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Everything Else

As we close this Thanksgiving Day

We give Thee our most humble and hearty thanks, O God, for blessings without number which we have received from Thee, for all Thy goodness and loving kindness, for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, we beseech Thee, give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful for all things, and that we show forth Thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to Thy service and by walking before Thee in holiness and righteousness all our days. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A General Thanksgiving – from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church, Published by the Mission Fund of the PNCC, 7th edition, May 1, 1984.

Everything Else, ,

Thanksgiving menu and happenings

I started last night with the prep for my famous stuffing. The recipe for those interested:

Need:

  • 1 bag plan breadcrumbs (do NOT get anything with flavorings, spices, etc. – buy them from your local bakery – I get mine from Freihofer’s)
  • 1 1/2 Tb sage
  • 1 3/4 cup golden raisins (or other dried fruits – this year I used a mixture of golden raisins, dried cherries, and dried cranberries)
  • 5 crisp stalks celery
  • 1 large onion – sweet onion preferred
  • 1 package regular pork sausage (Jimmy Dean works fine, don’t get the hot or sausage with other flavors)
  • 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
  • 1 stick butter (1/4 lb)

Procedure (one day prior):

Empty the breadcrumbs into a LARGE bowl – and I mean big, you’ll need it.
Bring the chicken broth to a boil and reduce heat to low. Leave it on while you prepare the rest.
Chop up the raw sausage as much as possible and fry. As the sausage fries continue to chop at it with a non-metal spatula. By the end you should have a finely crumbled, nicely browned bunch of sausage. Throw it on top of the breadcrumbs and mix.
Return your frying pan to the heat and melt the butter. Finely chop the celery and onions and mix together. Fry them in the butter until they are translucent. Once cooked, throw them on top of the bread crumbs and sausage and mix.
Thrown in the sage and the dried fruit.
Blend everything together.
Pour the broth over the mixture. Pour slowly and cover the mixture. Stop and stir everything together every so often.
Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors blend.

Bake apart from the turkey in a casserole (400 degrees for about 1/2 hour, till hot through).

Experiment with your own spices and other such things. Good luck.

Our family began arriving at about noon. Everyone pitched in with the prep and the clean-up (for which I am very grateful) and we ate at 2:15.

Today’s menu consisted of turkey, white and sweet mashed potatoes, rutabaga, corn, rolls, apple sauce, zucchini bread, jambalaya (with andouille sausage and shrimp), the stuffing noted above, gravy, cranberries (jellied and whole).

I served a Valpolicella Classico Superiore – Danese before dinner and a Moscato d’Asti – Saracco with dinner.

All-in-all a successful repast.

Everything Else, ,

Time for beer and wine

I’ve been drinking selections from the Samuel Adams seasonal collection recently – Winter Lager, Old Fezziwig Ale, Cranberry Lambic, and Holiday Porter. I enjoyed them all except the Cranberry Lambic – too many high notes – it was harsh.

I just picked up a case of Leinenkugel’s Holiday collection made by the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. It’s new in the area and after trying it I adjudge it a welcome addition. Even the bottle styling is traditional. Reminds me of Buffalo’s favorite – Iroquois (careful of the pop-ups). I’ve tasted them all – Honey Weiss (a non-cloudy wheat honey beer), Red, Creamy Dark, and Sunset Wheat (a traditional wheat with orange overtones – very refreshing).

I’ll be opening the wine tomorrow morning after I get the bird in the oven. I’ll be starting with an Armenian Pomegranate wine – very nice, but takes some getting used to. I have a nice Sauterne (not Sauternes) which my mom used to mix with Squirt. A pretty good combo, I’ll give it a go tomorrow in memory of mom.

Everything Else

Redeem us with outstretched arm

O Adonai,
et dux domus Israí«l,
qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai,
Wodzu Izraela,
Tyś w krzaku gorejącym objawił się Mojżeszowi
i na Syjonie dałeś mu Prawo,
przyjdź nas wyzwolić swym potężnym ramieniem.

O Mighty Lord,
and leader of the house of Israí«l,
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush,
and on Sinai gave him the law,
come to redeem us with outstretched arm.

The Mighty Lord, the one who can save us with an outstretched arm. He comes with power and in radiant glory, on clouds, with chariot wheels of fire. Power, might, strength, authority, supremacy, control, command… synonyms we recognize when we think of that God —“ the one of the Parousia.

Redemption was begun with God’s outstretched arm, His reaching out to meet us in the form of a child, a child holding his arms out, seeking the comfort of his mother. Not power in any sense we understand.

Redemption was indeed accomplished with God’s outstretched arm —“ stretched out on the wood of the cross. What kind of power is that? It is the antithesis of the God we want.

Yet that is the power of redemption accomplished through perfect love. True power is synonymous with love.

Everything Else

Teach us the way of prudence

O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Mądrości,
która wyszłaś z ust Najwyższego,
Ty obejmujesz wszechświat od końca do końca
i wszystkim rządzisz z mocą i słodyczą,
przyjdź i naucz nas dróg roztropności.

O Wisdom,
who proceeds from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching out mightily from end to end,
and sweetly arranging all things:
come to teach us the way of prudence.

The perfect Wisdom of God, expected from age to age, for whom the patriarchs and prophets stood watch, was brought to us in the Word, spoken by the Father and sent to us for our salvation. The Word of Wisdom from on high, Jesus Christ, sent to teach us prudence.

Prudence, synonymous with carefulness, cautiousness, discretion, good sense, and forethought is the antithesis of every worldly age. Rather than the headlong rush to tomorrow, to the next dollar, or victory over our perceived enemies, beg the Lord: Teach us prudence, let us not fall under the power and ways of wicked and foolish men.

Everything Else

“O” Antiphons 2006

I have joined with Huw Raphael and several others in undertaking a series of reflections on the “O” Antiphons.

Jeanne Kun describes the “O” Antiphons in Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent

A distinctive feature of the Liturgy of the Hours in this week preceding the Christmas vigil is the antiphon sung at Vespers (evening prayer) before and after the recitation of the Magnificat. Originally incorporated into the monastic office in the Middle Ages, these antiphons, often called the “Greater Antiphons” or the “O Antiphons”, are also echoed in the daily lectionary as the verse for the gospel acclamation during this week. They add a mood of eager expectation to the liturgy that builds throughout these seven days and climaxes at Christmas.

The O Antiphons have been described as “a unique work of art and a special ornament of the pre-Christmas liturgy, filled with the Spirit of the Word of God”. They “create a poetry that fills the liturgy with its splendor”, and their composer shows “a magnificent command of the Bible’s wealth of motifs”. The antiphons are, in fact, a collage of Old Testament types of Christ. Their predominant theme is messianic, stressing the hope of the Savior’s coming. Jesus is invoked by various titles, mainly taken from the prophet Isaiah. The sequence progresses historically, from the beginning, before creation, to the very gates of Bethlehem.

In their structure, each of the seven antiphons follows the same pattern, resembling a traditional liturgical prayer. Each O Antiphon begins with an invocation of the expected Messiah, followed by praise of him under one of his particular titles. Each ends with a petition for God’s people, relevant to the title by which he is addressed, and the cry for him to “Come”.

The seven titles attributed to Jesus in the antiphons are Wisdom (Sapientia in Latin), Ruler of the House of Israel (Adonai), Root of Jesse (Radix), Key of David (Clavis), Rising Dawn (Oriens), King of the Gentiles (Rex). and Emmanuel. In Latin the initials of the titles make an acrostic which, when read backwards. means: “Tomorrow I will be there” (“Ero cras”). To the medieval mind this was clearly a reference to the approaching Christmas vigil.

Today the O Antiphons are most familiar to us in the hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel”. Each verse of the hymn parallels one of the antiphons. In addition to their use in the Liturgy of the Hours and the gospel acclamation, they have been popularly incorporated into church devotions and family prayer…

We begin our reflections today.

Everything Else

The accent quiz

I know the quiz can’t be all that specific, but Kaisertown Nasal Buffalonian with Polish highlights to be exact.

What American accent do you have?

Your Result: The Inland North 93%

You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” or “Are you from Chicago?” Chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.”
The Midland 80%
The Northeast 70%
Philadelphia 67%
The South 62%
The West 41%
Boston 25%
North Central 22%
What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes

…and yes, I used to call it pop. Being away for so long it now sounds strange.

Thanks to Fr. Martin Fox for the pointer to this.

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