With Christmas knocking at the door, I want to suggest that families intentionally take some time this year to reconnect. The hectic pace of the year can begin to scatter even the closest-knit folks and without warning, the frantic holiday track can cause fine fissures to fracture.
Maybe you have small children, maybe the kids are coming home from college, or maybe you are going to meet up with siblings or friends. No matter the situation, place God in the mix, especially when relationships are tired or strained.
God has a way of setting the broken relationship, tending the bruised ego and healing the wounded soul. Make no mistake; we must put forth the effort to keep our relationships healthy and strong, but God will help us to identify and remove the barriers that keep us from these healthy relationships.
Despite what TV and movies would have us believe, it is just fine to live a life free of complicated and dysfunctional relationships. Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in these dysfunctional situations or relationships (maybe even because of our own actions) and so we intentionally take times like these to step back, reconnect with our functional selves and reflect on what is truly important.
Of course, some may ask what IS truly important in today’s world? Most assuredly, the answer to that question is changing for many. However, it is incumbent upon us as Catholics to continue to live IN the world; to have an impact ON the world; to enjoy the beauty OF the world; but not to be seduced BY the world. And it is precisely during these times of reflection throughout the year that we step back and reset our spiritual compasses to true North.
When we follow these ‘calibrated spiritual compasses,’ we end up following a path similar to those long ago who followed a star to a manger. Who we find in that manger, the object of our journey, is precisely He who sets us upon the journey to begin with … It is Christ, our beginning, middle and end.
The Catholic Kitchen Recipe for the Month: Eric’s Birthday Carrot Cake AKA The Last Carrot Cake Recipe You Will Ever Own AKA Mrs. Zimmer’s Carrot Fruit Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 ½ tsp salt; 1 ½ tsp soda; 2 tsp cinnamon; 2 cups sugar; 1 ½ cups salad/cooking oil; 4 eggs; 2 cups grated carrots; 8 ½ cans of drained pineapple; 3 ½ oz can coconut; ½ cup of nuts (optional). Directions: 1) Beat together eggs, sugar, oil. 2) Add dry ingredients and stir. 3) Add carrots, pineapple, coconut, and nuts - Mix Well. 4) Bake in greased two or three 9-inch cake pans (grease pans and lightly dust with flour for easy removal). 5) Bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. ICING: ½ cup butter; 1 tsp vanilla; 1 lb powder sugar; 1 8 oz package of cream cheese (soften). Spread between layers and on top.