Feast of the Holy Family – December 26, 2010 – St. John’s
The passage we heard as our second reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Colossians, is an exhortation meant for the whole Church. We are urged to display compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience with one another, and forgiveness; and for this last, a motive is stated: “As the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.”
The logic of that exhortation deserves reflection. (more…)
Below is a recipe that my mother learned from my Slovak grandmother; it has been handed on to two more generations. As given below, it makes six large rolls. You can use other fillings, too.
Christmas Nutbread Recipe
2 cups milk (1 regular, 1 evaporated)
9 Cups flour
2 Teaspoons salt
½ pound butter
6 eggs
1 Cup sugar
2 packages yeast (Or 2 tablespoons of dry yeast)
Scald milk and add butter.
When butter is melted add eggs to warm milk.
Add yeast to one quarter cup of milk mixture with a pinch of sugar.
(Proof yeast.)
Mix flour, salt and sugar.
Make a well in center of dry ingredients and add milk and yeast mixture.
Knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary.
Grease large container – place dough inside with damp dish towel on top,
put it in a warm place, and let it rise. Punch it down 3 times.
Roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick in a circle.
Spread filling to edges, and roll up the dough from one side to the other.
Place seam side down and set aside in warm spot to rise again.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown and hollow sounding
when you knock on them.
Nut filling
2 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/3 cups milk
1 cup sugar
Cook over medium heat to a slow boil – set aside to cool before spreading on the dough..
Fourth Sunday in Advent – December 19, 2010 – St. John’s
I have a little book that reproduces beautiful works of art for all the major events and figures in the Gospels, works that nearly span the two thousand years of Christianity.
In it I found a lovely painting of the Blessed Virgin late in her pregnancy; painted in northern Italy, it dates from the late 1300’s. This theme of the Virgin big with child was once popular enough but for some reason fell out of favor in recent centuries.
The painting shows Mary seated, very large indeed, holding a book in her hand, resting and reflecting. Usually in such a painting the book is open to the passage of the prophet Isaiah that we heard twice today in our readings: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel, God with us.”
I sent the painting to a friend, and she replied that she found “something whimsical in her expression, that half-smile of knowing & well-being.” Mary’s very near to delivery, my friend says, with the rosy cheeks that often occur in women who are near full-term. “Very real,” she says, “and lovely indeed in her repose.” (more…)
Third Sunday in Advent – December 12, 2010 – St. John’s
Last week we heard a summary of the preaching of John the Baptist. He urged repentance because the kingdom of God was at hand, and his emphasis fell upon the judgment it would entail: he spoke of a coming wrath, of the axe at the root of the tree, of winnowing the wheat from the chaff. If this was John’s message, it would be natural that he would wonder about his former disciple, Jesus of Nazareth, when he too began preaching the imminence of the kingdom but stressed the mercy that would define God’s coming reign. So John sends disciples to ask Jesus whether he is the one who is to come–the Messiah–or whether he, and all Israel, must wait for another.
Jesus’s reply is that these disciples of John should return and tell them what they have seen and heard, (more…)
