Traveling Like a Catholic

By Joseph Wood  (source: The Catholic Thing)
Summer is on the way, and no doubt some are planning trips abroad. Such a trip is not an automatic path to adventure, wisdom, or an otherwise enriched life. But with some effort – and caution – it can be rewarding. As G.K. Chesterton warns: I have never managed to lose my old conviction that travel narrows the mind. At least a man must make a double effort of moral humility and imaginative energy to prevent it from narrowing his mind. Indeed, there is something touching and even tragic about the thought of the thoughtless tourist, who might have stayed at home loving Laplanders, embracing Chinamen, and clasping Patagonians to his heart. . . .but for his blind and suicidal impulse to go and see what they looked like. For those determined to visit the Old World – and to avoid such a narrowing of mind – good preparation in art, history, and logistics can help. Some of my own best travel experiences have come from the tips of friends. Here are a few such tips I’ve collected over the years. Rome: Many Catholic visitors will see Rome with a parish group or guided itinerary. However you go, the Pontifical North American College hosts a one-stop website with information on essential reservations for the Vatican Museum, the Scavi (excavations under St Peter’s Basilica with the tomb of St Peter), and the Vatican gardens. That site also has information on papal events and audiences (including the regular one for newlyweds), Mass times for the major basilicas, and a list of religious guesthouses for those wishing to avoid big chain hotels.  Rome has thousands of beautiful churches. If you happen to miss the one you’re looking for, just walk a couple of hundred feet and find another. My favorites, besides the great basilicas like St. Peter’s and Sta. Maria Maggiore, are Sta. Anna near the Vatican, the Gesu, St. Agostino, and the American parish at Sta. Susannah. But any Catholic visitor should compile a personal list to keep from being overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices.          The Tomb of St. Peter And also make sure to take time for a coffee, a gelato, or a slice of pizza – and for watching the seminarians and students coming and going at the pontifical universities. The Gregorian and Santa Croce are both centrally located. Rome is great for dolce far niente moments that refresh in several ways.  London: Some Catholic sites in London evoke tragic memories, but the perseverance of English Catholics is a heartening story with relevance for us today, and perhaps greater relevance in the future.  St Thomas More spent the last part of his life at the Tower of London before his execution. To see his cell and crypt, you must arrange a tour by writing (the old-fashioned way, on paper) to The Governor, HM Tower of London, London EC3N 4AB, UK, with the date and number of guests. Requests spike around More’s feast day on June 22. But on the old calendar, the feast day was July 9, and on that date a few years back I happened into the beautiful Brompton Oratory for the 8:00 am weekday Tridentine Mass. The priest announced matter-of-factly that the Mass would be offered “for the conversion of England and Wales.” I was glad that I did not know anyone else in the chapel. The impulse to high-fives and chest bumps might have been irresistible. I’m still waiting for a priest in Washington to announce a Mass “for the conversion of the United States of America.” Many of the English martyrs were executed at the gallows of Tyburn Tree, marked by a small plaque in a traffic island near Hyde Park. Tyburn Abbey is close by. Other terrific churches include the Jesuit Church at Farm Street, St James Spanish Place, and the recently renovated St Patrick in Soho whose pastor, Fr Alexander Sherbrooke, leads frequent Adoration and processions in a city quarter in serious need of the New Evangelization. Paris: With so much to see in this beautiful city, try to make time for evening prayer and Mass with the Community of Jerusalem at St. Gervais and St. Protais, known for the music and the reverence of the religious. It’s not far from Notre Dame.  Vienna: With its own abundance of beautiful churches, Vienna is the home of “Habsburg Catholicism.” A detour from the Hofburg Treasury with its collection of sacred objects to visit the Habsburg tombs beneath the Capuchin Church is worthwhile. Habsburg funerals long took place here in a ceremony marked by humility, and celebrated, most recently in 2011, with the death of Otto von Habsburg. The Capuchin monks reject the repeated entreaties to admit his casket based on his many worldly titles. But he is finally admitted when described only as “Otto, a poor sinner.” Other favorite churches include St Peter’s, the Jesuit Church, the Augustinian Church (also with close Habsburg connections), and the famous cathedral: Stephansdom.            Inside the Habsburg Tombs Bratislava: The Slovak capital, is a short trip by train or boat from Vienna. Its compact old town was well restored after the communist era. It includes St. Martin’s Cathedral (the coronation church of the Habsburgs), several other great churches, and the square where a 1988 candlelight protest for religious freedom gave momentum to the movement that would bring down the Iron Curtain. All of these places reward, above all, walking around, looking up at the architecture that sought to draw the eyes towards sky and heaven, as well as taking the time to absorb the cities, their people, and their various ways. If you ignore Chesterton’s advice to stay home, do take his advice on how to travel abroad: “[I]n international relations there is far too little laughing, and far too much sneering. But I believe that there is a better way which largely consists of laughter; a form of friendship between nations which is actually founded on differences.”   Enjoy these splendid cities, and be sure to laugh along the way. Joseph R. Wood is a former White House official who worked on foreign policy, including Vatican affairs. No copyright infringement intended. This is my personal online notebook and I keep articles of interest here, much as I would by printing and pasting into a scrapbook. A consistent effort is always made to include the author, URL and link back to original source.  © 2011 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

The First Thanksgivings Were Catholic (September 8, 1565 & April 30, 1598)

The First Thanksgivings Were Catholic

Note from Soutenus:  The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. The Native Americans and Spanish settlers held a feast and the Holy Mass was offered.

The second Thanksgiving was celebrated on April 30, 1598, again, by Catholics and Natives of the land. The following article sites the 4-30-1598 celebration as the first Thanksgiving ---- very interesting info. Whether you count the Thanksgiving of 1598 or 1565 as the first --- it still stands that the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving of 1621 was not the "first Thanksgiving."

article by, Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.

I have been asked to comment on Thanksgiving, the national holiday commemorating the first successful harvest season of the grim Protestant pilgrims of New England.

“It just doesn’t seem right to celebrate the prospering of a Puritan sect that established a Calvinist theocracy in the Massachusetts Colony that would mercilessly persecute Catholics,” one reader argued.

Such Catholics, gathered around their laden Thanksgiving tables enjoying the company of family and friends, should know a quite consoling fact of American History: the first Thanksgiving on U.S. soil was Catholic.

The epic journey of the first European colonists to the Southwest

The American History books we studied as youth pretend that Colonial American History is exclusively what happened in the 13 New England colonies. This ignores an enormous part of reality - our Catholic History. Little attention is paid to the epic northward advance by Spanish pioneers into the southern tier of States reaching from Florida across Texas and New Mexico to California, today called the Spanish Borderlands.

On January 26, 1598, a Spanish expedition set out from Mexico with the aim of founding a new kingdom. Three months later, after a long, dangerous trek forging a new trail northward, the now famous El Camino Real [The Royal Road], it crossed the Rio Grande and set up camp south of present day El Paso, Texas. On April 30, a Mass of thanksgiving was said, and the valiant leader of the expedition. Don Juan de Oñate, took formal possession of the new land, called New Mexico, in the name of the Heavenly Lord, God Almighty, and the earthly lord King Philip II.

Then, after the Mass, the Franciscan priests blessed the food on tables abundant with fish, ducks and geese, and the 600-strong expedition of soldiers and colonists feasted. The celebration ended with a play enacting scenes of the native Indians hearing the first words of the Catholic Faith and receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.

I think that this celebration in El Paso has far more right to be called the first American Thanksgiving than the one celebrated by the Puritans in New England. Actually, the lands in both colonies – New England and New Mexico - were not American at that time. For a short while, New England could claim that theirs was our first thanksgiving feast, but the moment Texas entered the Union as a part of the American federation, this priority of the Puritan celebration can be contested.

I would assert and defend, therefore, that the Mass, feast, and other celebrations of the Spanish Franciscan missionaries and members of Don Juan de Oñate’s expedition in 1598 is more authentically our first Thanksgiving than that the one in 1621 at Plymouth Rock, which took place 23 years later.

Who was Don Juan de Oñate?

Don Juan de Oñate, the Basque leader of the New Mexico expedition, should become a name as familiar as Plymouth founder Captain John Smith or Puritan Governor William Bradford. His exploits, deeds, and spirit are of the sort that inspired the medieval sagas, or today, the epic film.

Don Juan de Oñate

Juan de Oñate was from a noble Basque Spanish family that had become wealthy in the New World in silver mining. As a young man, Don Juan had led campaigns at his own expense in service to the Crown to pacify Indians near the northern outposts of Mexico. In his late 30s, he married Isabel de Tolosa, the granddaughter of the conquistador Fernando Cortes and Isabel Montezuma, the offspring of the late Aztec emperor.

In 1595 Oñate was chosen by King Philip II to colonize and explore the provinces of the proposed kingdom of New Mexico. The terms of the arrangement sound quite unusual to modern ears. Don Oñate agreed to equip and arm at his personal expense 200 men to serve as soldiers as well as provide for their families and servants, to a total of 500-600 persons. He had to purchase sufficient food, clothing and supplies for the trek north as well as during the period of building the first houses. He also pledged to bring mining and blacksmithing tools, medicine, Indian trade goods, seeds, plows, and all the other necessities.

In short, he completely subsidized the expenses of a dangerous, uncertain expedition that could easily end in failure.

Why did he bother to undertake such a venture? He already had a position of prestige and power in New Spain; he was wealthy, with the potential to become even richer in silver mining had he remained where he was. Instead, he contracted to take on the momentous expenses of equipping and maintaining an expedition of some 600 people and set out on an uncertain, dangerous, and difficult march into an unknown, hostile terrain.

Priests and friars were present on every colonial Spanish expedition at the expense of the Crown

Why did he go? He went for the adventure, to undertake a grand enterprise first, for the glory of God and King, and second, for his personal prestige.

First, from his detailed record book, it is clear that Don Oñate went for God; his notes show a true desire to expand the boundaries of the religion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He marched under a personal standard of white silk stamped on one side with pictures of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist, Oñate’s patron saint; on the reverse side was St. James on horseback carrying a sword.

The Spanish monarchy made the defense and propagation of the Catholic Faith the supreme aim of the State. In the instructions given to Oñate, the Crown clearly stated the primary goal of the expedition was to initiate conversion of the “many large settlements of heathen Indians who live in ignorance of God and our Holy Catholic Faith … so that they might have an orderly and decent Christian life.”

Only one expense of the expedition did the Crown assume: The King provided the Patronato Real, the Royal Patronage, agreeing to pay the expenses of the 10 priests and friars, who accompanied the group both to minister to the men and convert natives. It is a clear demonstration of the great importance the Crown gave to the missionary effort.

Juan de Oñate sets forth under authority of Cross and Crown  - Statue by by Reynaldo Rivera

Second, Oñate went for his prestige. In return for bearing the expenses of the expedition, he was promised the title of Governor, as well as the supreme military rank of Captain-General with civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Kingdom of New Mexico. These titles were granted for life with privilege of passing them on to his heirs. The Crown also agreed to award all Oñate’s men by making them nobles, hidalgos, after five years residence in New Mexico.

So, Don Oñate and his expedition went forth in January of 1598, under the symbol of Cross and the authority of the Crown. It has been said that the Middle Ages drew its last breath in these captains and conquistadors of the New World. I think that it is very true.

Certainly, the aims, spirit, attitudes and religion of the Spanish explorers could not have been more different from those of the Puritans who, motivated by self-interest, landed at Plymouth Rock to make a small, comfortable life for themselves and their families, with no thought of the spiritual welfare of the Indians, no dreams of heroism, glory or fame. This clear difference in spirit and mentality makes the colonial Catholic Spaniards a better model for Americans than the Puritans.

The expedition through the desert

After three long years of extremely costly delays, Don Oñate, age 43, set out from Santa Barbara, the most northern Spanish outpost in Mexico, on January 26, 1598. He aimed to establish a short, direct route due northward through 200 miles of Chihuahuan desert, a trail would later become part of the famous El Camino Real. The sprawling train he led was reported to spread out for three miles in length. It was a formidable sight: some 500-600 men, 175 of them soldiers, many of them in armor, 83 ox-carts, 26 wagons and carriages, and over 7,000 head of livestock.

In January 1598 the expedition left the last Spanish outpost of Santa Barbara and headed due north to the Rio Grande. Above, El Camino Real

The first significant obstacle Don Oñate faced was not the desert, but the unseasonable high waters of the Conchos River, making a crossing appear impossible. Don Oñate refused to halt or turn back. Instead, he made a rallying call:

“Come, noble soldiers, knights of Christ, here is presented the first opportunity for you to show your mettle and courage to prove that you are deserving of the glories in store for you.”

Then he ordered up his horse and without pause plunged into the foaming torrent and reached shore. His exploit set the example, and the crossing was made. Only the sheep were left behind on the south bank, unable to swim because the weight of their wool when soaked with water would pull them under. Don Juan ordered the wooden wheels removed from the carts, anchored them in pairs to rafts, and strung them in a line over the water. The bleating sheep crossed the Conchos on them, and the expedition continued.

By early March, Oñate’s expedition had reached the treacherous Chihuahuan Desert. Some days into the desert journey, they were desperately in need of water. Unexpectedly they came to a small stream, which they named the Rio Sacramento because it was found on Holy Thursday, the feast of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament.

The next day, Don Oñate ordered a halt and a temporary chapel was erected for Easter Mass. They named the site Encinar de la Resurrección, Place of the Resurrection. The men passed the night in penance and prayer; Don Oñate also bared his back to take the discipline in atonement of sins, a common practice among the Spanish faithful during Holy Week.

The long march continued, and water grew scarcer. On April 1, after a night long vigil of prayer, Don Oñate made this entry in his log book: “God succored us with a downpour so heavy that very large pools formed …. Therefore we name this place Socorro del Cielo [Aid from Heaven].”

Colonists on El Camino Real

This was how the journey progressed. At every crucial moment, an aid from Heaven came. For the soldiers and colonists, those aids were miracles from God who was blessing their venture. To pay Him some small thanks, they gave the streams that they found, the sites where they rested, holy names that glorified God and His Saints.

Finally, on April 21, 1598, the exhausted expedition reached the banks of the Rio Grande. For the last five days of the march, the expedition had run out of both food and water, and the colonists had suffered a mind-numbing thirst. Don Oñate, seeing the extreme fatigue on the faces of the people, proclaimed a week’s rest on the river bank as scouts searched for a suitable place to ford the river and cross into New Mexico, what is the present-day El Paso, Texas.

Taking possession and the first Thanksgiving

Oñate ordered a temporary church to be constructed with a nave large enough to hold the entire camp. Under those boughs, on April 30, 1598, the feast day of the Ascension of Our Lord, the Te Deum was sung and the Franciscans celebrated a solemn high Mass, the first Thanksgiving celebration in our lands.

The moment had arrived for La Toma, the formal ceremony of taking possession of new land, a ritual that was both secular and religious in nature. It was a triumphant moment for Don Oñate and his Spanish priests, soldiers and colonists who had suffered much and seen their expedition often at the point of perishing. The Army drew up in formation on horseback, each man in polished armor. Don Oñate stepped forward to read the official proclamation:

“In the name of the most Holy Trinity … I take possession of this whole land this April 30, 1598, in honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on this day of the Ascension of Our Lord ….”

Each year, participants in El Paso re-enact the Oñate expedition’s first Thanksgiving

To the fanfare of trumpets and volleys of musket shots, Oñate signed and sealed the official act with a flourish, and the Holy Cross and the royal standard were both raised in the camp, completing the legal requirements of La Toma. With that, the kingdom of New Mexico came into being, at midday on April 30, 1598.

The colonists went on to celebrate the first Thanksgiving with a grand feast of fish, “many cranes, ducks and geese.” The rest of the day passed with song, foot races, and other competitive games. In the evening, all enjoyed a play, written by one of Oñate’s captains, Marcos Farfan, which enacted happy scenes of the Franciscan missionaries entering the country, the Indians kneeling to receive them and asking to be received into the Holy Faith.

This is the description of that glorious festivity which represents, I am convinced, the plan of God for those lands that today comprise our country.

Since the last Thursday of November is a random date to commemorate Thanksgiving, I propose that Catholics commemorate on this day the conquest of Don Oñate and the Franciscan priests, rather than that bitter harvest of the Puritans. I am sure that this will glorify Our Lord Jesus Christ and gain his blessing for our future.











The content of this article is based upon these sources:

Adams, Don and Kendrick, Teresa A., Don Juan de Oñate and the First Thanksgiving,
http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=736

Mattox, Jake, ed., Explorers of the New World, Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Simmons, Marc, The Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.



Related Topics of Interest

   Catholicism in Colonial America

http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_005_Onate_Thanksgiving.html
http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/A_005_Myths1500s.shtml

Catholic Prayers & Principles

The following traditional prayers, plus other important principles, are also available (below) in a convenient 3-fold format where everything fits on both sides of a single sheet of paper.
I have done this to create a simple means of study, and hope that you find it useful.
Please find the downloads links further below to get either PDF (Acrobat) or MDI format print-ready files.

All 28 Most Important Catholic Prayers & Principles in a single webpage
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Act of Contrition
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Entering a Church
Commandments (Modernised)
Virtues (Theological & Cardinal)
Sins Against The Holy Spirit
Spiritual Works of Mercy
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7 Gifts of The Holy Spirit
12 Fruits of The Holy Spirit
Stations of The Cross
Confiteor
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Nicene Creed

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Easter is the Key Celebration ! ... Stations of the Cross

Franciscan Poor Clares of Brenham, Texas and Their Miniature Horses

Not yet 40 years old, the Brenham monastery is full of grace. The sisters don’t just believe in God, they consistently ask for divine intervention. 

"Withers” God sendest, the Franciscan Poor Clares of Brenham, Texas, “goest”—even to pitch manure. Their primary means of support: breeding and selling miniature horses.
Founded in 1981, Monastery Miniature Horses is a natural business for the contemplatives. The order’s patron, St. Clare, was a spiritual protégé of St. Francis of Assisi.
The sisters, who have an ardent following, have names for the horses. Among them are Pinto Bean, Cherry Ice and Easter Lily. “They’re our friends,” the sisters say.


 “Miniature horses are like potato chips or peanuts,” the late Sister Bernadette once told a reporter. “You can’t stop with one.” Internationally known, Monastery Miniature Horses sells to private breeders and concerns (a zoo in Spain owns two) as well as families. Prices begin at $500 for a pet-quality miniature to $2,000 for breeding stock.
The abbess is known to deal, particularly with families. “I’ll make all kinds of trades and sometimes money never changes hands,” she says. “I even got a donkey in the process.”
Much too small except for the youngest children to ride, the miniatures are big on horseplay, especially during spring tours. “I’ve had them jerk my veil off and run away with it,” laughs the abbess.
Workmen, too, are frequent objects of their winsome affection.
“They’re running off with my tools,” they complain, or “They hid my jacket.” During a Christian Lifestyle Magazine TV interview, the playful horses unplugged the film crew’s equipment. Then they started unloading the crew’s truck. “If they weren’t into one thing, it was another,” quips the abbess. In good-natured Christmas fun, the sisters traditionally deck the horses in antlers and bells.

COME & VISIT!

The monastery grounds are open daily from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., except on Christmas Day and during Holy Week. Hershey, a chocolate lab, an African pygmy goat named Shenanigan, Lil Dude the donkey and some fainting goats (they really do faint) also call the monastery home.
Inspired by St. Francis, the sisters make and sell ceramic Nativity scenes in the Art Barn. St. Francis is credited with portraying the first Nativity, a live re-enactment in a cave near Greccio, Italy.
Lighting the way, the chapel’s modernistic stained-glass windows of St. Clare and St. Francis glow in the afternoon sun. A reliquary, holding relics of both of the saints, is located on the altar. A book is provided for writing out prayer requests.
The Monastery of St. Clare is nine miles east of Brenham on Texas Highway 105. Guided tours are available for groups of 15 or more; reservations are required. For further information, contact the sisters at the Monastery of St. Clare, 9280 Highway 105, Brenham, TX 77833, telephone (409) 836-9652.

 THE HISTORY

FLEEING CUBA WITH DIVINE ASSISTANCE 

The Brenham monastery is full of grace. The sisters don’t just believe in God, they consistently ask for divine intervention. Nobody knows that better than the monastery’s founders, the Poor Clares of Cuba.
In 1960, Fidel Castro’s guerrillas invaded the Poor Clares’ Havana house. The revolutionaries demanded the nuns’ money, devoured their food and desecrated the compound.
Meanwhile in New Orleans, American Poor Clares were praying—and plotting a God-offensive. Inspired, “they hatched up something about a meeting that all Poor Clares had to attend,” grins the Brenham abbess and monastery spokeswoman, Sister Angela Chandler.
Thankfully, the Communists bought into what was a complete lie. Packing two duffel bags each, nearly all 30 sisters hopped cattle ferries for freedom. The sisters left behind watched and hoped. Maybe they would be able to regain control of their compound.
“You’ll harm the sisters over my dead body,” a gardener threatened the guerrillas. His chivalry was prophetic; the gardener was found dangling from a monastery archway the next day. The remaining sisters abandoned the monastery and headed for the United States.
Temporarily residing at the New Orleans convent, the refugee nuns contemplated founding a new monastery in largely Spanish-speaking Corpus Christi, Texas. The sisters asked for God’s assistance.
The bishop of the Corpus Christi Diocese also prayed. When he was in Italy to see the pope, the bishop had stopped at the tomb of St. Clare in Assisi and pleaded to have Poor Clares in his diocese. When he arrived home, the bishop found a letter from the sisters requesting admittance.
The nuns relocated to Corpus Christi in 1961 and began building their monastery. Another series of events took the sisters to another monastery and a new calling—Monastery Miniature Horses.
'Door of the Dead'
Centuries before the Poor Clares of horse fame, St. Clare was born into Assisi nobility. She was trained and expected to marry well. One day, however, teenage Clare heard St. Francis preaching in the town square.
“She had this longing in her heart and Francis’ words connected with that,” says the abbess. Accompanied by a relative, Clare often met Francis in the woods to discuss the gospel. Forsaking all on Palm Sunday night in 1212, Clare left home through the door of the dead—a door used only to remove a dead body.
“Francis cut off her hair, clothed her in his habit,” the abbess chronicles. Afraid her family was in pursuit, the friar hid Clare in a Benedictine monastery. A rescue attempt fizzled when Clare’s family saw her newly shorn hair.
When Clare’s sister, Agnes, left home, it was a different story. “Some of her uncles grabbed Agnes,” the abbess continues. “They were going to take her out by force.”
While Clare was praying, Agnes grew so heavy that not even her strong-willed uncles could lift her. Agnes, the heavyweight for God, stayed. Sometime later, the sisters’ widowed mother joined them at San Damiano, just outside Assisi.
It was there in 1206 that “Francis had predicted poor ladies would come and live,” says the abbess, “and their light would shine throughout the world.”
The New Land
“The Poor Clares had a hard time getting started” in the New World, the abbess says. Arriving in 1875, the two Italian nuns and real-life sisters, Mothers Maddalena Bentivoglio and Costanza Bentivoglio, traveled from place to place. The rugged frontiersmen wanted nurses and teachers, not contemplatives.
“The American ethic was, if you’re not out working and doing something, you’re useless,” the abbess explains. “Contemplatives just weren’t understood here like in the European countries.”
Persistence and prayer won out, and in 1878 the sisters opened their first house in Omaha, Nebraska. The second house, the New Orleans monastery, began in 1885. The largest contemplative order worldwide, today the Poor Clares number over 18,000.
Called to vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and enclosure (a cloistered life), the Poor Clares are given exclusively to God in prayer. The Divine Office calls the sisters to pray many times a day.
“We are the official pray-ers of the Church,” the abbess says. “It’s our mission...uniting ourselves to God in prayer.”
The sisters’ monastic life-style is a curious thing. Where some people see “extreme penance, extremely extreme penance,” the Poor Clares see freedom.
Retiring A Debt
In Corpus Christi, the sisters faced a new dilemma: how to retire their monastery debt. Even with baking altar bread and firing sister-made ceramics, funds were short. Enter Sister Bernadette Muller’s “wild kingdom.”
A New Orleans Poor Clare, Sister Bernadette had moved with the Cuban nuns. With a flair for the untried, she also possessed a big-as-God faith.
“I can very easily imagine Sister Bernadette saying, ‘Let’s raise birds,’” the abbess says. And the nuns did, shipping parrots, parakeets, cockatiels, lovebirds and finches to pet stores nationwide.
“I think if it flew, they raised it,” chuckles the abbess.
Their Bird-care Impresses a Baptist
Call it fate, call it divine circumstance, but without the nuns, Sister Angela may not have been abbess today.
“I was not, and my family was and is not, Catholic. We were Baptists,” Sister Angela says.
Sister Angela’s father was a civil-service jet-engine mechanic who raised parakeets to supplement the family income. When one military base closed, the family relocated to the next base. Eventually, the Chandlers moved to Corpus Christi.
“Saturday was bird-buying day,” Sister Angela reminisces. “People came with their little cages of birds, and one person at a time, Sister Bernadette would count out the birds, make sure they were healthy, put the birds back into the cages and then buy them.”
Before long, Sister Bernadette had enlisted Angela’s father as the monastery’s part-time handyman. One day, Sister Bernadette’s plan changed. She gave up birds and began raising monastery cats: long-haired Persians and Himalayans.
Angela's Conversion
Since the monastery was short of help, teenage Angela joined the rehabilitation crew. Bird cages were cleaned, painted and converted to cat cages—and Baptist Angela converted to Catholic Angela.
“I worked up there so much,” Sister Angela says, “that I didn’t have a social life anymore. The sisters were my friends.” To understand the sisters and their faith, Angela began reading, and Sister Bernadette began sowing seeds of faith.
One day Angela asked Sister Bernadette how to become a Catholic. She received no response. “She doesn’t know that I’m just curious, that I have no intentions of becoming a Catholic,” Sister Angela says. A week later she asked again.
This time Sister Bernadette took the inquiry seriously and initiated talks with the chaplain. Meanwhile, two postulants, who had been inviting Angela to adoration, handed the future abbess a prayer book inscribed, “Laura entered on January 1. Esther entered on February 2. Your entrance date should be March 3!”
“It’s mid-February,” the abbess gasps, “and I wasn’t even Catholic.”
Studying the dates, the chaplain said, “March 3 is Ash Wednesday. You can’t enter on that day. You need to enter on a day of rejoicing. How about the Sunday before—February 29, 1976?”
Agonizing over God’s will, 19-year-old Angela walked the streets of Corpus Christi in pouring rain. “I was still very much clinging to my Baptist faith, yet at the same time I was being drawn to the Blessed Sacrament,” she says.
“Faith became something more personal,” the abbess continues. “It was letting God control my life, to the extent that if I pray and want to do God’s will, he won’t let me do something that would harm my soul.”
Angela entered the Church one Sunday—and the monastery and full-time cat production the next. It was perfect until a Monastery Cats customer, a pet store in Florida, asked to inspect the registered cattery, then bought out the sister’s business kit and caboodle. Their monastery debt retired, the nuns soon realized they needed another source for sustaining income.
It Takes Two Horses
Monastery pet, Sister Bernadette thought when she first answered the ads for miniature horses in 1981. Many sisters, including Sister Bernadette, were getting up in years and couldn’t physically handle larger horses.
“Three thousand dollars!” Sister Bernadette exclaimed as she hung up. “Horsefeathers!” she suddenly realized. “Why were we raising birds and cats when you can get $3,000 for a horse?” She called the owner back.
“We can’t afford $3,000, but if you’d like to donate a horse...,” the cowgirl nun appealed.
“Sure,” the lady said. “We’ll donate a little horse to the little sisters.”
A mare on the way, Sister Bernadette was already envisioning a full-scale operation. But she first confided in a trusted friend and business adviser.

“Sister,” he admonished, “you can’t raise horses with just one. It takes at least two!” He then donated a little stallion.
Countdown, a chestnut stallion, and Ginger, a pinto mare, stepped out of their TWA crates and into the sisters’ hearts. Another 18 show horses soon arrived, and the sisters had their first foal, Melody, on March 27, 1982.
A New Home
Another change was in the offing. Would the monastery be bought out?
Located near an abandoned U.S. Navy airfield, all was tranquil when the monastery was built in the early 1960’s. A few years later, however, the Navy reactivated the field.
“We learned to talk in phrases,” Sister Angela says. “On a good, sunny day, I clocked Navy planes going over every 20 seconds. The planes were so noisy that we would instinctively duck, waiting for them to fly in the front door and out the back.”
The Navy eventually bought up all land within certain flight parameters.
Since many elderly sisters were suffering from arthritis, the monastery left hurricane-prone and humidity-soaked Corpus Christi and went inland to the rolling hills of historic Washington County.
On 98 acres, Sisters Bernadette and Angela oversaw construction of a guest house, cross-shaped monastery and chapel. Before the other sisters arrived Easter Week of 1986, Monastery Miniature Horses had its first curiosity seekers from the local Chamber of Commerce.
“Excuse me! We don’t do tours!” Sister Angela tried to explain. Tourists came anyway, and they continue to have upward of 25,000 visitors annually.
Even 'Swedish' Horses
Tiny replicas of their Arabian, quarter- and draft-horse cousins, miniatures were virtually unheard of 20 years ago. Monastery legend has it they were once playthings for young children of the palace, and in the mid-1800’s miniature steeds reputedly pulled Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, around Paris.
But like most fads, the winsome “toys” were almost forgotten. Intrigued by the little fellows, ingenious horsemen, through generations of selective breeding, began “miniaturizing” the large knights-and-armor horses of the Middle Ages.
Officially recognizing the miniature as a breed, the American Miniature Horse Association was formed in 1978. The requirements included that, measured from the withers to the ground, miniatures must be 34 inches or less. Because miniatures evolved from many breeds, variations in color and build are striking.
“You have Appaloosa coloring, you have paint coloring,” says Abbess Sister Angela. “Some will be more refined, look more like Arabians. Some will be stockier, like your draft-horse or quarter-horse types. There are all body styles, all colors.” There’s even a “Swedish horse”—blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
Averaging 20 pounds at birth, miniatures stand less than 20 inches when born. “Usually they give birth at night, preferably during a thunderstorm,” the abbess explains, noting storms keep coyotes at bay. Occasionally, a “show horse” will lie down and give birth in front of tourists.
Christening the Monastery Miniature Horses isn’t easy. The sisters often try to coin a name by combining parents’ names. “But when you do the same breeding year after year, it gets hard,” the abbess says.
Now totally monastery-run, the operation isn’t about to founder. The sisters know the pedigrees and personalities of all 70 horses. Monastery Miniature Horses boasts several progeny at 26 inches, down from the industry’s earlier average of 33 inches.
As kind-hearted as the sisters are, there are no free oats at the monastery. If a horse isn’t producing, it’s out to pasture—someone else’s pasture. But Countdown and Ginger will always call it home.
Horse Trades and Escapades
“Miniature horses are like potato chips or peanuts,” the late Sister Bernadette once told a reporter. “You can’t stop with one.” Internationally known, Monastery Miniature Horses sells to private breeders and concerns (a zoo in Spain owns two) as well as families. Prices begin at $500 for a pet-quality miniature to $2,000 for breeding stock.
The abbess is known to deal, particularly with families. “I’ll make all kinds of trades and sometimes money never changes hands,” she says. “I even got a donkey in the process.”
Much too small except for the youngest children to ride, the miniatures are big on horseplay, especially during spring tours. “I’ve had them jerk my veil off and run away with it,” laughs the abbess.
Workmen, too, are frequent objects of their winsome affection.
“They’re running off with my tools,” they complain, or “They hid my jacket.” During a Christian Lifestyle Magazine TV interview, the playful horses unplugged the film crew’s equipment. Then they started unloading the crew’s truck. “If they weren’t into one thing, it was another,” quips the abbess. In good-natured Christmas fun, the sisters traditionally deck the horses in antlers and bells.
A Chance to Evangelize
Life at the Brenham monastery does have its serious side. The sisters do answer a call to mission. Unlike other monasteries, the Poor Clares’ missionary work comes directly to them.
“Many who see the horses would never think of visiting a monastery because they’re not Catholic,” the abbess says. “We’re able to tell them why we’re here, what we’re doing, why we raise the horses, but more importantly, about our prayer life.”
For one Lutheran group, the chapel talk was a spiritual balm of reconciliation. Motioning to St. Francis, a teary-eyed woman told the abbess, “You are so lucky to have this heritage, this tradition.”
“It’s your history, too,” the abbess responded. “This goes back before the Protestant Reformation, way before the Church was split.”
With Baptist groups, the abbess talks from the heart—and from experience. “Invariably, guides will warn people that I was a Baptist. You can tell they’re afraid for my soul.”
Explaining Catholic beliefs in a Baptist mentality, Sister Angela dispels popular myths, particularly the one that Catholics worship saints.
“They [the saints] shed their blood for Christ. They were crucified, drawn and quartered or burned at the stake. The statues, relics or holy cards are just reminders, just like the photos in your wallets are reminders of your family.”
Praying to the saints is another common area of misunderstanding. “You believe in the mystical body of Christ, right?” asks Sister Angela. “If we can pray for one another now, can’t those who have already gone on to God pray for us, too? Their prayers should be a bit more powerful than ours.”
Put that way, the Baptists agree that it makes sense to ask the saints’ intercession.
“Although the worship is expressed so differently, the basic beliefs are there,” Sister Angela says of the Baptist faith. “I believe everything I did as a Baptist, but my beliefs have deepened so much more now.” 
 
Home now to eight sisters, including four elderly Cuban sisters who survived Castro’s takeover, the Brenham Monastery of St. Clare is looking for an increase in vocations.
The sisters will no doubt be successful in achieving that goal. It is their enterprising nature and the horse sense they have picked up along the way that will continue to lead them to new pastures. 


SOURCE: http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Feb2000/feature1.asp#F7 

Holy Heros Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  The penitential practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving begin today. A priest friend sent us an email about Lenten penitential practices. He said it so well, I thought I should give it to you all to read.

“The Lenten penitential practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are not intended as a covert season of self-improvement, or worse, a time of self-bashing because we are sinners (even though we are), but are instead intended to help create an ever-larger space within our hearts to love. The practices are focused on dying to self so that we are expanded in our capacity to love. We seek deeper conversion and deeper love. By denying ourselves some good, we die to ourselves a little, so that we can grow more in love of God and neighbor. We die to self to grow in love.”

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence (no meat) for Catholics.
All Catholics 18 and over should fast (excluding those who cannot fast because of health reasons, or those who are pregnant or nursing).
Fasting means you only have one full meal during the day (or you can have two small meals instead). Abstinence applies to those who are 14 years and older. 

All Fridays during Lent are days of abstinence.

During Lent we are preparing ourselves for Easter and for the renewal of our baptismal promises. We should make a renewed effort to set aside scheduled time for prayer and to offer up little prayers throughout the day for our continued conversion and for the conversion of others.

As we prepare for Easter and the grace that it brings, we make sacrifices and think of others rather than ourselves. We may go without little luxuries so that we can give more to those who are in need (almsgiving).



You can register for Holy Heros at the source link below!
SOURCE: http://www.holyheroes.com/Articles.asp?ID=163&Click=921

Stations of the Cross Votive Craft Project

H/T  Just Another day in Paradise

This craft is very easy to make and also inexpensive. The total cost was about $12.00.
I started with a piece of wood about 2 1/2 feet long and hot glued 14 glass votive candles on it.



Then I printed black and white images of the 14 Stations of the Cross.
The kids cut them and used a glue stick to paste them on the glass votives.



We light all 14 candles. After we read each station, we blow out a candle, and when we get to the last station, the room is dark and somber. It has made meditating on the stations very real to us.

For the little ones, I found these printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages.

This is a great chidren's book: The Story of the Cross: The Stations of the Cross for Children

Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact

A great find!

Treasure Chest of fun & facts from The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

<~~ Here is an example of a page from the archives of ACUA Digitized Online Materials

Description from the American University site at the online archives page:

Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact

A Catholic comic book fondly remembered by generations of parochial school students.
To view the WRLC Digital project click here.

Blue and White Tiles for Our Lady

A beautiful project idea from Cottage Blessings.

We began with a wooden plaque, holy card, container of tiles, tile glue, and a gold-leafing pen.

It only took about two minutes to gild the edges.

After planning the location of the tiles, a special glue was brushed on the wooden surface and the back of each tile square.

Gluing the tiles did not take long at all.

Here you have it, a partially finished product. It is incomplete because, being a novice at tile work, I thought the mosaic glue would also act as grout. No such luck. I will need to return to the craft store some time soon--or make my own grout from a mixture of white sand and glue. (This photo was taken before the glue dried so you can still see a bit of it round the edges.)

Knowing it might take a month or more before we return to the craft store, I decided to post the project as is, because it is quite pretty already. I am thinking about turning it into a holy water font eventually or putting it on the front door.

The Catholic Seder Meal

I found this lovely and very simple form of a Catholic Seder at Mary-Eileen Swart's blog.

The Questions (simplified version of seder meal)
Generally, the youngest son (or youngest child) asks the questions and the father answers them. The last question in this list is not a traditional Seder question, but one that I added to highlight the significance of Jesus saying “It is finished” on the cross, signifying not only the finish of his salvific work but also of the Passover.

#1 Question: “Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?"

Answer: We eat only matzoh because on the night of the first Passover, the Israelites couldn’t wait for bread to rise before they fled from Egypt, so they took flat bread made without yeast. This is the matzoh.

We who follow Christ know that just as God rescued the Jews through Moses from slavery to the Pharoah, so He freed us through Jesus Christ from our slavery to sin. We also know this night is different from all other nights because it was the night that Jesus instituted the Eucharist.

(Say grace. Break the Matzoh and everyone take a piece. Take a sip of wine.)

#2 Question: "Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?"

Answer: We eat only a bitter herb, Moror, to remind us of the bitterness of a life lived in slavery.

#3 Question: "Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?"

Answer: We first dip our herbs in salt, which symbolizes tears of sorrow which we replace with gratitude for our redemption. Next, we dip them in the sweet haroset, which symbolizes the sweetness that lessens the burden of pain and suffering. The charoset also reminds us of the mortar that the Israelites used when laying bricks for the Pharoah.

(Dip the lettuce and parsley in salt water; eat a little. Dip in charoset; eat a little. Then break two small pieces of matzoh and put them together with a little charoset. It reminds us that God can heal our brokenness. Take a sip of wine.)

#4 Question: Why do we lean on a pillow tonight?

Answer: We recline at the table because in ancient times, a person who reclined at a meal was a free person, free from slavery, and so we recline in our chairs at the Passover Seder table to remind ourselves of the glory of freedom. We know that Jesus has freed us from the death by his Resurrection, so we can live like free people, with joy.

(Take a sip of wine.)

#5 Question: “Why do we drink wine tonight?”

Answer: The Israelites sipped from four cups of wine during the Passover. However, on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus didn’t drink from the last cup of wine – until on the cross, when Jesus took the sponge dipped in sour wine, and then said “It is finished”.

This is the night of the New Passover.

(Take the last sip of wine.)

source: Mary-Eileen Swart
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MUCH MORE DETAIL from sequential Catholic Culture web pages. CC says,

"A Catholic family can enter more deeply into the Passion of Christ by having a seder meal, similar to the Passover, or Last Supper that Jesus would have celebrated with his Apostles. With the knowledge that Christ has come and redeemed the world, we can incorporate a Christian attitude during the seder meal."

• Introductory Blessings (Mother lights candle)
• Kiddush (traditional prayers - Father)
• The Questions (son to Father)
  
• Hallel - Psalms of Praise (family sings or recites)
• Concluding Hallel (Father)

from Catholic Culture
Introductory Blessings

At the beginning of the seder meal, a traditional Jewish blessing that also explains the origin of the seder meal and its history. Included here is the blessing with Christian meditations.

Directions: All gather around the table and stand quietly. The mother, or chosen hostess, lights the candle, since it is the Jewish mother's priviledge to light the Sabbath candles.

MOTHER OR HOSTESS: The traditional prayer of the mother in the Jewish family as she lights the feast day candle before the meal is this:

Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by thy commandments and hast commanded us to kindle the festival lights. Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season. May our home be consecrated O God, by the light of thy countenance shining upon us in the blessing and bringing us peace.

FATHER OR LEADER: This is Holy Week, a time that joins for us the Old and the New Covenant. At this season the Jewish people celebrate the feast of the Passover or Pasch. More than 1,400 years before the time of Christ, the chosen people were suffering in slavery in Egypt. God raised up Moses as their leader and Moses tried to secure their release from captivity. Despite the hardships of nine successive plagues which God sent to them, the Egyptians still refused the pleas of Moses. Then an angel of the Lord was sent to strike down the first born son of every family; but at God's command, each Jewish family had sacrificed a lamb and sprinkled its blood on the doorposts. And the angel, seeing the blood, passed over their homes and their children were spared.

Then, finally, Pharaoh permitted the Jews to leave. They fled in haste, to wander amid the hardships in the desert for forty years before coming to the promised land. And God commanded Moses that the Jews should make a remembrance of their day of deliverance (Exodus 12:14-28). Thus the Passover became the great feast of sacrifice, of deliverance and of thanksgiving. Each Passover meal revolves around the retelling (the Haggadah) of this Providential act.

We who are the followers of Christ see the working of God''s concern for His people. As God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, so He lovingly sent His Son to redeem fallen man from slavery to sin. By the sacrifice of Himself, Christ opened the gates of heaven to us.

At this time Christians and Jews celebrate their own feasts in their own ways and we can see in these celebrations the common bond of the symbolism of the Exodus. Jesus was a Jew and today we wish to draw upon the traditional Jewish Seder and the words of the New Testament to help us more fully appreciate Jesus'' observance of His Jewish heritage, whose laws He kept.

Matthew's, Mark's and Luke's accounts of Christ's sacrifice for us each begin with His celebration of the paschal meal:

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say, ''Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" (Matt. 26:17) (see also Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7-9)

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from Catholic Culture
Kiddush (Traditional Passover Prayers)
This is the traditional benediction, or "Kiddush," said by the father of the family, explaining the symbolism of some of the seder foods.

FATHER OR LEADER: The first act of the Jewish Passover is a benediction, the Kiddush. The leader takes up a cup of wine and recites this blessing:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe who hast chosen us among all peoples and sanctified us with Thy commandments. In love hast Thou given us, O Lord our God, solemn days of joy and festive seasons of gladness, even this day of the feast of the unleavened bread, a holy convocation unto us, a memorial of the departure from Egypt. Thou hast chosen us for thy service and hast made us sharers in the blessing of Thy holy festivals. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, Who hast preserved us, sustained us, and brought us to this season.

(All present take up their cups.)

We who are Christians know, as St. Luke writes (22:18), that on the night our Lord celebrated the Pasch with his disciples, He said:

From now on, I tell you I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.

(All present drink of the wine.)

FATHER OR LEADER: The next traditional act of the Jewish Passover meal is eating the greens. The greens are a symbol that nature comes to life in Springtime. Following the Jewish custom, we dip the greens in salt water and pray:

Blessed art Thou O Lord our God King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.

(All present eat of the greens dipped in salt water.)

FATHER OR LEADER: Another action of the Jewish Passover meal is breaking the matzo. The leader lifts up the matzo and says:

Lo, this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want come and celebrate the Passover with us. May it be God’s will to redeem us from all trouble and from all servitude. Next year at this season may the whole house Israel be free.

(The leader replaces the matzo on its plate.)

________________________________________________________________

from Catholic Culture

The Questions

A tradition from ancient seder meals is the four traditional questions the son asks the father about the Passover. These are some suggested questions and answers to be discussed during your Christian seder meal.

FATHER OR LEADER: At the ancient Passover meal the son asked the father four traditional questions about the Passover. In time, in order to carry on a discussion about the symbolic foods, other questions were also asked about their meanings. The father replied "according to the understanding of the son."

In more recent times the same four questions have been asked at the Seder. The questions we ask tonight are similar but have been adapted to bring to mind the relationships between the Old and the New Testament.

#1 CHILD: Why is this night different from all other nights?

FATHER OR LEADER: In the MISHNAH we find the ancient teaching of the Jews concerning the meaning of the Passover meal:

In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it is written: And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying: ‘It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt’ (Exodus 13:8). Therefore are we bound to give thanks, to praise . . . and to bless him who wrought all these wonders for our fathers and for us. He brought us out from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a festival day, and from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption: so let us lay before him the Hallel.

We who are followers of Christ know that as God rescued the Israelites through Moses from the slavery of Egypt, so he redeemed us through Christ from our slavery to sin. Christ passed from this world to his Father, showing us the way and preparing a place for us, as he said:

No one can come to the Father except through me (Jn. 14, 6).

St. Paul tells us,

And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation — the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here (II Corinthians 5:17).

And again he said,

Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:22-23).

#2 CHILD: Why do we eat bitter herbs tonight at this special meal?

FATHER OR LEADER: The Jews of old ate bitter herbs on Passover night, as do the Jews today, because

Our fathers were slaves in Egypt and their lives were made bitter.

We who are followers of Christ do not hesitate to taste of this bitterness as a reminder of His passion and death or to recall that He said,

Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27).

#3 CHILD: Why do we eat herbs tonight, and this time with sweet jam?

FATHER OR LEADER: We dip the bitter herbs into the haroses, sweet jam, as did the Jews of old, as a sign of hope. At the Passover meal the father explains:

Our fathers were able to withstand the bitterness of slavery because it was sweetened by the hope of freedom. We who are the followers of Christ are reminded that by sharing in the bitterness of Christ’s sufferings we strengthen our hope.

St. Paul says:

It is by faith and through Jesus that we have entered this state of grace in which we can boast about looking forward to God’s glory. But that is not all we can boast about- we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us (Romans 5:2-5).

Christ and His disciples — and all Jews who celebrate the Passover — tell the Haggadah during the Paschal meal. Haggadah means "retelling." It is the retelling of the Israelites’ salvation from the tenth plague because the lintels of their doors had been marked with the blood of the lamb sacrificed at God’s command and of the story of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

The yearly retelling of the deliverance of the Jews is an essential act in the Passover meal. As the evidence of God’s loving care is refreshed in the minds of each individual each year, so is the renewal of their dependency upon God for all things, particularly their freedom from slavery.

#4 CHILD: Why did the Jews at the time of Christ eat the Paschal lamb when they celebrated the Passover meal?

FATHER OR LEADER: At the time of the Liberation from Egypt, at God’s command each family took a lamb, sacrificed it, ate it, and sprinkled its blood on the doorpost and lintel. And on that night, seeing the blood, the angel of the Lord passed over them, smiting the Egyptians and sparing the Israelites (see Exodus 12, 26-27).

The Jews continued a memorial sacrifice in the Temple of a lamb for each family in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. The lamb was brought home, roasted and eaten in a memorial meal. Since the destruction of the Temple there is no longer sacrifice but the meaning of the Paschal Lamb is retold by Jewish people today.

Followers of Christ know that Christ is our Lamb, who sacrificed Himself for us, and by His death and resurrection, enabled us to merit passing into eternal life with God. As St. Paul says:

Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed (I Corinthians 5:7).

#5 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples wash at table?

FATHER OR LEADER: At the festival table of the Jews it is customary to wash the hands of all present while saying this prayer:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of hands.

On this night followers of Christ are taught a new meaning. Christ, the Lord, while washing the feet of His disciples taught His commandment of love and service for others:

The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:11).

(The father or leader now takes a matzo and breaks off a portion. He passes the matzo around and each eats his portion of it.)

#6 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples eat unleavened bread at the Passover table?

FATHER OR LEADER: The blessing and the breaking of the matzo is one of the important parts of the feast of the Pasch. The origin of the matzo was this:

When Pharaoh let our forefathers go from Egypt, they were forced to flee in great haste. They had not time to bake their bread; they could not wait for the yeast to rise. So the sun beating down on the dough as they carried it along baked it into a flat unleavened bread.

The matzah was the "bread of affliction" which enabled the Chosen People to be delivered from slavery.

On this night the followers of Christ recall that before our Lord distributed the bread to all the disciples He added the significant words of the Lord’s Supper. Through this action all men are able to become one in Christ, as St. Paul says:

The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all share in this one loaf (I Corinthians 10:17).

#7 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples drink wine at the Last Supper?

(The father and all present take a sip of wine.)

FATHER OR LEADER: The feast of the Passover begins and ends with the drinking of a cup of wine. It is both a blessing and a thanksgiving expressed in this benediction prayer:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

On this night the followers of Christ read in the gospel of St. Luke:

When the hour came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, `I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer — because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’

Then taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’

Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ He did the same with the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you (Luke 22:15-20).

For the Christian, then, this is the night of the new Passover.

Let us recall with respect the feast of the Passover and its place in God’s Providence. Let us recall with gratitude how on this night Christ instituted the new Memorial. By this act and by His death and resurrection, He established a new sacrifice, a new deliverance.

__________________________________________________________________

from Catholic Culture

Hallel (Psalms of Praise)

Included here are some traditional psalms for the family to sing or read before the seder meal.

FATHER OR LEADER: In the Passover feast, before the meal is eaten, the first two psalms of the Hallel — the hymns of praise which the Jews recited at the great feasts — are recited.

ALL RECITE:

PSALM 113

Alleluia! You servants of Yahweh, praise, praise the name of Yahweh! Blessed be the name of Yahweh, henceforth and for ever! From east to west, praised be the name of Yahweh!

High over all nations, Yahweh! His glory transcends the heavens! Who is like Yahweh our God? — enthroned so high, he needs to stoop, to see the sky and earth!

He raises the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with princes, with the princes of his people. He enthrones the barren women in her house by making her the happy mother of sons.

ALL RECITE:

PSALM 114

Alleluia! When Israel came out of Egypt, the House of Jacob from a foreign nation, Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his domain.

The sea fled at the sight, the Jordan stopped flowing, the mountains skipped like rams, and like lambs, the hills.

Sea, what makes you run away? Jordan, why stop flowing? Why skip like rams, you mountains, why like lambs, you hills?

Quake, earth, at the coming of your Master, at the coming of the God of Jacob, who turns rock into pool, flint into fountain.

THE MEAL. (The festive meal now takes place. It is a joyous meal rather than somber. It is a leisurely meal, and ample.) After the meal we recite together:

WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.

The love of Christ has gathered us together; Let us be gay in Him, and cheerful: Let us love and be in awe of the living God And love each other with honest hearts.

WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.

So now that we are gathered together Let us take care not to be isolated in ourselves. Let ill will, quarrels, and disagreements stop.

WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.

And together, with the saints May we see Your face in glory, Christ our God. That is straight, unmeasured joy, For ages on unending age. Amen.

(tr. Father Caedmon, OSB)

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Concluding Hallel

FATHER OR LEADER: We shall all join in reciting the concluding Psalm of the Hallel keeping in mind that St. Matthew tells us

After psalms had been sung, they left for the Garden of Olives (Matthew 26:30).

PSALM 118

Alleluia!

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting! Let the House of Israel say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’ Let the House of Aaron say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’ Let those who fear Yahweh say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’

Hard-pressed, I invoke Yahweh, he heard me and came to my relief. With Yahweh on my side, I fear nothing: what can man do to me? With Yahweh on my side, best help of all, I can triumph over my enemies.

I would rather take refuge in Yahweh than rely on men; I would rather take refuge in Yahweh than rely on princes.

The pagans were swarming round me, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down; they swarmed round me closer and closer, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down; they swarmed round me like bees, they blazed like a thorn-fire, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down.

I was pressed, pressed, about to fall, but Yahweh came to my help; Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my saviour.

Shouts of joy and safety in the tents of the virtuous: Yahweh’s right hand is wreaking havoc, Yahweh’s right hand is winning, Yahweh’s right hand is wreaking havoc!

No, I shall not die, I shall live to recite the deeds of Yahweh; though Yahweh has punished me often, he has not abandoned me to Death.

Open the gates of virtue to me, I will come in and give thanks to Yahweh. This is Yahweh’s gateway, through which the virtuous may enter. I thank you for having heard me, you have been my saviour.

It was the stone rejected by the builders that proved to be the keystone; this is Yahweh’s doing and it is wonderful to see. This is the day made memorable by Yahweh, what immense joy for us.

Please, Yahweh, please save us. Please, Yahweh, please give us prosperity. Blessings on him who comes in the name of Yahweh! We bless you from the house of Yahweh. Yahweh is God, he smiles on us. With branches in your hands draw up in procession as far as the horns of the altar.

You are my God, I give you thanks, I extol you, my God; I give you thanks for having heard me, you have been my saviour. Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting!

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Sources:
Catholic Culture Liturgical Year Activities
The Four Questions
Passover Meal, The by Arleen Hynes, Paulist Press, 1972