Transfiguration Tuna Salad

Last Sunday was the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ. It falls in the midst of the Fast for the Dormition of the Theotokos, and is the ONLY day in the fast on which Fish is permitted!

We were blessed, on the Sunday of the Feast of the Transfiguration to have our priest and his Matushka come to our home. Father brought us Holy Communion (long story, short version: we are physically unable to attend Church), then he and Matushka stayed for a repast.

It was HOT - one of those over 100 degrees days. How to serve fish? Tuna salad, of course!

I drained 4 cans of tuna packed in olive oil (I wouldn't TOUCH that dried out stuff, or the tna packed in water - tasteless!) while I blanched and peeled tomatoes. Put the tomatoes back in to the refrigerator to chill down from the blanching.

Then I broke up the tuna until it was in very small pieces and placed it in a bowl. I added finely chopped celery and Vidalia onion (Father is allergic to onions, but can tolerate a small amount - I only used about 1/8th of a very small onion, whereas normally I would use 1/2 onion). I put the tuna into the refrigerator to chill.

When we were ready to eat, Matushka helped me "flower" the tomatoes, place them in individual beds of chopped Romaine, and heaped them with the tuna. I drizzled a small amount of olive oil over, and served with a choice of salad dressings. We had Southern sweeeeeeeet tea to drink. Next time, I'll serve fresh squeezed lemonade, as Father has problems with the oxalates in tea (as many people do).

Later he said it was the "perfect 100 degree day meal." I was so pleased.

The Ol' Curmudgeon's Vacation is Over

Rats! I'm just bereft! Yes, I'll get more of my work done, but I'm very, very lonely. It was sooooo comfortable having him home for 2 weeks.

The most painful loneliness is to be next to your spouse and yet be unable to transmit your inner feelings, even as external messages are transmitted instantaneously from one hemisphere to another. It is painful loneliness for married couples to keep secrets from each other for years. It is painful when dialogue is non-existent between children and parents, between children and teachers, between children and clergy. There is no more cruel loneliness than for a family to sit for hours in front of the television without speaking a word among themselves. We live in a difficult time. Loneliness is at an all-time high. Man is lost. God is silent.

In this loneliness, in this desolation of the cities, in this apparent absence of God, man is called to gather his thoughts, to come to his senses, to put aside his many worldly preoccupations and to retire to his place of prayer ­ speechless, naked, a child ­ so that God may speak to him, clothe him, and endow him with spiritual maturity. Then his loneliness will become the divine loneliness of liberation and he will achieve a sense of fullness. Only such radical loneliness leads to a fundamental understanding and experience of God, destroying every hesitation, doubt and torment.

In this sacred loneliness man finds himself face-to-face with his existential poverty and the fear of death which it provokes. Yet, even here, there is the danger that he may choose procrastination as a solution and, for a time, set his panic-stricken self at ease. He may resume running back and forth endlessly, expanding social activities, and seeking a variety of entertainments ­ a program of extreme busyness. Other people, other things, work and extensive involvements may serve as a cover for his spiritual impoverishment ­ for a time. And he may continue wandering aimlessly, driven by circumstances, tormented, flirting with one thing and another, fighting, being torn ­ and finally annihilated.

A life of work without the liberation of communion with God is slavery. The struggle for excessive wealth is an incurable, tormenting disease. Fear of the future can stimulate greed, miserliness, hoarding. And God can be easily forgotten.

From The Community of the Desert and the Loneliness of the Cities - Monk Moses
Copyright: 1999, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, Brookline, MA
Source: taken from the book, Athonite Flowers
http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8158.asp

This gives me the direction for dealing with loneliness. Turn my mind toward God and seek communion with Him.