Catholic Hotdish

What is it like having a large family? Susan and Ken Von say that every time they go grocery shopping, they can’t get very far without someone making a comment about their family’s size.

Everything they sing about in this video is what my husband and I (We have nine children) get asked many times over…often from strangers! I’m so impressed that the Vons were able to get their kids to sing this song without the little ones fighting! I need to take some parenting lessons from them!

The comments from strangers that frustrate me the most:

• “You must be Catholic.”
• “Are you having more?”

A personal question that my husband and I hear a lot that the Vons didn’t mention (We think it’s kind of funny):

• “Did you have all these kids with the same husband/wife?”

Some of the nice things that strangers say to us in public (which make my day!):

• “You are one lucky mom!”
• “You kids are so lucky to have each other!”
• “What a great family you have! You’re doing a super job!”
• “Children are a blessing!”

Take a moment from the hustle and bustle of Advent, and enjoy this video:

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Science fiction really isn’t my taste, but this Christmastide I savored an interesting, action-filled novel about the Three Kings.

Probably is best termed historical fiction with leanings toward sci-fi, “Epiphany: The Untold Epic Journey of the Magi” is a terrific read. The sci-fi flavor offers a new take on the old story of the wise men who followed a star and brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus at Bethlehem.

I normally don’t go for stuff about humans with super powers — too much deus-ex-machina for me. But author Paul Harrington doesn’t allow the magic to get in the way of his interesting tale of Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar and all they ran into as the star led them to the place when they could pay homage to the newborn king of the Jews.

Harrington’s fictionalized version of the travels of the Magi is just that — fiction. Matthew’s Gospel reveals only that the Magi came from the east. But Harrington holds fairly close to the basic storyline in the gospel, and the creativity he adds to the scriptural text does nothing to take away from the birth of Christ and the events the gospel writer saved for posterity.

Put a tickler on your calendar to pick it up next Advent when you’re once again setting up your Nativity Season and take the journey to Jesus with some wise men. — bz

(“Epiphany: The Untold Epic Journey of the Magi” is available at http://www.epiphany-site.com and http://www.Amazon.com)

Presentation at St. Joseph in Beroun, MN

Three Great Pairs. Simeon and Anna are one of three couples in Luke’s Infancy Narrative (Lk 1:5-2:52).  Zechariah and Elizabeth are first, Mary and Joseph are second, and Simeon and Anna are third and last.  The most important couple is intentionally placed in the middle.

A Holy Pair for after Christmas. Simeon was a devout man and Anna was a prophetess, and both were in the Temple when Mary and Joseph presented their infant son Jesus for consecration to the Lord.  Their involvement with the Christ child is featured in the gospel readings after Christmas.  The account is proclaimed on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, Year B, and each year on February 2, the Feast of the Presentation.  It is also proclaimed on two weekdays in the Octave of Christmas, the part with Simeon on December 29 (Lk 2:22-35) and the part with Anna on December 30 (Lk 2:36-40).

A Pair of Elders. Simeon and Anna were both senior citizens.  Luke states that Anna was eighty-four.  Senior status can be inferred with Simeon.  The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, and the mention of his death may suggest that his time was drawing nearer.  Also, Simeon had spent a considerable amount of time waiting which suggests the passage of many years.

Anna on Aging Gracefully. Anna is a beautiful example of how to spend the later years of life.  She had suffered tremendously with the death of her husband and the subsequent grieving, emptiness, and loneliness.  This could have sent her into a tailspin.  She could have blamed God for her troubles, lost faith, and distanced herself from God with less prayer and less time in church.  Moreover, she might have felt that life was unfair, pouted, felt sorry for herself, and become bitter and resentful, crabby and mean.  Not Anna!  Her faith was unshakable, and she had a very bright and positive disposition.  She was grateful and hopeful, prayed morning and night, went to the Temple daily, and fasted on a regular basis.  As she dealt with the setbacks in her life, her personal holiness took a step forward, not backward.

Anna’s Lesson for Seniors (and everyone). Over the course of life, all of us suffer painful losses and bitter disappointments.  Anna teaches us how to deal with them constructively.  She could have stayed home alone, but she went to the Temple each day.  It is important to get out of the house and remain connected to others.  Her example also makes a solid case for daily Mass.  She no longer had family obligations and had more time on her hands.  She could have gone to the markets and gossiped.  Today’s seniors could spend long hours on the telephone or watch one TV program after another.  Anna filled her time with frequent prayer from morning to night.  Anna’s example shows us that as the years go by, our prayer life can intensify, not diminish.

Simeon on Spiritual Readiness for Death. Simeon was a holy man in the Temple.  Religious artists frequently portray him as a priest, but there is no mention of this in the gospel.  He is described as righteous, a person who carefully observed the precepts of the Law, and devout, a person of faith, prayer, and virtue.  Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was upon him:  he was close to God, wise and strong, loving and kind.  With all of these wonderful spiritual traits, he was still not ready to die, a day that would not come until he had seen the Messiah.  Then, on the day that Simeon took Jesus into his arms, he declared, “Now, Lord, you may dismiss your servant” (Lk 2:29); “Now I am spiritually ready to die.”

Simeon’s Lesson on Preparedness. As holy as Simeon was, something held him back.  He may have feared death, or had an element of doubt or an unreconciled sin.  He may have been clinging to something that he was unwilling to release.  The moment everything changed was the moment he completely embraced Jesus.  It is the same for us.  Every person has their unique set of obstacles that hinder spiritual readiness for death.  The day that a person completely embraces Jesus is the day a person is ready to be dismissed

So you have plenty of time to buy them as gifts, publishers are circulating Christmas titles, and you may find some of these under-the-tree worthy.

“Who’s Hiding?” – for young children

This colorful little book re-tells the Christmas story in words and pictures that  would be enough to keep children and grandchildren on your lap to the end, but the creativity doesn’t stop there.

The little Liguori Publications book features flaps for youngsters to lift open on every two-page spread to find the answer to a who’s hiding question from the text. The thick pages are perfect for tiny hands to turn. What a nice idea by author Vicki Howie and artist Krisztina Kallai Nagy, and just $10.99.

“The Nativity: From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke” – for young readers

Ruth Sanderson depicts the Christmas narrative in classic, traditional illustrations that appear to come from an artist of the Renaissance era rather than the 21st century. Each is Christmas-card beautiful, and framed in the traditional illuminated manuscript style.

The text, however, seems both stilted and unfamiliar to Catholic ears, and appears to be culled from the King James version of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. For example, Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem because of “a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.”

Taxed? That may have been the follow-up reason, but my Catholic version of the New American Bible says the whole world would be “enrolled” — and the footnotes call it a census.

There are other examples as well, and knowing the storyline readers may find they’re just skipping the copy altogether and taking in the beauty of the illustrations. “The Nativity” is an Eerdmans Books for Young Readers hardcover.

“A Christmas Carol” – all ages

It’s not what you think. But then again,it is.

Acta Publications has reprinted the Charles Dickens classic in a pretty, easy-to-handle little paperback that’s just 160 pages ($14.95).

As worthwhile reading — and re-reading — as Dickens is, just as valuable is a nine-page introduction by Father John Shea that urges us to rediscover this Christmas-time conversion story.

Father Shea is an accomplished writer and author himself, and he reminds us why “A Christmas Carol” is a classic and why we need to re-read it even though we all know the story of Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

While looking through a window at Scrooge and his life story, the glass can serve as a mirror, too, reflecting back our own image and pulling us into evaluating our own lives. Dickens would approve. — bz

“A Christmas Blizzard,”
by Garrison Keillor

Nobody’s literary comedy stands a snowball’s chance in Honolulu against Garrison Keillor and his takes on communities in the northern clime.

“A Christmas Blizzard” is just 180 pages long, but it’s as fun and funny a 180 pages as anything you’ll ever read, with a moral worth remembering and celebrating throughout the year.

This time the creator and host of public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” has found Lake Wobegon-like characters in Looseleaf, North Dakota, and he brings a prodigal native son back to his home town just in time for Christmas and a typical northern plains white-out.

Main character James Sparrow fell into a lucrative business that made him the wealthy CEO of a Chicago beverage company. He’s rich enough to not want to spend time doing anything at Christmas that he doesn’t want to. What he wants to do is take his private jet to his palatial Hawaii second home and look at the calming waves of the Pacific.

A tug of the heart strings — or is is a guilty conscience? — has that private jet flying into good ol’ Looseleaf instead, and stranding Sparrow in a town with wacky but lovable relatives, fruitcake townfolk from his past, and even quizzical story walk-ons, like the busload of psychoanalists who are afraid to fly!

No scripted storyline here

If you think this is going to fall into that simplistic story genre of the guy who doesn’t like Christmas celebrating like no one else on the big day — well, maybe.

Keillor puts so much that’s laughable in his fictional characters — pieces of the human condition that you’ll identify in your own family, friends and acquaintance, and may yourself, plus identifiable references to real people and real events — that the storyline almost becomes secondary to the eccentric population of Looseleaf and how rich Mr. Sparrow comes to terms with them — how they impact him and how he touches their lives.

Finally, throw out anything you ever learned about the Greek dramas and “deus ex machina” endings.
In this Viking novel, Keillor out-deus-ex-machinas any contrived ending you could ever imagine. What a fun read! — bz

“The Spy Who Came for Christmas,”
by David Morrell

Think Rambo having a Christmas Eve change of heart — well, in part at least.

Think a geopolitical way to look at the biblical story of Christ’s birth.

Think terrorism on a snowy stage on the holiest night of the year.

“The Spy Who Came for Christmas” is all of the above. When a planted American spy decides he can’t go along with the latest assignment the Russian Mafia has called on him to carry out — to kidnap a baby, a baby that’s suppose to be a symbol of world peace — the action goes at a pretty crisp pace, for the most part.

There’s Arab bad guys and spousal abuse and alcoholism and Soviet Communism and religion all mixed together in a story that teeter-totters between Christian principles and graphic violence. When this is made into a film — maybe a made-for-TV one at least — there will be blood all over the screen.

The only slow part is when the good-guy spy tells a way-out version of the Journey of the Magi; they become spies for Persia intent of causing disruption of Herod’s rule. Interesting — but gosh does it take a long time to tell.

Calling “The Spy Who Came for Christmas” a page-turner would be a bit of a stretch, and it’s an admittedly okay yarn. But Morrell’s name and Christmas in the title is sure to be a winner in the marketplace. — bz