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Sunday Treat: A Discworld Cake!


Since the day I’ve started reading the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, I’m a huge fan. Especially the older books are cleverly written and the whole concept of a discworld with dice playing gods is brilliant! I also love baking and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this webpage which describes how to make a Discworld Cake. The page the cake is displayed on is just a plain html coded page with no way of Search Engine Optimatisation. Therefore I post it here and link back to the site, because this piece of art has to gain more visibility:

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This cake was made for her daughter’s wedding. What a devoted and sweet Mum, to make this beautiful cake for the wedding! To find out how she did it and what everything is made of, go over to this site.

Popularity: 17%

What Makes A Blog “Catholic”?


pope-benedict-xvi-2008-cannonball-catholic-blog-awards-tropheys-vincenzo-sancte-pater2 Today two weeks ago at this very moment I was in a tall trolley bus heading to down-town Boston after an action-packed Catholic New Media Celebration, hosted by the Archdiocese of Boston at it’s Pastoral Centre in Braintree, MA. There were two tracks offered: a podcasting track and a blogging track. I followed the blogging track because I think I’m a better writer then a podcaster. Before the CNMC started I decided to be a blogger who also podcasts rather then the reverse.

I’m not new to blogging. I first started blogging in the Fall of 2003, maybe it was 2004 already, I don’t really remember. My first “blog” was on my Protestant church’s national forum and consisted of a fictional account on my life, set in a Fairytale Forest and people in my life were given fairytale character names to ensure anonymity. This was natural to me since I love fantasy/SF stories and my handle on that forum was “Little Red Riding Hood”. After I discovered the joy of blogging I went over to Blogger two years later, continuing to blog in “fairytale-speak”. This changed in 2007: After a number of years of discerning my spiritual path, I saw that traditional Protestantism (Calvinism) was nothing for me and therefore I called myself “General Christian”. I was blogging about the things occupying my mind. This could be faith related but also about psychology and science. Blogging became a way to process my thoughts.

Between 2008 and now I have hardly been blogging for various reasons like finishing my bachelor’s degree, working, health-related issues and such. It’s also clear I cannot continue where I left off, because I got older, my thoughts changed and most importantly my faith changed. Or maybe it has not so much changed. “Correctly labelled” is a better way to phrase it. I have been thinking and reasoning along the lines of Catholic teaching and Catholic piety for a long time, even when I still called myself “Reformed” or “Protestant”. This brings me to the topic I have been musing on ever since I came back from Boston: What does “Catholic blogging” mean?

Back when I was a Protestant, I already thought (and believed) like a Catholic would. I wasn’t aware of it, but my reasoning was 100% Catholic and it irked me when Catholics pointed this out. I was blogging about my faith, but how would one label such a blog? Would that be a “Protestant Blog” because its writer was a member of a Protestant Church? Or was it a “Catholic Blog” because its content was Catholic? Does Protestant (or Catholic) say something about the blog and the content or does it say something about the owner/writer of said blog?

Is a blog, written by a devout Catholic writer, but about non-Catholic topics a Catholic blog and is the writer “blogging in a Catholic way”? I think the answer can be yes. A Catholic blog doesn’t necessarily have to cover pious Catholic topics like the Magisterium, the Church and such. Look at SQPN, a Catholic New Media Network producing Catholic podcasts, without being blatantly Catholic. I am member of the “Secrets of Middle-earth” panel. There’s a “Secrets of Harry Potter” podcast as well. Harry Potter isn’t Catholic nor is J.K. Rowling. I also have to think about something Lino Rulli said. The goal of Catholic New Media (which includes blogs) is to make people curious. Being different, being fresh, being new. You have to be new, otherwise it’s not New Media.

This brings me back to Saturday two weeks ago, with me sitting in this tall trolley bus musing on the concept of a “Catholic” blog. Do I want to blog about the Catholic Church, the Magisterium and other pious topics? Sure, but that shouldn’t be the main focus: It’s boring to non-Catholics. I am not a Catholic now because SQPN was making boring Catholic Radio podcasts, but because it was about Star Trek, Star Wars and most importantly Battlestar Galactica. I cannot recall one single conversation with Fr. Roderick which was about the Catholic faith and yet I converted. Because it was real, it was authentic and it was about something I could connect to. I want my blog to be like that too.

Popularity: 31%

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God’s Creation Never Fails To Amaze


Some animals have another face we normally never see. Who knew that porcupines could be this cute? God’s creation never fails to amaze me. What a wonderful thing to live on this amazing planet with amazing wildlife!

Source: www.youtube.com

Popularity: 8%

Fish On Friday


209727 Cinnamon-Curry Tuna Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 (6 ounce) cans water packed tuna, drained and flaked
  • 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • salt to taste

Directions

In a bowl, mix the tuna, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, lemon juice, cinnamon, curry powder, pepper, and salt. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source: allrecipes.com

Popularity: 3%

Picture Of The Week


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Popularity: 3%

Free Fall From Upper Atmosphere (STS-124 Launch)


Recently I installed Stumble Upon in my browser and I love it. It brings you to all kinds of cool sites you normally wouldn’t find. At gawker.com I stumbled upon this awesome video. It seems boring at first, but wait 2 minutes and then the cool stuff starts!

(via gawker)

Popularity: 24%

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Wednesday Pondering


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“One’s first step in wisdom is to question everything – and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
(1742 – 1799)

Popularity: 5%

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Mayor Accidentally Beheads Angel


Beheaded AngelImagine there would be plans to have a big fireworks display on the 4th of July in front of Jamestown Church in Jamestown, Virginia. Since this is one of the oldest surviving buildings built by Europeans in the original thirteen colonies I would guess most people would think this isn’t a very smart idea. It’s FIREWORKS after all…

I don’t know what people in the Spanish city of Toledo were thinking when they decided on the location of their fireworks display to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They decided it was probably a great idea to set off a lot of fireworks in front of the famous 13th century High Gothic cathedral of Toledo. It’s considered to be the pinnacle of Gothic architecture in Spain. And of course it’s no problem to ignite a lot of gunpowder in the close vicinity of this monument.

The mayor, Emiliano García-Page, had the honours of starting the fireworks and some of the rockets went the wrong way towards the cathedral which resulted in the beheading of one of the angels that accompanies the ascension of Mary to heaven at the door of the Lions. A big uproar started, people are upset, some are suspecting foul play and others say it was an accident. If I read what happened on larazon.es, I think this is just an act of utter stupidity. Every sound mind knows you shouldn’t do anything with explosive materials near a monument like the cathedral.

The city council said everything will be repaired and paid for. The fireworks display next year will take place somewhere else with more space.

Link:

Popularity: 51%

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary


040Today is one of my favourite days of the year. It’s the Solemnity of The Assumption of the BVM. I can’t say I have a very strong devotion to the Holy Virgin in general, but this feast is kind of neat. It’s Easter in August. The reason I like this so much is that it gives a message of hope.

Our Lady was the first ‘regular’ person who ascended to heaven with body and soul. God promised we all will one day, but because Mary was so special, she got the special grace of ascending right after she died. That is what the Church teaches as a dogma since 1950 and what we in our collective spirituality believe for over one thousand years.

Being a former Protestant means that I know my Bible pretty well and I wonder where Mary’s Assumption differs from the story of Elijah, which is described in 2 Kings 2:6-17. I quote from the NIV translation:

Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.”
And he replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not.”

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”
“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Both stories are great stories of encouragement. Our bishop touched upon this in his homily this morning: although we are surrounded by death in this life, we as Christians don’t have to fear death, because it’s not the last thing. In our secular culture death is a taboo, because secular philosophy has no answer to death. God’s answer to death is life, as we can read in the second reading for today, where St. Paul writes that the last enemy Christ has conquered is death. Unlike in the Old Testament we don’t have to be very special people to be raised up to heaven like Elijah was. Everybody who has had a Christian baptism lives in this hope. That is the difference between Elijah and us, I think.

Isn’t God an awesome God? We can walk our path to holiness with confidence in His promises. We know death is not the end. And because we know this secret, nobody can break our spirits. It was the belief of the martyrs who died under the persecution of the Roman Empire, it is the belief of today’s martyrs in countries like North Korea and Saudi Arabia. It’s also our belief which makes us jump into the deep and really live our lives to the max in total freedom. If only more people knew!

Popularity: 16%

040 The Assumption of the BVM


040 In this episode: More CNMC experiences: the trip home; American Food & Beer stories; Lutheran Mariology. Leave feedback at spiritualjourneypodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog.

Links to this episode:

Popularity: 24%

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