December 2015

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

December 26, 2015

One of my friends, Fr. John, has been working through the Book “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.”

It’s a lot like Peter Reinhardt’s recipe in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice, in that you don’t do much other than let the yeast work on the flour to build the flavor. Then you shape it how you’d like (which takes up the 5 minutes,) let it rise, and bake it.

Any oven will do!

A pan of steamy water helps make for a wonderful texture in the crust.

The bread bakes for about 35 minutes or so…

The internal temperature should reach between 205-210 degrees Fahrenheit. Timed it perfectly here!

Ideally the bread cools overnight. Hahah. Heheheh… Hoo-eeee.

After about ten minutes though,

Just sitting there looking and smelling absolutely wonderful….

Who could resist? It was to die for.

For never having made bread before, Fr. John did a great job. This method is simple and effective. The bread is delicious!

Merry Christmas

December 26, 2015

For obvious reasons, I don’t have a lot of time for blogging during the Advent and the Feast of Christmas. During the actual Christmas Season, from the 25th until January 6th or so, there’s a lot more time to be spent updating here and there.

But suffice it to say that despite the busyness, it was a marvelous time.

Here are a few things I learned this Christmas:

Making a reservation at the hotel where you’re going to be having dinner is ostensibly a great idea, until you forget to cancel the reservation and have to either pay for the room or stay in it.
There’s nothing wrong with staying in it, but it’s much more expensive than staying at one of your friend’s rectories.
It was very nice having a place in the city where friends could congregate and socialize. So, while I doubt I’ll be staying at the Roosevelt again anytime soon — if ever, even though it’s entirely lovely — it was a good way to spend Christmas night.

That’s about it for my social life. Now, back to my prayer life….

The Mangy Manger

December 16, 2015December 15, 2015

First of all, let me say that this manger is not mangy at all. The title was just a little alliteration and used to describe the great guys inside the manger, who built it as a labor of love.

But what a mangy crew!

Abita Springs is such a great town. I always think that Alfred Hitchcock would have loved it here. It’s a down to earth place, where people get to know one another, and no one is afraid to be eccentric, and no one is afraid to be holy.

The Manger Scene is coming along; a few reflection issues here in the morning shade, before the inside lights are connected, to highlight the construction crew.

Helloooo…….

The figurines were ordered from Italy, and came in boxes saying “Made in China”, a bit of international flair there, and they are beautiful.

In the meantime, our gardening club freshened up all of the gardens for the Christmas Season. They’re so great.

My camera’s UV lens has some issues going on with it evidently, all of the clouding here and there.

I worked inside all day, took a long walk, and knocked out the mounds of paperwork that go along with pastoral duties. What would life be without paperwork? Bills? Taxes?

It’d be a foretaste of heaven no doubt. But until then…

Jesus Christ is very strong here. That’s a great thing.

Down At the Farm

December 14, 2015

So, my cousin and his lovely wife have taken to farming, and I have taken to visiting them. I suddenly feel so much closer to the whole “buy local” movement.

It’s an astoundingly beautiful place out in the Louisiana countryside, where the plentiful rains replenish the ground regularly, and our temperate (hah!) climate nurtures wondrous growth. I hear Californians are moving here too, escaping the ongoing drought out West.

I can’t help but love any colors which look somewhat like fall colors.

They raise chickens, lambs, goats, and grow hydroponic lettuce and herbs. The eggs are delicious. The lettuce is wonderful. The herbs are beautiful and filled with flavor. I’ll admit I’m biased, but why shouldn’t I be? They have excellent product.

All in all, it’s made me want to start a farm in the backyard here at the Rectory. Or at least a garden.

The beginnings of Catholic Social teaching, starting with Rerum Novarum of course, taught that every family should have the space for a garden. I think that teaching’s coming full circle. A “back to the land” movement started about a century ago, following publication of Rerum Novarum, and Fr. Vincent McNabb, in England, started a movement for people to move out of the large, industrialized cities, back to the countryside. As the “back to the land” movement spread to literature, Margaret Mitchell, a devout Catholic (well, somewhat… she actually left the Church in later life and became Episcopalian.,) who grew up visiting with the local nuns, and hearing their stories of the Civil War, wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning, and epic novel Gone with the Wind, in which the heroine is constantly renewed by her return to the land; Tara, the plantation, from terra for earth.

I don’t think we can be raising sheep here, in downtown Abita. These ewes are eyeing me up here; great expectations. I’m sure they would not appreciate their photos on my little weblog here. But, that’s life when you’re a sheep.

The goats, aside from being very inquisitive, are also very friendly. And cute as could be. I mean, look at those mugs! There name are Eustes and Leroy.

God bless the farm, and the farmers. Without farms, where would we be? Be sure to check out Our Family Farm, and their partners over at Sacred Roots.

Learning the Latin Mass

December 11, 2015December 10, 2015

Recently we changed our Mass schedule here at St. Jane, and added a Mass at 12 Noon. The Mass we added is in the Extraordinary Form, otherwise known as the Latin Mass.

It’s really been met with sheer delight in some quarters, and sheer horror in others. What can I say? When the Lord asks you to do something, you don’t say no. And when the Archbishop confirms it, you absolutely don’t say no!

Aside from that, I’m glad to have it here. The Extraordinary Form adds a rich dimension to the spiritual life of the Parish, and many many of our Parishioners have asked for it. We’ve averaged over 250 people so far, which is quite a crowd in our Church, which holds about 280 people (I know… it’s a rather intimate sacred space.) Several Priests in the area have offered to help with it, which is a help as we have 7 Masses here on the weekend.

In the 45 years since the new Mass — the Novus Ordo Missae — was introduced, a lot of people have never gotten to know the former rite. When the new Mass was introduced, I was a kid, and remember being very confused by it. We all looked at each other and said, “What?! (Seriously, we did. It was confusing and not well explained to us kids.) I finally studied it by reading all of the Liturgy Documents published during the 70’s and 80’s, and 90’s, and the 00’s, and the 10’s, which has been no small feat, and came to understand and have a great appreciation for it.

When I first re-attended a Latin Mass, as a grown-up some 30 odd years later, the old Mass, the Extraordinary Form, I was very confused. It’s not the kind of thing which is necessarily easy to follow along with, especially at first glance. But one day I went, and I just sat there and prayed, and prayed along with what was going on, and it came back to me. I understood it again.

That was a far cry from actually learning the Mass. It’s been no small feat either. I’ve studied it before, have translated parts of it on and off, and come to a general understanding of the structure. But I’d never mastered the nuts and bolts properly until a few weeks ago. I have more to learn, but I’m looking forward to it. What’s life without interests, challenges and new lessons to learn?

Come out and join us sometime!