The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Posted originally on the CTH on December 7, 2023 | Sundance
Treehouse! Why the name?
Perhaps this is fuel for a conversation as you decorate your Christmas tree.
There are three types of people in your life cycle, Leafs, Branches and Roots/Trunks.
• The Leaf people are seasonal; they will be there for a little while then gone. Enjoy them and the beauty they provide but accept they will transition and not remain attached.
• The branch people are more stable; they will be around for several seasons and grow along with you. However, when the pressure really mounts upon you, they can break away and that process creates a need for healing. Again, cherish the branches; hope they will always remain; treat them with kindness but retain your own spiritual core as you grow.
• The Trunk/Root people. These are the most important. These are the relationships that will stand with you forever in your lifecycle. These are the steadfast. These are the source of nutrition for your life of growth. These are the people who strengthen your purpose, bond forever and will never relent. In the world of natural creation, God is present here.
In the natural world any natural element that does not give more than it takes will not survive. God created everything this way for a purpose.
If a plant takes more nutrition from the soil than it provides, it will die. Natural growth becomes a system of giving more than taking. Abundant harvests are contingent upon fertilization. Relationships are built the same way. If a person takes more than they give, eventually the relationship will die; eventually the giver cannot survive without reciprocal nutrition. This is the natural law of our Creator.
A life of abundance is only possible when you give, when you choose to fertilize others. If you spend more time taking than giving, you die (on the inside first).
The man who says, “I can’t” and the man who says, “I can”, are both correct. The difference is what they put in their mind, and then ultimately manifest.
When you pray thankfulness for both the abundance and the challenges in your life, He hears you.
Be strong!
♦ When you pray for courage, God does not make you courageous. God does not zap you with a feeling of instant invincibility. Instead, He creates the opportunity for you to manifest and show the courage that exists within yourself. When the opportunity is presented, be courageous.
♦ When you pray for wisdom, God does not make you wise. God does not zap you with new mental synapses that generate different thought sequences. Instead, He creates the opportunity for you to manifest the wisdom that exists within yourself. When the opportunity is presented, be wise.
♦ When you pray for patience, God does not make you patient. God does not zap you with a feeling of peace, stability, assurance and calmness. Instead, He creates the opportunity for you to manifest and express patience. When you are challenged by the opportunity, the choice to be patient and calm is yours.
♦ When you pray to be a better person in the life of others, God does not make you a better friend, colleague, spouse, father, counsellor. God does not zap you with the respect of your peers, the love of your family or friends. Instead, He creates the opportunity for you to express your best self, to build up, cherish, help and give to those you care about. When presented with the opportunity, be your best self -GIVE- the rest will follow.
Live your very best life by being your very best self.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
Posted originally on the CTH on December 1, 2023 | Menagerie
From today’s earlier Advent post:
Silverbeard the Red
December 1, 2023 12:34 pm
Free speech is great. I will leave the politics out of the Advent thread.
Maybe in exchange you could put up a Protestant thread for those of us who hear the voice of God directly and not through human intercessors? You would benefit from hearing our experiences as well, and it would demonstrate a willingness to support free speech.
It was not my intent to be divisive during this holy and joyful season. I had hoped to offer something to all Christians of benefit during these rushed days. That is what all my posts are meant to do. I regret that it is not to be.
I find the above comment reasonable, and in that spirit I am putting up a post for those who would like to share further thoughts in this season (soon) of Advent from a Protestant perspective. I ask my fellow Catholics to respect this as much as we wish our own viewpoints to be given opportunity and attention.
Please note. This is not an open opportunity for anyone to bash the faith of another. It is not a forum for you to argue theology or Protestant vs. Catholic ideas of salvation. This blog is not a place for religious apologetics, it has a different purpose, and there are thousands of sites where you can do that very thing, if you must. You will not do it here. If it becomes too much to moderate this post, I’ll chalk it up to a bad idea and trash it.
Happy Advent, and may we all find ways to open our doors to the Holy Family seeking shelter this season, ways that will deepen our ability to welcome Christ with love, on Christmas and every day.
Advent is a season of preparation that has a twofold purpose. Advent begins with Evening Prayer I of the Sunday falling on or closest to 30 November and ends before evening prayer I of Christmas. We prepare ourselves not only for the coming joy of our celebration of the birth of the Christ child; we also prepare ourselves for the Second Coming of Christ.
For Catholics, Advent is the beginning of the new liturgical year. The seasons of that year have always led me on a journey with Christ each year, and I gain so much in the consistency of the seasons and readings. We begin with Advent, awaiting the birth of Christ, then celebrate the Christmas Octave and season, Epiphany, and then soon begins Lent, in preparation for Easter. Then, after the Easter season ends with Pentecost, we have the bulk of Ordinary Time until the end of the liturgical year, and Advent again.
The readings at Mass reflect these times in the life of Christ. They take us through his birth, baptism, ministry, Passion, Death, and Resurrection. I find Advent and Lent especially to be times that help me prepare to meet Jesus in deeper and more profound ways.
Many Christian denominations celebrate Advent, perhaps in ways a little different from those of us who observe a liturgical calendar and cycle. But the focus, the point, is to prepare for the coming of Jesus.
We will have posts for each Sunday of Advent, beginning this weekend. I ask that you save political comments for the other posts. Please, give people a place to think about and discuss something else. I hope these posts will be an aid to all who stop in here during this busy season, an invitation to take a moment and find the reason we prepare for Christmas.
Henry Kissinger was born in southern Germany in 1923, where his father was a teacher. His family fled Nazi Germany and came to America in 1938. After he became an American citizen in 1943, Dr. Kissinger served in the 84th Army Division from 1943 to 1946. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his “meritorious service.” Dr. Kissinger subsequently served in the Counter Intelligence Corps in occupied Germany. He was in the U.S. Army Reserves until 1959.
Dr. Kissinger earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees at Harvard University, where he taught international relations for almost 20 years. In 1969, President Nixon appointed him National Security Advisor. He subsequently served as Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford, in which capacities Dr. Kissinger played central roles in the opening to China, negotiating the end of the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, and helping to bring America’s role in the Vietnam War to a close. He worked to set the former Rhodesia on the path to representative government and negotiated key arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.
Dr. Kissinger has written 21 books on national security matters. Considered one of America’s great statesmen, Dr. Kissinger was regularly consulted by American presidents of both political parties and scores of foreign leaders after he finished government service in 1977. In May of 2023, he celebrated his 100th birthday and remained active well into his 100th year. Most recently, Dr. Kissinger focused his attention on the implications of artificial intelligence. He was a frequent guest with media and on panel discussions, writing, and traveling abroad. Additional biographical information about Dr. Kissinger and his writings can be found at www.henryakissinger.com.
Dr. Kissinger is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children by his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren. (link)
President Gerald Ford, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller discuss the evacuation of Saigon, on April 28,1975, at the White House.
Posted originally on Nov 23, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to you—our valued readers. Your open minds and insatiable appetite for learning inspire and drive us forward.
This Thanksgiving, we reflect on the journey we’ve embarked upon together and are thankful for the community we’ve built. Your commitment to seeking knowledge, exploring new ideas, and engaging in meaningful conversations is the heartbeat of our company.
As we pause to give thanks, we extend our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones. May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy, gratitude, and the company of those who matter most.
PS. We take no responsibility for any political debates that occur at your Thanksgiving table.
Happy Thanksgiving. Living well always includes gratitude.
“Here we touch on… one of the secrets of the spiritual life that also is one of the laws of happiness. The more we cultivate gratitude and thanksgiving, the more open our hearts are to God’s action, so that we can receive life from God and be transformed and enlarged. By contrast, if we bury ourselves in discontent, permanent dissatisfaction, then our hearts close themselves insidiously against life, against God’s gift” (The Way of Trust and Love, p. 112).
From my comment at Stella’s Place, on her recipe post, here’s our family’s sweet potato casserole recipe, with a pecan topping.
It’s not Thanksgiving for our family without a good sweet potato casserole. I wouldn’t eat sweet potatoes until I was in my twenties, but now I love them. I became the person who brings the huge pan of them to our big family meal long ago.
My husband’s huge extended family goes all out for the day, with all his siblings trying to show up with kids and grandkids. There may be one very elderly but super active and fit aunt to come. The members of that oldest generation are sadly almost gone.
Everyone who comes brings their specialties, and after so many years, we don’t plan a menu. We show up before noon, and there will be maybe a dozen or so sides, more than a half dozen desserts, two or three turkeys, several hams. A bouncy house in the huge yard for the kids, which makes for a much more peaceful day, and good fun all around complete the day.
I don’t have a recipe anymore, so these are approximations. You can find recipes for similar casseroles, but the topping ingredients always include flour. Don’t add flour! It ruins a good crunchy topping, makes it cakey.
About 3# sweet potatoes, half stick of butter, 3 large eggs, pinch of salt, cup of milk, quarter cup of sugar. Mix cooked sweet potatoes with all ingredients and beat well.
Mix about 1/4 cup butter, softened, one cup brown sugar, and one cup pecans into a crumbly topping and drop onto the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes until topping is browned.
I tried to reduce quantities to make a smaller, normal size casserole. To adjust according to taste, etc., don’t add all the ingredients at once. For example, start with a quarter cup of sugar, and check the tast after you mix the other ingredients in. You may want more sugar. Add milk gradually. You want the mix to be a little thicker than a pudding. If topping has too much butter, add a few more nuts and a little brown sugar.
You can also add vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon if you wish.
Also posted over at Stella’s, here’s another family favorite.
For those who’d like to try a true Southern cornbread dressing, here’s my favorite recipe, my Aunt Gay’s dressing. She was one of the best cooks I’ve ever learned from. She loved to give out her recipes, and kept index cards with her favorites, ready to gift to anyone who asked, so unlike me, she measured!
I have a lot of her recipes, and may share more later. She made the best, the most addicting Chex mix I’ve ever had. I often make a quad batch to give out during the holidays. And she gave me a cookie recipe, not originally hers, that is far and away the most delicious cookie I’ve ever tasted.
The family does some underhanded and dirty dealing to steal, yes, steal, as many of those cookies as they can. Let’s just say that you can’t turn your back on them, and not one of them can be trusted to deliver cookies to an absent friend or family member. Although they will solemnly swear to deliver them, they never do. Learned my lesson.
7” pone of cornbread, cooked, cooled, then crumbled one day ahead 10 biscuits, also cooked and crumbled ahead 5 slices white bread, laid out the day before. Note here, I like 3 slices thick French bread, torn in pieces, instead of white bread. 5 eggs 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper (I use a lot more) 3 tsp sage, or less. I like less. 2 cups chopped celery and one cup chopped onion, sautéed in 3/4 stick butter 4 cups chicken or turkey broth Aunt Gay notes that she used Ketner’s Mill cornmeal, which is from a local mill, and you may not need as much broth if you use a store bought brand.
Bake at 350 1.5 -2 hours until very brown. My own note here. Although she was pretty careful about measuring, you want this dressing to go in the oven sopping with the butter from the vegetables and the broth. When you assemble it all, if you don’t have broth slightly covering the cornmeal mixture, you don’t have enough.
Oh, so good with fresh turkey and cranberry sauce. I can eat dressing for days after Thanksgiving, and never get tired of it. I love both kinds, our cornbread dressing, and the wonderful bread varieties. Maybe I’ll spare some of my sourdough bread or rolls to make some this year.
I like to buy fresh sage, which I also use in the cavity of the turkey, when I cook a whole one.
Here’s to you Aunt Gay, in gratitude for all you taught me, and the wonderful recipes you left me. May you rest in peace.
And finally, my favorite turkey recipe. One of our first commenters posted this at the prior blog we all hung out at, and I tried it the next day. Hard decision for me, because I’d always used Aunt Gay’s super easy no fail recipe, and man, was it good. So, it was a big risk, and I still use this method to brine and prepare the turkey. Nowadays I smoke my turkeys, but the recipe stays the same.
If you’re interested in a much easier way to cook a great, super moist turkey, here’s Aunt Gay’s recipe.
Place the prepared bird in the roaster. Generously salt and pepper the bird, and stuff the cavity with at least half a stick of butter.
My own exception: use some of the aromatics from the Alton Brown recipe instead of just butter in the cavity.
Depending on the size of the bird, put 2.5-3 cups of water in the pan. Use a double layer of wide heavy duty foil and crimp tightly all around the pan. Essentially, you are going to slow steam the turkey.
Cook at 200-225* overnight. Again, temp and length of time depends on how big your bird is.
This will not give you a beautiful bird you can platter up and make the center of your table. It’s going to fall off the bones into the juices. It will be very moist, and delicious, but not pretty. You must really get the foil tight and sealed in order to keep the juices in. If you don’t, the water will evaporate and your turkey will dry out.
You’ll wake up starving due to the wonderful smells all night, and have the oven available for all your sides and desserts!
Posted originally on the CTH on November 18, 2023 | Menagerie
Bacon Turkey
From my comment at Stella’s Place, on her recipe post, here’s our family’s sweet potato casserole recipe, with a pecan topping.
It’s not Thanksgiving for our family without a good sweet potato casserole. I wouldn’t eat sweet potatoes until I was in my twenties, but now I love them. I became the person who brings the huge pan of them to our big family meal long ago.
My husband’s huge extended family goes all out for the day, with all his siblings trying to show up with kids and grandkids. There may be one very elderly but super active and fit aunt to come. The members of that oldest generation are sadly almost gone.
Everyone who comes brings their specialties, and after so many years, we don’t plan a menu. We show up before noon, and there will be maybe a dozen or so sides, more than a half dozen desserts, two or three turkeys, several hams. A bouncy house in the huge yard for the kids, which makes for a much more peaceful day, and good fun all around complete the day.
I don’t have a recipe anymore, so these are approximations. You can find recipes for similar casseroles, but the topping ingredients always include flour. Don’t add flour! It ruins a good crunchy topping, makes it cakey.
About 3# sweet potatoes, half stick of butter, 3 large eggs, pinch of salt, cup of milk, quarter cup of sugar. Mix cooked sweet potatoes with all ingredients and beat well.
Mix about 1/4 cup butter, softened, one cup brown sugar, and one cup pecans into a crumbly topping and drop onto the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes until topping is browned.
I tried to reduce quantities to make a smaller, normal size casserole. To adjust according to taste, etc., don’t add all the ingredients at once. For example, start with a quarter cup of sugar, and check the tast after you mix the other ingredients in. You may want more sugar. Add milk gradually. You want the mix to be a little thicker than a pudding. If topping has too much butter, add a few more nuts and a little brown sugar.
You can also add vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon if you wish.
Also posted over at Stella’s, here’s another family favorite.
For those who’d like to try a true Southern cornbread dressing, here’s my favorite recipe, my Aunt Gay’s dressing. She was one of the best cooks I’ve ever learned from. She loved to give out her recipes, and kept index cards with her favorites, ready to gift to anyone who asked, so unlike me, she measured!
I have a lot of her recipes, and may share more later. She made the best, the most addicting Chex mix I’ve ever had. I often make a quad batch to give out during the holidays. And she gave me a cookie recipe, not originally hers, that is far and away the most delicious cookie I’ve ever tasted.
The family does some underhanded and dirty dealing to steal, yes, steal, as many of those cookies as they can. Let’s just say that you can’t turn your back on them, and not one of them can be trusted to deliver cookies to an absent friend or family member. Although they will solemnly swear to deliver them, they never do. Learned my lesson.
7” pone of cornbread, cooked, cooled, then crumbled one day ahead 10 biscuits, also cooked and crumbled ahead 5 slices white bread, laid out the day before. Note here, I like 3 slices thick French bread, torn in pieces, instead of white bread. 5 eggs 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper (I use a lot more) 3 tsp sage, or less. I like less. 2 cups chopped celery and one cup chopped onion, sautéed in 3/4 stick butter 4 cups chicken or turkey broth Aunt Gay notes that she used Ketner’s Mill cornmeal, which is from a local mill, and you may not need as much broth if you use a store bought brand.
Bake at 350 1.5 -2 hours until very brown. My own note here. Although she was pretty careful about measuring, you want this dressing to go in the oven sopping with the butter from the vegetables and the broth. When you assemble it all, if you don’t have broth slightly covering the cornmeal mixture, you don’t have enough.
Oh, so good with fresh turkey and cranberry sauce. I can eat dressing for days after Thanksgiving, and never get tired of it. I love both kinds, our cornbread dressing, and the wonderful bread varieties. Maybe I’ll spare some of my sourdough bread or rolls to make some this year.
I like to buy fresh sage, which I also use in the cavity of the turkey, when I cook a whole one.
Here’s to you Aunt Gay, in gratitude for all you taught me, and the wonderful recipes you left me. May you rest in peace.
And finally, my favorite turkey recipe. One of our first commenters posted this at the prior blog we all hung out at, and I tried it the next day. Hard decision for me, because I’d always used Aunt Gay’s super easy no fail recipe, and man, was it good. So, it was a big risk, and I still use this method to brine and prepare the turkey. Nowadays I smoke my turkeys, but the recipe stays the same.
If you’re interested in a much easier way to cook a great, super moist turkey, here’s Aunt Gay’s recipe.
Place the prepared bird in the roaster. Generously salt and pepper the bird, and stuff the cavity with at least half a stick of butter.
My own exception: use some of the aromatics from the Alton Brown recipe instead of just butter in the cavity.
Depending on the size of the bird, put 2.5-3 cups of water in the pan. Use a double layer of wide heavy duty foil and crimp tightly all around the pan. Essentially, you are going to slow steam the turkey.
Cook at 200-225* overnight. Again, temp and length of time depends on how big your bird is.
This will not give you a beautiful bird you can platter up and make the center of your table. It’s going to fall off the bones into the juices. It will be very moist, and delicious, but not pretty. You must really get the foil tight and sealed in order to keep the juices in. If you don’t, the water will evaporate and your turkey will dry out.
You’ll wake up starving due to the wonderful smells all night, and have the oven available for all your sides and desserts!
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 