Strawberry Season~prayer for the harvest!

I Picked 2 of these boxes.

My friend and I went strawberry picking and I was able, (thank-you God) to pick about 12 quarts. The strawberry fields were well groomed and cared for. It took about an hour to pick them. I have frozen some and will make Strawberry Jam with the rest. We also had Strawberry Short Cake for dessert tonight. It was a lovely morning and very productive.

Strawberry Shortcake

Servings: 8 shortcakes

Strawberry topping

Generous pint strawberries

About 3 tablespoons sugar, depending on sweetness of berries

1 teaspoon Cointreau, optional

About 1 cup (or more) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Sugar, to taste

Vanilla extract, to taste

Biscuits

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

4 teaspoons sugar

6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into bits

3/4 cup heavy cream, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Strawberry topping.  Hull and slice the berries.  Put into a bowl, add the sugar and liqueur and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Allow to macerate for at least 30 minutes.  Set aside.

Biscuits. Whisk the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a medium-size mixing bowl until blended.  Add the butter and work it in with a pastry blender until the size of small peas.  Add the cream and stir gently with a fork until the dough comes together.  It should be somewhat moist.  If not, add more cream by droplets.

Turn out onto a very lightly floured board and knead the dough very lightly several times until it holds together.  Roll out to 3/4- to 1-inch thick.  With a floured biscuit cutter, cut out 8 biscuits, reusing the scraps gently formed back together and lightly rolled out.

Put onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush the tops with cream.  Bake for about 15 to 17 minutes until lightly browned.

Remove to a rack to cool.

To assemble, cut each biscuit in half.  Lay the bottom half onto a serving plate.  Add a dollop of whipped cream, spoon on some berries, add a smaller dollop of whipped cream.  Affix the top biscuit.  Add a dollop of whipped cream and a generous coating of berries.  Serve immediately.

We were at a farm that is not to far away named Fair Wind Farm.

They grow many kinds of veggies to sell at the Farmers Market.

http://www.fairwindsfarmmaine.com/100_1559.JPG

Prayer at Harvest and Thanksgiving

O God, source and giver of all things,
You manifest your infinite majesty, power and goodness
In the earth about us:
We give you honor and glory.
For the sun and the rain,
For the manifold fruits of our fields:
For the increase of our herds and flocks,
We thank you.
For the enrichment of our souls with divine grace,
We are grateful.

Supreme Lord of the harvest,
Graciously accept us and the fruits of our toil,
In union with Jesus, your Son,
As atonement for our sins,
For the growth of your Church,
For peace and love in our homes,
And for salvation for all.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Living God’s Justice: Reflections and Prayers, compiled by The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors 

JMJ~Tina

I am asking God to Bless, in a special way, all who read my blog.

You are loved!

Sts. Peter and Paul~June 29th

St. Peter and St. Paul

Feast Day: June 29 

St. Peter

Peter, the first pope, was a fisherman from Galilee. Jesus invited Peter to follow him, saying: "I will make you a fisher of men." Peter was a simple, hard-working man. He was generous, honest and loved Jesus very much.This great apostle's name was Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter, which means "rock." "You are Peter," Jesus said, "and on this rock I will build my Church." Peter was the chief or prince of the apostles.
When the Roman soldiers arrested Jesus, Peter was afraid. In his fright he committed the sin of denying that he knew Jesus, three times. Peter was terrified that they would kill him too, but before Jesus died, Peter repented totally. He wept over his denials for the rest of his life and Jesus lovingly forgave Peter.
After the resurrection Jesus asked Peter three times: "Do you love me?" "Lord," Peter answered, "you know all things. You know that I love you." Jesus truly did know! Peter was so right. Jesus said kindly: "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep." He was telling Peter to take care of his Church because he would be ascending into heaven. Jesus left Peter as the leader and head of His Church.
Peter later went to Rome to live. Rome was the center of the whole Roman Empire. Peter converted many nonbelievers there. When the fierce torture of Christians began, they begged Peter to leave Rome and save himself. Peter started out and on the road and Jesus appeared to him. Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "I am coming to be crucified a second time."
Then St. Peter turned around and went back. He understood that this vision meant that he was meant to suffer and die for Jesus. Soon, he was taken prisoner and condemned to death. Because he was not a Roman citizen, he, like Jesus, could be crucified. This time he did not deny the Lord. This time he was ready to die for Jesus. Peter asked to be crucified with his head downward since he was not worthy to suffer as Jesus had. The Roman soldiers did not find this unusual because slaves were crucified upside down.
St. Peter was martyred on Vatican Hill. It was around the year 67. Emperor Constantine built a large church over that sacred location in the fourth century.

St. Paul

Paul is the great apostle who hated and first tortured the Christians, making them suffer much. Then on his road to Damascus Jesus changed his heart and he was converted. We celebrate Paul's conversion on January 25.At the time of his conversion, Jesus had said: "I will show him how much he must suffer for me." St. Paul loved Jesus very much, so much, in fact, that he became a living copy of our Savior. All his life, as a missionary, St. Paul met troubles and went through dangers of every kind. He was whipped, stoned, shipwrecked, and lost at sea. Many, many times he was hungry, thirsty and cold.
Yet he always trusted in God. He never stopped preaching. "The love of Jesus presses me onward," he said. In reward, God gave him great comfort and joy in spite of every suffering.
We read about his marvelous adventures for Christ in Luke's Acts of the Apostles, beginning with chapter nine. But St. Luke's story ends when Paul arrives in Rome. He is under house arrest, waiting to be tried by Emperor Nero.
A famous early Christian writer, Tertullian, tells us that Paul was freed after his first trial. But then he was put in prison again. This time he was sentenced to death. He died around the year 67, during Nero's terrible torture of the Christians.
Paul called himself the apostle of the Gentiles (people who were not Jews) and he preached the Good News of Jesus to them. That took him to the far ends of the world. Because of Paul, we, too, have received the Christian faith.
Reflection: May our hearts be filled with joy as we honor these two great apostles: Peter, our leader in the faith, and Paul, its fearless preacher.

I found this at the Holy Spirit Interactive kids site:

http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/0629.asp

Catholic Recipe: St. Peter's Fish with Herbs

from: Catholic Culture~   https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=1442

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp. minced tarragon
• 1 Tbsp. rosemary
• 1 Tbsp. thyme
• 1 Tbsp. parsley
• 1 Tbsp. basil
• 1 clove garlic
• pinch of ground ginger
• 2 Tbsp. breadcrumbs
• 1 St. Peter's fish (John Dory), weighing roughly 3 pounds, filleted (sole can substitute)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• all-purpose flour
• oil for frying
• 10 Tbsp. butter, melted in frying pan
• 2 Tbsp. dry white wine
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt
• pepper

DETAILS

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: • • • •

Cost: $$$$

For Ages:11+

Origin: Rome

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FOOD CATEGORIES (2)

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FEASTS (3)

Fish shows up on tables everywhere to celebrate the Church's first pope, whose occupation was a fisherman, until Jesus called him fish for men (souls).

Many cookbooks give recipes for fish bearing Peter's name. One fish in particular, as tasty as it is ugly, was classified by Linneaus in the eighteenth century as Zeus faber, but is more commonly known as St. Peter's fish or John Dory (See picture.) The reason for this association may lie in one of several legends. It is said that the saint found this fish caught up in his net and, seeing how ugly it was, gingerly picked it up between two fingers (marking the two black spots on its side) and threw it back into the water. Others have ventured that these marks are black because St. Peter had previously worked as a charcoal-maker; still other accounts identify them as marks of holy gratitude, since in the fish's mouth the apostle found a silver coin with which he was able to pay the excise man at Capernaum.

The name "John Dory" is the English commonplace version of "St. Peter."

DIRECTIONS

Combine the herbs, garlic and ginger in a mortar, crush, then add all but 2 tablespoons of the breadcrumbs. Mix well and spread over the bottom of a large oval dish. Coat the fish fillets with the egg, coat with flour and fry in the oil. When the fillets are done, drain on absorbent paper. Add herbs to the butter. Slowly add the wine and lemon juice. Blend vigorously together, until the mixture is well amlgamated. Set the golden-brown fillets of fish on the serving dish, sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumbs and serve still warm, with the piping hot sauce.

Recipe Source: Buon Appetito, Your Holiness: The Secrets of the Papal Table by Mariangela Rinaldi and Mariangela Vicini, Arcade Publishing, New York, 2000

A very good homily from Father Wade Menezes

St. Josemaria Escriva~ another wonderful recipe from Catholic Cuisine   http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2010/06/st-josemaria-escriva.html

June 26th~Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva~

Make Flan!

 ...The national dessert of Spain, home country of St. Josemaria...

I originally printed out this recipe to try.

You may want to try it!

In the meantime, this instant flan caught my eye at the the grocery store...

(I tried it ahead of time with the recipe above to use for Plan B)

Ingredients:

~This box and milk~

Now I'm no "flan connoisseur" but I thought it was delicious! 

~It was amazingly easy, which is the best part for those of us with limited time~

My only critique is that it was not as firm as I had expected.  

However, I used a jello mold for the nice shape and effect...So I'm not sure if this had something to do with the consistency.

Since this flan also came with carmel sauce, it would also be a yummy dessert to use for the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16th!

~Just add whipped cream~

God Bless you on this special feast day!

Proverb 31~ What does it mean? Are you a P31 Woman? Am I?

A Psalm 31 woman sounds so beautiful and hard

 working. She sounds so Holy and balanced, (faith 

and work)...I would like to be a P31 Woman~

This image reminds me of Our Lady.

1The words of Lemuel, king of Massa,^* the instruction his mother taught him:

2What are you doing, my son!^*

what are you doing, son of my womb;

what are you doing, son of my vows!

3Do not give your vigor to women,

or your strength^* to those who ruin kings.

4It is not for kings, Lemuel,

not for kings to drink wine;

strong drink is not for princes,

5Lest in drinking they forget what has been decreed,

and violate the rights of any who are in need.

6Give strong drink to anyone who is perishing,

and wine to the embittered;

7When they drink, they will forget their misery,

and think no more of their troubles.

8Open your mouth in behalf of the mute,

and for the rights of the destitute;

9Open your mouth, judge justly,

defend the needy and the poor!

10Who can find^* a woman of worth?^a

Far beyond jewels is her value.

11Her husband trusts her judgment;

he does not lack income.

12She brings him profit, not loss,^*

all the days of her life.

13She seeks out wool and flax

and weaves with skillful hands.

14Like a merchant fleet,^*

she secures her provisions from afar.

15She rises while it is still night,

and distributes food to her household,

a portion to her maidservants.

16She picks out a field and acquires it;

from her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17She girds herself with strength;

she exerts her arms with vigor.^*

18She enjoys the profit from her dealings;

her lamp is never extinguished at night.^*

19She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her fingers ply the spindle.^*

20She reaches out her hands to the poor,

and extends her arms to the needy.

21She is not concerned for her household when it snows—

all her charges are doubly clothed.

22She makes her own coverlets;

fine linen and purple are her clothing.

23Her husband is prominent at the city gates

as he sits with the elders of the land.^*

24She makes garments and sells them,

and stocks the merchants with belts.

25She is clothed with strength and dignity,

and laughs at the days to come.^*

26She opens her mouth in wisdom;

kindly instruction is on her tongue.

27She watches over^* the affairs of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband, too, praises her:

29“Many are the women of proven worth,

but you have excelled them all.”

30Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;

the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.^*

31Acclaim her for the work of her hands,

and let her deeds praise her at the city gates.

Bible At Core Of Catholic Beliefs

BY MONSIGNOR J. BRIAN BRANSFIELD

People ask if everything Catholics believe is found in the Bible. The answer? Both “yes” and “no.” The Church “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] no. 82 Dei Verbum 9). Jesus is the ultimate Source of everything Catholics believe, for he reveals God’s plan to save the world from sin as he reveals the Father’s love. Jesus does this because he is the Son of God. He is always united with his Father and thus is the fullness of both Revelation.

The mission of Jesus continues through the ministry of the Church that he founded, and he has given the Church the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for guidance in everything. The Revelation of Jesus is thus extended to the Apostles and handed on through two means: Sacred Scripture and Tradition.

Sacred Scripture is the inspired word of God, the collection of sacred books that hand on the truth of Revelation in written form.

Tradition, as understood by the Church, is more than a collection of customs or time-honored habits. It encompasses the Church’s teaching, life and worship. The living apostolic Tradition highlights the fact that the Apostles received the words and deeds of Jesus who passed on the authority to teach in his name. “Tradition transmits, in its entirety, the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit” (CCC no 81; Dei Verbum 9).

The Bible reveals that God fulfilled his saving plan of love to free us from sin. The culmination of the entire Bible are the words and deeds of Jesus, in particular his Passion, death and glorious Resurrection.

The beliefs of Catholics are found in the Bible in two ways: explicit and implicit. Some teachings of the Catholic Church are easily found in the Bible.  For example, that Jesus is the Son of God, that he called Twelve Apostles to follow him, that he healed, forgave sins, proclaimed the Kingdom of God present in his person, and that he suffered, died and rose again for our sins, are all very explicit in the Bible. The Holy Spirit makes known the full meaning of these events in and through the Church, and makes the power of these events effective throughout history and in our lives today.

Some beliefs are more hidden. Love loves to hide secrets, so that when we find them we are enraptured even more by their beauty. The mystery of Jesus is so profound that sometimes you have to look closely to see all the parts that he has made known. The Holy Spirit has hidden some dimensions of the mission of Jesus in the Bible.  The truths of faith are clarified by the Tradition through the Magisterium, the Church’s authentic teaching office. These truths never contradict the Word of God in Scripture, but serve to articulate its truth more clearly.

The Holy Spirit helps us to find and to articulate these mysteries. The teaching on the Trinity, that is, that there are three Persons in one God, is found in the Bible in the many instances where Jesus speaks about his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.   The terms that the Church needed to express this mystery were given to her over several hundred years by the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Gospel writers as they wrote of the words of Jesus that revealed the mystery in the first place. The Church’s teachings about the Blessed Mother, the saints, the role of virtue and holiness are found in the Bible implicitly in varying degrees.

- - -
Monsignor J. Brian Bransfield is General Secretary of the USCCB and previously served as Executive Director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis. 

More Grace.....

2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"⁵⁰

Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.⁵¹

2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this desire:

If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.⁵²

2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit."⁵³ Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.⁵⁴

2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.⁵⁵

2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.⁵⁶ However, according to the Lord's words "Thus you will know them by their fruits"⁵⁷ - reflection on God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.

A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'"⁵⁸

grace

noun

1. 1.

   simple elegance or refinement of movement.

   "she moved through the water with effortless grace"

   synonyms:

   elegance, poise, gracefulness, finesse;
2. 2.

   (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

verb

1. 1.

   do honor or credit to (someone or something) by one's presence.

   "she bowed out from the sport she has graced for two decades"

   
   

You are in my prayers:)

~JMJ~

Tina