Generally, we know some actions are generally righteous whereas others are pretty clearly bad. However, nothing in vacuum is good or evil: circumstances make it so.
This is so weird to me: I always think of sin as “something wrong” or acting against God’s will. But why is it against God’s will? Some of the “rules” seem arbitrary, even unreasonable. As my obnoxious inner child would whine, whyyyyyyyyyyy?
Perfect spot for a game of basketball, don’t you think?
It doesn’t always make sense because we don’t have all of the information. What happens when we do this, that, or the other thing? What happens to us not only in a physical sense, but in a mental sense? How about psychological? Spiritual?
The reality is that some things look super enticing, but they’ll actually drag us down and disorient us. Of course there are ways to right our course after taking a detour, but the more detours we take, the more difficult it is for us to get back on track. So, a question we need to ask ourselves: do we want to be on track?
When we sin, we are intentionally detouring from God. It’s not necessarily that something is inherently wrong, but instead that it will shift our focus away from God. The more we choose something else over God, the less we know God, and the less likely we are to turn to Him – even if we never turned away, per se, just altered the course here and there. It goes back to storge love – affection for what we know: we have a “warm comfortableness” with the way we’ve always done things, meaning the more we do things our own way, the more likely we are to continue doing so and inso choose ourselves – and the more we do things God’s way, the more likely we are to choose God.
Virtue draws us nearer to God.
Virtues help us to see clearly the long game, the end goal, and enable us to more easily go directly toward it. They guide us by letting us know what’s at stake – the end goal – if we venture off the road. They won’t necessarily let us know what will happen if we go off-roading, just let us know that there is something we’re fighting for and that going off road stacks a card against us.
Uhhh, so where are you taking me again?
Just like with sin, the more we choose virtue, the easier it is to choose virtue.
Avaritia and caritas aren’t two heroes battling it out to determine the outcome of the universe. These options are on either end of each choice we make, often with a spectrum in the middle. Instead of “deciding” to be greedy or charitable, we often debate with ourselves about which choice is best given a number of factors. If the decision is between paying rent or dropping it in a church collection basket, any decent pastor would want you to pay rent; if you get a bonus, maybe sending some to your favorite charity is in order.
These two are always going at it.
Also noteworthy: cash isn’t the only way to be charitable. Maybe last year you were able to donate money toward cancer research but that isn’t viable now; maybe last year writing a check was the only thing you could do, but now you’ve got the time to volunteer to run at that event, or work the telethon, or research an idea they haven’t had the time to look into. Maybe you can run point on an event to brighten the day of everyone in the ward – patients and attendants alike.
What are your talents? How are you using them?
Affectionate love is typically the winner of the contest between avaritia and caritas. I don’t mean that in a “love conquers all” kind of way, but rather a “habits conquer all” way. Specifically, we are given choices every day; the choices we make today will impact our choices tomorrow. The more we choose one path, the more familiar with it we will be, and the more likely we are to choose a similar path tomorrow. Decide your destiny – with “warm comfortableness.”
Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit [to] the deepest interpersonal affection and … the simplest pleasure.
What a broad swath. We’re all familiar with love, whether we help our neighbors in our daily lives, hear kind words pass between people we don’t know, or even just get the interpretation of the media, we have some kind of exposure to love. But what is it, really?
Love is the only virtue that exists regardless of everything else: if the world were perfect, we would know love; our world is far from perfect, yet we still know love. Every other virtue requires an obstacle to be overcome whereas love exists independently.
Here’s an example which we’ll go further into later: for hope and faith to exist, there needs to be uncertainty. Hope and faith are meaningless if we know and can see the outcome; that’d be like showing up at the end of a ballgame, seeing the final score, and “hoping” for one of the teams to win. The game’s already over; we already know the score – so we can’t hope for a particular outcome because the outcome is already set in stone.
Contrast this with love. Whether you show up for the pre-game, make it just in time for the first pitch, or can only catch the teams as they walk off the field, you still love your team. Nothing changes from start to finish: if you love your team, you love your team.
Regardless of everything else, whether times are great or the world is literally ending or all of life on Earth is extinguished and all of God’s children are praising Him in Heaven, love endures.
Secular Love
Look up love in the dictionary: there are many definitions – none of which really fit what we mean when we’re thinking of telling a significant other I-L-Y for the first time. I, for one, would not be terrified of telling someone, “I have an intense feeling of deep affection for you,” or even, “I have a deep romantic attachment to you” – but dropping I-L-Y feels like I’m hitting the nuclear launch codes with myself at the targeted coordinates.
Critical Hit!
(As a side note, I really want to use one of those lines in real conversation. They make me smile, and I wouldn’t mind feeling like Data for a moment.)
Love is a difficult concept to take into the secular world because it is inherently and intimately divine. We humans try to control everything and form it to our will, to “perfect” it just the way we like it. There’s a problem with that: love is perfect the way God originally gave (and continues to give) it to us. When we alter perfection, it’s no longer perfect.
If you ever had the thought that love is fickle, you’re right: the version of “love” mankind peddles is imperfect and weak. When we look at the harm people who “love” each other do to each other, it can be difficult to believe in love at all. This “love” is not real love – the strong webbing God catches us in to cradle and nurture us when we allow ourselves to turn to Him.
I love snuggling under a nice blanket. Prrrrr…
Natural Love, Human Love
C. S. Lewis (best known for The Chronicles of Narnia) wrote about the four distinct types of love in The Four Loves. He differentiates genres of love in and understandable, relatable way; let’s check them out.
Storge: Affection
Affection is the most basic and most natural form of love; it is the result of fondness through familiarity, such as between mother and child. Such familiarity needn’t be from a familial tie; it can be by chance, such as a shared experience with a stranger you meet on the top of a mountain. C.S. Lewis describes it as a “warm comfortableness” with simple satisfaction in simply being together.
Philia: Friendship
Ah, friendship. The rarest and most insightful of all loves, philia is a strong bond between people sharing commonalities. Think about your closest friends: what do you have in common? Do you play the same sports? Do you believe the same things? Are you excited about the same topics? These commonalities are the basis of friendship.
Describing it as “the least biological, organic, instinctive, … necessary, [and] natural” of the loves, C.S. Lewis expresses a connection to the way some ancient cultures considered it “the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue.” Because it is a love selected, by decision rather than by obligation or mere chance, it is on a higher plane than the other loves.
Friends are the people we trust to help patch us up – and the ones we want to help patch up.
Eros: Romantic
You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
This love is actually interesting once we get past the rah-rah we face in secular society. (That stuff should really only distract teenyboppers, but it seems people are so fascinated with youth that even that which is as lame as this is romanticized … literally and figuratively.)
Far from being erotic (and fickle) love, eros is the pre-occupation with a person as a whole. This is wanting to know everything about someone, being enraptured by a personality, being enthralled beyond the who to the why and the how.
The fact that she is a woman is far less important than the fact that she is herself.
Eros is romantic and passionate, but not in the way we tend to think about it. It vigorously proclaims an interest in knowing everything about its interest, to know that person as a whole person as thoroughly as one can know another. It’s sitting down to have a conversation with someone because you want to hear what they have to say, because you want to know how they think, why they think that way, and what makes them who they are.
Eros goes beyond what she wore on the date to why she picked it.
The natural loves are not self-sufficient. … The human loves can be glorious images of Divine love. No less than that: but also no more.
Agape love is the love of God. It is also known as charity. This kind of love is totally selfless and undoubtedly the greatest of the four loves. It is perfect love: timeless and unconditional. It is the love we are called to have for each other yet can not hope to offer without God’s help.
Charity enables the other virtues. Through God’s grace, we have access to agape if we will accept His guidance. Agape love glorifies God by reflecting His nature, and He infused it into our souls so that we may be happy. Accepting the gift of God’s love, we are called to love God back but also to love ourselves and our neighbors just as God loves us.
Charity is like a pup waiting on its master – ever eager to please.
What’s your experience with love? Which types are you familiar with? Let me know in the comments!
And, of course, we’re finishing out today’s post with everybody’s favorite scripture passage about love.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Caritas – the friendship of man for God which unites us to God Liberalitas – the virtue of giving freely, hence, generosity Generosity – largess; involves offering time, assets, or talents to aid someone in need Charity – the voluntary giving of help to those in need as a humanitarian act
Edit (08 Nov): originally, liberalitas was identified as the Latin for the relevant virtue; in my research, caritas has surfaced as the proper term, so I will be correcting this by adding a segment within this post specific to caritas. The information on charity was in the original post; liberalitas and generosity will stay in the series but will be demoted to their proper place. Stay tuned!
What is Liberalitas?
Liberalitas is a Latin term which most closely translates to generosity. Biblically, it’s typically referenced specifically to speak about generosity of spirit, a subcategory more reflecting the charitable side of the term. (Generosity can be used to promote a donor whereas charity is done in quasi-secret – in a way which neither advertises the donor nor allows the inquisitor to know who the donor is.)
Generosity – the quality of being kind and generous
Generosity of spirit is the openness and willingness to share our own gifts freely with others, joyously and willingly and without expectation of receiving anything in return.
We all have gifts readily available. It may be obvious that the wealthy person sitting next to you has something to share with the world, but you have gifts, too! Maybe you have an afternoon available each week you can spend at the soup kitchen, or maybe you have a skill with tutoring young children who are hostile to authority figures, or maybe you’re an artist involved in a local group who has a bazaar every year selling donations to patrons and you can provide a painting, sculture, or recorded single. Maybe you’re a sommelier with a friend at a local vineyard and you can combine to offer a service for free as a prize for a raffle that benefits a cause.
Generosity is doing something for someone else. Some may part with money, others may part with time, still others may easily and quickly part with a smile: they can all be acts of generosity if done with a loving heart. With an attitude of gratitude, we can more clearly see both the impact of what others do for us and the impact of what we do for others, enabling us to multiply our own generosity simply and humbly.
Nothing… is more costly than greed; nothing is more rewarding than generosity.
Panoramic view from the top of the Tramway before sunset at Sandia Peak in Albuquerque.
Relevant Story of the Day
I had the honor of attending a friend’s wedding in Albuquerque. I’d never been to New Mexico, so I made a run of it to make opportunity to visit the sights and get to know the area. I flew out but didn’t rent a car, depending on public transportation and my own two feet. (Thankfully, I enjoy walking… I have a story about walking in heels for a few hours because a bus opted to not stop for me. …What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.)
The one place the buses don’t go? The biggest tourist destination in the area: the Sandia Peak Tramway. I was staying downtown, so it took a fair amount of time and effort to get out there, but I was told it would make the entire trip worth it. I set aside a full day to trek out to the Tramway: a fifteen minute walk to Alvarado Transit Center, twenty minutes figuring out which bus to get on, and one-and-a-half hours for the bus trip to the coffee shop where I’d wait about twenty-five minutes for a car for a twelve-minute ride to the launch point. I expected approximately the same for the return trip.
The tram ride was kinda cool – the views of hiking without worrying about breaking your ankles on the climb – but the top panorama was gorgeous. Even better than the view? The people I met.
Just as the sun was tucking itself into Albuquerque…
In particular, I remember one person struggling to take a picture of herself with the sunset; though traveling alone, she hadn’t mastered the art of the selfie, and she was trying to do it old school: aim the main camera at herself and hope she was in the frame. I offered to take her picture so she knew she’d be in the frame and with the proper lighting. She was delighted. She was even more delighted when I offered her a lesson in selfie-taking after and showed her how to use the secondary camera to see on her main screen that she was in the photo.
It was a super exciting night for both of us beyond the pink skies: we each learned things (her: how to take a selfie; me: that I have something to teach the world, and the world appreciates it; both: it’s easy to make friends on the tops of mountains).
The view was wonderful – and renowned. There is only one tramway, and hiking is not a viable option after sunset. Sunset on the peak is a major attraction, and I didn’t mind waiting for a later car while she was in a hurry to get down and eat something as she’d been traveling all day and hadn’t had a decent meal, so we parted ways, she taking the first tram after the sunset and me taking the final trip down of the night.
View from Sandia Peak in Albuquerque just after sunset
As we reached the bottom of the tramway, I pulled out my phone to double-check the bus schedule only to realize the bus had stopped running: I was either going to have to walk 22 miles to my AirBnB (probably arriving just in time to catch my scheduled ride to the airport) or go significantly over-budget to catch a car back. (I misread the bus schedule.) Disembarking, I opted against getting dinner, instead walking around the complex – a little hungry but knowing I would probably be using that money to get back to my luggage. I was simultaneously hopeful and frustrated, checking fares to see whether waiting (and walking) a mile or three would be better. I dithered as I meandered about the complex, being my best tourist (taking pictures) while I mentally beat myself up for not checking my work. I could walk the 22 miles – it’d take me about seven hours, and I could do it – and be just in time to toss my stuff into my suitcase for my scheduled trip to the airport, expecting a day of exhaustion. But was it worth the $35 for the ride?
With a sigh, I brought up my phone to work out a plan. Given my unemployment, yes – it’s economically worth it to hike. Bringing up the map, I set my chin resolutely, nodding at myself and at my stubbornness.
“Hey!”
The friend I made at the peak found me. Having had dinner (thus no longer starved and more enthusiastic), she was eager to hang out. We started chatting, and she mentioned that she was driving cross-country to teach dance. Epic! We got to talking about how we each ended up in Albuquerque, and she noticed I had a (walk) map up on my phone. (I, embarrassed, attempted to hide it, thinking the screen should have dimmed by then.) She was eager to return the favor of helping her with pictures, and, seeing the hesitation in my eyes, also noted that she was staying in the downtown area. I both reluctantly and delightedly accepted.
The warmth of genuine acts of friendship are reminiscent of roasting marshmallows.
Something about me: I’m bad at both requesting and accepting help. I was doing-backflips-overjoyed, but I was still resistant to accepting help. She thought of it as nothing: everything was in that direction – including her hotel – so it wasn’t even out of the way for her; I thought of it as so much more: a trusting act of kindness enabling me to get a full night’s sleep and not have to endure an entire night’s walk and fight crankiness the entire next day. (Sidenote: the ride was awesome. We enjoyed each other’s company thoroughly, exchanged contact information, and hugged so hard that I didn’t want to leave at the end.)
We still text (albeit haphazardly). She’s forever the person who reminds me to love people generally – because of her generosity.
You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
Greed, or avarice, is an inordinate or insatiable longing for material gain, be it food, money, status, or power… an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs… typically used to criticize those who seek excessive material wealth, although it may apply to the need to feel more excessively moral, social, or otherwise better than someone else.
What is Avaritia? What Constitutes Avarice and Greed?
Avaritia is Latin for avarice, greed. It’s more than that, though, because it’s also the personification of avarice and greed. This means it’s something more than a descriptor; it’s not a synonym for greedy. Rather, avaritia is greed itself. Do you remember ever having a really strict teacher, and people said if you looked up “strict” in the dictionary that you’d see that teacher’s picture? That’s what avaritia literally is to greed: if a person could be greed through and through, that person would be avaritia.
That’s Cool and All, But What Is Greed?
Avarice – extreme greed for wealth or material gain Greed – intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food
Avarice and greed are used interchangeably; both words indicate an overzealousness for some sort of personal gain. The desire may be for money, for power, for status, or for something material. Let’s parse this a little, shall we?
For avarice to be a sin, it needs to check all of these boxes:
Overzealous
Aspiration
For Personal Gain
Unless all the boxes are checked, it’s not (necessarily) sinful. Think about it: hoping to make rent and put food on the table is not inherently sinful; working hard to make something of yourself is not inherently sinful; being overly driven to achieve something for your community is not inherently sinful. When all these boxes are checked, though, it’s time to be careful.
Overzealousness
Overzealous – too zealous in attitude or behavior; extreme, fanatical, extremist, violent, uncompromising
Being zealous isn’t inherently a bad thing; being “too” anything is. There’s an optimal level for all things, with a grey zone around the summit’s plaque. We can want things too much; this may lead to excessive zeal to obtain the goal
The summit plaque has to be around here somewhere…
We can generally tell when we’re nowhere near the right amount because the extremes are fairly noticeable: I haven’t gotten out of bed in a month because why would I – versus – I haven’t left my office in a month and only take cat naps when my body shuts itself off.
These examples are obvious; life isn’t typically so obvious. Our goal is to work, but not excessively. We’re not aiming for perfect (or maybe we are, dun-dun-dun!). We’re doing the best we can with the tools we have available; one of those tools is time – including the balance of our other obligations making demands on our time. Our goal is to find the summit plaque and do our best to stay on top of it.
Aspiration
Aspiration – hope or ambition of achieving something; desire, longing, yearning
This aspect of avarice is both simple and complex. It boils down to wanting something, to angling for a goal. There are a variety of things – material or immaterial – that we want, that can drive us to act. Maybe it’s money, or the latest gadget, or a nice house on a lake with access to all the amenities. Maybe it’s less about stuff and more about ego: prestige, respect, or simply having others associate a name with a certain trait, even placing a certain person on a pedestal.
“You will agree, Data, that Starfleet’s orders are difficult?” “Difficult? Simply solve the mystery of Farpoint Station.” “As simple as that.”
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation, S1:E1
Goals are good things! It’s good to know where we’re going. Without having a destination, how are we ever going to reach it? The key here is that we need to select our goals carefully and with the knowledge that getting to that goal will influence others, and that even the noblest of goals may go sideways with overzealousness.
For Personal Gain
A reminder: these elements must be taken together to be bad for us. Doing things for yourself is essential to life, and we are tasked with taking care of ourselves. More than that, we have to take care of ourselves before we can help others. If we never eat, we won’t have the strength to carry a friend.
Put on your own oxygen mask before helping your neighbor.
What are some hints we’re doing it for ourselves? We can go back to the gut check method, but that’s unreliable because we are extremely capable of making excuses for our own behaviors. If we didn’t think we had reasons for them, we wouldn’t do them. Thus, we need to look outside ourselves to objective indicia to determine whether we’re doing something for personal gain.
I volunteer with a local Catholic radio station. It’s awesome. After I started, I know for a certainty that I didn’t keep going for personal gain – I was terrified of going on live radio. Insecurities surfaced and fought back; I wanted to recant my commitment. However, I had promised a friend that I would co-host with her, and I knew that it would put her under tremendous stress to have to find someone else to cover for me. I got through my pre-air panic because I was focusing on everything external: my friend, the event we were covering, and anything I could do to prepare for the discussion.
Let me be clear: it was an amazing opportunity and I would have been foolish to walk away from it. When she asked me to co-host, I was thrilled – until I realized that meant dealing with my insecurities. If we look at the moment of the ask and acceptance, I may have done it for personal gain: how cool would it be to co-host a show? If we look at the moment of setting up the table at the back of the venue, heart racing as I dug out my prep work and travel-sized Winnie the Pooh bear for emotional support, I wasn’t there because I wanted it for myself. My desire to co-host a live radio program was much less than my desire to hide, but a dear friend was counting on me.
Ready for my radio debut! (If I say it enough, I’ll believe it!)
Pooh hiding behind my rosary.
Objective indications that it wasn’t for personal gain: first and foremost, I saw nothing to gain from the experience other than working through the fear of it. Again, it’s not a bad thing to personally benefit from something; for example, education is highly praised, but it is at least in part for personal benefit. (Can you imagine paying tuition to graduate with nothing to show for it? That’s fiscally irresponsible.) I wasn’t planning any sort of launch into the media industry or to put a feather in my cap. It was a marvelous experience, but I wouldn’t say it got me anywhere.
If I did it for personal gain, how would that have changed the scenario? It certainly would depend on what the specific gain I was seeking was, but there are commonalities I would expect to find. Confidence in reaching for the goal, excitement at progression towards the goal, plans for what the event was supposed to achieve, and a tactical assessment of whether the achievements were made and how to progress from there. I likely would have acted differently during and after the interviews, depending on which goal I was aiming for: focusing on myself and how I am awesome, for example, as opposed to honing in on details about the event and its significance.
Summary: Avarice and Greed
Greed is overzealousness in aspiration of personal benefit. These elements are not problems in and of themselves: it’s good to have goals and to take care of yourself. Overzealousness in the pursuit of any goal can lead to a problem, but zeal in moderation is a good thing: we want to be enthusiastic about our pursuits! Where we may go astray isn’t in having passion and conviction, but in allowing it to overtake our good judgment.
Covetousness… is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, inasmuch as man contemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things.
The ultimate show-down! Which pea soup will reign victorious?
I enjoy pea soup. Nothing is quite like my mother’s, but I’m willing to eat the canned stuff when I’ve got a hankering for it. When I go searching for it, I find it made a few different ways; sometimes a company will make multiple recipes, and I’m not sure which one to get, so I get both and decide to figure it out later. Well, I don’t buy soup that often, so by the next time I go to pick some up, the same thing happens: I can’t remember the qualities of each, so I pick up both with the intent of figuring it out later.
Today, this cycle ends: I’m taste tasting Progresso’s two pea soup recipes and leaving a review of each in this post.
The contenders: vegetable classic on the left, traditional on the right, and separated by a referee roll!
How I prefer my pea soup: with a thickness of burbled, broken, and smashed peas soaking delicious spices and a ham bone with chunks still on it, maybe even some ham carved and set aside specifically to be added into the soup.
Aside: neither of these soups are vegetarian. I didn’t see any vegetarian pea soups while I was in the store, so if you’re a vegetarian, be wary of pea soup generally.
Heating Instructions (I went with the microwave method)
Ingredients list
Nutrition information
Best by date – April 2021.
Cracked open the can!
Pouring it out of the can – kind of.
Ready for consumption!
The bacon-flavored soup has the consistency I think of when I think of pea soup. The focus is clearly on the peas: there are no additional vegetables and only small pieces of bacon for flavoring.
It’s a little smoky, and it has a subtle but distinct pepper flavor. The mashed-up peas are all nice and smooth, giving the soup a nice creamy texture. I’m not so wild about the peas that are in tact in the soup; despite soaking in this concoction for at least weeks (if not months), they’re sturdy, even dry when you bite into them.
Yeah, the peas feel hard against the roof of the mouth, as though no moisture made it through the surface of the pea into its core. It’s weird; I’m not a fan.
I toasted a roll for dipping. Meh; this soup is not the bread-dipping kind. (This is a good thing in my book; pea soup should be too thick to properly soak toast with a dip.) I can actually make small peaks in the soup because of its consistency: spot-on!
What I do like about this soup is the concentration on the peas. I don’t like peas, but pea soup is the exception, and I want the focus to be on the peas. They make an excellent vegetable cream base, if you will, and a few added spices can turn this paste into a real treat. Excellent work focusing on the backdrop; however, the hard peas suspended in the soup make this a pass for me.
Cooking instructions (I went with the microwave method)
Ingredients list
Nutrition facts
Best by date – May 2021
Peering into the can
Pouring the concoction into a bowl
Heated up and ready for consumption!
Unlike the other soup, this one has potato and carrot chunks suspended in it, and the ham isn’t just tiny pieces. (I think there’s also celery, but it isn’t as prominent as any other ingredient.) The mashed peas are essentially a canvas for the painting of chunks of other stuff. This doesn’t have the smokiness of the other, rather carrying an almost sweet flavor. The whole peas in this one are soft – the way vegetables in soup should generally be.
I prefer not having chunks of other vegetables in my pea soup. In particular, I’m not a fan of potato chunks. The carrots and celery are actually so tender that they melt in the mouth without effort, and they don’t overpower the focus of the dish, so they make a good addition to the soup. Whereas I can easily squish the carrots against the roof of my mouth with my tongue, the potato chunks require dedicated chewing. Also, they feel a little plastic-y, and some of them make me furrow my brow because they have brown spots. These are clearly not the highest quality potatoes.
As for the toast test, this soup was better absorbed by the toast, but not much better.
Winner?
Neither is exactly how I like my pea soup, but nothing will be perfect straight from a can. I’ll keep my eyes open for other options. After this exercise, I think I’ll be investing the research time into making my own and hope it freezes well.
Due to the crunchiness of the peas in the first instance, I favor the traditional soup – the one with the ham chunks. Also – it’s been several hours since I finished the soups, and the smell of the bacon/vegetable classic is pervasive; I went outside twice to see if someone was smoking under my window before realizing it’s the soup. Thankfully, my air purifier is hard at work!
What do you think? Do you prefer a smooth or a chunky texture for your pea soup? What’s your thought on flavor – should it be smoky or taste like vegetables? Let me know in the comments!
I love tea. Tea comes in a wide variety of flavors. Tea may be loaded with complexities or instead be simple yet satisfying. Tea may be sweet or savory, served hot or cold, and comes in varieties suitable for any flavor palate. There’s a lot one can do with tea – warm up a chilly day, invite friendship and discussion, and (my favorite) enjoy parties with dainty little finger foods that make you feel prim and proper regardless of how many times you double-back for more.
Including the classic: cucumber sandwiches! Delicious!
Some teas I’ve been drinking since I was a child. Some I prefer without additives, others might get a cube of sweetener, others get a splash of dairy for smoothness, and others may get both sweetener and smoothener (applying for that to be added to the dictionary…). I still candy my orange pekoe: extra sweetener and a hefty splash of cream. I enjoy trying new tea, but I also have standard teas that I drink on the daily.
Everyone with a take on anything has preferences, so before I launch into tea reviews, I’m providing a baseline. This will help you to select your teas with reference to my reviews: if you have similar taste preferences, you can look for the same sorts of teas I jump for; if our palettes differ, you can pick out the ones I highlight as not being my type. I’ll give guidance on the flavor profiles of each to help you select some new stuff to try.
Here are some of the teas I’ve been enjoying recently.
Most of my tea gets sweetened. I typically use two travel mugs (simultaneously, each with different teas), one 16 oz and one 20 oz. I use about a teaspoon or two of stevia (In the Raw – maltodextrin mixed with stevia for an equal sweetness with sugar) per mug. That’s about 1-2 sugar packets per mug (in the United States). If I’m traveling and at the mercy of hosts as far as sweeteners is concerned, I may reach for sugar, a Splenda packet, or go black. (If using a Splenda-type sweetener, I use a maximum of a half packet per mug. The times I’ve forgotten to halve it have been unpleasant – that stuff is so much sweeter than sugar.)
One of my mugs is for caffeinated teas and the other is for non-caffeinated teas. I don’t do decaf; it doesn’t make sense to me. I want the tea as a whole, not crafted then torn apart to take out most of the component that people often drink coffee for. (I understand some people avoid caffeine due to sensitivity or religious reasons. Decaf is not the answer: some of the caffeine remains in the stuff.)
My favorite and go-to tea is Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai tea. It has an edge of inherent sweetness, and more than the complex hearth-welcoming flavors, it’s a great tea for if I don’t want to have to think about sweetening it. A little stevia brings out a variety of notes that are otherwise very subtle, but some days I prefer the subtlety. Bigelow makes their tea available both in the standard tea bag form as well as K-Cup pod form for Keurig users (also available in a party pack).
I often drink a calming, de-stress kind of tea, too. I’m still looking for a true go-to in this category. For me, this type of tea has valerian or valerian root in it; this was used to help with anxiety during the air raids of World War II, so I figure it’s good enough to fight against my everyday concerns.
The tea I’ve been looking for the longest to restock on is Red Rose’s Sunset Spice blend. It seems they stopped making it – a pity as it has a robust hearth-welcome flavor. This is something I highly prize in tea: a sit-down-by-the-fire-to-chat feeling emanating from a warm cup, something that convinces you that you’re amongst friends who enjoy your company.
Red Rose Sunset Spice tea packet – one of the very few I have left.
Armed with a baseline, we can charge forward to tea reviews. Onward and upward!
Postings and images on this site are copyright protected. Legal reproduction of anything from this site requires written permission of the site owner. The solitary exception: commenters retain ownership of their comments for themselves and may reproduce their own comments.
This site references other sites. Some of these links are references for further reading; other links are to relevant products. Affiliate links are included on this site, meaning if you click on the link and purchase the item on that page then the site owner earns a commission from your purchase. This doesn’t change the amount you pay for the product. However, if you prefer, you can find linked pages without the affiliate link tag if you don’t want this site receiving credit for directing you to the product; it generally just requires deleting a portion off the end of the link in the address bar of your browser.
Views and opinions expressed on this website are held by the site owner and not necessarily held by any others. The site owner thanks WordPress and BlueHost for providing the platform to share on, but has no idea what the views of either company include or if these companies even hold any particular corporate views.
Nothing on this website should be construed as legal or medical or otherwise professional advice. Neither reading, nor interacting with, nor using the content on this site establishes any relationship (fiduciary or otherwise) with the site owner.
Making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins.
All Souls Day commemorates those who have passed on from this life in the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the people who died bound for Heaven but haven’t crossed the threshold into the Lord’s Kingdom. Today is also called the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed because that’s who we remember! In overly-simplistic terms, today we pray for the people who made it into purgatory so that they may cross into Heaven.
The gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.
The thing is, God knows this. God knows we’re fallible, and He knew when He gave us freedom to choose that we would need His help to be able to choose Him, to see Him – so He made a way for us to return to Him after The Fall.
Purgatory
Let’s reel this in.
Many of us understand that the spirits of our loved ones go somewhere after being done with their bodies, but we typically talk in terms of Heaven and hell; purgatory can be a difficult place to wrap our heads around. Purgatory is the final absolution of sins before souls meet God in Heaven. God is so pure that He is separated from us by our sins. But God loves us! He wants to be with us! He loves us so much that He wants to be with us to love us personally! Therefore, God put a mechanism in place to completely wash us clean after death so we can be with Him: purgatory.
If you made it into purgatory, you made it.
Gus Planchet, lay theologian
Take comfort in this: God loves us so much that He made purgatory so that if we decide that we want to love Him back, we can still meet Him in Heaven. This means you! (And, quite thankfully, me!) In a previous post, we discussed that we’re all sinners, and as Saint John wrote in Revelation 21:27, “nothing unclean shall enter” Heaven. That’s why God made purgatory – to invite those of us who are flawed but still love Him to join Him after purification.
If you squint, you can see the mountain in the distance. Imagine that mountain is the final ascent to God’s throne, and between here and there is purgatory.
Our prayers can shorten the distance across purgatory and quicken the pace of the saints suffering (“All Souls”) into Heaven. This is awesome because our cleansing in purgatory can take a long time, and it isn’t a cakewalk; the word “purge” connotes pain and other unpleasantness. I’ve heard purgatory described as worse than hell because you’re close to God, yet (for the duration of your stay) infinitely separated from Him, your dearest love; in contrast, those in hell have rejected God and His love, so their infinite separation from Him is less painful because they rejected Him and there is no intention, let alone hope, of rejoining Him. (There are other theories, too.)
The fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Personally, I don’t need to know just how painful the procedure is. I know that if there’s any hope of me getting to Heaven, I will have to endure purgatory. That means I’ll have to go through the fire to burn off the excesses – and if those excesses weren’t of some kind of comfort to me right where they are, then they wouldn’t be there ’cause I’d’ve already cast them aside.
Staying the course: those who love God but tripped along the path to Him have to go through purgatory to get to Heaven. The saints and Saints made it to Heaven, but the faithful souls who left this world are still on their way through purgatory. We can help.
Called to the crucifix, joining Jesus in His suffering to be more like Him.
Paying the Last Penny
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You … shall be liable to judgment.’ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny. You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The way I picture this uses the Les Misérables plot with a modern-day backdrop and a forgiving shopkeeper: someone steals a meal from a restaurant, but they get caught, so they have to scrub the dishes until their time has paid for their meal. (To extend the analogy, God the Father is the shopkeeper providing the opportunity for the thief to pay for the meal with elbow grease instead of cold, hard purity – err, cash.)
Plot twist. Think about this for a moment: if your loved one went to a restaurant, ate a meal, and reached for their wallet only to find their pocket picked clean, if they called you for help, would you swing by to help them out? With cash, with the dishes, or even just to be near them so they knew they weren’t alone as they washed the dishes?
Sure, they can get through it alone, but it would be better for both of us if we intercede on their behalf. When we pray for the souls in purgatory, we’re joining them while they wash dishes, rolling up our sleeves to help. When we offer a Mass for them, we’re offering the best currency ever: Jesus Christ, His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection.
A Dose of Empathy
Some of us are tempted to wag a finger and say, “Well, that’s too bad; you stole the meal, you can clean your own dishes.” But we’ve all been there: we wanted something, knew it was wrong, but decided that we’d rather be wrong than not have it. What’s more, Satan probably picked their pocket, misdirecting them into choices they shouldn’t have made or providing opportunities too alluring for standard willpower (and even sliding in slander about God to prevent them from asking for help), leaving them unable to foot the bill.
Here’s an analogy specifically regarding the temptations contrived by Satan.
I know my weak spots when it comes to grocery shopping. Specifically, I have a list and can meander a bit, but I avoid the aisle with Oreo cookies. There is nothing inherently wrong with Oreo cookies; I simply lack the willpower to eat them at a healthy rate. (If I buy a package, regardless of size, it might last three days.) My solution is to not purchase them by avoiding the aisle.
However, this plan fails if I get redirected into the aisle: spills, obstacles, or large crowds may alter that plan. Once I’m in the aisle, there’s about a 40% chance I’m buying Oreo cookies (my willpower has increased over the last couple of years – I’m pretty excited about being under 50%), and, if I buy them, I’m hovering around 90% chance of accepting defeat and gobbling them all up at a ridiculous rate of consumption.
In other words, if I stay away from the aisle of temptation, I’m in good shape to not make a decision which I know would be unhealthy for me. However, if I end up in the aisle, I stare at oblivion trying to say “no” when I want to say “now” – and sometimes the “w” just tacks itself on to the end of my “No.”
What would happen if I found myself in that aisle, staring down the countless packages of Oreo cookies, and a friend bumped into me, jolting me out of my internal battle? I’d win that fight because the treats no longer have a hold on my attention. With my power returned to me from a friend who may not even know about the assistance provided, I am again able to turn away from that temptation.
On that note…
“The righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’”
Today is an opportunity to pray for those who are between this world and God’s Kingdom. We’re asking God to grant His mercy to the souls undergoing the purification process. “They love You, Lord! Please bring them nearer You!”
How do you celebrate All Souls Day? Are there any particular loved ones you pray for who have passed from this life, whether today or other days? I tend to offer prayer for my departed loved ones on the anniversaries of their birth- and death-days; my mother prays for people all the time and offers Mass for them randomly (or at least it seems like it – I don’t know the method to the madness). How do you remember your loved ones who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again in Jesus?
I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” He said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Today, the faithful celebrate all the Saints and saints who have gone before us, both known and unknown. We dedicate today to those who have already attained heaven. Practices vary throughout the world, some cultures decorating the graves of loved ones and others eating soul cakes or flying giant colorful kites at festivals. Something we share across cultures is the Mass. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. I attended a beautiful Mass this morning in the local chapel (what a wonderful way to start the day!), know of friends attending the noontime Mass, and still others planning to attend tonight.
Why is today a big deal?
We are called to the Altar of Christ, and the saints are called to help us get there.
The Saints and saints (whether canonized or not) provide guidance for us as we amble through our lives. Some of them were selected to play crucial roles for Holy Mother Church historically; all of them are actively cheering us on to join them. Before they crossed to the other side of the veil to join Christ in heaven, they lived their faith, helping the rest of us do the same, both in this life and in the next.
This makes them excellent intercessors for our prayers: they struggled and fell, too, so they can empathize with us even in our unholiest of moments. If we ever feel too lowly to speak to Jesus, we can reach out to someone who fell and got back up. It’s kind of like offending one friend, then asking another for advice on how to right the situation. “What do I say? What do I do? When and how do I do it?” Even when we know all the answers, we sometimes want to run to a third party before making amends.
We’re all trying to get somewhere. With support from those who have made it, we’re more likely to arrive ourselves!
So, to answer the question, today is a big deal because the saints and Saints show us that getting to heaven is possible despite our sins. We struggle, yes; that is our role as saints militant – Catholics striving for heaven. More than this, today reminds us that those who have made it before us are available to act as intercessors; remember to ask them for help when you need it, because helping us in our Earthly struggle is part of their job description: saints help fellow saints.
One of my favorites is Mother Teresa. Many know about her wonderful works to the poor, underserved communities. I find her most inspiring because of her repeated decision to continue serving the impoverished while enduring serious doubts about God. Her profound and repeated encounter with the dark night of the soul did not keep her from pressing on for the sake of those Jesus wanted her to reach on His behalf. Mother Teresa was a witness to Christ even when she felt nothingness, showing us – showing me – that conquering this struggle is possible.
Also among my favorites is Saint Michael: when I’m struggling with something, it’s the first rote prayer that comes to mind, so I cling to his sword in my battles to follow Christ. He often leads me to a song reminding me of who I am to God, reminding me that Jesus wants to hear from me directly, too. “My heart rejoices; with my song, I praise my God.”
How do you celebrate All Saints Day? Do you have a favorite Saint (or saint) that you pray to for help? (Perhaps a patron Saint?) Is there someone special you remember on All Saints Day? Whether it’s a simple, “Please help me through the day, Peppep,” or asking for the Virgin Mother’s guidance in a rosary, leave a comment; I’d love to hear about your favorite Saints and saints, what you talk with them about, and how you celebrate today.
Take this opportunity to reach out to a saint you feel called to connect with. This may be the start, or resurgence, of a beautiful relationship.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
