Today’s find: Dutch Baby

Well now, here’s something new: a pancake that comes with operating instructions.

That’s what occurred to me as the Server ever-so-gently upbraided me for digging into the Dutch Baby before properly prepping it.

It’s a signature dish – the Dutch Baby – at the Original Pancake House, and therefore its mystique bears some supervision and oversight, I suppose. You wouldn’t want the Uninitiated (like me) eating the thing…without fully appreciating its gustatory glory.

Taking a walk on the wild side of breakfast…with the Dutch Baby.

“You’ll want to add a dollop of butter, Hon…then the lemon juice…then the powdered sugar,” our Server said. Yeah, I could almost feel capillaries clogging with each step she suggested. But I’m nothing if not a Rule Follower, so I dutifully complied. And I’m glad I did: while my “pre-prep” morsels of the Dutch Baby were good, they paled in comparison to fully-monty version. Each subsequent forkful was almost heavenly – bright, sweet, satisfying.

Clearly, this is no ordinary pancake.

Funny how that works, isn’t it? Sometimes, we’re inclined to just dive-right-in…especially once we’ve clicked-off a respectable number of miles on life’s odometer. We’ve “been there, done that”…so why would expect any pancake house to be able to show us something new?

Or any liturgical solemnity, for that matter – say, for example, The Ascension of the Lord. Don’t know about you, but my mind and heart always turn to something a little like “abandonment” when I ponder the events of this feast. Jesus ascends to his glory…and we are left here, staring at the sky, waiting for the Holy Spirit to arrive.

But a couple of things popped out for me this year when I considered the Mass readings. First, St. Luke tells us (in the account from Acts) that Jesus “was taken up after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit.” In other words, if we’re standing around staring and waiting, then it means we haven’t really been listening to what Jesus has to say: The Kingdom is here. The battle is won. There’s Good News to be shared.

Second, St. Paul suggests that we shouldn’t be looking through reason and personal experience alone to find traces of the Kingdom in our midst. There’s a deeper reality to be seen, one that’s often the fruit of hangin’ around Christian community:

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe…

There are some things about living a Kingdom life that we just can’t sort on our own. We need guides who’ve been there before – people who can show us the Way.

That’s when, at last, we can truly savor a taste of heaven “not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

All the way to heaven IS heaven…especially with loving Moms at our side!

PS: Mother’s Day blessings to all the holy women in our lives – our first (and usually our best) guides on the path to heaven!

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS