We ask Thee O Lord to bless this beer, Thy creature, which from the fruit of the harvest Thou hast deigned to bring forth to be a salvific remedy to the human race, and we ask Thee, through the invocation of Thy holy name, that whosoever should drink from it may receive from it health of mind and body through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Easter Sunday - 8 PM at Wolverine Brewery
"In many parts of the world, we see a "diaspora" Christianity, which is put to
the test because the scattered disciples of Christ can no longer easily maintain
contact with one another, and lack the support of the structures and traditions
proper to Christian culture. In a situation of such difficulty, the opportunity
to come together on Sundays with fellow believers, exchanging gifts of brotherhood, is an indispensable help." (Dies Domini, JPII)
Octave of ___ offers its indispensable help.. Let's spend this day in prayerful contempation and joy of this foundational mystery. Then join us for beers, conversation, and fellowship for day one of the octave at 8 PM at Wolverine.
Octave of ___ offers its indispensable help.. Let's spend this day in prayerful contempation and joy of this foundational mystery. Then join us for beers, conversation, and fellowship for day one of the octave at 8 PM at Wolverine.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
A most happy and blessed Easter to you all as we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
THIS IS IT!!! The official announcement of the theme for this year's Octave.
And so, without further delay, our celebration this year will be
The Octave of Breweries!
This is the list of breweries that we will being visiting throughout the Octave. We will announce specific times each day so stay tuned here or on Facebook. There is even a Twitter account if you'd like to follow the action live! Please join us at any or all of these locations and help us to celebrate this joyous occasion together as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
We look forward to celebrating with you.
Easter Monday: Corner Brewery - Ypsilanti
Easter Tuesday: Original Gravity Brewing Company - Milan
Easter Wednesday: Grizzly Peak Brewing Company - Ann Arbor
Easter Thursday: Liberty Street Brewing Company - Plymouth
Easter Friday: Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery - Ann Arbor
Easter Saturday: (UPDATED) Dark Horse Brewery - Marshall, Mi
Divine Mercy Sunday: Jolly Pumpkin Brewery - Ann Arbor
Sunday, March 10, 2013
So, we have arrived at “Octave of” year three. It also marks my third year since being welcomed into the Catholic Church. My first year anniversary gave us the Octave of Burgers. The second year was the Octave of Diners. Soon we will announce the theme for year three. So, for me, the “Octave of” series represents a celebration of so many gifts and graces that I have received over these last three years.
In the beginning, I had no idea what an octave was. It was my friend Neil who told me of the Church tradition of celebrating the Resurrection of Christ in the week following Easter. This was an exciting prospect. I had done plenty of “celebrating” in my pre-Catholic days but never would I have imagined that the Holy Church I just joined would promote a celebration for eight days straight! This Church knows how to party!
Our party took the form of our “Octave of” celebration. I hesitate to call it divine inspiration, but it certainly seemed like this brilliant idea was bestowed upon us by some supernatural means. The idea was simple. We would get together each day of the octave with a group of friends and would honor the eight day feast with a particular theme, for year one it was burgers. At the end of the octave we would rank the selections and determine the best one. It was truly wonderful how people came together to enjoy this somewhat silly concept. Our dedication to the octave was also remarkable. On one of the days of the octave I was stuck at work and my dear friends came in to celebrate with me by having burgers from the hospital cafeteria (a unanimous decision for last place).
Year two, the Octave of Diners, was an experience as well. Whether it was giving extra points for variety of clientele, (i.e. the old man at Big Sky talking about punching people in the face), if a waitress called you “Hon” or “Sweetie,” or the possibility of having a heart attack after eating the food (a full pound of bacon at The Bomber, yum!), it was definitely a memorable experience. It was also thrilling and potentially dangerous since two of the places had violent crimes occur after we had been there. Apparently word of our experiences in the “Octave of” celebration was spreading even to the seedy underbelly of the criminal world. Thus the idea of creating a Blog and Twitter account this year so more friends, family, and criminals can more easily follow our exploits.
The silly themes of the “Octave of” celebration are really only part of the story. It’s more about coming together as a community of friends to celebrate a core belief our Catholic faith. As St. Paul says, “…if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1 Cor 15:14).
That is the true purpose of this celebration; glorifying Jesus Christ our Savior together as a community – as a family – and spreading the good news of the Gospel to all the world. We encourage as many people as are able to join us on this journey (or follow our exploits via our social media outlets) and we look forward to revealing our theme for this year’s “Octave of” celebration.
In the beginning, I had no idea what an octave was. It was my friend Neil who told me of the Church tradition of celebrating the Resurrection of Christ in the week following Easter. This was an exciting prospect. I had done plenty of “celebrating” in my pre-Catholic days but never would I have imagined that the Holy Church I just joined would promote a celebration for eight days straight! This Church knows how to party!
Our party took the form of our “Octave of” celebration. I hesitate to call it divine inspiration, but it certainly seemed like this brilliant idea was bestowed upon us by some supernatural means. The idea was simple. We would get together each day of the octave with a group of friends and would honor the eight day feast with a particular theme, for year one it was burgers. At the end of the octave we would rank the selections and determine the best one. It was truly wonderful how people came together to enjoy this somewhat silly concept. Our dedication to the octave was also remarkable. On one of the days of the octave I was stuck at work and my dear friends came in to celebrate with me by having burgers from the hospital cafeteria (a unanimous decision for last place).
Year two, the Octave of Diners, was an experience as well. Whether it was giving extra points for variety of clientele, (i.e. the old man at Big Sky talking about punching people in the face), if a waitress called you “Hon” or “Sweetie,” or the possibility of having a heart attack after eating the food (a full pound of bacon at The Bomber, yum!), it was definitely a memorable experience. It was also thrilling and potentially dangerous since two of the places had violent crimes occur after we had been there. Apparently word of our experiences in the “Octave of” celebration was spreading even to the seedy underbelly of the criminal world. Thus the idea of creating a Blog and Twitter account this year so more friends, family, and criminals can more easily follow our exploits.
The silly themes of the “Octave of” celebration are really only part of the story. It’s more about coming together as a community of friends to celebrate a core belief our Catholic faith. As St. Paul says, “…if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1 Cor 15:14).
That is the true purpose of this celebration; glorifying Jesus Christ our Savior together as a community – as a family – and spreading the good news of the Gospel to all the world. We encourage as many people as are able to join us on this journey (or follow our exploits via our social media outlets) and we look forward to revealing our theme for this year’s “Octave of” celebration.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
8 Days of What??
For Kevin and I, the theme for this year’s “Octave of” most accurately expresses the nexus of this annual event. This is a nexus that we are just now realizing on our third year. The inspiration for Octave of actually came from a conversation I had with Kevin while we were watching Jeopardy in Ypsilanti, and one of us said “hey, what’s one week where we could eat hamburgers every day?!” So this may or may not be only an attempt to give meaning to a meaningless week of indulgence but this is what I’ve discovered...
The Octave of Easter is one week and a day (octave=8) where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. One Sunday is not enough to contain our joy... so the Church made there be 8 Sundays in a row (see what the papacy could do for you!). I wont go as far as to say that our version of the octave is a proper or pious celebration of the Eight Days of Eastertide, but I do say this=
For Kevin and I (and I believe everyone who has joined us for our tour de grease), the “Octave of” has given body and findability to a celebration of the Eastertide (not just in the sense that our bodies have become more findable through increased girth). Even as a Christian who is attempting devotion, I’ve realized that before Kevin and I started making our annual 8 day pilgrimage to diners and burger stands, I had never really had an experience of the Octave of Easter that was different than my experience of the other 365 days of the calendar. I once went to holy mass every day during the Octave of Easter, but that was when I was in the seminary and was required to go to mass every day of the year. Our Octave of __ tradition keeps this week from just becoming another week.
...Maybe we’re just hungry after having lived on a half a loaf of bread for 40 days. St. Francis, pray for us; all you holy men and women, pray for us - for we have a failed sense of piety. We’re just trying to bring 2000 years of Catholic Tradition into our small Ypsi/Arbor world. This is a celebration of Easter that our weak nature can grasp. Is it going to far to say we’re expressing the incarnational reality of God here? Could this lead us to holiness!? Lord have mercy...
With this plea, we announce this year’s Octave of ___. After much debate and after considerations of tantalizing prospects of burritos, Old Country Buffets, and BBQ ribs, we decided that the 2013 Octave of ___ will be...
...Stay tuned to this station!
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