+JMJ+

What is a woman's role in Mass?

For millennium, it was (and still is) simply assisting at Mass. This includes paying attention to the prayers, offering our own prayers, and meditating on the Passion of Our Lord. This latter action can be very difficult for us to do this because the Passion is so abstract to us - we are, of course, almost 2000 years removed from the events.

To where can we go to learn to meditate better? What example can we follow?

We need not look any further than our Blessed Mother.

Our Lady took no part in the physical sufferings of Our Lord. She was not whipped, nor crowned with thorns, nor scorned. Her role is the most unseen - which is why the title Co-Redemptorix has never been dogmatically defined, despite the tradition. 


Yet through Her cooperation, She made it possible for even the Passion to take place. The flesh that hung on the Cross came from Her. So too, it would not be possible for clergy, or even altar boys for that matter, if they had not been born of women.

Tradition and mystics also testify that She united Herself with the sufferings of Her Son. It is told by Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerich that She frequently fainted from the sheer sorrow that She felt during all of the Passion.

At the foot of the Cross, She provided much consolation and compassion for Our Lord and thus helped Him bear the Cross a little better. She listened to each of his Last Words with attention and fervor. That ministry to Him was satisfactory - She need not do any more.

It is from this example that we should learn from in order to unite ourselves more perfectly with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

So, what is woman's role at Mass?

To offer our own sons and brothers as ministers to Christ. To offer our own prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and supplication, and prayers for our constituents. To offer our voices in praise and prayer. To offer our ears to hear the wisdom of Our Lord and the Church fathers. And lastly, to offer our minds and hearts so that Our Lord may occupy them fully.

A blessed Good Friday to all of you!

Old-fashionably yours,

 

+JMJ+

Ahem. This post has been promised here for months, and it turns out that it was only waiting for a silly graphic. *facepalm*

Welp, it's being published now! Enjoy! 

------

A year ago...I wanted a new knitting project. A different knitting project. A historical knitting project. 

Hey, my creative muse gets a funny turn every once in a while. 

I wanted something along the sweater line, but I'm not good with gauge. I was thinking along the shawl lines, but I didn't have enough yarn to do that. And so I decided to in the middle road with a garment called a "sontag" 

What is said "sontag"? 

Well, to put it simply, it's a type of shawl. A "bosom-friend" kind of shawl. No, not making that up, that's it's nickname. It was called a bosom-friend because it covered the shoulders, back and chest, leaving the arms free. It was popular in the 1860s supposedly because an opera singer named Henrietta Sontag promoted it. 

As a former historical reenactor who has tried working with a shawl wrapped around myself...I wanna know why these garments were only popular for a short period of time. Because I would wear the heck out of mine if I ever got one. 

Hence why I made one. 

The start of it.

For this, I used some blue wool yarn that I had stashed. I believe I got it at a Salvation Army sale. I used size 8 needles, which were *ironically* red. You'll see why later. 

I followed the original Godey's Lady's Pattern, which you can find here, with some slight modifications. Firstly, I kept increasing up the back past where it said (like wayyyyy past) so that my shoulders could be covered a lot better. 

Secondly, I shortened the actual "arms" (?) to only reach my waist. I was dreadfully afraid of running out of blue yarn before I could finish it. I ended up with plenty left over, much to my embarrassment. I made up for it in the ties though, lol. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the shape at first, but I grew to like it after I added on the ties. 

After I finished the "blue" part, it was time to add on the border. The original pattern called for a knitted border, but the blog I got it from also said crochet was acceptable. Since I wasn't comfortable knitting on border, I did the crochet one instead. 

The question was....what design to do? 

I had a couple of choices. Since the project was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and finished Independence Day Weekend 2022 (hence why the red knitting needles were so ironic), I narrowed down the color choices to blue, red or white. 

And boy did I have a terrible time deciding. My poor Instagram followers were besieged with polls as to what I should do. 

And in the end...I did something that was off the polls entirely. *sigh*

For the border, I crocheted on a white shell border! I used some natural white wool that I had in my stash. It was a heavier weight than the body of the shawl and that made it curl a little bit. The effect isn't too terribly noticeable, and I very much doubt I could have avoided curling entirely because the other colored yarns I had were heavier than the blue. 

I am really glad I went with the white because it sets off the blue a lot nicer than I think the red would have. 

The Sontag was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and the blue part was finished Independence Day Weekend 2022. The edging was a couple of weeks after that. So it took a full year, working on and off of it, to finish. Not a bad timeline! 

But now my knitting bag is empty again...a dreadful tragedy indeed. 

Maybe I should try mittens next winter? 

Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

Blessings! 

I hope your Lent is going well! I found this old post that I had published in Maidens for Mary several years back while I was finishing up my post on Byzantine fasts. So since we're in Lent, I thought I would share it with you all! 

During this season of Lent, I wanted to write a post about abstinence and some ways that people can observe it. I know that there are several myths about it, but there is one that I wish to address today: the myth that abstinence equals boring food. And that is simply not true!

There are various forms of abstinence that the Church has implemented over the centuries:

1. Dry foods only. This was only in monastic communities, in antiquity.

2. Traditional abstinence that only allowed grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

3. Current abstinence that allows dairy, eggs and seafood/fish to be consumed.

Because of the mercy of the Church, we have a lot of options available to us to make suitable meals without sacrificing nutritional needs. There is no need to have fish sticks every Friday. But even with traditional abstinence, there are a lot of options. When I observe traditional abstinence, I explore different cultural preparations of grains and vegetables to keep it interesting. 

Below are some meal suggestions for Friday Abstinence, broken up into various categories. This is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to explore other options!




1. Fish
        Fish is a big part of my diet, which I'll explain down below. One fish that we use a lot is tuna. With tuna, you can do the following: chowder, tuna melts, tuna salad, and tuna burgers, to name a few variations.
I also recommend salmon, catfish, perch, trout, bass, flounder, tilapia, halibut, and grouper. The only fish that I would not recommend fully is bluefish.
I usually have my fish baked, which can have a variety of spices with it. I personally like to use citrus with mine. There is also the fried fish, or even boiled fish (boiled halibut with sugar and salt is really good). I've even made fish tacos!

2. Shellfish
         Shellfish can also be expensive, depending on how far from the coast you are, and can be difficult to cook. However, that shouldn't stop you from trying shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, crab, or lobster. Unless you happen to be cursed with a shellfish allergy like I do *cries*.

2. Calamari
         Which is squid, in case anyone was wondering. It's really good, trust me. I really like it fried, but there are other variations, I'm sure.




1. Chinese Style Stir-fried vegetables over Rice
         Many vegetables can be stirfried successfully, including broccoli, peppers, and squash. Chinese vegetables like water chestnuts and bok choy are also really good too. Flavor them with ginger, soy sauce and other spices to create a punch!

2. Salads
        Salads can have many different ingredients. No two salads have to be identical. Ingredients that I put in my salads include: lettuce, purslane, spinach, bok choy, celery, cucumber, radishes, peas, corn, carrots, peppers, dried cranberries, cheese, and occasionally raisins. Other vegetables such as tomatoes, beans and other legumes may also be considered.

3. Boiled root crop vegetables
       My grandfather introduced me to this idea. He would take turnips, parsnips, carrots and potatoes, boil them all, and mash them into a beautifully tasting puree. I recently did this for part of a Lenten meal, and I highly recommend.




1. Egg salad
       I have this for breakfast fairly frequently. Not only laden with good fats but a high source of protein and energy!

2. Quiches
       I admit that I haven't done much with these, but I've seen others make them with great success!

3. Breakfast for dinner
        Scrambled, poached, fried, hard-boiled, soft-boiled...the list on how to prepare eggs is extensive. Like with veggies, if you're sick of having it one way, try another!