Monday the 8th: Jesse Tree Day 9

Reflection from https://www.omvusa.org/st-francis-chapel/jesse-tree-advent-day-7/: 

The coat of many colors was a gift from father to son to emphasize the great love with which Jacob loved Joseph. Ornamented coats were signs of great honor and privilege in the time of the Jewish patriarchs. You are greatly loved and favored by the Father who has clothed you in the grace of his only Son through baptism. Do you celebrate your baptismal day? Do you renew your baptismal vows on occasion? Do you “wear” your baptismal identity as a child of God over all your other clothes? 

 

 (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wKiswME5Nmw/TOdAwenRZuI/AAAAAAAAB8I/tIxuynJJ-dk/s1600/joseph+coat.jpg)

 

 

Friday the 5th: Jesse Tree Jacob's Ladder

 Reflection taken from Aleteia.org:

Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messiah is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done was a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behooved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believes in Him shall not be confounded. Why anointed? Because Christus comes from chrisma. But what saw he then on the ladder? Ascending and descending angels. So it is the Church, brethren: the angels of God are good preachers, preaching Christ; this is the meaning of, they ascend and descend upon the Son of man. 

(St. Augustine, Tractate 7)

 

 (Picture from https://festalcelebrations.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/jesse-tree-project-2008/)

 

Thursday the 4th: Isaac and the Sacrifice

 Reflection on today from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate:

Reflection: By asking for Isaac to be offered as a sacrifice, God was not playing with Abraham’s emotions, nor simply testing his willingness to obey. Isaac was the son of the promise. He was the first descendant from whom all other descendants would come, including Jesus; therefore, Isaac was a symbol of the whole future of Israel and of salvation history. God was asking Abraham to offer to him and to entrust to him the destiny of Israel and its history. That was the real sacrifice God wished for, not the slaying of Isaac. By restoring Isaac to his father, God was showing that anyone who entrusts their destiny to him will always be restored and have fullness of life. https://www.omvusa.org/st-francis-chapel/jesse-tree-advent-day-5/ 

 https://faithandfabricdesign.com/2013/06/jesse-tree-abraham-isaac-ram.html

 

Tuesday the 2nd: The Fall

 Day 3 of the Jesse Tree is a symbol for the fall of Man, the choosing to follow our own will rather than God's will. That needs to be fleshed out because God's will is what will make us happiest and should be our will. When we choose our "will", we are acting on impulse, emotionally, not taking the full picture into account. We may be making ourselves temporarily happy but we won't achieve lasting happiness without acting in accordance with how God made us.

 

 

Monday the 1st: Jesse Tree

Today is the first Monday of Advent. For this season, I'll try to post a Jesse tree picture and reflection each day.

Today is a picture of Mary and Jesus in the middle, surrounded by various prophets and kings of the Old Testament that each prepared the way for Jesus. The season of Advent can be explored by meditating on each of these prefigurements, foreshadowings, and how each gives us a glimpse into who Jesus is. 

 

 

Friday the 21st: Book of the Week

 *I'm about halfway through this book of poetry. Ted Kooser lives near where my dad grew up in Nebraska. His poetry is simple but very evocative of the area and a way of life mostly gone now, but still on the fringes of my memory as I was growing up.

 

 

Thursday the 20th: Food of the Week

 *This week is the musical (I know, I keep saying that), so this is a minimal post.

*Tomorrow is going to be frozen chicken strips and a bagged salad (Asian crunch, my favorite).

*Tonight is bierocks/runzas that my mom made for me a couple weekends ago and I threw in the freezer. I warm them up for 30 minutes at 350 in the oven. I like mine with Dorothy Lynch dressing.

*Last night I made baked potatoes and we had them with leftover chili.

*Tuesday night the Son made strawberry stuffed french toast. He's a decent cook but struggles to remember when he is feeding other people to start early enough to finish at the meal time, so his meals tend to be about an hour late.

*Monday night we had leftovers because...

*Sunday we ate Mediterranean from Old Jerusalem Cafe, and Saturday the Husband and I had a date night to Garrozzo's in Overland Park. Both were delicious but we ordered way too much food at both places...on purpose to have leftovers to carry us through.

 

 

Wednesday the 19th: Music of the Week

 *It's musical week, and I took the next weekend off from playing for Mass, so it's just all musical all the time. I'm most nervous about "All Through the Night" and the dance on "Blow Gabriel, Blow." As of Saturday night it will all be over!

Tuesday the 18th: Cleaning

 Right now cleaning house is the last thing on my mind, but about a month ago a sister came to stay with some of her kids and I wanted to let them know I was all ready for them, so I took a picture of their prepared beds.

 

 

Monday the 17th: Saint of the Week

 St Elizabeth of Hungary is today's saint. Born in Hungary and married very young to Louis of Thuringia, she had three children and took care of the poor in a hospital after her husband died. Alive in the 13th century, she seemed to share the concern of other kings and queens that their wealth was actually an impediment to getting to heaven if they weren't careful to take care of others.

 

 

Friday the 14th: Busy Times

 I'm usually a couple weeks behind when I post a picture on Fridays. I had been posting a book, but this week I'll wait and do a book pic next week. This is marvelous food and my "I Voted" sticker from two weeks ago. We didn't have any "important" elections voting is still really important. I investigated our local water board and the board for the local community college and then voted on my way to work.

 

 

Thursday the 13th: Food of the Week

*Tomorrow night I don't know what we are having; I'm out of ideas and energy for the week already.

*Tonight we are either having food from the Moonlight Market downtown OR some poblano and pinto tacos.  I've made these tacos before and they are pretty nice; I use green bell peppers and one poblano pepper because all poblano tend to be too spicy.

*Last night the Son made chicken and noodles. We found it a little bland, but it was easy enough to put together. He cooked the chicken and noodles separately and then put the casserole together and cooked it. I liked it enough to bring it for lunch today.

*Tuesday we had Lime Chicken Tacos. I cooked the chicken while at work, came home in the afternoon to shred it and pull everything together, and then had it when I got home from sitzprobe that night at 9:45.  This is a pretty low-effort, high result recipe that doesn't have too many leftovers.

*Monday was Great Northern Cornbread with Bacon to go with the chili I made the night before. I'm cooking my way through the Cook's Illustrated Baking Book, and I'm slowly working through the quick breads. This was my first night with long practice, which is the par for the next two weeks.

*Sunday I made a big pot of chili. This is one of the husband's favorite meals when it gets cold, and it got down to 30 degrees this weekend so it was time!  The hardest part is stirring every 15 minutes for 3 hours. In general chilis and stews are low effort high reward along with being even better the next day.

 

 

Wednesday the 12th: Music of the Week

 Lineup for the week:

1. I'm continuing to play through one song a day from the new songs in the 2026 OCP Breaking Bread. I think I'm about 5 songs from finishing that task.

2. I'm playing three songs a day to get ready for two Masses this weekend at two different churches. We are getting into the readings from Revelation and Daniel so lots of "Christ as King" songs in the lineup along with songs about living as a Christian.

3. Musical! Last night was our sitzprobe, with the cast and the student pit orchestra and the professionals. We played for almost 4 hours. My hands hurt, my legs have cramps from keeping steady beat. It was a lot of fun. Tonight it's just me with the cast trying to figure out transitions and covering music.

4. Working toward Christmas concert: I'm only playing one song a day to polish until the musical is over.

Tuesday the 11th: New Door!

 We replaced our original sliding glass door, getting rid of the metal frame, and now we have so much more protection from the heat and cold. It's marvelous.

 

 

Monday the 10th: Saint of the Week

 Leo was pope from 440 to 461. He is responsible for the Tome of Leo, one of the earliest examples we have of recognizing the primacy of the pope. He also oversaw the Council of Chalcedon which articulated the Hypostatic Union of Christ having two natures and one Person.