Expectant Mother Mary + (Nut-free) Russian Tea Cakes + Active Waiting

Expectant Mother Mary + (Nut-free) Russian Tea Cakes + Active Waiting

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Advent!

Welcome to Cooking with Catholic History where in each posting we talk about Catholic people and or events and a related topic as well as look one of my personal takes on recipes.

This time we’re talking about Mary the expectant mother, active waiting, and look at my family’s nut-free Russian tea cake recipe along the way.

Expectant Mother Mary

During Advent we are in a time of heightened preparation, a preparation we’re called to always be in, preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It’s a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, his first coming, yes, and in this we can look to both Mary and Joseph who over 2000 years ago were preparing for his first coming, Mary having kept in her heart many wondrous things she’d been told prior as they went.

Mary, carrying God made flesh in her womb was meditating on what was told to her by the Archangel. Mary also was holding onto the encounter with her cousin Elizabeth and John. Of course not just what we see written in the depiction of the visitation but also the rest of their time together. However, that moment is recounted for our sake. These two independently are powerful encounters and each worth reflecting on for anyone, yet together they only strengthen and reinforce each other.

Here she is traveling with her new husband Joseph to Bethlehem to be counted for the census. Expecting to give birth shortly. As all expectant mothers (and many fathers), Mary was preparing for the birth. This preparation would have had some material components, make sure blankets are together, have swaddling wraps, and the like. Yet, there’s also, even if we don’t make a huge effort to think about it a mental preparation going on too, an active waiting, for the birth.

Many of us are not fully prepared mentally, especially for our first child’s birth. Even if we do things like take baby-infant CPR classes, birth training prep classes, and more we’re imperfect and our minds are prone to drifting to topics of pride such as “They’ll be so cute” (focusing on appearances), “I’ll be such a great mom” (pride), and so on. Yet, as Mary was and is clean and holy as Gabriel proclaimed she would be focused on things rightly preparations and then keeping her mind on what was coming. In a trust and love for God in Heaven and living in her womb. Waiting, patiently, actively, approaching what we now call Christmas!

Like her we wait both to celebrate that same Christmas and for Jesus to come again.

How about some cookies that are great while we wait?

Russian Tea Cakes (Nut-Free)

This is a family recipe. These are a British recipe (not Russian if you want the interesting history of the name it’s a fun google search you could do later), related to snowball cookies, basically the same thing, different name. It’s something I grew up with at home with my mom and when I’d visit my Nana. They’re nut free, which I’ve learned isn’t traditional, but I’ll point out some fun ways you can customize them.

Materials & Equipment

Ingredients

Equipment

Cooking

  1. Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Combine butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, and vanilla
  3. mix in flour and salt until you have a dough
  4. shape into ¾ to 1 inch balls and place roughly 2 inches apart on a baking sheet
  5. bake for 8-9 minutes, you’re looking for firm, but no browning visible on the teacakes
  6. Immediately while hot roll the teacakes in the powdered sugar then place either back on the baking sheets a plate, or a wire rack, or something else to hold them
  7. wait 10-15 minutes
  8. Roll again in powdered sugar
  9. thank God and enjoy

Recommended serving is with tea, coffee, or hot chocolate especially Mexican hot chocolate or our own recipe called Cozy, that you’ll have to wait for ;)

They're great for eating while watching the snow fall or while waiting for someone to arrive or spending time together with people you love.

Active Waiting

Active waiting, I’ve had friends complain about the idea. It’s a hard one. The thought is especially difficult in our modern era of rushing, busying, racing, frantic, anxious, always checking another box day and age. Waiting as a core concept on its own is so difficult to grasp for so many. The struggle with not being in control of a deadline or in control of the world and the great difficulty of being still in mind and body at peace is a worm evil has well managed to wiggle into society.

Yet, we can be still. Even in this busy time of history. Even in this busy time of year, for many the end of the fiscal business year. Even in this busy social time of year. We can not only be physically, but mentally still. However, that’s not necessarily active waiting, having those skills in your arsenal helps greatly.

So far I’ve said not much on what active waiting is only what it isn’t fully, things that help, but aren’t fully it. What then is it? How does it work?

Active waiting is a joyful, non-anxious anticipation while performing small measured well done preparations, with great love.

As I mentioned earlier when talking about Mary as an expectant mother. She practiced active waiting. Now, she didn’t have as much to work on as we do, being filled with grace, without stain, the only way she could be worthy to carry God made flesh. There are parts that relate and occur with the preparation for the arrival of any child, internal and external. These also relate to how we should approach our active waiting for Jesus at Christmas and his second coming both during Advent and year round.

When preparing for a child many expectant parents do physical spatial preparations. As should we. The space becomes evident that we are expectant. Our spaces should show that we are expectant of Christmas as Christians, and that we are expectant of Christ and his second coming. We can have nice Catholic Icons, pictures of the saints, paintings of holy events, hymns playing, and the like. So too can it be small paper decorations, simple clutter free space with just a few religious items and a few photographs even. We don’t have to be gaudy, or expensive, or have lots of things. In fact, part of preparing for a child on the way isn’t what you buy or put out on display or show off, and let’s be honest prideful show-offy-ness isn’t Christian, it’s about what you get rid of. Parents will often get rid of objects or things they don’t want their kids to grow up around, that aren’t safe, or will impede them from being the parents they should be. So too do we need to examine our stuff and trim down, get rid of the things that distract us from the path of holiness and being prepared for Christ’s two comings. Changing our exterior space helps us change what matters more the space inside and what we do with it.

We also need to work on changing ourselves. It’s not enough to just have as Mother Angelica put it an “intellectual ascent” for our faith. It needs to live. We need to grow and act out our faith. Many saints have written on this necessity to constantly improve ourselves in faith and never accept lukewarmness. From St. Alphonsus Liguori to St. Gregory the Great, from St. Teresa of Ávila to St. John Vianney and Jesus himself spoke to Saint Faustina about the pains caused to Him by lukewarmness at several points. If we want to be better people and love God, the Trinity, better, and live that love by His grace better, we need to make that constant internal cleaning. Parents do this while waiting for a child by going to child safety classes such as CPR and childbirth classes and even some how to take care of kids classes. They also work to review the things in their head here and there that they need to remember, the things that will need to be done better, or changed and done differently, so that they’re ready. We too can do this so that we are making progress.

I know a number of people who set goals of spiritual self improvement and jump into them wholeheartedly looking for big changes. They set massive changes and steep goals from day one and after a few months are hemming and hawing about a topic. The fire they let the Holy Spirit start in them, they didn’t moderate their self and exhausted their resources leaving nothing for the pursuit. We cannot pour from an empty cup, not only can we not pour spiritually from a cup that is empty, but if we do not take care of ourselves we cannot continue the works we need to. A broken tool must be thrown back in the fire and reforged from the beginning but one that is tended frequently only needs sharpening and honing.

So do not look permissively on any sin. However, each day strive to grow closer to God. Improving through reflection. Each day take 1 step working on 1 thing.

For you sports minded individuals
Think of the various points of yourself as a spiritual sports-card with stats related to each thing. On the front is your picture and your name. The reverse side you can see a list of the 3 Theological Virtues, the 4 Cardinal Virtues, the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit, along with a subsection including the 14 Acts of Mercy, the Beatitudes, and more. Each of these has a rating next to it like that of any athlete.

For you nutrition focused folks
Think of the various points of yourself as a spiritual nutrition label with stats related to each thing. The label is stuck to you with your name on it. It has on it listed out the 3 Theological Virtues, the 4 Cardinal Virtues, the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit, along with a subsection including the 14 Acts of Mercy, the Beatitudes, and more. Each of these has a rating next to it like foods do.

For you video game or board game minded individuals
Think of the various points of yourself as a spiritual character sheet with stats related to each thing. On the front is your picture and your name. The reverse side you can see a list of the 3 Theological Virtues, the 4 Cardinal Virtues, the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit, along with a subsection including the 14 Acts of Mercy, the Beatitudes, and more. Each of these has a rating next to it like that of a character from a game of your choice.

How to Improve

One step each day, well two steps. One step forward with something in the environment around you. Whether that’s the simple act of connecting the color of the table runner to the current liturgical color, or getting rid of something that will point you away from God and thus shedding more of your old self, or rearranging what you have in one small corner so your eye will focus more on a faith item than something like a clock or a doodad. One step forward within yourself too. Adding in a daily prayer for theological virtues, going to Reconciliation, adding in an action that grows you in one of the other virtues, acts of mercy, and the like, even small ones. One step forward with your environment and one step forward within yourself.

These steps. With the joy, hope, happiness, eagerness, excitement, and earnest desire of an expectant parent is how we should work to orientate our view of these changes. It’s not a loss of self but a becoming for that who we love.

Remember the Heavenly Father loves you, & the Holy Spirit Loves you, & Jesus Loves You!

Don’t forget to go to Reconciliation during Advent if you haven’t already, if you’re Catholic.

Thank you for your time reading this, please share it with everyone you think would enjoy it, and that may by God’s grace grow from it.

I keep all of you and your intentions in my prayers daily.

Thanks for reading!