My Best Trick-or-Treat Memory

Mrangelmeg takes the kids trick-or-treating. It has been years since I have ventured out with them. Before we moved out to the boonies, my excuse was that someone had to give out candy. Out here we never get anyone coming to our door, so I don't have that handy excuse.

You see I hate to trick-or-treat. I never really liked it even as a kid. I don't know if it was because I was so shy, or if it had something to do with the amount of physical exercise involved, but I never really enjoyed the act of tromping around begging candy from everyone in the neighborhood just to get a bag of candy, most of which I didn't really like to eat anyway.

In fact, my absolute favorite Halloween memory from when I was a little kid was the year my mom dressed me up as a clown (I must have been about three at the time). I sat on the couch waiting for it to be time to go out trick or treating, and fell asleep. When I woke up an hour or so later there was a nice bag of candy by my side and I never even had to leave the couch. Now that was the best time I ever had trick-or-treating.

I do love Smarties candies though. My kids always come back from their forays into Halloween and bring me back offerings of Smarties because they know how much I love them.

Anyway, Happy All Hallows Eve.

Pax

Mrangelmeg's Genius Comes to Light

This all began with an inocent enough request from a friend of mine for a recipe for Persimmon Cookies from my husband's mother. The following is what she got in three email exchanges. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Mrangelmeg is a genius, and very funny, and I love him dearly.


Part I: Here is my Mom's recipe for Persimmon Cookies:

1 cup persimmon pulp 1 teaspoon baking soda (not powder)
1 cup sugar (it used to be 2 cups, but since you're so sweet, 1 cup is enough)
1/2 cup margarine or butter (Mom just uses stick margarine)
1 egg 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cloves (I asked Mom to pick one and she said she uses somewhere in between. I guess that means 3/8 of a teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup chopped walnuts (Mom had an option to substitute raisins for the walnuts. She has never put raisins in persimmon cookies, but if you want to go ahead and ruin a perfectly good batch of cookies, feel free to use raisins)
Instructions: Beat persimmon pulp thoroughly. Mix in soda. In separate bowl, cream sugar and butter/margarine, then add egg and mix thoroughly. Sift together dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Combine all ingredients and drop by teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Mom reminded me that this was for one batch and she always makes a double. She further reminded her engineer son - no fewer than three times - that in order to make a double batch, you need to double the above ingredients. Since you have the PhD, I'm only telling you once.

You can freeze persimmon cookies to enjoy later ... say when we might be back at St. Meinrad again. If you freeze them, or leave them out for a few days, they will turn from reddish-brown to almost black. They still taste as good.

Part II: Raisins and Persimmons

And, for the record, I like raisins, too ... but only in oatmeal-raisin cookies (2nd favorite), raisin bran, and raisinettes ... as God intended them to be. Raisins do not belong in persimmon cookies. I even have scriptural backing on this from the Book of Raisins found in Codex XIII from the recently discovered Nag Yerhubbi Library (the Nag Yerhubbi Library also includes "The Gospel of Trash" and "The Apochryphon of the Leaves").

A fragment of the surviving Book of Raisins text was originally interpreted as: "... thou shalt not combine the dried fruit of the vine with other fruits ... ... verily I say: excessive combining of fruits will bring about the people of the village." Of course, now we know the end of that sentence should have been translated as "The Village People."

Regardless of translation, raisins are not to be combined with persimmons. Speaking of discovering ancient religious texts, another little-known fact is that Rastafarians actually discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls and were told by the Jewish scholars of the day that God's Word could be found inside the scrolls, also known as the rolling papyrus, or more to the point ... rolling papers. And that is how they got their start.

I just heard that on Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" on the way into work this morning, so it must be true. Feel free to cite any of the above research in your coursework; and have a nice day!

Part III: Further Research

The Nag Yerhubbi writings as the Neuter-o-Canonical apocrypha (apocrypha meaning "hidden away" or secret -- so don't be surprised if even your professor hasn't heard of them). They're also sometimes referred to as the Canon-and-on-and-on-ical Scriptures.

As hidden as they may be, I'm sure that John has heard many of the Nag Yerhubbi volumes proclaimed in his household ... perhaps "The Exegesis on the Toilet Seat" being one of the most cited books. Certainly, John is familiar with the longest book, "Litany of the Honeydew," the first Chapter of which begins: "Now that you're retired, maybe you could help out some around here."

On a historical note, the scribes that copied the sacred texts would meet about once a month and painstakingly copy each letter. Some would write so hard, they would even get cramps. Of course, the Nag Yerhubbi texts were not written on scrolls, but on individual sheets of paper and bound into large books, called Codexes, as at Nag Hammadi. The blank sheets were manufactured in pad form, similar to paper pads we have today, but the Nag Yerhubbi paper was much, much larger than the pages found at Nag Hammadi. Thus, the Nag Yerhubbi scribes called their paper source the Codex Maxipad. I know a few more historical details along these lines, but enjoy sleeping indoors far too much to list them here.

Finally, the Nag Yerhubbi documents will not be hidden much longer, as the Lifetime Network plans to feature them as part of a miniseries about all Old Testament and early Christian scriptures. The first episode is being shot right now and the working title is "The Burning Bush" featuring Farrah Fawcett as a young Moses (a stretch, but this is the Lifetime Network after all). The final release title is expected to be "Torah! Torah! Torah!" which ends with Pat Morita starring in the role of Joshua as he plans the sneak attack on Jericho. The scripts for the Nag Yerhubbi segments have yet to be written, but I'm sure the Lifetime Network will portray the men as kind, caring, and sensitive (that has to be the least believable line of this entire thread).

I think that's all I can safely say about the sacred texts in the Nag Yerhubbi Library; I'm already at risk of a discovery any day now at Nag Damaggi.


Pax

The Challenge

Matthew Lickona at God'sbody has proffered the challenge of a six word story, ala Ernest Hemingway's famous:

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."

I don't usually go in for writing stories, but I thought I would try.


She spoke. He listened. They loved.

What do you think? Too preachy?

Pax

My blog is worth $1,129.08.
How much is your blog worth?

Via Tony at Catholic Pillow Fight

I'm with him, where do I get my green?
Pax

Shameless Self-Promotion Update

Some of you may remember this post a few weeks ago. I thought I should update you with what I know.

Hereditas Magazine is finally getting back on its feet after being hit by both Katrina and Rita. You may actually at some point in the near future be able to read my humble submission online.

I am so happy that they are up and limping. I would hate to think that two hurricanes could dampen the spirits of all those wonderful Catholic Writers.

I will keep you updated, and as soon as they are fully on-line I will link to their page. Which I guess will give away my true identity to those who don't know who I really am, since the article isn't submitted under a pen name. Oh well.

Pax

Update:

CAT Scan successfully survived. But nearly nine hours later I still have the most horrendous taste in my mouth. Can someone please tell me what will take that nasty taste away. I have tried everything from mint to chicken to spicy. Nothing seems to work.

The test went very well. I wasn't the least bit claustrophobic, but then I didn't have to be squeezed into the little tube as you do in an MRI, so that was nice. It also took a lot less time.

I do have a bit of a headache. I wonder if that is from not eating enough, not drinking enough water, or the contrast? Or maybe it is just the nice stressful work environment I am currently experiencing and has nothing at all to do with my test today.

I guess I will have to take something for the headache if I plan to sleep tonight.

The Mass readings were wonderful today. If God is for us, who can be against us.

I am too tired to do much of anything more but go to bed. Thanks for all the prayers guys.

Pax

Angelmeg's Frightening Halloween Treat

Thanks to Rick Lugari, if you click on

this link

you will get the scare of your life.

I would have posted it on my page but it was just to frightening.


As Rick says, thanks to Arthur of Angry Twins too.


Pax

I'm OK You've Got to Be Kidding!

This is TOO FUNNY! I especially liked the Sacrament of Holy Odours and we tolerate you. Unfortunately, since I have been in initiation ministry I have heard some horror stories about some RCIA programs that were about this - uhm - experiential.

Thanks to my newest blog find Gashwin for pointing me in the right direction.

I agree this sounds a lot like something Jeff at the Curt Jester might have come up with.

Enjoy, but if you want an RCIA and a Parish with the real truth and real meat. Come to my place.

Pax

What a Cool Thought!

Today is the feast of St. Frumentius. A friend I hadn't yet met, but one I am happy to know and add to my growing list of those in the Church Triumphant whom I can call upon for help in times of need.

The prayer I read in honor of St Frumentius today said "when things don't go the way I had planned them to go, help me to welcome the unexpected." Boy could I use that in my life right now. There isn't a lot that is going the way I had planned for it to go, and I am really struggling with welcoming the unexpected. With St Frumentius' help I think I will begin to work on that.

Pax

Banana Smoothies for Lunch Thursday!

My test has been rescheduled for Thursday at lunch time. Oh well, a little schedule juggling and I will be ready to go.

How blessed are the flexible for they never get bent out of shape has been my motto for the last five years or so.

I am praying that this test will lead to a diagnosis, and a treatment for whatever is causing this pain. It is really hard for people who don't live with constant pain to understand what it is like for people who do. I have arthritis, and I have learned to live with pain in my joints. But when you walk around with a pain in your side that at times catches you off guard it can be very debilitating.

I mediate on Paul's words about the thorn on the flesh. For someone without chronic pain he can sound like such a whiner. I walk in his shoes.

Hopefully this will be the test that will help the Dr. visualize the problem and find a treatment and cure.


Pax

When I Can't Stand Waiting, He Makes Me Wait Even Longer

I was supposed to have a medical test tomorrow. One I wasn't particularly looking forward to having, but one that I was hoping would help to determine what was causing a pain I have had in my left side for over a year now. I found out this evening, when I had finally gotten up enough nerve to actually be calm about the test tomorrow, that due to an administrative mix-up between my Dr.'s office and my insurance company and the hospital, I will have to postpone the test for at least a day and maybe longer until the insurance company can pre-certify that I really do need to have the test.

I don't think I like the fact that some bean counter in Missouri is making medical decisions about what types of tests I need or don't need based upon actuarial tables without ever having consulted with my care or talked with my Dr., but such are the vagaries of modern health care under our current managed care system.

So, tomorrow morning, all the people who were supposed to be praying for me while I was having my test will be praying for me while I practice my new mass music and run a few errands. I won't be able to let them all know that my test has been postponed probably. Oh well, no prayer goes wasted. I will just redirect those prayers to whoever is having their test in my time slot.

On a happier note, I get a reprieve from drinking that yummy Barium Banana Smoothie for breakfast.

Pax

Pro Life Teen Persecuted in Comment Box

The teen who wrote about the Drama teacher at her school being fired for working as an escort at Planned Parenthood has had to endure some horribly nasty comments on her blog from fellow students at her high school and from anonymous members of the blogging community.

If you get a chance stop by her blog and let her know how courageous she is for standing up for the truth and for what is right in a world where situational ethics rule the day.

I think she is truly a hero of our times. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to endure some of the hate filled comments in her latest post, but she does, because she knows that the truth is on her side.

Her poise and grace under all this strain are a lesson for us all.

Pax

Rosa Parks: One Life That Made a Difference

Rosa Parks died Monday.

As I was growing up my parents told me her story and helped me to understand that she was the type of person that I should want to be, someone who stood up for what she beleived against great odds. It didn't matter that she was terrified, because she knew that she was right.

My father spoke of her with great respect. She was such an example of what one person can do. That was something that he really tried to instill in us, his children, that we could make a difference.

Rosa, the world will not miss you because your life made such an impact that many generations from now people will still know who you are, and learn from your example.

Rest in Peace dear sister.

Pax

An Insulting Gravestone From a Loving Husband?

These words are engraved on Terri Shiavo's Gravestone:

born Dec 3, 1963

departed this earth Feb 5, 1990

at peace March 31, 2005

So compassionate was Michael Schiavo, that Terri's family did not know where she was buried. They discovered her burial plot by reading the newspaper.

Fr. Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life comments on the above gravestone with this:

"that is an insult to every disabled person, telling them they are not on this earth. It's an attitude rooted in the heresy of dualism, that we are really a spirit, while our bodies are only a shell. But we believe that the human person is an integrated unity." source

This story continues to allow me to love Terri more and more, and wonder how a judge could have ever sided with her "husband" as her voice in this world.

Pax

Mid-term Mid-life Mid-sentence

This week I am in the middle of things. I am at Mid-life, (God willing I live to be 90 I suppose). I am at the mid-point of a very taxing semester of Gradual School, which has most of my fellow students and I pulling out our hair (what little some of us have, and you know who you are). I am even in the middle of my Mid-term exam, which is a take home and I just this afternoon completed half of the questions, woo hoo!

My work day was interrupted midway today by a funeral. I sang in a funeral choir this morning for an older member of our parish today and it really made me sad. The choir (all 9 of us) was by far larger than the group of family members who were there to mourn her. Oh well, I guess that is the essence of Christian Community. We come to bury our dead, even it it means singing Amazing Grace which we never got to finish, because the crowd was so small we only sang two verses.

I guess the point of this reflection is that somehow I feel incomplete this week. Even my daily prayers have felt somehow interrupted. Nothing feels as though it is all together. Perhaps when I finish the last two questions on my mid-term and get it posted off to Br. John Mark, I will feel a sense of accomplishment that will put a stamp on this week. I cannot say.

My prayer is, that something gets accomplished finally, because the midway-ness of this week is beginning to give me the creeps.

Pax

Another one for the Bishops with Backbone File

This article give me hope. If a Bishop was willing to move quickly to remove a teacher of Drama from a Catholic high school for her public display of rejection of Church teachings then maybe there is hope for the USCCB after all.

Follow this link to read a response from a student at the High School.

Thanks to Rick Lugari at De Civitate Dei

Pax

Our Prayers Have Been Answered!

Maureen Martin is back on the job over at Catholic News . Org. Bringing us the greatest Satire in Blogdom.

We are so happy to hear that her husband is back safe from his duty in Iraq, and home and hearth are back to normal. Now he has given her back to us. What a nice guy.


Pax

Radical . . . That's Me!

You scored as Radical Catholic. You are "Radical" in its Catholic sense -- from the Latin word radix, or root. You are not just a "church person" but you are a disciple of Christ, making a total commitment to the Gospel, to voluntary poverty, and self-sacrifice for others. You give without counting the cost. You need to be sure that you remain obedient to the Church and your superiors, and do not consider yourself a prophet or become elitist. Try to make good examinations of conscience and to be humble. Radical Catholic 81% New Catholic 74% Traditional Catholic 57% Liberal Catholic 55% Evangelical Catholic 52% Neo-Conservative Catholic 50% Lukewarm Catholic 10% What is your style of American Catholicism? created with QuizFarm.com Via Martha Martha

Another Reason Why I Love B16

During a question-and-answer session with a half-dozen children, one boy told the pope that he had been told that Christ was really present in the Eucharist, or Communion.

``But how? I don't see him,'' the boy said. Benedict chuckled.

``We don't see him, but there are so many things that we don't see that exist and they are essential,'' Benedict said. ``For example, we don't see our reason, but we still have reason. We don't see our intelligence, but we have it ... We don't see the electric current, but we still see it works: We see how this microphone works, the lights.

``We don't see the risen Lord with our eyes, but we know that where Jesus is, men change, become better, become a bit more able to have peace and reconciliation.''

Source

Thanks to Curt Jester

Pax

Angelmeg's Retreat Insight

Say only those things

which improve on silence.

-Dyonysius the Elder

Okay, so I admit that this one will take a bit of time before it begins to bear fruit in my life but I am trying.

Pax

I Can Live with This!

Strong and Beautiful that describes me. . .

via

Pax

It Was 23 Years Ago Today . . .

On the day that Maximillian Kolbe was canonized, October 10, 1982 two young college kids went to mass together for the very first time at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Terre Haute Indiana. This was my parish church, and I had invited a young man from the nearby engineering school to attend Mass there because he was complaining about how liberal the campus ministry church was. I had long ago abandoned that church which I affectionately called "Our Lady of hte Nuclear Winter" for the much more conservative family of St. Ben's. It so happened, that my mom was also a member of the parish and after Mass, she invited us to come to her house for breakfast, and since we were both poor college students, we took her up on her offer, and my new friend and I went for a free meal.

St Ben's happened to be a Franciscan Parish, and since St. Max was one of their own, they were having a parish wide party to celebrate the happy event. Since we were both poor college kids, we decided we couln't pass up another free meal, so we attended the gala event and were well fed and learned so much about St Max that he became a very special friend to the both of us from that very day.

A week later, that young man and I went on our first official date, and a month and two days later we were engaged, and 23 years later we still celebrate the day that St. Max brought us to Church together before we even went on a date, or kissed.

Not a bad start for a Catholic Courtship, especially in the early 80's.

Happy Anniversary Mrangelmeg, love of my life.

Pax

What's This Man Stuff? We All Know Wisdom is a Woman!

You are Proverbs.


Which book of the Bible are you?
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The Angelbaby Already Wants to do a Stand-in Line-athon

Barb Nicolosi recommends The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Click on the link and read her reasons why we should all go and see it.


I know that my angelbaby has been bugging me ever since she found out they were filming this, one of her favorite book series'.
She, at 9, would be willing to do a stand-in-line-athon the likes of Star Wars if mrangelmeg and I allowed her to. I am so happy that I can take her to see it opening weekend, because as I have said on this blog before, if Barb recommends something I know that I will love it.

So, you will see us there, opening weekend. My daughter will be the one sitting on the edge of her seat in the last row (our favorite place to watch) and I will be the one with the box of tissues, because I know I will cry every time Aslan comes on the screen. I hope we see you all there.

Pax

Angelmeg's Retreat Insight

One doesn't go on retreat to be instructed,

one goes on retreat to savor.

-- John Henry Cardinal Newman

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The Great Disturbance in the Force has Been Righted!

My retreat is over and I can talk again.

They had a lot of nerve calling this weekend a "SILENT RETREAT"!!

Last year I went on my first Jesuit Silent retreat. I met with a spiritual director twice a day and the rest of the time I was either supposed to do nothing or some exercise that my director assigned me to do, all the while observing grand silence so as not to disturb the other women who were on retreat with me.

This year I was on what I thought was a silent retreat, but this time there were EIGHT TALKS by a Jesuit Priest! Now I am sure that this man is a wonderful retreat master, but somehow it mars my idea of a silent retreat to be forced to sit through eight talks on the spiritual exercises interspersed throughout the day. On top of that there was the rosary and stations of the cross and spiritual direction. One could hardly qualify this as a silent retreat except for the fact that we were supposed to not talk as we went between all of the functions we were supposed to attend.

I still was able to enter into the spirit of the time away and I came away with pages of insights and notes to help in my discernment over the next few months. I came in contact with four new Jesuit priests, one of whom stayed up late with me as I worked through an issue I have been trying to come to terms with, and gave me great counsel. I am so happy to have found my spiritual home in Ignatian spirituality and the Jesuits. Whenever I need clarity in discernment I know that I can count on the Jesuits to lead me to it.

If only Bellermine would have a real Silent retreat for women, all silence with no talks or mandatory rosaries or stations, just silence, direction, and the exercises I would go back in a heartbeat. Well I might have to reconsider the drive through Chicago, that took forever, but the grounds and the staff were nice.

I will try to remember to post some of my insights (at least the less personal ones) on my blog from time to time so that you can all benefit from what I learned.

The first one will be my next post.

Pax

I am Off!

My Blog will be silent for the weekend as I go off for my annual retreat. This year a friend of mine and I are going to Bellarmine Hall a Jesuist Retreat House in Barrington IL. for a Silent Retreat.

Why do I hear the sound of laughing reverberating throughout the internet? It could happen! I could be silent for 40 hours. I could do it. a Guy from the RCIA team at Church actually asked if I meant 40 consecutive hours. He thought maybe he had heard me wrong.

Okay, it might actually take the ministerial use of duct tape to achieve an entire 40 hours of complete silence from me, but it is a worthy goal, right?

Mrangelmeg says I can't even call him on my cell phone to let him know that I got there okay, because that would be breaking the rules. I figure that if I call him from the privacy of my room then, oh I guess he's right, the cell phone will get locked in the car so that I don't feel the urge to even text message (do you realize hope expensive a text message is? What a racket!

So, from 7:00 Friday evening until Noon on Sunday I will be attempting a feet that will be quite unnatural for me, silence for an extended period of time. I am actually looking forward to this.

After 40 hours of silence I will either be enlightened or insane.

Pax

I am so not a Philistine!

Do you dare find out if you are one?

Via God'sbody
Pax

FREE PIGLET!

THIS ARTICLE was one of the first things I read this morning. Thanks to my Mark Shea fix. Now I am just MAD. What right do those Muslims have? And if they can do it in England will they be able to do that here too? Will we soon be a Piglet free society because it might "offend" our Muslim brothers and sisters? Sheesh, I say to them, grow some thicker skin, or look the other way. It isn't as if Piglet were out to be offensive to Muslim's.

I think we all need to be proactive in this country. We need to fill our work spaces with piglet dolls and Babe posters. I can see the day coming when my youngest daughter will not be forced to read Animal Farm in high school, just like her father and I were, unless we stand up against this silly tyrany.

I will be joining the crusade right here and now. Thanks to Mark.

I LOVE IT!

Jeff over at The Curt Jester has some wonderful recruiting poseters for the Church Militant.

My favorite has to be:




Take a look at the rest of them and make up your own mind.

Pax

Imago Dei Meme

From Martha Martha

And here's your challenge! Post your own image of God to your blog, and pass this meme onto your blogging friends! I'd suggest that unless you have a picture of your own in mind, or you are artistically gifted and can draw your image of God, try Google Images or Yahoo Images. (Be sure to cite your source!) Let's see how many unique images of God we can collect, and how many people share a similar and a completely dissimilar image of God. If you participate in this exercise, please let me know in the comments so I can check out your image of God at your blog!



Here is my image:

Moment of Creation



It is actually an ocean wave in a storm and it came as wallpaper on my Windows 2000 computer. What it brings to mind to me is exactly the moement when God spoke the entire universe into existence with his love.

Somehow it was easy for me to understand that God has loved me for as long as I have been in existence, but it was an amazing revelation to me that God has loved me for as long as God has been God.

Pax

The Christian Onion

I discovered The Lark. about a month ago. It is a Christian version of The Onion. I find it quite hysterical.

This month you have to check out this article about the youth pastor who in an attempt to connect with his youth through vernacular has gone so far that now they no longer understand a word he says.

My other favorite feature is the link for the reading impaired. You have to see this one to believe it.

Enjoy children.

Pax

Bill Bennett Should Know Better

The one thing I learned in my College statistics class is that statistics can be made to prove just about any point you want to prove, all you have to do is state them in a way that is most beneficial to whatever point you are trying to make.

Bill Bennett is a big boy, and should know better than to have made a statement that was sure to have been taken WAY out of context, chopped in half and used against him, and I really feel sorry for the firestorm that his remarks have created for him. Especially because firstly I know that he is 100% against abortion in the first place, and secondly he was trying to make a point about statistics not race, but sadly that is not how is remarks will be perceived.

My other sadness for him personally is that because of his having written The Book of Virtues no one will ever let him forget that he once had a gambling habit. Thank heavens that God is more forgiving and forgetful than the media.

Pax