff are saved for her dogs and cats.

Well, I don't have pigs or dogs and our cat refuses any table food. Our townhouse is too small for composting. I do have a freezer and fridge where I can save bits of meat and veggies for mystery soup and bits of fruit for mystery smoothies.

find many more quick takes at conversiondiary.com

PrettyHappyFunnyReal- Peanutbutter Candy a la My Hippy Mom

My parents were hippies- sort of. My dad was a Chicano-wannabe in a jellyroll, beatnik-type who strolled the streets of Pacific Palisades saying "Elvis stole music from the black man!" (truer words were never spoken- love you, Dad!). My mom graduated high school the last year that girls would set their curls in a flip and wear tailored skirts to class. By the time I came along in 1971, my mother had long, straight hair parted down the middle and an affinity for exotic health food like yogurt, whole grains and carob.


We didn't eat junk food as kids, so any treats like Panda licorice, maple sugar Santas, rice paper covered Japanese jelly candies were well-remembered and enjoyed. The following recipe is one of my favorites- and I don't really go wild for peanut butter.

Priest's Wife's 'Madeleines' -or- Mom's Peanut Butter Candy

1 cup  real peanut butter
1 cup non fat dry milk
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp almond extract

Mix all ingredients well. Using wax paper, shape into a log. Wrap in wax paper and freeze. When firm, slice and serve 

This candy is my 'pretty, happy, funny, real' for Thursday. My mom was really pretty as she made this for us. We kids were so happy when she made it for us. It might be funny for kids to be excited over 'healthy' candy, but we were. And my real? My mom lives so far away, I'll have to make the candy myself....miss you, Mom!

UU and me, part two

Last week, I went to a local laundromat to dry some cleaned laundry because my machine is broken and it was a very overcast, cold day, making it impossible to line-dry. The people at the laundromat were the typical hodgepodge of college students, motorcycle men on a cross-country trip, low-income-appearing moms, and a business woman talking on her cellphone while she cleaned up after her teacup dog who had thrown up over all the bedclothes. 

Outside, there were two men and a woman who staked their claim to the benches. They were squabbling over the fact that they didn't have change for the machines and the dollar-changer was broken. I gave them two dollars in quarters, they thanked me, and the woman went off to the nearby grocery store. They never did any laundry in the hour I was there. Maybe it was their way of begging without a sign. In any case, my encounter got me to thinking about Christian 'charity' versus the Unitarian philosophy of humanism.

All three seemed to be homeless and maybe a little mentally ill. They all had beer cans and a cigarette. One of the men stood out, however. He answered his colleagues normally, but then he would twitch and talk to someone who was not there. He didn't seem dangerous; it made me sad. He sat in a wheelchair, and his pant legs were like broken balloons. A small stream of beer or urine or both flowed from his wheelchair. I had to step over the stream to give the change to his friend. 

As I stifled a cough from the stench of this man and gave him a little money, I wondered why the Unitarians in my town are focusing on the homeless such as he. They are doing a big push to end homelessness and to "raise awareness" of the problem in our city. We have 'section 8' housing for low-income families who are able to do paperwork and qualify. We have moderate income housing available as well. We have shelters such as Salvation Army and county facilities for people who don't have a stable situation and might not even have identification. But as far as I know, these shelters will not give a bed to a person who is obviously under the influence. So, this man has nowhere to go if he can't or won't say yes to the help that the county provides (drug/alcohol rehab, psychiatric help and maybe medication, a required shower and clean clothes to sleep in a county facility)

Why do we as a society do anything and spend any money to help 'these kinds' of people? "Are there no prisons?" says Ebenezer. Will the man in the wheelchair sitting in his own urine and speaking to a ghost ever contribute anything positive to society? Will his life ever have even a neutral effect on society or will 'normal' people have to continue to hold their breath and avert their eyes when they pass by him? 

We try to help men like him (with private and public means) because:

• there is potential for rehabilitation (he will then be a positive contributor to society)

• our society wants people to live at a certain level of dignity in a clean and safe environment (he will be a neutral, non-disruptive part of society)

• we 'normal' people are uncomfortable with other people living too far below our level and know that our society is rich enough to guarantee a life where the mentally ill and homeless won't bother us too much because they get basic services

• all human life has dignity and worth no matter the life stage, physical or mental health, income level, etc (he may remain a 'negative contributor' to society, but he will be helped by society simply because he is a human person with intrinsic worth)

But why does human life have intrinsic worth? And if human life has intrinsic worth and dignity, doesn't that mean that we need to value all human life- especially that life which is the weakest and most at risk? 

This is where the Unitarian parts ways with the Christian. For the Unitarian, human life has dignity because of whatever reason that person believes. At the church where my daughters are meeting for drama class, the focus is on the mentally-ill homeless. Now, if this were simply their focus (no one can solve every problem- we use the talents and means we have- and what we feel called and motivated to do) and they had a consistent respect for human life, I would not quibble. But it was devastating to see a sign-up to help the homeless right next to the "Stand with Planned Parenthood!" signs and a sign-up to work on legalizing euthanasia. 

The surprise pregnancy and the sick elderly are just as unwanted and challenging as the mentally ill homeless, so why won't this Unitarian congregation stand up for them? Why don't the baby and the elderly have the same human dignity as the mentally ill? Do only those six months (for some, the young infant is not a fully-formed person) to sixty years have the right to ask for the help and support of the Unitarians? 

For the Christian person, all human life has been made in the image of God. This means that life has value even when it is messy and inconvenient. The fetus, the child with a disease or disorder, the mentally ill, the prisoner, the housewife, the brain surgeon, the terminally ill, the elderly- all are human; all have value.  I just wish that we Christians could be Christian enough to convince Unitarians of this fact.