FAITHFUL FOOD
What Faith Can Look Like By Kim Long
"Faith is the beginning and the end is love, and God is the two of them brought into unity." St. Ignatius of Antioch
S
o much is different these days. I didn’t ask for these changes, none of us did, yet here we are feeling our way along the once familiar terrain of days, weeks, seasons, and now months. In the midst of all this life does go on. People are born, people die, people mark time with birthdays and anniversaries. Long I am glad I have the unlimited text option on my cell phone. Never before has this feature performed such heavy lifting. Between individual and group messaging we were all attempting connection and with video and photo features we are almost there. Then something happened and I realized how far short this wonderful option is from the human contact many of us were missing. A woman in our parish lost her adult son quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Texts were flying, phones rang off the hook. What could we do for her? Members of our Bible Study group were all in various stages of prayer for her and her son but still...how could we show her we love her and how important she is to us. Two days later we stood six feet apart outdoors, in two groups so as not to exceed safety requirements, armed with masks, rosaries, a microphone and love. Love for her and for our faith and one another. No one could physically touch but the Spirit was palpable. Another call came, this is one my entire family had been waiting for-my grandson was making his way into this world. Two of my prayer partners and I had been praying that my daughter in law’s time in the hospital would be minimal and safe. I am happy to tell you our family welcomed a healthy baby via text, photographs, and video calls into this world and into our hearts. I had a hard choice here- to focus on the joy or to focus on myself and the fact that I could not be physically present. After about sixty seconds I slid over to the side of joy. Later still more messages were flying through the ether and a drive-by parade was quickly organized for Fr. Mike’s birthday. Once again armed with masks and this time with balloons, posters, and good wishes taped to the sides of our cars we circled the rectory multiple times as we laid on the horns and the sheer joy of life was celebrated in a style all its own. Celebrating with caution and joy our first Mass since this pandemic emerged, God had another lesson for me. After Mass one of my young students brought me her completed project, a miniature St. Joseph’s Altar, assigned in March. As she handed me the three-tier cardboard altar, wrapped in gold paper and lavishly decorated with silk flowers of every description, it, along with the images of rosaries, masks, a newborn baby, and a priest being “birthday-ed”, reminds me anew of the life-affirming faith to which we are called and is a part of who we are and who we are capable of becoming. As St. Ignatius of Antioch tells us, faith is where we begin, love is where we end and the unity of these two is the one God, living and true. During these changing and unprecedented times let us reflect on that quote as we go forward in hope. 6 THE CATHOLIC CONNECTION
Quarantine Lasagna For our first family dinner since March 13 I decided to prepare lasagna, a family favorite. What I didn’t foresee was the temporary unavailability of a few of the grocery items on my list. I ended up making a sort of lasagna with different pasta.
Ingredients: • 1 lb. ground beef and 1 lb. Italian sausage • One medium onion finely chopped • ¼ c. green bell pepper finely chopped • ½ cup celery strung and finely chopped. • 1 small container of full-fat sour cream • 1 small container full-fat ricotta cheese • 8 oz. Italian cheese blend shredded • 8 oz. mozzarella cheese shredded
Directions:
1. Saute all of the above in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When the meat is cooked and cool to touch, crumble the meat mixture by hand (a food processor makes it too fine.) 2. Heat up your favorite sauce 3. Cook pasta of choice (I used bowtie since I had no lasagna noodles) 4. Combine sour cream and ricotta in a medium bowl 5. In another bowl combine 8 oz. shredded Italian cheese blend and shredded mozzarella cheese 6. Cover the bottom of an oiled casserole dish with sauce and beging layering in this order: sauce, pasta, cheese. Bake until heated all the way thorugh.
