A Michelin Star is awarded to culinary institutions offering outstanding cooking. They take into account five universal criteria: the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavors, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine and, just as importantly, consistency both across the entire menu and over time. A culinary institution can receive as many as 3 starts in the Michelin Guide. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, an act of which is perhaps as great a service to the Church as ever any one did. Jesus gave the newcomer a searching look and proceeded to rename him. This must be understood in the light of the significance attached to the “name” in antiquity. It stood for the whole person. It summed up the entire personality. The giving of a new name is an assertion of the authority of the giver (e.g., 2 Kings 23:34; 24:17). When done by God it speaks in an addition of a new character in which the person henceforth appears (e.g., Gen. 32:28). There is something of both ideas here. Simon is from this time Jesus’ man. But he is also a different man, and the new name points to his character as “the rock”. Peter appears in all the Gospels as anything but a rock. He is impulsive, volatile, unreliable. But that was not God’s last word for Peter. Jesus’ renaming of the man points to the change that would be wrought in him by the power of God. Continue reading
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