Sunday, June 13, 2010

Lessons from a Pizzelle Maker


Today was the one Sunday a month which we call "Free Sunday". It means that each Sister is free to attend Mass in a parish, or visit a friend, or go to a movie, or just relax. I had all the ingredients and the time to make a cookie called a "pizzelle." They are relatively easy to make, the ingredients are fairly simple: eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder and flavoring. Some recipes add nuts. Today I made pizzelle with slivered almonds and almond flavoring. Home-made pizzelle are made one-by-one on an appliance that resembles a waffle maker. Some of the pizzelle makers have space for two at a time. The one I have is made for single pizzelles. Although the end products looked similar, no two were absolutely the same. Each one had been shaped by me. I made some smaller and some larger. There is no really fast way (at least I have not discovered a fast way) to make these. The store-bought variety are thinner and darker than mine. Yet they do not have the creative style that mine have.

I thought that although each person shares common human traits, not one of us is exactly the same. Even twins are not absolutely alike. God thought of me when he made me. He thought of you when you came into being. He still loves us into existence each moment.

We are not store-bought, but we are priceless because God loved me and you into existence. There is a Christian song that says we were "formed in the fire of human passion." Before that fire existed, the fire of God's love for each of us was already burning, waiting to give individual life to you and me. May this week be one of joy and gratitude for the gift of life.

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