Food

Egg Pepper Roast – A dish from Kerala 

This is not a dish for the faint hearted. It is spicy and hot. Note that I make a distinction between the two. What has spice may not necessarily be hot. If you think that that this will be too hot for you, drop in equal proportions the peppercorns, chilly powder, coriander powder and the green chilli (you could drop entirely the green chilli) Some recipes call for more crushed pepper powder at the time of adding the curry leaves. If you want a dark  colour  drop a tea bag into a cup of hot water and use it when you are  add the tomatoes. The same hack is used for chole masala. The tea does not alter the taste of the dish. 

Ingredients

Eggs – 4 (boiled)
Onions – 3 (finely chopped)
Tomatoes – 2 (finely chopped)
Pepper corns – 2 tablespoons (coarsely ground)

Grind these three items together separately
Cinnamon – 1 stick about an inch
Cloves – 3 or 4
Fennel seed – ½ tablespoon

Grind together these two items separately
Ginger – one inch piece
Garlic – 7 to 8 cloves

Turmeric powder – ½ tablespoon
Red chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
Coriander seed – 11/2 tablespoon
Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon
Curry leaves – on sprig
Green chilly – 1

Salt – to taste
Coconut Oil – 4 tablespoons

Method
Boil the eggs for ten minutes and set aside. Remove the shell and cut the eggs in half. In a mortar or pepper mill, coarsely crush the pepper corns and set aside. Now grind the cinnamon cloves, fennel into a paste. You will need a little water. You need to form a paste.

Heat coconut oil in a pan (not smoking hot)add turmeric powder, salt and pepper powder give it a quick stir and add the eggs cut in half with the yoke touching the pan and fry till it colours a bit. Remove the fried eggs and set aside.

In the same pan add a little more oil and drop the mustard seeds and let it crackle. One sprig of curry leaves and the green chilly. Now and the onions. Sauté the onions till golden brown. To do this you need to keep stirring the onions so that they brown evenly. Add a bit of salt and then add the chilly and coriander powder. Stir well. Add the ginger and garlic paste followed by the masala paste made earlier. Stir and add the tomato which was chopped finely or pureed. Cook this mixture to form a thick sauce. You may need to add half a cup of water to achieve this.

Now add the boiled eggs which were friend earlier and cook for about five minutes on low heat. Remove and serve hot. Garnish with  fresh coriander leaves and a bit of mint.  

The colour of the dish varies from dark brown to red. This is due to a number of factors. How dark you fry your onions or the ration of onions to tomatoes etc. Also you  can  end up with a very dry dish or one with a bit of ‘sauce like gravy.’  

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Faith

You are a saint, are you living that life?  – Monday, 30th week in ordinary time – Ephesians 4:32-5:8

While we may romanticize personal transformations, follow up is often hard work. The Gentile Christians had gone through a personal conversion and the author to the Ephesians not only affirms but insists (4:17) that they not live their former lives, like the Gentiles were. Living the life that the Gentiles do, has led them to a loss of sensitivity to their conscience (4:19) abandoning their very selves in favour of impurity. This happens to the best of us when we permit our spiritual lives to spiral out of control. Then, every sin is not a sin because we, and not God, becomes the defining factor of what is and what is not a sin. But the Ephesian converts are now clothed anew in Christ(4:24) and hence the author presents them with a new set of rules for a new life. 

The text of today is preceded with very practical demands for a healthy spiritual relationship with Christ. But these are clearly demands. Verse 31 says “Put away” all that is negative; wrath, slander, anger, wrangling and malice, in order that you can be kind to another, tenderhearted and forgiving. 

Much of life is where your focus is. If someone is on your hit list, they can never be on your prayer list. So, Paul tells us how to deal with it. “Let (it) be put away from you.” The first step in that process should be prayer, because bitterness is sticky stuff that resists clean up. We need God’s help to be able to forgive our opponent and to let go of our victim-posture. We need God to heal our wounds so that we find it easier to forgive. Sadly, much of our energy is spent dissipated on negativity rather than what we could achieve if we put on the mind of Christ. 

The author to the Ephesians accepts that a change in one’s character is not a matter of waving a wishing wand. Efforts need to made and hence he says “be imitators of God.” In order to imitate one has to observe intently. Paul is asking us, “on whom have you fixed your eyes?” Paul does not say, “Think about God” or “Admire God” or “Adore God,” though those are all important Christian duties. This is a call to practical action, going beyond our inner life with God and that’s why he says be imitators.

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Faith

Making Christ known, not the Christ I think I know – Saturday, 29th week in ordinary time – Ephesians 4:7-16

Chapter 4 signalled the half way mark of the book but also the cause for the effect that was brought about in the life of Jews but especially in the life of the Gentiles (as seen in Chapters 1-3.) God drew all to unity in Jesus Christ. That unity finds its highest expression in the fact that we are children of one God, the Father of all who is above all, through all and in all. (4:6)

In verses 4:4-6, Paul emphasizes our unity. Now he acknowledges our diversity, the grace given to each of us. This grace is distinctive, tailor made, bespoke and a perfect fit. Christian unity is not to be confused with uniformity, for the members of Christ’s body have been endowed with a variety of gifts. Don’t confuse the gifts of the Spirt in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 with this text. Ephesians is speaking of the gifts of Christ (see verse7)

Before we go ahead, we need to understand what grace is. It is true that we have been given a share in God’s grace. The problem is that we tend to ‘thingify’ (no such word but created for you get the meaning) grace or ‘charis’. Grace is not something but somebody; Jesus. Christ offers himself to us in the measure that we are open to him. Christ does not make a ‘deal with us’ in return for his grace. He is the free and unmerited gift that the father gives to each of us.

Ephesians says that this gift giving, this grace giving happened (as described prophetically in Psalm 68:18) when Jesus ascended to heaven. By the giving of himself he bound all that which binds us. Verse 7-9 is an allusion to Psalm 68:18 which the author to the Ephesians draws from. These words were also used in Rabbinical Judaism to Moses who ‘ascended’ Mt Sinai, received the law from God and then gave it as a gift to Israel. The author to the Ephesians did not quote the passage exactly as it appears in Psalm 68. Either he altered it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or under similar inspiration he quoted from an ancient translation (called a Targum) that quotes the Psalm in this manner.

In its original context, this psalm celebrated victory over God’s enemies and a triumphal procession bringing the spoils of victory, including prisoners, up Mount Zion to the temple, the dwelling place of God. Paul relates this verse to Christ, who “ascended on high, who then led “captivity captive”, and gave gifts to men.” Influenced by this rabbinical interpretation, the author of Ephesians changes the original verb from ‘receive’ to ‘give’ and then applies the Psalm to Christ who is sent from the father and who returned to him

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Faith

Why do Catholics Use Incense?

Incense or nonsense? Every Church-going Catholic recognises the faint clinking of the censer as the altar briefly fills up with smoke. This is accompanied by everyone bowing down in reverence and a few mighty sneezes and coughs, while the children stare with wide eyes, wondering what’s going on. So, what is going on? If global warming is already such a big issue, why are Catholics adding to the pollution by burning incense at every single funeral and for the many special occasions like Easter and Christmas?

Incense is used by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and by several other religions all around the world, so don’t get incensed just at Catholics for that. Secondly, the point is not to pollute the air, but to help us experience God.

The use of incense is mentioned in the Old Testament many times, and was being used in the Jewish Temple during the time of Jesus. We’ve basically borrowed the practice of using incense from them. We put incense in a censer, which is also called a thurible. The sweet smell of incense symbolises the fragrance and goodness of Heaven. As the smoke rises upwards, it symbolises our prayers rising to God. This is also mentioned in the book of Revelation. In chapter 8, an angel in Heaven offers incense which rises before God “with the prayers of the saints”. When we use incense at a funeral, it’s meant to show that we are surrendering our departed brother/sister back to God, along with our prayers for his/her soul.

Another use of incense is as a symbol of purification and blessing. We incense people and things that we want to make and keep holy by our prayers. That’s why, for the Christmas or Easter Vigil Mass, the priest incenses the Scriptures before reading the Gospel to show its importance. At another point, an altar server incenses the congregation to purify them so that we can present ourselves as a holy people before God.

Next time you see incense being used, pay attention to the movements of the priest or altar server. and remember these symbolic meanings of incense. As you do that, try to raise your own mind and heart to God, along with the smoke that rises up to Heaven.

  • If you have a topic you want us to discuss, please leave it in the comments sections
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ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE (get the point?) – Friday, 29th week in ordinary time – Ephesians 4:1-6

A single word, “therefore” (4:1) becomes the hinge of the book of Ephesians. “Therefore” indicated that so far there was a cause and hence there should be an effect. The cause was seen in chapter 1-3, the effect is seen in chapters 4-6. Chapters 4-6 are primarily a series of ethical admonitions. It differs from the first half of the book in style and content.

The cause so far has been the graciousness of God who by his love adopted the Gentiles to be co heirs in his inheritance. Now there is a shared identity between Jews and Gentiles with Christ as the binding force. So far, the Gentiles had lived a hopeless and an ungodly existence. Now, they have been immersed in the grace of God through the mystery of Christs’ death and resurrection. Now the Gentiles are members of new household.
God has brought together two disparate groups under one plan of salvation. While both Jews and Gentiles once lived according to the flesh (2:3), Jews were nevertheless “near” to God, while Gentiles were “far off” (2:17). Through Christ, both groups are now joined together and draw nearer to God. Since this is the case, the word “therefore” indicates the effect that is expected of Jews and Gentiles; to live their calling, to be what God wanted them to be, united and one.

It is Christ who has called us. This is unmerited divine election. If that be so, if we truly understand how much God has done for us, our natural response would be a life of service and obedience. This would be an expression of our gratitude. Paul earnestly pleads with the Ephesians to live this life ‘worthy of their calling” We don’t walk worthy so that God will love us, but because He does love us. Our walk must be motivated out of gratitude, not out of a desire to earn merit.

Paul places the calling clearly before the Ephesians. He tells them that the hallmark of the Church and of all creation is unity. This unity must be maintained, it involves making “an effort” so that the bond of peace may be achieved. All of this may fit neatly in a sentence but the achievement of this unity comes with dedicated hard work.

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