I was listening to a radio program, last week, and they mentioned a movie that never really became well-known/popular in the United States. It is a World War II movies filmed a year or so after the war ended. It was a British production. I will post the information I found on-line about it but want you to know that both my son and I watched it and it was fantastic. The excerpt about it will explain more. If you want to research it, the film is called "Theirs is the Glory" and it will direct you to several sites about the film.
Found on-line:
In September 1944, the Allies launched one of the most audacious attacks of the entire Second World War. Men of the British 1st Airborne Division landed at Arnhem in Holland to capture and hold a vital bridge across the River Rhine. In one bold move, the war could have been shortened by months.
It was a desperately risky strategy and it ended in distater. Allied intelligence had underestimated German strength in the area, including a crack Panzer unit. For days the paratroopers held out against overwhelming odds in a gallant action that since passed into military legend - but defeat was inevitable.
Theirs Is The Glory is a truly remarkable and totally unique account of that battle. One year after the war, survivors from the 1st Airborne returned to the actual battlefield amid the ruins of teh town and re-enacted the battle in front of film cameras. There are no actors. There are no studio sets.Everything that happens in this extraordinary documentary film actually happened to those taking part or witnessed by them.
There is no finer tribute to the soldiers who gave their lives at Arnhem and no better film record of one of the fiercest-fought battles of the Second World War.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Small steps . . .
Although we have a pretty conservative parish, in most respects, there are some liberal practices we don't always agree with occuring. The altar server program is pretty dismal with lots of untrained children invading the altar and providing distractions not help to the celebrating priest. My husband trained altar boys (no girls allowed at our former parish!), for twelve years and he always emphasized that if the congregation notices the altar boys, they aren't doing their job! Given that this has gone on for a long time, it would seem to be difficult for a new pastor to even know where to begin to effect any kind of change to the good.
My son serves Mass six days a week. He usually wears some dressy, brown sneakers. Not my first choice but the fact that I have a seventeen year old that wants to serve, I haven't bugged him on this subject. Today, as he processed in with the other server, I was surprised to see him sporting shiny, black dress shoes. It's been so long I hardly even remembered he had such shoes in his closet.
After Mass, I was about to compliment him on his footwear when our pastor came up, nodded to my son and said, "Thank you!" I thought the pastor was referring to my son having served Mass for him until my son said, "Yeah, I completely forgot I had black dress shoes but found them in my closet this morning!"
Father went on to mention that, although he doesn't reprimand his servers, he does make gentle requests he expects to be followed. He also ran into an altar girl only problem when he said the girls asked if they could wear open-toed shoes! He kind of shook his head and said, "I told them, 'no'."
A lot of real battles are won once you break down the foundations and rebuild. Guess he couldn't get more down to earth on changes then beginning with shoes. Small, careful steps may take longer but they do get there!
My son serves Mass six days a week. He usually wears some dressy, brown sneakers. Not my first choice but the fact that I have a seventeen year old that wants to serve, I haven't bugged him on this subject. Today, as he processed in with the other server, I was surprised to see him sporting shiny, black dress shoes. It's been so long I hardly even remembered he had such shoes in his closet.
After Mass, I was about to compliment him on his footwear when our pastor came up, nodded to my son and said, "Thank you!" I thought the pastor was referring to my son having served Mass for him until my son said, "Yeah, I completely forgot I had black dress shoes but found them in my closet this morning!"
Father went on to mention that, although he doesn't reprimand his servers, he does make gentle requests he expects to be followed. He also ran into an altar girl only problem when he said the girls asked if they could wear open-toed shoes! He kind of shook his head and said, "I told them, 'no'."
A lot of real battles are won once you break down the foundations and rebuild. Guess he couldn't get more down to earth on changes then beginning with shoes. Small, careful steps may take longer but they do get there!
Sounds like the world's current mind set!
Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.
Bill Vaughan
Bill Vaughan
Apples!
One of my favorite cooking ingredients is apples. I love to made fresh apple sauce with pork, incorporate them into muffins, make pies, and fresh cookies. Again, I'm sharing a favorite recipe. It is a rather dense but delicious cake that goes well about mid afternoon between lunchtime and the start of dinner preparation. You know, the time you need to regroup and reenergize? A cup of coffee wouldn't go amiss, either!
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups thinly sliced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 375̊.
In a large bowl, mix first seven ingredients and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples and walnuts until just blended.
Spread batter evenly in lightly greased 13" by 9" baking pan. Bake 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Place cake on cooling rack.
When barely warm, drizzle lemon icing over it. Combine one cup of powder sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thin glaze.
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups thinly sliced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 375̊.
In a large bowl, mix first seven ingredients and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples and walnuts until just blended.
Spread batter evenly in lightly greased 13" by 9" baking pan. Bake 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Place cake on cooling rack.
When barely warm, drizzle lemon icing over it. Combine one cup of powder sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thin glaze.
The Holy Anaconda, Migrations,a nd other 'liturgical' mishaps . . .
Going to Mass is not the straight forward, spiritual experience you would expect. Although there were distractions back in the olden days, they certainly seem more prevalent now. When they say it is the ‘Mass of the People’, I have to agree as God seems to get lost in the shuffle. I have been trying to approach Mass with my blinders on but sometimes the interesting moments within the church, clamor for attention.
I have observed that people prefer to sit in their own pews. At daily Masses, this is even more possible as there are fewer people. Everyone has their own seat and seem to be careful to leave lots of space between them and the next person. These preferences or inhibitions are forgotten, however, once the Our Father is recited. Everyone starts stretching and angling to find a hand to hold. One watches in amazement as people reach across vacant pews to reach others, some are twisted in order to accommodate this rite and others are even facing the side or almost the back of the church just to insure they are able to hold hands. Being in the midst of the tangle doesn’t show up the magnitude of this Holy Anaconda. Seeing this phenomenon from the back of the church brings to mind some archaic ritual. The Holy See has stated that this gesture during Mass “is not in the rubrics.” (Notitiae 11 [1975] 226, DOL 1502 n. R29)
Since holding hands during the Our Father is not in the rubrics, no one can be required to do so during the Our Father. If you are not on your toes, you can end up being pummeled and pushed from your prayers by a ardent hand-holder. So, do you give in to the moment or pray that God gives you an extra grace for coping in spite of it all?
Once the terrors of the Holy Anaconda are past, you still can’t breathe easy. The Migration begins! Personally, I think a gesture of kindness towards our fellow worshipers is wonderful. Offering your hand in friendship before you offer yourself up to God’s grace and forgiveness on the altar is a good prelude. Unfortunately, people who talked together coming into Mass, who will probably see each other after Mass and who may be breakfasting with each other after Mass, want to offer the Sign of Peace as far and wide as possible. Pews empty, as people scatter to find the friends they had conversed with barely thirty minutes before. Ranks break and God resides in lonely splendor on the altar. You can say that we are seeing God in each other. I think we should concentrate more on that outside of Mass. Some people migrate so far from their home pew, they are rambling back halfway through the Lamb of God. That doesn’t stop them from greeting people as they return, ignoring the Lamb of God.
Extraordinary Ministers are supposed to be a help when there is absolutely no ordained person present or available for whatever logical reason. In spite of Vatican instructions, we are overrun with Extraordinary Ministers. When they do serve, they are supposed to present an air of dignity and piety as befits their part in the liturgy. I balked at receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday from a Extraordinary Minister, wearing slacks, sweatshirt and a giggling smile. Somehow the words she was reciting, “thou are dust and unto dust thou shall return” lost something when she grinned throughout her duty and even laughed and joked with people she knew.
And, finally, I find it difficult to train my children to show respect in church when grown ups saunter into Mass and plunk into a pew without a genuflection or a prayer before Mass. Again, the people performing the important jobs during Mass, such as lectors, are leading others astray when they lead them away from God’s presence. A perfunctory head bow isn’t quite the same as a genuflection. “No one who enters a church should fail to adore the Blessed Sacrament either by visiting the Blessed Sacrament chapel or at least by genuflecting. Similarly, those who pass before the Blessed Sacrament genuflect, except when they are walking in procession. [CB 71].
I have observed that people prefer to sit in their own pews. At daily Masses, this is even more possible as there are fewer people. Everyone has their own seat and seem to be careful to leave lots of space between them and the next person. These preferences or inhibitions are forgotten, however, once the Our Father is recited. Everyone starts stretching and angling to find a hand to hold. One watches in amazement as people reach across vacant pews to reach others, some are twisted in order to accommodate this rite and others are even facing the side or almost the back of the church just to insure they are able to hold hands. Being in the midst of the tangle doesn’t show up the magnitude of this Holy Anaconda. Seeing this phenomenon from the back of the church brings to mind some archaic ritual. The Holy See has stated that this gesture during Mass “is not in the rubrics.” (Notitiae 11 [1975] 226, DOL 1502 n. R29)
Since holding hands during the Our Father is not in the rubrics, no one can be required to do so during the Our Father. If you are not on your toes, you can end up being pummeled and pushed from your prayers by a ardent hand-holder. So, do you give in to the moment or pray that God gives you an extra grace for coping in spite of it all?
Once the terrors of the Holy Anaconda are past, you still can’t breathe easy. The Migration begins! Personally, I think a gesture of kindness towards our fellow worshipers is wonderful. Offering your hand in friendship before you offer yourself up to God’s grace and forgiveness on the altar is a good prelude. Unfortunately, people who talked together coming into Mass, who will probably see each other after Mass and who may be breakfasting with each other after Mass, want to offer the Sign of Peace as far and wide as possible. Pews empty, as people scatter to find the friends they had conversed with barely thirty minutes before. Ranks break and God resides in lonely splendor on the altar. You can say that we are seeing God in each other. I think we should concentrate more on that outside of Mass. Some people migrate so far from their home pew, they are rambling back halfway through the Lamb of God. That doesn’t stop them from greeting people as they return, ignoring the Lamb of God.
Extraordinary Ministers are supposed to be a help when there is absolutely no ordained person present or available for whatever logical reason. In spite of Vatican instructions, we are overrun with Extraordinary Ministers. When they do serve, they are supposed to present an air of dignity and piety as befits their part in the liturgy. I balked at receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday from a Extraordinary Minister, wearing slacks, sweatshirt and a giggling smile. Somehow the words she was reciting, “thou are dust and unto dust thou shall return” lost something when she grinned throughout her duty and even laughed and joked with people she knew.
And, finally, I find it difficult to train my children to show respect in church when grown ups saunter into Mass and plunk into a pew without a genuflection or a prayer before Mass. Again, the people performing the important jobs during Mass, such as lectors, are leading others astray when they lead them away from God’s presence. A perfunctory head bow isn’t quite the same as a genuflection. “No one who enters a church should fail to adore the Blessed Sacrament either by visiting the Blessed Sacrament chapel or at least by genuflecting. Similarly, those who pass before the Blessed Sacrament genuflect, except when they are walking in procession. [CB 71].
Deep sigh . . .
"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence."
-- Charles Austin Beard
-- Charles Austin Beard
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