Corpus Christi, House Blessing and Roadkill Cabbage

Sunday was a great day! The day began with Mass, at which, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Mass being the Holy Sacrifice and the source and summit of our the faith, was the best part of the day, as it should be. The rest of the day was just icing on the cake, but it made for great memories!

I said on my faceb,ok that Sunday was the best day since Mothers Day 2009. A friend asked what happed then, so I shall start there and move forward. That was the first time that we hosted a gathering at our house in Marion and used the front porch for dinner. Joshua had bought a string of lights to hang up and I moved the dining room table out there to and set the table for our guests. There was wine, I think, steak, I know, and some of the dumbest things slipping out of the mouth of two of the women there. One of the comments actually made it to the quote section of my friend’s Fb page:

“I have Russian Vodka; from Russia.” —Beth F on Mother’s Day 2009.

We also had a conversation about the biggest truck stop in the world. I know I have been there once or twice, but I do not recall the large semi truck they have suspended there. Someone at the table thought that was suspended by a rope from space, or something. Would that someone want to chime in here?

I guess you had to be there, but I know one of the people who was there reads this blog and is probably at home, rolling on the floor laughing.

So fast forward just over two years. Yes, there has been lots of fun in the past two years, but nothing like Sunday.

This past Sunday was, in addition to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, was also the day of our house blessing. We have only lived here for a year, but have managed to make a few friends. We hosted about 20 adults and a herd of young children (the youngest being 8 days old).

Friends started arriving around 3 pm and we were mostly ready. Father was a bit late, so we sat around visiting until he arrived. (Note to anyone coming to our house, do not use GPS to get here, it will take you down a road that is not really a road for quite a while). Once he arrived, we had the blessing of the house then on to the food.  More food then we could eat, but it was so good.

The conversation was even better. One of the couples who came are new to our parish (and new parents too!) and it turns out the wife and her family are very good friends with Fr. Hayes, OP, the priest who prepared me for Confirmation in 2003! It also turns out that she knows a friend of mine via a friend of hers. We were playing six degrees of separation, Catholic-Style!

Her husband introduced us to a new term “Roadkill Cabbage”. As I have mentioned before, we are surrounded by produce farms. Across the street from us are cucumbers. Watermelons, cantaloupes, summer squash and cabbage are down the road and around the corner. From time to time, various produce is found on the side of the road, having fallen off of the truck.  Those are known as “Roadkill Produce”. Michael, the young man who introduced us to the term, said that a coworker of his brought in some cabbage that had fallen off a the truck and once the outer layers were peeled off, it was really good. (and it lasted a long long time!). Another guest, confirmed this and said that he had gotten roadkill cantaloupes too. That right there, you can’t make up.

In addition to the roadkill produce, we talked about the Theology of the Body, Confession, Vocations, the number of Anglo families in our parish (40), Dr. Alice von Hildebrand and a host of other things, all while enjoying great food! When they all left, Joshua and I sat down for a bit and I said “I feel smarter after all those conversations” (especially the roadkill produce one, don’tcha know).

After writing this down, I think, wow, how was this such a great day? Really, I think it just is more that, here we are in the middle of Mission country, with very few Catholics and we have managed to meet so many of them!