Gates Lift up your heads! Raise your arches! Let the King of Glory enter!

I have finally worked out how to upload video's to YouTube. Thrice woot!

Palm Sunday procession. Fitzroy square to Ogle Street.
It is a privilege and a joy to follow the Cross of Christ in the streets with my brothers and sisters.

Chocolate coins for breakfast

 

Happy feast of St Nicholas!

Happy Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Mary, little Mary,

You are the gentle breeze of Elijah

The breath of the Spirit of God

You are the burning bush of Moses

which bears the Lord

without being consumed

You are ‘that place near me’

which the Lord showed to Moses

You are the cleft in the rock

which God covers with his hand,

while his glory passes by.

Let the Lord come with us

if we have found favour

in his eyes

it’s true that we are sinners

but pray for us

and we shall be his Heritage forever.

Mary, little Mary,

Daughter of Jerusalem

Mother of all nations

Virgin of Nazareth

You are the cloud

which protects Israel

The tent where we meet

The Ark of the Covenant

The place where the Lord dwells,

The Sanctuary of his Shekinah.

Just for the record

All eight of us stayed up all night for the Easter vigil.
We arrived at the church just before midnight and got home at about 6am, whereupon we tumbled into bed, and slept the sleep of the just until noon.
For the baby it was business as usual; feeding , playing with her toes and sleeping.
Comcille napped on the floor for about 40 minutes.
Gabriel snoozed where he sat for a while..
Honor, who had been put to bed at 7pm and had 4 hours sleep before the vigil, stoutly refused to be coaxed into napping. Mostly she was fine until about 4 in the morning when she started plaintively calling out "Car! car!" which meant "Take me home!".

Even though we were daunted by the idea, lots of people had told us that it was unmissable and I'm really glad we girded our loins and went for it. The church was packed, there were plenty of other families with young children, in fact so great was the attendance that there was a simultaneous vigil going on in a nearby convent to take the overflow.
At times I was really deeply moved by the beauty and drama of it all.
All night, despite moments of great yawning tiredness, I had this bubbling, happy feeling throughout.
I just love being Catholic!
I love how the church helps us to experience the mysteries of our faith through the liturgy, through the seasons of the liturgical year, through fasting and feasting, through art, through music, through food. These sacred ceremonies, which are celebrated today around the world, go back to the time of the ancient church. They make visible our supernatural unity with the mystical body of Christ across time.
Wow.
How did I miss this first time round? Why didn't I see and appreciate then what I do now?
This is a question that still baffles me and I don't have any answer. I just don't.
I once was blind but now I see.

Good Friday

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Hail Glorious St Patrick!

Hail, glorious St. Patrick, dear saint of our isle,

On us thy poor children bestow a sweet smile;

And now thou art high in the mansions above,

On Erin’s green valleys look down in thy love.

On Erin’s green valleys, on Erin’s green valleys,

On Erin’s green valleys look down in thy love.

Hail, glorious St. Patrick, thy words were once strong

Against Satan’s wiles and a heretic throng;

Not less is thy might where in Heaven thou art;

Oh, come to our aid, in our battle take part!

In a war against sin, in the fight for the faith,

Dear Saint, may thy children resist to the death;

May their strength be in meekness, in penance, and prayer,

Their banner the Cross, which they glory to bear.

Thy people, now exiles on many a shore,

Shall love and revere thee till time be no more;

And the fire thou hast kindled shall ever burn bright,

Its warmth undiminished, undying its light.

Ever bless and defend the sweet land of our birth,

Where the shamrock still blooms as when thou wert on earth,

And our hearts shall yet burn, wherever we roam,

For God and St. Patrick, and our native home.

And a bonus feast day video, "Give up yer aul sins"  the story of Saint Patrick.

Carnival of Meatless meals

I've been meaning to post my delicious broccoli ancovy pasta recipe for a while now, but when Milehimama announced that she was hosting this years meatless meals carnival for lent I decided I could delay sharing it with you no longer!
Having the word "delicious" and "anchovy" in the same sentence would ordinarily be oxymoronic, because I hate anchovies, both the look of them and the taste of them . Or at least I thought I did. I hate whitebait too. I think its the wholeness of the fish that gets me. The idea of eating the little fishy head complete with the little fishy eyeballs makes me beg for a cheese sandwich. I'm a little sensitive like that. If my food was once a living, breathing, reproducing creature, then I'm happier if it comes to me in completely unrecognisable form. This is why, back in the day when I didn't know about the mercury contaminant issues, I preferred tinned tuna to tinned salmon. Why does the former come in nice clean lumps of tuna flesh and the latter always come complete with bones and black scaly skin?

However, when I was introduced to the dish I share with you now, the taste was so, um, indefinably "something", not especially fishy, but richly er "yum".  Sorry, that's the best I can do with culinary adjectives. But trust me. This is one of the simplest, most delicious dishes you can prepare, . And it's frugal too. And there's not an eyeball in sight.
Oh, and if that's not enough to persuade you to give them a try, did you know that anchovies are really very good for you? Rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins and omegas. Also they are ( because of their short life span apparently)  low in mercury, PCBs and other contaminants.
A Jolly good all round little fish.

Persuaded?
Alrighty. Here's what you need:

A head of broccoli
A jar of anchovies in oil
A packet of spaghetti
Olive oil.

Optional extras:
Garlic
Dried chili flakes.

Here's what you do:

Dump the jar of anchovies in their oil into a fairly capacious cooking receptacle. I use a large flat bottomed wok type pan that has sufficient room for me to add the pasta later. I like to be able to serve straight from the pan and I detest using more dishes than is strictly necessary.

Heat the anchovies, giving them an occasional stir. At this point  you may want to add some garlic and chili. When I  watched my Italian cheffy friend cooking this she just had the simple anchovies on their own, but I quite like the addition of garlic and chili and it's hardly any more effort.

While this is on the heat, prep the broccoli. I use the whole broccoli, stem and all and just cut the whole lot fairly small ( it all breaks down and becomes a bit 'saucy' with the addition of extra oil ) so although broccoli florets might work well too if you want them like that, that's not the way I've cooked them for this dish.

Give the anchovies the odd stir while you're chopping the broccoli. Add some olive oil if you need it. By the time the broccoli is all chopped, the anchovies will have been broken down in the hot oil and rendered reassuringly unrecognisable as having been anything that was once a living thing happily besporting itself in it's briny home.
It's now just a lumpy oily sauce.

Throw in the bits of broccoli and stir. Add oil if it looks like it needs it.

Cook the pack of spaghetti.

When the spaghetti is cooked, dump the whole lot into the sizzly broccoli/anchovy sauce . Mix it all up well.

Bon appetit!

On the basis of the following very rough pricing:
Anchovies £2.00
Spaghetti £1.00
Broccoli £2.00
I estimate that this recipe feeds my entire family for a fiver, although we'd usually have a salad of some sort on the side too, but it's still a pretty frugal meatless meal.

Check out other meatless meals over at Milehimamas.

On the feast of the Holy Innocents

"A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, for they were no more."


I read a piece today that was linked to on MommyLife.
It is the response of a Rabbi to a question from a mother who has learnt that the baby she is expecting has Downs syndrome. She wonders whether she should end the pregnancy.
It is a beautiful response. This especially touched me:

"Since this will be the soul of a child who will need special care and who will know the world differently than others, she has a special mission. She is chosen to ignite the kindness that lies dormant in people's souls and plant the seeds of empathy in their hearts; to teach caring, patience and tolerance in a way no other teacher could. She will enter the world armed with lessons and tests for all who will come to know her—and she will leave it a much kinder world, a world blossoming with compassion, a world where people can feel for one another and put aside their own concerns and comfort to run to help. She will leave behind a touch of the heaven from whence she came."

Read the rest here.

Today the church honours the memory of the infant victims of King Herod.
It's a sombre reflection, and it would be hard to believe that such savage cruelty would be possible, were it not for the daily reporting of similar horrors. Horrors against which we mostly become inured in order to protect our hearts and perhaps also to preserve our sanity.
The normal instinct responds protectively to weakness and vulnerability.
Where we see innocence, we sense something delightful, liberating and true.

When power is turned against the helpless, rather than in defence of them, our hearts are unsettled. Sometimes it is simply too much, too intractably difficult, too sad for us to contemplate.
And we turn away.

Today, I am thinking about the weak, the vulnerable and the innocent.
My prayer is that they inspire in me always an impulse to cherish, to protect and to humbly learn from "the least of these".

I am thinking also, of those parents who have known the loss of a child. My prayer for them is that they have the assurance and comfort that God gives to the completely weak and defeated.

I am thinking especially today of Olivia, my own 'holy innocent'. Whose short life wrung out my heart.

The pangs of sorrow are immeasurably eased by the blessing of Marie-Aibhlinn. Nonetheless, I miss her. And I know that without her, inwardly, I will always be walking with a little limp.



Dear Olivia, loved and carried always in my heart, until we meet in heaven, pray for me.

7 Quick Takes. The very late edition.

1)

Behold the crib! A very plain version this year , but I've decided that plain is the way to go since I have it at child's 'fiddling height'. My previous attempts at more elaborate nativity scenes have made me very possessive of the 'look' and twitchy about little fingers constantly giving it a makeover.
This year, assembly was fuss free.

• Dark felt backdrop tintacked to underside of bookshelf suggesting a dark Bethlehem night: Check.
• Fairy lights hitched crudely onto tintacks suggestive of twinkly Bethlehem skies: Check
• Nativity figures awaiting the darling promised baby: Check

Done in five minutes.

Oh, and Honors subsequent not so final touches:

• Woolly sheep from farm set: Check
• Plastic cow also from farm set: Check
• Plastic polar bear from zoo set: Check

Be it ever so simple, the crib is the loveliest of all the Christmas decorations. When everyone has gone to bed, I love to just sit with a glass of wine and stare at it. And of course, tweak the polar bear a bit and move the angel just a touch. It's like a holy dolls house.


2)

I get a lot of inspiration from other bloggers.
Here is a photo of Gabriel and Colmcille last night which handily illustrates three advent activities all going on at once, all of which owe in some part to various lovely blogs.
See the lovely tree on which hangs some Jesse tree symbols? I got that tip here.
( click on the photo to see how tres tres 'rustique' the symbols are)

See the advent candle ring in the foreground? Got that recommendation from here ( although sadly the seller was out of stock and it only arrived a couple of days ago, so it is still sans greenery at the moment. It will be greened up tomorrow)

Notice the papers that the children are busy working on? They are the most lovely O Antiphon colouring pages which I found here.
We used metallic gel pens in lovely colours and then I laminated the pages. They look wonderful, like illuminated manuscript. The boys love using the gel pens, and even though they sometimes go on 'colouring in strike' they happily did this while I read to them and were happy to do it again this evening.

3)

Just after I took the photo of the crib, Honor dropped the camera and I notice that there is now a shadow on the bottom left of the screen. At first I thought it was my thumb occluding the window, but I now realise that it must be damaged from the fall. What a pity.

4)

I don't watch the telly much, but caught the tail end of this new sitcom on BBC2 the other night. It's called Miranda and it tickled me so much that I was still snorting after I had finished watching it. I only saw the last 10 minutes, so I looked it up on iplayer and spent a half hour at lunchtime, while Honor was napping and Colmcille was doing something with a pair of scissors and a cardboard box, watching it again.
And just incase you think I was recumbent on the sofa at the time, in a Juicy Couture tracksuit eating bon bons. I was not. I was peeling potatoes. I think that laughing and peeling vegetables counts as multi tasking.
And I don't wear Juicy Couture tracksuits. I have standards.
If you are tempted, here's the link. Go on, laughing is good for you It's like a massage on the inside apparently. All your internal organs get pleasingly jigged about. And that's a Well Known Medical Fact (TM)

5)

The actress who plays Mirandas mother is Patricia Hodge. I briefly looked after her after she had her second baby when I worked on the private ward at Queen Charlottes. I recall her being charming, and well... younger! Much younger. Whoever said Tempus Fugit spoke the truth. And I think it is fugitting faster every year.

6)

Has anyone tried this? Do I need it? Will it change my life?
I certainly DO find myself losing track of my life. I identify with the foolish man in the video.
I need to know if it's the next thing that I have to have. Advice please.

7)

Do I have to always post 7 things?

( more quick takes here.)

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today the church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Having, until fairly recently, been standing on the other side of the theological fence, I feel sensitive to the ickiness, perplexity and even downright offence that this teaching provokes.

When I was 'away from the church' I never felt repulsed by the Marian doctrines, as I know some are. I was just completely disinterested in them. They seemed odd and irrelevant. How could we possibly know? Why did it matter?

Today I still feel surprised by how different the view looks from this new perspective.
Reflecting on my new acceptance of the authority of the church to teach ( something I have come to understand as being entirely scriptural and related to our trust in the competence of the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into all truth ) the dogma of the Immaculate Conception now seems to me to be a part of the seamless theological garment which, rather than deifying Mary ( which is how it appears to some of my protestant friends) in fact upholds and emphasises the deity of Christ.

I've been thinking about Moses, who was instructed to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. And about Uzzah, whose unfortunate fate underlined the undefilable holiness of the ark of the covenant.
Anyway, while my mind is turning on these things, I'm planning to listen to this talk tonight.
The speaker is Professor Lawrence Feingold of the Association of Hebrew Catholics and his lecture is on Mary’s Immaculate Conception and her role as the New Eve . He sounds suitably boffinaceous for bedtime listening.

On a more practical note, I've been thinking about how on earth those mummy bloggers who post delightful pictures of liturgically themed teas and arts and crafts do it. Do they have an army of domestic staff in the background doing the washing up and wiping bottoms?
I went to mass this morning with the children and we stayed for 10 minutes afterwards for adoration. The children were uncharacteristically quiet and biddable. Marie-Aibhlinn slept in the sling and Honor and Colmcille knelt in an attitude of picture postcard piety before the Blessed Sacrament.
Rather than maximising this little heavenly opportunity for personal contemplative prayer, I spent the ten minutes being fascinated by the childrens behaviour and wondering how long it would last. After ten minutes I figured any longer would be pushing my luck so we left while the going was good.

When we came home we made some spiced biscuit dough, and a banana cake in honour of the feast day. The biscuits never actually got baked, but the dough is sitting in the fridge so we'll get round to that over the next few days. This colouring page is still in the works.
While we made eggy, floury messes in the kitchen, we listened to this:


Because of all the baking ( which, owing to all the 'help' I have in the kitchen, always takes far longer than I ever imagine it will) supper was yesterdays leftover bolognese. None of the planned read alouds got read. Apart from a little handwriting practice and ten minutes German ( thank you Rosetta Stone) we didn't get any of the other planned home ed stuff done.
Even the laundry didn't happen until this evening after Honor went to bed. I'd love to watch a video play back of my day, because I want to see how it is possible to move around so much, and get so little actually done. I must be being uneconomical with my time somewhere. Perhaps I do need one of those home management binders that I keep reading about?

Feast of the Archangels

Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael pray for us!


Dear Gabriel
Next year, please God, we will celebrate your feast day more fittingly.
This year however, I thank you for bearing with your mothers weariness.
She feels like a champion when she manages to get supper on the table and keep the laundry situation under some control. These days, the mere basics of daily life are about all she can acheive without becoming truly overwhelmed and frazzled. And as you are aware, frazzled mother is no fun at all.

I hope you enjoyed your chocolate cake as some small nod in recognition of this day.

Your name, as you know, means 'God is my strength'. My prayer for you, is that you always know the wonderful truth of these words.

How very appropriate, at this time of waiting to welcome our newest little soul, that your angel is, among other things, the patron saint of childbirth.
His salutation to the Blessed Virgin, Hail full of grace... has become our familiar prayer.
How strange that must have seemed when those words were first uttered.
Our Ladys 'Yes' was an act of trust in God that truly ensured that ALL generations would call her Blessed.
Lets pray for the courage to not be afraid of the plans God has for us, and for the security of knowing that He is our strength.

Perhaps, in honour of your patron, we could try to pray the Angelus?



And lets not forget the other two archangels who share this feast day.


Here is the prayer to Saint Michael:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who roam about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
And here is some information about where that prayer came from.

And you can read the story about the Angel Raphael and Tobias in the book of Tobit.
Take a look here.


Lastly, here are some beautiful images by artists ancient and modern who have been inspired by the story of the Annunciation.

By Henry Ossawa Tanner ( 1898)


By John Collier

By Sandro Botticelli


By Fra Angelico


Next year, we'll try to do this, and perhaps this, and maybe some of this.
Until then, thank you for your sweet, good natured patience.
With love and squeezes
Mummy x

Remembering a beautiful saint

"When [St. Maximilian] looked with compassionate eyes and serene countenance at the executioners, they could not stand his gaze and demanded 'Turn your eyes away. Do not look at us that way!' As they left the cell they would mutter to themselves, 'We have never seen a man like him.' Thus hatred was conquered by love, evil by sheer goodness, and death by one who freely gave up his life so another might live..."

Brother Francis M. Kalvelage, FI, Kolbe Saint of the Immaculata, (Academy of the Immaculate: 2001), 10.

(HT MaryVitamin)

Saint Maximilian Kolbes feast day was on the 14th August, the anniversary of his death in Auschwitz in 1941.

Having recently read this book about him, he has become one of Gabriels favourite saints.
So it seemed fitting to honour him on his feast day in some way.
I wanted to do something with a red and white theme, for Poland, and for the red and white crowns that the Blessed Virgin was said to have offered him when he was a boy. One was for purity, one for martyrdom. He chose both.

Initially I was planning on fairy cakes, with red and white icing, but it soon became apparent that I was running out of time and energy, and headlong into a very frazzled tea time.
I did strawberries and cream instead.

I have already written about my "ah ha!" moment during a Seder meal, and in a much less elaborate way, this little pudding likewise brought a sweet way of remembering a hero of the church .
Colmcille, who is six and had not paid great attention to the story when I had been reading it aloud, was very perky and eager to be part of the conversation that we had over the strawberries and cream. He was much interested in the red crown and the white crown, and what they indicated, and that led off into other tangential, but interesting, musings.


Just incase anyone is interested, this is my very favourite way of preparing strawberries, it creates a lovely, sweet/tangy crimson liquor that swirls prettily into the cream. It's extremely simple and fuss free to serve too, which is always a bonus for mummy:

Hull and chop the strawberries.
Sprinkle with sugar ( don't be too shy with the sugar, the idea is that it won't be needed at the table, thus doing away with another potential source of aggro)
Drizzle over some balsamic vinegar. If you don't have balsamic vinegar I have managed very nicely with apple cider vinegar and I'm sure other varieties would be fine too)
I can't tell you how much too drizzle, like the sugar, I've no idea. Just stir it all up and have a taste. Then leave it to sit for a bit for all the syrupy liquor to 'mature'. I usually try for at least an hour ahead of eating time.

(Psst. Top tip for slacker mums: much easier than fairy cakes.)