Happy Sukkot

I must admit. This is one of the holidays I envy the most. I would love to celebrate it. Maybe next year... Maybe next year in Jerusalem :) Just teasing.

Happy Sukkot

The best thing about Sukkot is the tent-like structures. Yes, it recalls forty years of wandering in the desert.

 

Yes, it's probably every Jewish kid's dream come true. Camping in our own backyard all together?! My sister and I always had to camp in our backyard by ourselves. Our parents were much to grown up to leave their mattress behind. Pity.

Thinking about wandering around the desert between Egypt and Israel made me wonder if there is any parallel in the New Testament.

Ahhh... of course.

You should totally check out this movie if you haven't seen it. It's about Sukkot in Jerusalem.

Modesty Update

A long time ago, I mentioned my interest in developing a fashion style that was modest and comfortable.

I've come to a few conclusions about what needs to be included in my fashion line.

1. Tunics- great for casual days over jeans, and also ok for dressier days over slacks.

2. Pockets are a must!- I love to wear skirts, but they never have pockets these days. I think we should bring pockets back.

ReVamp Vintage

From Revamp Vintage (click the photo for link)

3. I don't want to mess with zippers or button holes, so I'm going to make lace up bodices.

4. Today lace up bodices are associated with corsets and weddings or corsets and lingerie. Therefore, I'll make a few stomachers to hide the laces or have the laces go straight across. 

5. The above photo of a stomacher and bodice has a great kerchief that covers of the neckline and makes the dress more modest. It tucks into the bodice. That's a great idea!

6. You've gotta have an apron! Also, this look will be compatible with different types of headcoverings. More about those later.

6. As for the silhouette of these dresses, I'm going with a 1916 look. I think 1916 was the best fashion year. Plus, it will easily translate to modern clothing. It's also not elaborate, but still feminine.

 

 

 

 

Look out world 1350, 1760 and 1916 are going to join forces in defense of fashion, modesty, and lack of sewing skills!

Awesome symbolism

This year has been a great one for symbolism.

Back in April Easter Sunday fell very close to Passover. Since the original Easter happened shortly after Passover. I thought this coincidence was very fitting.

This Saturday September 18 is another joint Catholic and Jewish celebration day. For both faiths it is a day of fasting.

For Catholics (Traditional ones because around Vatican II these days were dropped from the calendar) September 15, 17 and 18 are days of fasting called Ember Days. These days were meant for fasting and public prayer and petition for the forgiveness of our sins. There are four other sets of Ember Days throughout the year. A fun rhyme was invented to help laypeople to remember when these days occurred.

"Fasting days and Emberings be

Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie."

From this little rhyme you can see that Ember Days occur after the first Sunday in Lent (usually), after Whitsun Day (or Whitsunday) which is better known as Pentecost, after Holyrood (Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which is Sept. 14, it's still not too late to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross!) and after St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13). So there are Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter times to fast. As you can probably guess, these fasting times were especially important to medieval society since they were completely at the mercy of nature and harvest each year. (Maybe in modern times we should have four times a year to fast and pray for our government and economy since we're at their mercy?)

So, each set of Ember Days includes a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Wednesday and Friday are traditional fasting times for Christians. To this day, observant Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. Friday, also observed by traditional Catholics, was the day of the week Jesus gave his life for our sins. Wednesday, only observed today by the Orthodox, was the day of the week Judas betrayed Our Savior. Saturday is a fasting day in memory of Jesus being placed in the tomb.

In another awesome coincidence, the extra day of fasting on Saturday this week coincides with Yom Kippur, the most solemn fast and petition for the forgiveness of sins in the Jewish calendar. 

Maybe this symbolism of the two fasting days happening on the same day is a call to prayer and fasting?

What's to come? If you look at a Jewish calendar around the December 15, 17, and 18 Ember Days, you'll see that Asera Be'Tevet falls on December 16th. This day is a day of fasting in remembrance for the day Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem.

Sts. Monica and Augustine

Happy feasts of Sts. (plural abbreviation for saint) Monica and Augustine! Today (August 27) is St. Monica's feast and tomorrow (August 28) is Augustine's. St. Monica was the longsuffering, mother of St. Augustine. Even though you wouldn't know it from Augustine's current rep he was quite the ne're-do-well as a young man. His mother prayed for years for Augustine's salvation, and just before she died she saw him convert to Christianity! I love this story because it's a great encouragement for all of us who have family members that have not yet come to love Christ.

These two saints are also awesome because St. Monica was most likely Berber (northern African people group... look them up, they're cool) and her husband was probably of Roman extraction. They lived in a Roman colony in the north of Africa. That would make St. Augustine the first mixed-race saint (that I can think of). Augustine is also a great ecumenical (trans-denominational) saint. He's one of the few early church Fathers that Protestants and Catholics both agree was awesome.

I tried to read Augustine's confessions two weeks ago. They had a copy at our library. Unfortunately, the translation was made in 1920 something, so it was very formal. It was like reading Shakespeare. I can enjoy Shakespeare because I know I'm reading exactly what he wrote, but in translation flourishes and thee's and thou's are just too much! It's a translation! You can make a translation readable if you want to. - Rant over-

The part of the Confessions I did force myself to read was awesome. Augustine describes his conversion moment with detail and emotion. I've never heard of a grown man admitting to so many tears. It's definitely worth a read.

Maria Goretti

This blog has become quite neglected, but it was all worthwhile because now I have finished my first year of teaching, and turned in my master's thesis. My husband and I have also purchased our first home!

What day better to come back to the blog than the Feast of St. Maria Goretti. One of the youngest saints ever. She was filled with the life of Christ at a young age, and joined him in heaven at a young age as well. Sadly, she's one of the 20th century saints that we do not have a picture of. Her family was very poor. I like the depiction of her posted below.

I like this statue because it is symbolic as well as realistic. Maria is depicted as a young girl, but she has a womanly confidence about her. She is barefoot and carries the instrument of her martyrdom. Maria Goretti died before her twelfth birthday, defending herself from a neighbor boy who wanted to rape her. She was very poor, so her discalced (shoe-less) appearance is right on target. She was a mature (although vulnerable) young girl. She stayed at home alone to care for the baby of the family and the household chores while her mother, brothers and older sister worked in the fields. For her defense of her virginity until the end, Maria is considered a martyr. I won't go into the grusome details about how exactly she was killed. You can look that up yourself. The important thing is, with her dying breaths she forgave her attacker.


The story of Maria Goretti has come under attack by various people and groups. The first was a general response by feminists (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3735/is_200410/ai_n9478273/) that the veneration of Maria Goretti promoted virginity at all costs, and the idea that it is better to be dead than raped. This is kind of like the question raised by so many pogroms and the Holocaust, would you spit on the Bible if someone threatened to kill you if you didn't? I agree that we should preserve life if at all possible, including our own, but when it comes to dying for what you believe in, when does the greater import shift to our honorable death, rather than attempting to preserve our life?

In addition, an Italian writer has taken issue with basically the entire story about Maria Goretti. He claims that she could not have physically fended off her attacker and therefore did not die a virgin. This raises the question are virgins only virgins physically? Is there not a spiritual side? I suggest this based on the following scripture verse:

Matthew 5:28: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

If someone looks lustfully and committs adultery in their heart (but not physically), God sees this as a sin. Therefore, if someone is raped, but is pure in heart (even if not a virgin physically) does God see the physical reality or the heart condition? This reminds me of the suggestion that because Mary gave birth to Jesus, her womb was no longer "virgin" and therefore she was no longer a virgin.

My outlook about Maria Goretti is this: Yes, she said, she'd rather die than be raped. I would argue she wasn't concerned as much for her own physical virginity, but for her attacker's soul. Of course, that can be debated. What is clear is that Maria Goretti did not kill herself by that statement. Her attacker decided to pull out a knife and stab her. How quickly his lust changed to hatred! She did not in any way kill herself or put herself in danger. Who's to say that his intention wasn't to kill her in the first place?

There is also a cultural difference that needs to be considered. In Southern Italy, there had long been a custom of young men winning a bride by rape and/or abduction. Maria Goretti, although young, was no doubt old enough to know about this cultural norm. She still insisted that it was a sin, even if the young man intended to marry her afterward. Of course, we do not know that's what he intended, but it has been argued, so I thought I'd bring it up. For further information about this custom, see especially Franca Viola's story.

Pentecost!

Happy Pentecost everyone!

Thank the Lord for sending us the Helper!

You can read about Passover in the Book of Acts. All of the disciples had been gathered for nine days praying together and the Holy Spirit came down and graced them all with the gift of tongues simultaneously, which was awesome because Pentecost was one of the three Jewish festivals that required pilgrimage to the Temple for everyone who did not live in Jerusalem. So, the city was filled with Jews from all over the known world who spoke many different languages.

The tongues of fire which came down and rested on the disciples' heads is the most common depiction of Pentecost, hence the above picture. And before you point out (like my husband did) yes I realize the picture is a bit.... romanticized. :) I can't help it. I really like this painting.

Of course, according to the Jewish calendar we already had Pentecost. It began at sunset on the 18th of May. Pentecost is the Feast of "Weeks" or Shavuot. It comes after Passover and serves as a book end to the celebratory season of Passover. In the Bible Shavuot is a holiday in which one brings the first fruits to the Temple and has a celebratory feast. Traditions surrounding the holiday developed and the holiday got a new focus. This makes sense since most Jews today are not living in agricultural societies. The new focus is on the Torah, God's Law. Some Jews participate in all night Torah study sessions, which I was inspired to do, but sadly it was a weeknight and so it wasn't doable. A second tradition is reading the Book of Ruth, which does tie to first fruits I suppose since there's a whole lot of gleaning in that book. Third, one is supposed to partake of dairy! I love dairy, but being lactose intolerant we celebrated dairy in a round about way.

We made soy cheesecake (which the husband has been asking for for months), and tofu manicotti. Our manicotti was not as pretty as that though. Finally, one is supposed to decorate the house with greenery and flowers. This we didn't do.

A more modern tradition for a Christian celebration of Pentecost is to have red foods. Some people have red velvet cake, and some people have strawberries! We went for the second route since they are much healthier and also on sale because of the bumper crop California had this year.

So, however you celebrate Pentecost, I wish you a joyful one! Keep in mind this feast is also the official end to the Easter season. This really makes sense if you look at it in the light that Pentecost marked the end to the joyful Passover season (hence the term Paschal Season).

Irish Thursdays- Happy Annunciation Day!

Today is a two in one! Yes, the first is an Irish lamb  :)

The Lamb of God! God became flesh and died for us!

I love how Mary is always shown reading a book. Was she religious, or a book worm? I'm glad in the last picture, Waterhouse depicts her reading a scroll. That's much more likely, since books weren't invented yet. You have to love Waterhouse's color palette too.

Miracle Monday

New series I just thought of, Miracle Mondays! (Isn't it nice when it alliterates? I didn't have the same luck with Irish Thursdays.) I'll post miracle stories from the Church Fathers and the lives of the saints. I can already think of some fun ones!


St. Columba

St. Columba started out life the same way a lot of saints did, a rich kid who got himself in trouble. He was similar to St. Patrick in this way. He started a battle between two clans over possession of a book, which just goes to show how important books were back then. As penance, he exiled himself from Ireland and made is way into pagan Scotland.

Now, under Brehon Law (Irish Law), the worst penalty was exile. (They did not have capital punishment.) In a clan based society, your livelihood depended entirely on your family, your people. They would put an exiled man in a boat with no oars and a bit of food and water (not enough to survive on for long), and basically give him over to God's mercy. Later, men who wished to emulate the Desert Fathers of the East set out in boats like exiled men looking for a "desert in the sea," where they could pray and separate themselves from the world. These men were called peregrinato.

Iona is an island labeled A. It looks like it's attached to the mainland in this map, but it's not. It's just so small, you just can't really see it, but I wanted to show you how far he went from Northern Ireland.

So, St. Columba willingly undertook this worst of all penalties, and set sail from his home in northern Ireland towards the islands of Scotland to find one that was uninhabited.

This story is from the vita (life) of St. Columba of Iona written by Adamnan (Ad'-av-nawn) the ninth abbot of Iona, who succeeded St. Columba.

                                                                          Iona Today



 St. Columba was well-known for his prophesy. God gave him knowledge of many future things: the outcome of battles, when and where people would die, and apparently even sins that were being committed far away.

One night he woke up his fellow monks and urged them all to pray because at that moment a horrible sin was being committed. Later Lugaid, another monk, but one who did not live at Iona, came to visit the island, bringing with him a penitent man who came to search for the healing of his soul. When the boat they were coming on neared the shore, St. Columba suddenly sat up and called to Dermot, a younger monk, and told him to run down to the shore and command the penitent man to not set food on the island. The man told Dermot that he would not eat food anymore if he could not see St. Columba right away. St. Columba knew that this was the man who had committed the grievous sin. He was reluctant to do anything for him. Another monk lectured St. Columba telling him about how God forgives sinners. Obviously, Columba knew this, so he told his fellow monk. "Yes, but this is the man who has committed the sin of Cain (killed his brother) and also lain with his mother!"
St. Columba finally went down to the shore and saw that the man was kneeling on the shore! St. Columba said to him, "If you do not return home to Ireland, but spend 12 years being a missionary among the Britons (pagans at the time), then God may forgive you." So, the man left, contented, but St. Columba was troubled. He said to his fellow monks, "Pray for this man because he will not remain in Briton, but he will return to Ireland and not seek forgiveness for his sins. Because of this he will be given over to the hands of his enemies when he returns." All of what St. Columba foretold came true.

So, what are we to make of this? To modern sensibilities this seems like an unforgiving kind of Christianity. That may be the case, but I think there is more to the story than a crotchety old man and a very wayward young man. First of all, think of Iona as a safe haven from which the monks can pray and seek God. They have purposely separated themselves from the world to do this more fully. They see their prayers as powerful tools that the Lord can use to impact the lives of his children that are in the world for good. So, the monks live lives that are similar to Jesus'. They're not married, they live simply, they pray a lot, they support themselves by working the land. They also served as missionaries. Often they did not have to go to people, often people came to them, as seen in this story. The island of Iona is a symbol of the purity of the group of monks. St. Columba's admonition that the (un)penitent sinner not be allowed to set food on the land was a practical one. He did not want the sin of the man to infect his monastery. It might seem silly to us, but see it as a symbol. Sin is like a disease, in that it can spread from person to person. So, the pure haven of the monks was tained by the footstep of the sinful man.
Now, this man was not just sinful, he was pretty far gone. He was so bad that:

1. Well, who would even do what he did. It's just nasty. 
2. He disobeyed direct orders from the abbot.
3. He did not behave in a humble way. He demanded to be seen, threatening to kill himself if Columba did not come.
4. He did not follow through on the penance that was given to him. He was looking for a quick fix. He wanted to play chess with God. I did this, you do this back to me and we're square right? That's not true penitence. 

 Could St. Columba have done more for the guy? I don't think so. He prayed when the guy was committing the horrible sin. He knew the punishment for such a sin would be horrible. He tried to demonstrate how the guy should be humble and wait for God's help instead of being demanding. He even gave him a final way out, a final opportunity to change from his wicked ways. The guy didn't take it. It wasn't smart of him.

This story reminds me of the story in Kings when Naaman comes to Elisha's house to find a cure for leprosy. Elisha will not come out to Naaman, but sends his servant Gehazi instead to give him instructions. This angers Naaman so much that he is about to not go and follow the simple instructions that were given to him. How could he not come out to see me!? He was so angry. His servants had to sweet talk him into doing what the prophet had ordered. Was Naaman's real problem leprosy, or was it a lack of humility?

Naaman and the young man from this story are people who demand God to work on their own schedule. What makes the young man from St. Columba's story worse than Naaman is that the young man was supposedly a Christian and should have known better. Naaman was a pagan and idol worshiper and he eventually did what God's prophet asked him to do. The young sinner was quite a different story.

Happy St. Joseph's Day!

Yes, today is the 5th Friday of Lent, but it's also St. Joseph's Feast Day!

Here are our plans:

1. Eat a meatless feast.
Italians have a special love for St. Joseph, so it seemed fitting for the feast to be an Italian one. We're going to have homemade spinach stromboli and the easy version of zeppole. These are basically creme puffs. I'm going to be making mango pudding as the filling. It's lactose free! (It's milk free for that matter.)

2. Go to Stations of the Cross.

 

Irish Thursdays

New tradition on "Least of All the Faithful"! Irish Thursdays!
All photographs are taken by me, and therefore, please don't sell them :)