Tradition!

Tradition in our family boils down these days to soup. Many of the old traditions have gone by the wayside and new ones are being formed among the extended family. But one of the oldest still survives - the Christmas Mushroom Soup.
For over 100 years in this country, and who knows how long in Slovakia, this recipe has been served at Christmastime. Originally it was served only on Christmas Eve, but now it’s served on whatever day the Slovak clan gets together for the holidays.
Years ago, I followed my mother-in-law around the kitchen as she prepared the soup and wrote down everything she did. So, here it is: THE RECIPE for THE SOUP.

8 quarts water

3 cups sliced carrots
1 ½ cups sliced celery
2 small cans sauerkraut juice (7.5 ounces) or same amount of juice drained from kraut
3 Tbsp salt,
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
2 med potatoes, cubed
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 ½ sticks butter (¾ cup)
½ cup flour
1 box barley cooked separately according to package directions.

Put water, carrots, celery, kraut juice, salt, pepper, and thyme into a large kettle. Cook until vegetables are almost done. Add potatoes and continue cooking. Sautee onion and mushrooms in butter until tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove onions and mushrooms from butter and put in soup. Add flour to butter and stir constantly until flour browns. Quickly add 2 cups soup to thin the flour mixture. Stir until smooth. Add this mixture to soup pot and cook until soup thickens slightly.

To serve, we put a spoonful of barley into the soup bowl and ladle the soup on top.

Our Family Tradition of a St. Nicholas Tea

(This is a re-post from Dec 4, 2007)

When you use the word 'Tea' today it conjures up elegant parties. Well, in our case, it was mostly cocoa and cookies and conversation. We started in 1966 or 1967 and sometimes through the years we did get spiffy now and then.

You might ask "Why a 'St. Nicholas Day' Tea?" I'm glad you asked! Why, to combat heresy, secularism, and commercialism and have fun at the same time. That's why!

St. Nicolas was a real man - a Bishop who lived in the 300's. He was a wealthy man who came to love Jesus and wanted to follow him closely. So he took Jesus' advice to the rich young ruler: "go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." He also took to his heart Jesus' teaching about how to give : "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." Many people benefited from his secret giving and because they were curious about who was being so kind, they found him out!

He went to be part of the council of Nicea and helped formulate the beautiful Nicean Creed and died shortly after. That's the basic story. He made such an impression on people and was loved so greatly and for so long, that many legends have been added and it's hard to sort all that out. It's also hard to sort out how that good man has been morphed by America into Santa Claus! Secularists have such glee in the fact that Santa has eclipsed the real reason for the season. But if you look deeply you can still see a glimmer of 'Santa's' roots - giving in secret without expecting to get anything in return. Which of course is a teaching of Jesus. It's really all quite amusing.


Back to the tea party. The centerpiece was always our angel chimes. With the lights off, the spinning angels made beautiful twirling patterns on the ceiling. Very atmospheric! We would talk about Christmas things and use this as an opportunity to correct any misconceptions.


As some of the children became older, we expanded our horizons. Sometimes we would invite cousins for a more formal tea, and they would put on a hilarious puppet show for the younger ones. The puppets were mostly handmade and so was the scenery and even the script. We only had one play - Little Red Riding Hood. It became funnier with every performance.


The photos here are all from the 1980's. The little girls pictured grew up and did the show for the children of the original puppeteers!

We always ended the party with choosing names for 'Kris Kringle'. It was sort of a game we played for the rest of Advent. More on that in the next post.

Manly Sentiments from Generations Past

Do men still think this way?

Happiness by Carl Sandburg

I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell
    me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of
    thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though
    I was trying to fool with them.
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along
    the Desplaines river
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with
    their women and children and a keg of beer and an
    accordion.

Slovak Day, June 9, 2013

Woman at Prayer - 8, Wisdom

Eighth in a series from the booklet "A Woman at Prayer" by the Rev. Conleth Overman.

WHO MAKES THE RULES? 

There is great wisdom in knowing how a thing works best. 

One might say that God's rules for us are the "Directions" that come with the human appliance. Wise housewives are scrupulous in observing the set of directions which come with the new washing machine. They know from past experience that wrong use of a deli­cate machine results in repair bills and inconvenience.  Now, since God has been good enough to set down the directions we must observe for the use of the human machine, is it not wise to observe them?

The manufacturer is trying to help the purchaser with the directions he includes in the package with the appliance.  And God is being kind to us when He makes the rules for us.  The human being is so complicated, so delicately adjusted, so intricately related to other beings, that only the wisdom of God Himself is adequate to make rules for us.   It is sheer madness to make our own.

There is nothing that gets us into more trouble than our attempt to make our own rules.  Eve attempted to make rules for her­self and look what happened to her.  God had made the rule she was to observe in regard to the fruit of the Tree of Life.  But she knew better and thus opened the Pandora Box of Original Sin.

What motivates women to make their own rules is their unwillingness to face reality.  It takes humility and great good will to say:  "This is what God wants, and this I will do."   There is in each of us a fatal attraction to do our own will.  Was it not Queen Elizabeth, the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who said:  "Rather to rule in hell than to serve in heaven"?

And trouble, trouble, trouble is the result of making our own rules.  The ideas we have in our own heads do not change what is outside us.  A person may decide to abolish the law of gravity.  But the law of gravity does not thereby cease to exist, even for that individual.  Behold her climbing out on the ledge of a 20-story window; behold her muttering with determination,  "I refuse to be bound by the law of gravity;" and now behold her smashed to jelly on the pavement below.  And what happens in the physical order from making our own rules in defiance of God's rules, hap­pens as well in the moral order.

Why is it that we grow hostile to God for giving us the rules we must follow?  We ought to be eternally grateful that He thought enough of us to set the pattern for us.  It is easy to lead a useful, contented, happy life on earth if we tailor ourselves to God's ideas for us.  God is our Heavenly Father; God knows what will hurt us, and what is best for us both in time and in eternity.  Fortun­ately  for us God has revealed His Will for us and continues to guide us safely in the vital teaching of His word and of the Church.  How foolish to resist the restraining Hand of God and to jump off the deep end!

Much of our success in being women lies in accepting God's Will for us.  Humility to dis­trust our own will  and obedience to do what God wants of us are the two great feminine needs.  With all our heart the question in our title must be answered: "God makes the rules!"

Remembering Citizen Soldiers

There is a famous Roman General, Cincinnatus, who was asked to serve by the Senate while he was plowing in his fields.  He agreed to take charge of the army and country for as long as he was needed and walked away leaving his plow standing in field.  He was very successful in war and was honored and acclaimed by all the people.  They wanted him to remain as dictator.  But, he was a man of his word, and left the adulation and walked back to his plow where it stood and began right there his old way of life.

He was the ideal of the founding fathers of our country.  Many of the Revolutionary War soldiers were given frontier land for serving.  They named a new city in the  frontier after themselves:  Cincinnati.

Here are the Cincinnati from our family: 

Pre-World War I:

Edward Schuster :  Captain in the U.S. Calvary.   Just prior to WWI he was a riding instructor in Melrose Park.  Edward was my Grandfather Schuster's brother.

World War I - Army:

Edward Schuster:  He entered the war with the rank of Captain.  He was sent to France and was in trench warfare where he was a victim of mustard gas.  He returned home sick and "shell shock".  His father bought a farm in Wheatfield, Indiana, for him hoping quiet and clean air would help his recovery.  Must have done the job, because he ended up living  to 1970.

Sylvester Schuster: He was inducted into the army during the war and was waiting to be shipped from Norfolk, Virginia, when Armistice was declared. After the war he went back to work for Western Electric as an electrical engineer. Sylvester was Edward's younger brother and my grandfather.

Frank Rozanski: I found on his grave-marker that he was a machine-gunner in the famous 1st Illinois Division of the U.S. Army - the first to be sent to France.  He survived, but tragically died in an accident a few years after the war.  Frank was my Grandmother Schuster's brother.

World War II - Navy:

Donn, Bob, and Vernon Gros

Bob Gros:  Seaman First Class Signal Man, he did his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station.  Then he went to Farragut, Idaho, for training in the Naval Armed Guard and to code school. From there he went to Treasure Island in San Francisco where he was shipped out.  The Naval Armed Guard was a group of about 20 men who were assigned to a Merchant Marine or Liberty Ship that carried cargo or troops.  His carried oil and airplane parts.  They had at least one 5 inch gun, but were really sitting ducks.

Bob was at the Battle for Leyte Gulf where he witnessed the Kamikazes and was part of the Invasion of the Philippines.  He was in New Guinea, but I don't think that there was action there then.  When the war ended, Bob was aboard ship out in the Pacific and had a choice to go to Japan to be part of the occupation or to go home.  He chose home.  Before the war he had a job as tool and die maker.  While on board ship, he learned carpentry to pass the time and it became his trade for the rest of his life. Bob was my Dad.

Vernon Gros:  Bob Gros' older brother.  He served stateside. Vern was the head of purchasing for the jewelry department at Montgomery Ward.

Donn (Adolph) Gros:  Bob Gros' younger brother.  He also served stateside. Donn had a varied career after the war - from resort owner to a concrete business.

Rudy Kaiser:  A mechanic, Rudy served both stateside and aboard ship.  After the war, Rudy worked as a machinist at Chicago Screw Company.  He was married to Bertha Nemcek, my mother-in-law's sister.

James Schuster:  Towards the end of the war when Jim graduated High School, he joined the Navy.  As far as I know he served Stateside. Afterwards he worked for the Elgin watch company and later as a financial officer for a corporation.  He met his wife Shirley at Elgin and they grew a large family - nine children!   Jim was my mother's brother.

World War II - Army:

Edward Nemcek:  "Jungle-Fighter" was the designation that was given to the men who fought in New Guinea.  Unfortunately, if these men survived, they were plagued for the rest of their lives with malaria.  This was the case for Ed.  He worked as a printer after the war, both for large printing houses and later for his own small firm.  Edward was the brother of my mother-in-law.

Donald Ricker:  Another man who fought in the jungles of New Guinea.  He too, had malaria that complicated surgery for a hip replacement.  It never healed and he passed away.  "Rick" worked as a finish carpenter and was married to my mother's sister Georgette.

Frank Sensendorf:  I believe that he was a weather man and was stationed first in the Aleutian Islands and later in Panama.  He too, contracted malaria in Panama.  We lived with him and my Aunt Ruth for a while after the war and I witnessed how sick he was.  Frank worked the rest of his life for Wyeth Laboratories.

Billy, Uncle Syl & Joanne

World War II - Air Force:

Syl Nemcek:  17 years old, he graduated from high school one day and reported for duty the next.  Syl became a tail-gunner for B-27 (24?)  Liberator bombers (259th Squadron) and participated in bombing raids over Tokyo. He miraculously lived to tell the tale - only 1 in 4 tail-gunners made it.  After the war he worked for Eastman Kodak until he retired.  He took part in many reunions with the 380th Bomb Group.  Syl was another of my mother-in-law's brothers.

A little WWII Patriot

Whenever Memorial Day comes around, I have remembrances that can't be easily talked about or be explained.  The flags, the ceremonies, the playing of Taps connects me to my childhood and to many people who are no longer alive.  Having been an infant and small child during World War II, I don't have many direct memories - just impressions.  But I have very vivid memories of the immediate aftermath and the struggle for normalcy in the years that followed.

Since WWII there have been others who have served and are serving today.  My cousin David Malmberg served in Vietnam;  my niece's husband, Dave Hoeks was in the Air Force and served with the Stragetic Air Command and in the First Gulf War.  Since they are still alive, I will let them tell their own stories!  As to those serving today as we celebrate Memorial Day, we ask God's protection and blessing.

Woman at Prayer - 7, "Happiness"

Seventh in a series of articles from the booklet A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conlith Overman, (1962)

ON PEACE OF MIND

There is a pearl of great price to be had.

Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch

Two eminent scholars in a book* make  much of the unhappiness of contemporary women. " Never before in the history of the world" say the writers, has there been more unhappiness among women. And this, they go on to state in an age when women's rights, freedom, the fem­inine suffrage have won the day. 

We shall not quarrel with these eminent schol­ars nor question their statistics, nor object to their solution of the problem. We mention the book to point up the fact that there are unhappy women  in the world today. 

What can be done about unhappiness?  Well, first we can understand whence comes unhappi­ness. In every case we find that the unhappy person is the victim of wrong emphasis. The person assigns too great a value to some one factor of human living; or undervalues some other factor that ought to be highly regarded. 

We can say that the unhappy person is out of touch with reality. She lives in a dream world, and the dreams turn out to be all nightmares. 

By way of illustration, suppose that a person feels that it is absolutely essential always to have her own way.  That is what she lives for.   She will not, as she boasts, play second fiddle to anybody. Can you imagine a more unhappy per­son?  To have one's way always is to want to be God; and that is impossible. 

We have said that unhappiness is the product of placing the wrong emphasis.  We can enum­erate several possibilities for this wrong em­phasis:  Material possessions,  power over our fel­lowmen, unlimited pleasures, worldly success, peace at the expense of principle.  Anybody who places too high a value on the items in this list   is courting unhappiness. 

Our Savior came into this world to show us the way to happiness, both in this life and in the life to come.  And thus at the beginning of his public ministry he gave us His 'formula for happiness.'  This formula is found in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. It is com­monly known as the Eight Beatitudes. 

Instead of the colorless word "blessed," the original Greek text uses "makairos" which means happy.   So Christ actually said: "Happy are the poor of spirit ... Happy are the meek ... Happy are they that mourn . . . Happy are they who hunger and thirst after justice . . . Happy are the merciful ... Happy are the clean of heart... Happy are the peacemakers ... Happy are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake . . ." 

The Beatitudes are Christian points of empha­sis.  If we stress in our lives what Christ men­tions in the Beatitudes we will enjoy happiness.  There will be no confusion of mind for us.  We will know with the greater certitude of Faith what is best for us. 

*  There may have only been one book in 1960, but since then there have been thousands and after all the uproar of the feminist movement since then, nobody seems any happier.

Woman at Prayer - 6, "Self-deception"

ON FOOLING YOURSELF

The fool is the enemy principally of himself

The most dangerous kind of deception is self­-deception. At first sight it might seem impossible to fool oneself; but it is actually very easy. That's why the philosophers of Greece taught that the first step toward wisdom is know oneself; that's why the Saints of Christendom teach that humil­ity is the foundation of sanctity.

People are self-deceived because they want to be deceived. It is a bit painful to be stripped of our illusions and to face the truth. It seems more satisfactory to live in a world of haze and unreality. But it only seems more satisfactory; actually self-deception is a very great personal misfortune. Would you say that a person who does not feel the cold because of a slowly creeping paralysis is fortunate because he does not feel the cold?

There are several ways in which self-deception operates. Great quantities of people deceive them­selves by making religion a luxury. They pray in order to feel good; they go to church so that they may have the satisfaction of appearing pious; they give to charity so that they may have that "fine inner glow". Instead of being truly religious, they are rotten selfish.

Then there are the people who use religion for their own ends. They want to be big fish in their own little pond, so they jump into religious ac­tivity. They get to be head of sodalities and organizations. They work like Trojans; Ulysses cleaning the Aegean stables would seem to be resting compared to them; and their activity does more harm than good. They are hypocrites. They are promoting themselves and claiming credit for being servants of God.

Finally, there are those who tacitly adopt the principle that the end justifies the means. These people look so long at the reason that they have for doing something that they overlook the fact that the action is sinful. For instance, a woman who won't talk to her husband because he won't agree to buy a new house* may completely exonerate herself of any fault in her lack of duty to her spouse. "He's mean," she says over and over again until she has convinced herself that what she is doing is all right.

And in everyone of these cases of self-decep­tion the individual is hurting himself. The religion -is-a-luxury people grow lukewarm and frequently fall away from their fervor and even from their faith itself as soon as they feel that spiritual practices are burdensome; the self-promoters by ­religious-activity people become uncooperative and even enemies of the organization as soon as they can't have their own little way any longer; the it's-all-right-because-I'm-hurt people bring sorrow into the lives of everybody including their own.
Self-deception doesn't pay.  It is much better to be free of illusions. The suffering we do in facing the truth is much less than the pain and anguish that smashes us like the delayed action of a block buster. Therefore, we suggest two things: First, be unselfish; second, purify your intention constantly.

 Be unselfish. This is important because self-­deception is the product of selfishness. Think of God; love Him and work for Him in all your activities. It doesn't matter who does the work, or who gets the glory as long as the work gets done. You won't lose out ever by being unselfish.

Purify your intention constantly. Unworthy motives have a way of infiltrating our actions if we are not constantly alert. Even works that have been begun with a pure intention of glorifying God can be spoiled by a lowering of aim.

There is no better way of preparing for heaven than in striving not to deceive ourselves on earth.

*The original example was 'a new hat'.  I had to update that one!  In this day, we have much bigger aspirations.  "We've come a long way, Baby!"

How to Eat Like a Hobbit

You won't believe this, but I came across an article on How to Eat Like a Hobbit. What a fun idea!   It begins like this:

Wild strawberries by my woods

If there is one area of life most people can change in order to return to the Shire, in a metaphorical if not literal sense, it’s their eating habits. You can live in a 20-story high-rise in Manhattan or Paris and still adopt a Hobbit lifestyle when it comes to eating. That’s because Hobbits are different from most of the enslaved subjects of Mordor not only in what they eat… but also in how and why they eat it. Hobbits, along with most of the free peoples of Middle-earth, eat pure, naturally-grown, mostly wild foods from their own gardens or nearby fields: lush berries, fresh bread, cheese, cold meats, mushrooms (lots of those!), wine and beer. They eat frequently, usually in groups and often accompanied by poetry readings and songs. Hobbits are not vegetarians but they have a varied diet of whole, local foods, including Nimcelen, the hobbit version of potato salad; Soroname, a warm soup filled with pasta, meat, tomatoes, beans and onions; and Lembas, Elvish waybread. They drink wine and, when they can get it, such invigorating liquors as Ent-draughts and Miruvor, the life-giving and energizing elixir of the Elves. Food has a spiritual as well as a biological purpose for them.

It's a long article and gets a little political, but towards the end there is a section on practical suggestions that are interesting.  Just click here to read more.

Backwards day in the Shire -
 the moon was out before sunset

Tonight I ate like a Hobbit.  I made a pot of Leek and Barley soup that was mild (bland?), but pretty good.  This was the first time I remember using a leek so I looked up a tutorial on how to clean them.  They are notorious for being very dirty because of the way they grow, but once you know the trick, it isn't too bad of a job.

3 Tablespoons olive oil          1/3 cup parsley, minced
1 cup barley                           Salt to taste
1 carrot finely grated               7 cups water
2 leeks, sliced                         1 boullion cube (opt)
1 bay leaf                                chopped mushrooms (opt)

1. Heat oil and add barley, stir 1 minute.  Immediately add carrots, leeks, bay leaf,  parsley, salt and water.
2. Cook over low to medium heat for 40 to 45 minutes - until barley is tender.  Add more water if needed.
3.  Add optional ingredients during the last 20 minutes of cooking time.

After dinner, it was such a lovely evening, I decided to go for a stroll out  in the Shire. On the path along the woods  I found wild strawberries that were blossoming.  If  I go out every morning when the flowers are done and check for ripe berries, I might be able to get a few.  Usually the critters get there first, but I'm going to give it a try.

Golden sunset over the Shire-
 probably means rain tomorrow

Woman at Prayer - 5, "Liberty"

From the booklet A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conleth Overman.
Editors note:  Vicious Circle was a popular term (usually just shortened to V.C.) around 1960 when people were beginning to feel that their lives were getting out of control.  .  Today we just are used to it.

Today's "V.C."

A vicious circle can turn life into a tread-mill

A vicious circle can turn life into a tread-mill. Every age has its own peculiar "V. C."   We have ours. It goes something like this:

People have no taste for the spiritual because they are so attracted by material things. They would learn to love the spiritual if they would make a real attempt to live a more spiritual life; but to live a more spiritual life they must cease being so preoccupied with the material.

What can be done to break up this vicious circle? Until people actually "taste and see that the Lord is good" they will not be sufficiently motivated to reduce their preoccupation with material things. And the attraction of the senses, of earthly satisfactions, hold them back from giv­ing the spiritual a try. Perhaps education will break the circle; perhaps people will accept the word of authority and make a beginning. If we could dispel the enchantment which material things throw over the human spirit for just a little while so that the individual

 could turn to God and experience the "joy of the Lord", that would do the trick.

View for Vespers on my deck Wednesday

Strange Inversion 

Isn't it strange that creatures are allowed to crowd out the Creator? We get so involved with the trinkets that God has made and given us that we forget the loving Father from whom they come.

Isn't that like us moderns? We have one big purpose in life: to develop spiritually. Food is to keep us alive, houses to shelter us, clothes to protect and adorn us, recreation to keep us in good health - all this while we work out our destiny of becoming saints. But what happens? We act like children who, when given an all-day sucker, ignore the candy and start chewing the stick.

Inner Attraction 

Whatever good there is in creatures to make us want them has been put there by God. God is the source of being, and beauty, and goodness. If creatures, then, have the power of making us happy, their infinite Creator has an infinitely greater power of giving us joy. Thus it was that the Psalmist cried out: "0 taste and see that the Lord is good; happy is the man that trusts in him." (PS. 34. 8)   The Holy Trinity dwells in the soul of every justified person; when you are in the state of Sanctifying Grace the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are present to you in a special way.  Thomas Aquinas says that through the indwelling the Trinity is with you "to be enjoyed."

And what joy is not the infinite God able to impart to those that love Him!

My prayer corner

Why do not more of us enjoy the sweetness of our companionship with the three divine Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity? Because we are so seldom aware of their presence, because we so seldom turn inward to them, because our minds and hearts are fastened on a million trivialities. We are the slaves of creatures, and thus cannot enjoy the leisure of the children of God. Our greatest need, therefore, is

• simplicity in our liv­ing,
• self - denial in our pleasures,
• recollection throughout the day,
• and a spirit of detachment from material things. 

Only thus is liberty of spirit bought; only thus can we "taste and see that the Lord is good."

In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton

Available : American Chesterton Society

I've been  buying a Chesterton book a month and this was my April book.  From the title you might think it a psychological treatise, but it's not.  It's a collection of 67 essays on everything under the sun.

SIXTY-SEVEN essays, you say?  Considering that he wrote over 5000, it was hard to pick out only 67 to represent the best. That's what three Chesterton scholars, Dale Ahlquist, Aidan Mackey, and Joseph Pearce say in their intros to the work  I think they did a good job in choosing.  There were some I had already read and some that have never been printed before.  The variety of topics is astounding:  skeletons, cheese, chalk, fireworks, rain, literary critcism and so much more.

Of special interest to me was "On certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family", "The Drift from Domesticity", "Marriage and the Modern Mind","The Romance of Childhood", "What is Right with the World" and "Babies and Distributism".  They may sound a little dull, but they are full of witty phrases and surprises.  Reading Chesterton is like taking a mental jog.

The best essay in my opinion is "Twelve Men".  It is about jury duty and should be required reading in civics classes, but probably couldn't be used because it has religious overtones.

Several of the essays are just completely charming.  "The Romantic in the Rain"  has me wanting to throw away my umbrella and get a "mackintosh" and go out to join the downpour.  "{The rain} gives the roads....something of the beauty of Venice.  Shallow lakes of water reiterate every detail of earth and sky....the sense of a Celestial topsy-turvydom.....It will always give a man the strange sense of looking down at the skies".

"What I Found in my Pocket" has G.K. stranded at a station with nothing to read, not even posters on the wall.  So, he amuses himself with the things in his pockets.  In another essay, "Cheese" ( a subject on which "poets have been mysteriously silent" )   has finally been treated with the dignity it deserves.

My favorite, though, is "A Piece of Chalk".  In it, G.K. takes a box of colored chalk and some brown paper borrowed from his landlady and goes out for a hike into the countryside:

"I crossed one swell of living turf after another, looking for a place to sit down and draw.  Do not, for heaven's sake, imagine I was going to sketch from Nature.  I was going to draw devils and seraphim, and blind old gods that men worshipped before the dawn of right, and saints in robes of angry crimson, and seas of strange green and all the sacred or monstrous symbols that look so well in bright colors on brown paper.  They are so much better worth drawing than Nature;  also, they are much easier to draw.  When a cow came slouching by in the field next to me, a mere artist might have drawn it; but I always get wrong in the hind legs of quadrepeds.  So I drew the soul of the cow;  which I saw there plainly walking before me in the sunlight;  and the soul was all purple and silver, and had seven horns and the mystery that belongs to all the beasts."

 He then discovers that his box of chalk has no white, which everyone knows you really, really need when drawing on brown paper!  How he solves this dilemma is amusing.

More amazing than the variety of topics is the continuity of Chesterton's thought that ties everything together.   As it says on the back cover of the book:  "Here is a veritable feast for the mind and the soul".

J.R.R. Tolkien, the Shire, and Me

The other day I watched a dramatization of a conversation between J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and some other comments from Tolkien about his work.  "Of course, you know,"  he said "that being born in 1892 means that I was born in the 'Shire'."    Yes, of course he was.  And I spent my childhood with many people who were also born in the 1800's and continued to live with the sane world of the Shire all around them even though the world in the 1900's progressed as fast as it could to insanity.

The Shire is the place where home and family are the center of everything - where life is lived as if people mattered.

It is where the young are nurtured and protected until they are prepared to 'leave the nest and fly on their own'.  It is a place of games and fun and parties.  It is a place hidden away from the grossness of the ways of the world.  (Think Mordor).

The Shire is nestled in a natural setting with a love of nature and the care of it being interwoven into the daily lives of all who live there.

It is a place of ideals - love of neighbor, love of country, love of God.  It is where duty, self-sacrifice, fair play, and honesty are respected and are not laughed at.

I love the 'Shire'.  I have longed for it, tried to hang on to it, worked to build it into my own life.  The pictures and poems on my sidebar and in my posts are some of the many things that  invoke the memory of the Shire to me. Some would say that the literature I read and the writing I do is just nostalgia;  but I know that it is a search for truth and the true way of living in a world gone mad.

A Woman at Prayer - 4, "Values"

4th in a series of meditations from A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conleth Overman

ON SARDINE CANS

Thought given to values can save worlds of grief.

  picture from pinnacleworldwide.co.uk

There is a story told of a missionary in the South Sea Islands. The only way that he could win the good will of the natives was by practicing medicine. It so happened that the son of the Island chief fell ill of pneumonia. When the witch doctors seemed unable to break the spell of the disease, the chief called for the missionary. His sound medical treatment saved the child. The chief was immensely pleased and, in his gratitude, determined to give the missionary the tribe's most precious possession. On the day determined amid great pomp and ceremony the object most treasured was presented to the missionary. He could scarce keep from laughing: The treasure of the tribe was a sardine can!

Perhaps this never happened; this story may be only a modern parable. But it carries a pointed lesson.   How many of us are like those South Sea Islanders in our over-valuation of the things we possess. Very few of us do not have our "sardine cans." 

Values to be Examined

Much confusion is introduced into women's lives by wrong values. To esteem a trifle as a treasure is the way to be unhappy. Why go to a lot of trouble to do what is not worth doing?  The poet Lowell pointed out the tragedy of wrong values when he wrote the lines:  "In the devil's booth all things are sold;  trifles are bought with a whole souls tasking." *   It would do us all a great deal of good if from time to time we would sit ourselves down and examine our values. It may be that we think too much of material possessions. Do we work and skimp and save so that we can buy more clothes, another appliance, new furniture?  The possession of these things is not in itself a virtue. They may not be worth the bother involved. Someone recently spoke of people who are "so busy making a career that they have no time to live."  That could be applied to many of us; we are so busy getting things for ourselves that we stop living.

Keeping up with the Joneses, staying abreast of every fad, trying to own each new product as the persistent advertisers cram it down our throats - all of this runs us ragged.  Life becomes a merry-go-round, a rat race, as a result of setting up erroneous values.

Christ's Clarification

Our  Lord gave us a yard-stick for measuring the true values of everything: . "What does it profit a man,". He said, "if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? Or, what would a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26)

In a well-ordered life the spiritual is most es­teemed.  We were put in life to achieve a spiritual destiny. Therefore things of the spirit - prayer, church services, the Sacraments, love of God and neighbor, doing God's will - are most precious because they directly contribute to our success in life. Material things have their uses it is true, but their value is relative.  Only if material things really contribute to our soul's development are they worth bothering about. Once we learn this truth we'll throw out all the "sardine cans" that are cluttering up our life. 

*James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal

Disturbing the Peace

 My reading nook is normally a very peaceful and quiet appearing place.  Not so this Saturday and Sunday.  You might think the most uproarious time was on Saturday as we celebrated my birthday.  But not so.

This is my birthday cake

For the most part my guests were really well behaved.  All we had to do was to make sure some people were busy eating........

That was my Birthday Cake

 Others, of course are just naturally peaceful people...

A piece - full guest

The conversationalist

There are always one or two, though, who really liven things up....

The rowdies

Yes the party on Saturday was lively, but not uproarious.  It was on Sunday that the action really picked up.  King Alfred convinced his chiefs to oppose the invader Guthrum the Dane and.......

we fought the Battle of Ethandune

all afternoon 

in my living room.

Pictures were made possible by a lovely gift from my family.

Cake was made by daughter Collette and her children.

Book was a meme.  It is available at the American Chesterton Society

Woman at Prayer - 3, "Peace"

A third in a series of essays from the booklet A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conleth Overman

PEACE, IT'S WONDERFUL

We each make our peace or mar it.

We live in a confused, mad world. And if we are not careful we shall all be mad. It will be worth our while, therefore, to try to understand what peace is and how we can acquire it for our­selves. 

The opposite of peace is chaos. When contrary forces collide head on, when warring, hostile per­sonalities meet, when pressures are applied from many sides, the result is a state of disorder. Lives are ruined, happiness destroyed, minds are twisted, in an atmosphere of enmity and con­fusion. 

We were made for the enjoyment of peace. Had there been no sin in the world, peace would be our permanent environment. In a better world undisturbed by sin, peace would come naturally to us. But today, given the world as it is, we must use intelligence and determination to ac­quire for ourselves the peace we need to live in. 

Thomas Aquinas has given us the classical definition of peace: "Peace, is the tranquillity of order."  We can transfer his definition into more familiar idiom:  "Peace is having everything in its place". Once you put things where they belong you begin to enjoy the tranquillity and serenity of mind that we call peace. 

Peace is not dead, passive stagnation. St.  Thomas' definition of peace allows for a full measure of satisfying activity. It is possible to have the interplay of great forces, of powerful streams of thought and action, as long as they are ordered, properly subordinated, that is, in their proper places. 

We all agree that peace is very desirable; we admit, also, that we can live a full life under the reign of peace; the question now is, how can we acquire peace in our day. The answer is not hard to find: Personal peace is the product of the virtue of justice. This is what the Holy Spirit meant in the Psalms by the verse: "Justice and peace have embraced." (Ps. 85:11) 

Justice is the virtue that inclines us to give to everyone what is due to them. Justice gives us a calm view of everything ;  justice enables us to have the proper perspective, to give the right emphasis. What disturbs us most is that we do not see things clearly. We over-value trifles, we under-value essentials. And the result of such confused thinking is restlessness, confusion, wasted effort, the feeling of failure and frustra­tion.

Most of us get the impression of peacefulness from St. Joseph. In the pages of the New Testa­ment he moves with quietness and sureness. He had great problems and heavy responsibilities; but he was ever in peace. What was the secret of his peace? St. Matthew tells us: "For Joseph .... was a just man." (1:19).   Joseph was unafraid and unconfused because his eyes were firmly fixed on what was right, what was due to God and man. 

Once we are persons of peace, then we can begin to weave a pattern of peace around us. We should make our own the prayer of St. Francis of Assissi: 

"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon; 

Where there is doubt, faith; 

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light; 

And where there is sadness, joy." , 

From the Kitchen of My Hearth and Home

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Cherry Almond Bars

If you are new to my blog, you might get the impression that my hearth and home has only a library and a chapel.  Well, it has neither.  I do have some great bookshelves and a little prayer corner -   I use and enjoy them  both.  But, the center of my home has always been the kitchen.

The past few days my kitchen has been BUSY making things for our Ladies Sodality Salad Bar.  It's our biggest fund raiser of the year.  We draw ladies groups from a fifty mile radius and of course we always worry about having enough food!

My contributions were a double batch of Oriental Chicken and Rice Salad - a recipe from my daughter Karen - and my own tried and true Cherry Almond Bars.  Technically, it's a coffee cake, but so rich and tender that I serve it as a dessert.  The last time I made this recipe was for a tea,  served  with whipped cream.

CHERRY ALMOND BARS

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter,softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 can cherry pie filling

Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 350.  Grease jelly roll pan, 151/2 x 101/2 x 1 inch.  Beat sugar, butter, shortening, baking powder, vanilla, almond extract and eggs in large mixer bowl on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, until blended.  Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes.  Stir in flour.  Spread 2/3 of the batter in jelly roll pan.  Spread pie filling over batter.  Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls onto pie filling.

Bake until light brown, about 45 minutes.  (Mine is done sooner),  Drizzle with Glaze while warm.  Cut into bars about 2 1/2 x 2 inches.

GLAZE

Beat 1 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons milk until smooth and of desired consistency.  (Mine always takes more milk).

This recipe comes from a booklet that I ordered from General Mills some years ago:  The Best Gold Medal Recipes of 100 Years.  It's  magazine size and is a real treasure.  It contains the whole history of General Mills and 'Betty Crocker' mixed in with dozens of 'tried and true recipes'.  I wonder if it is available anywhere on-line?  It's worth the hunt.

BTW, I like Betty.  We are old friends and you can read about it here: http://myhearthandhome.blogspot.com/2010/01/betty-and-me.html

What is Right With the World

At present we all tend to one mistake;  we tend to make politics too important.  We tend to forget how huge a part of a man's life is the same under a Sultan and a Senate, under Nero or St. Louis.  Daybreak is a never-ending glory, getting out of bed is a never-ending nuisance;  food and friends will be welcomed;  work and strangers must be accepted and endured;  birds will go bedwards and children won't, to the end of the last evening.

G.K. Chesterton from What is Right with the World

Woman at Prayer - 2, "Security"

Another essay from the booklet A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conleth Overman:

GOD, OUR SECURITY

It is easy to be secure - if we know how

There can be no question about the need that each of us has for security.  Lewis Carroll once wrote a phrase that shows us why: "We are but older children, dear, who fret to find our bedtime near."  * Much of adult bravery is merely whistling in the dark.

It is understandable that we should have fears and moments of anxiety. Our little personality is surrounded by the limitless unknown. We have but a brief few minutes of life here on this earth where time has dragged its slow length on for countless centuries. And after life what? Tenny­son reflected on the puzzle of eternity: "Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark ... " **  The candle of life is snuffed out and we are alone in the dark.

And thus, standing on the sliding slope of time, we clutch at all sorts of straws to get for our­self a feeling of security. There are some that grasp material possessions; and all that they actually gain is further anxiety. Others grasp at a partner in marriage; and they, in as much as original sin has made human nature a broken reed that pierces the hand, find further sorrow. And yet others hold fast to reputation which is a mocking scold at best. And all of these, because they look to creatures for their security, build on sand.

And there is yet another desperate expediency to which many yield in their frantic search for security. They look to their own inner resources for security. But in as much as they themselves are creatures they are only trying to draw water from empty wells with broken pitchers.

The greatest secret that we can learn for our peace of mind is the futility of creatures. It took David a lifetime to learn this lesson. But he learned it and wrote in his old age: "Omnis homo mendax" (every man's a liar) ***. Neither possessions, nor spouse, nor child, nor fame, nor self, provides a firm foundation for our security. It is only by admitting the limitations of creatures -ourselves included-that We begin to have sense. Then we can begin to turn to God.

God is our security. He is eternal and thus unaffected by the mutability of time; He is in­finite. and thus limitless; He is changeless, and thus sure and steady; He is all merciful, and thus possessed of unbounded compassion for weakness; He is just, and thus appreciative of every spark of good in us.
God does not love us because we deserve His love; God loves us because He is God. "God hath first loved us," exclaimed St. John (I John 4:19). God fell in love with nothingness, with weakness and little­ness. It is our very limitations that attract God. Our darkness calls out to God's light, because light shows up best in darkness.

We are told that the Saints gloried in their weakness, in their faults and failings. It is true that they recognized the glimmerings of virtue that were manifested in their lives. But they gave credit for what goodness they possessed to God. They welcomed their limitations because thus they had no desire to steal any glory from God. All that was good in themselves they ascribed to God; their sins they claimed for their own. "Thou dost but crown thy graces, 0 God," cried out ·St. Augustine, "when thou dost reward our merits!"

The sincere acceptance of ourselves, and com­plete dependence on God - this is the way to inner security and peace of mind.

*Proglogue to Through the Looking Glass
**Crossing the Bar
*** Psalm 116:11  My New American Bible says:  "No one can be trusted".   Man may dissappoint but God never does

Things are often not what they seem

If I were to start a local chapter of the American Chesterton Society, I would have the members bring their favorite quote and find out where they first heard about him.  But, on the second meeting we would have read at least one Father Brown story - "The Scandal of Father Brown", which is the title story of the fifth collection.

Reading any Father Brown mystery is a  good introduction to Chesterton because 'they are often not what they seem'.  Yes they are good mysteries, but there is a lot more going on than detection.  Paradox (Chesterton's favorite literary device) abounds, but it is used in a broad, easy to grasp manner.  His defense of the permanent things (marriage, family, orthodoxy) is evident, as it is in all he writes.

"The Scandal of Father Brown" has the typical Chestertonian theme 'things are not often what they seem' going on many different levels at once.  The story is a mystery about the disappearance of an American heiress.  As the mystery unravels, GK manages to fit in a number of other themes:   prejudice and how a civilized person deals with it; the American cult of celebrity; modern dysfunctional views of marriage; the effect of media on the lives of people; the irresponsibility of the press -  and how it all ties together and fits in with the mystery.  This is accomplished in  nine very entertaining pages.

Now, I may be prejudiced about this particular story because I have just finished reading it.  Perhaps it would be better to start with the  first collection "The Innocence of Father Brown" where we have a little theology thrown in:  "I want you to give them back, Flambeau, and I want you to give up this life.  There is still youth and honor and humor in you;  don't fancy they will last in that trade.  Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.  That road goes down and down."

It would be a hard choice except that "Scandal" ends with a great addendum that illustrates one of my pet peeves.  I can't stand it when false accusations against anyone are made, because they are always out there and can't be retrieved :

"I must ring up my paper and tell them I've been telling them a pack of lies."

 Not much more than half an hour had passed, between the time when Rock had telephoned to say the priest was helping the poet to run away with the lady, and the time when he telephoned to say that the priest had prevented the poet from doing precisely the same thing. But in that short interval of time was born and enlarged and scattered upon the winds the Scandal of Father Brown. The truth is still half an hour behind the slander; and nobody can be certain when or where it will catch up with it. 

The garrulity of pressmen and the eagerness of enemies had spread the first story through the city, even before it appeared in the first printed version. It was instantly corrected and contradicted by Rock himself, in a second message stating how the story had really ended; but it was by no means certain that the first story was killed. A positively incredible number of people seemed to have read the first issue of the paper and not the second.

 Again and again, in every corner of the world, like a flame bursting from blackened ashes, there would appear the old tale of the Brown Scandal, or Priest Ruins Potter Home. Tireless apologists of the priest's party watched for it, and patiently tagged after it with contradictions and exposures and letters of protest. Sometimes the letters were published in the papers; and sometimes they were not. But still nobody knew how many people had heard the story without hearing the contradiction.

It was possible to find whole blocks of blameless and innocent people who thought the Mexican Scandal was an ordinary recorded historical incident like the Gunpowder Plot. Then somebody would enlighten these simple people, only to discover that the old story had started  afresh among a few quite educated people, who would seem the last people on earth to be duped by it. 

And so the two Father Browns chase each other round the world forever;  the first a shameless criminal fleeing from justice;  the second a martyr broken by scandal, in a halo of rehabilitation.  But neither of them is very much like the real Father Brown, who is not broken at all;  but goes stumping with his stout umbrella through life, liking most of the people in it;  accepting the world as his companion, but never as his judge.

There would be plenty to discuss from just one short story at my imaginary local chapter meeting.  It would be a good beginning.  One story - and a beer mug.  Dale Ahlquist, the president of the ACS says that the main equipment for a starting a chapter  is a Chesterton Beer Mug.  I'm all for that - I LOVE ROOT BEER!

Warning:  If you decide to read "Scandal" be forewarned that there are every type of racial and ethnic slurs coming out of the mouth of an American.  This used to be typical, but I think we have improved on that front and people are not used to hearing those things any more.  However, the way Father Brown handles the prejudice is instructive.

The Father Brown Mysteries

The first books I read by G.K. Chesterton were the Father  Brown Mysteries.  When I read them, 30 - 40 years ago, I didn't really realize that he had written anything else.  Being an avid classic mystery reader, the Father Brown stories were right up there with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.  In fact, I think I saw the stories on PBS Mystery Theater before I read them.

Father Brown is a fictional character based on a real friend of Chesterton's -  Father John O'Connor who was a parish priest in Bradford, England.  At one time G.K. was writing an article about an upswing in crime and showed it to the priest.  Father O'Connor said that he thought that the article was going in the wrong direction, and proceeded to tell Chesterton about how real evil was.  G.K. was shocked by what the priest told him and was surprised that someone as unworldly as Father O'Connor would have that knowledge.  This eventually appealed to Chesterton's love of paradox and, even though he himself was an Anglican, he decided to write mysteries about a priest/detective who was quiet, humble, and probably the last person who would be thought knowledgeable about crime.  In "The Blue Cross", when asked by the criminal Flambeau, who has been masquerading as a priest, how he knew of all sorts of criminal "horrors," Father Brown responds: "Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?"

Father Brown is a short and stumpy , "formerly of Cobhole in Essex, and now working in London", with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil. He makes his first appearance in the story "The Blue Corss" and continues through the five volumes of short stories, often assisted by the reformed criminal M. Hercule Flambeau.   He was something new and intriguing at the time of his literary appearance. The mystery genre was then dominated by Sherlock Holmes and many, many, imitations. Unlike Sherlock, Father Brown's methods tend to be intuitive rather than deductive.. He explains his method in 'The Secret of Father Brown': "You see, I had murdered them all myself... I had planned out each of the crimes very carefully. I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was."

The stories normally contain a rational explanation of who the murderer was and how Brown worked it out. He always emphasizes rationality: some stories, such as "The Miracle of Moon Crescent", "The Oracle of the Dog", "The Blast of the Book" and "The Dagger With Wings", poke fun at initially skeptical characters who become convinced of a supernatural explanation for some strange occurrence, while Father Brown easily sees the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation. In fact, he seems to represent an ideal of a devout, yet considerably educated and "civilized" clergyman.

The stories were originally compiled into five volumes with 8-12 stories each:

• The Innocence of Father Brown  (1911)
• The Wisdom of Father Brown  (1914)
• The Incredulity of Father Brown  (1926)
• The Secret of Father Brown  (1927)
• The Scandal of Father Brown  (1935)

There are now several one-volume books containing all the stories.  A two volume set adapted for younger readers is also available.

"Things are not always what they seem to be" is a favorite theme of G.K. Chesterton.  We owe the creation of favorites such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Columbo to those who caught onto that theme.  In 1930, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Edmund C. (Clerihew) Bentley, and many others,  formed the 'Detection Club'.  GKC was it's first president  (1930-1936).  They had a fanciful initiation oath made by either Dorothy Sayers or GK  and held regular dinner meetings in London. 

In addition to meeting for dinners and helping each other with technical aspects in their individual writings, the members of the club agreed to adhere to a code of ethics in their writing ( The Rules of Fair Play) to give the reader a fair chance at guessing the guilty party.  The club still meets, but the 'rules' have been relaxed.

Alec Guiness as Father Brown