Rejoice!

Today was Gaudete Sunday which, Gaudete means "rejoice." Technically according to old-guard Catholicism, Advent is a season of penance while you await the Savior. Gaudete Sunday is supposed to give you a break from that.

Pause for BIG laugh.

I can hardly get to the clothes in my closet for all the wine bottles around my house!

I have parties scheduled for four different days this week! They are not my parties, I mean I am not holding them, but still.

I could get righteous and say it is my wedding anniversary so I have an excuse to rejoice, thank you very much.

But the truth is:

Once on the radio I heard a guy describe the Catholic religion as "the Marine Corps of religions." So I can admit this: Normally I think for me, this religion is two steps forward, one step back. Today, I am telling you, I was thinking it is one step forward, two steps back.

Even going to the Latin Mass, here I am thinking I am taking things more seriously -- but I have found that now I can go on autopilot just the way I used to do during the ol' English language Mass. As a kid I was a loser in Latin  class but now it is as if some force has taken me over and I am able to recite whole pages of Latin from memory.

That means I can be singing the Credo: "Visibilium omnium, et invisibilium, et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum, Filium Dei Unigenitum...et ex Patri na-a-atum... ante omnia saecula..."

With the missal forgotten on the pew behind me.

And all the while I am thinking about Leonard Pennario playing the "Minute Waltz." 

Or else I am thinking: "Look at that woman's coat.

"Why can't I have a coat like that?

Where did she get it?"

La la la la la la la.

The good news is, today we had a potluck after Mass and as I may have mentioned yesterday, I made these Spiced Apple Squares that are, and I do not know how to say this in Latin, da bomb.

The recipe is from "The Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies." They tasted all the better because I made them with the apples that those grinches did not initially want to sell me yesterday at the Clinton Bailey Market. Let me tell you this too, they were Crispin apples, my favorite.Those Crispins are so big that it took me only two apples to make this whole recipe!

Should anyone else want to make this, and I highly suggest it, I am reprinting it here. Renamed by me.

GAUDETE SUNDAY SPICED APPLE BARS

Take two sticks (1 cup) of butter. Melt the butter.

Remove from the heat and stir in:

1 1/3 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup normal white sugar

Add:

4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together with a wire whisk and then add:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves (this was not in The Joy's recipe but I like cloves, just something about them)

Finally you stir in:

2 1/2 cups coarsely grated peeled apple (they say 5 medium but if using Clinton-Bailey Crispins it is 2)
1 1/2 cups raisins (optional in my experience but I added them)

Spread batter (it will be yummy) in buttered 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees on middle oven rack for 30 to 35 minutes until firm and toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly wet. Cool. Cut into bars.

Gaudete!