Pondered In My Heart

Art for Our Lady: Marian ATC Swap 2012

Friends, it's that time once again when we honor Our Lady during her month of May by hosting an Artist Trading Card swap of Marian artwork. This will be our third Marian ATC swap!

(Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Anna)

Artist trading cards are miniature pieces of artwork created for the purpose of trading with others. An ATC is  precisely 2.5" x 3.5" (6.35 x 8.89 cm) in size - you can buy readymade cards at a craft or art supply store or cut your own from larger pieces of paper. Something like card stock or heavy watercolor paper is good. We usually cut ours from watercolor paper - a 9x12" sheet will give you ten cards.

Artist Trading Cards can be made using any art medium such as colored pencils, graphite, watercolor, acrylic, marker, pen and ink - whatever your preference is for artistic pursuits.

The swap is open to artists of all ages and abilities - we are always delighted to have artists from the littlest youngsters all the way through to one of my favorite swappers who is a great grandmother. This is a great project for the whole family to work on together, and busy moms are especially encouraged to sit down and take some time for creativity.

  

(Mary Spinning Thread by Mary Rose, Mother and Child by Lydia, and Mary with Roses by Kateri - love the little angel in flight!)

The small size of an ATC makes it fun and non-intimidating, but the diminutive results can be so very lovely.

(Our Lady of Sorrows, oil by Josiah)

Some possibilities for inspiration: titles of Our Lady (see the Litany of Loreto), mysteries of the rosary, devotions and apparitions, hymns, prayers, antiphons, symbols, traditional images or paintings.You can see some of the cards from our precious Marian ATC Swaps here: Our Marian ATC's.

The swap will work the same as the previous ones. Here are the details:

• Each participant will create five ATC's to mail out and will receive five different cards in return.
• Everyone will send their cards to me. We will sort them out roughly by age group/ability of the creator and then mail the cards back out to their new recipients. When you mail your cards to me, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope that I can use to send your new cards to you.
• International swappers are most welcome! It's always extra fun to receive cards from a faraway place. 
• The swap is open to all ages.
• Each card should be labeled on the back with the creator's name and however much info you'd like to share - age (for the kids), date, title of the piece, media used, and location if you like. Some participants look to connect with others for possible pen pals and the like, so you are welcome to include more personal info if you wish, but it is not required.
• If you are interested in participating please leave a comment or send me an email at kimberlee (at) beadsofmercy (dot) com, and put ATC swap in the subject, and I will send you further information. Anyone can join in and definitely the more the merrier.
• Please mail your cards to me postmarked by Wednesday, May 30th.
• If you have a blog, please feel free to spread the word. Here's an image you can use if you like:

(thank you, Anna Ruth!)

Enjoy creating lovely artwork to honor Our Blessed Mother!

Lenten Calendar

 Hot off the press or should I say fresh from the artist's pen, here is a visual pathway for marking our journey during Lent. Lydia kindly made a new calendar for us this year. As in other years, we mount it simply on a piece of purple construction paper. The young ones color one space each day as we make our way through Lent,  

moving ever closer to Holy Week and finally the glory of Easter. Lydia did a lovely job, surrounding the page with a border of thorns, with lilies at Easter Sunday when we will celebrate the triumph of the Resurrection. I wasn't going to use one of these this year, but Eliza is already asking to cover the statues (as we do in Passiontide) and make kalacs and birds' nests (as we do for Easter), so I thought a little visual of the forty days would be helpful. ;-)

Download 2012 Lent

Be sure to select 'fit to printable area' when you go to print it. (it prints well in black and white - the purple you see is the paper it is mounted on)

A blessed Ash Wednesday to you all.

For All the Saints Artist Trading Card Swap 2011

On this All Hallows' Eve I am pleased to announce we will once again be hosting an Artist Trading Card swap with the theme: For All the Saints! 

One of our greatest joys as parents is teaching our children about the saints who came before us - from the earliest history to modern times, rich and poor, young and old, from all walks of life, who fought the good fight and finished the course and are enjoying their eternity with God in heaven. We share their lives and their stories and we teach our children to make friends with the saints and call upon their intercession to assist us on our own journey towards salvation.

Everyone is invited to make ATC's of their favorite saints as we celebrate the Church Triumphant.

Artist Trading Cards are tiny pieces of original artwork created for the purpose of trading with others. This will be the fourth trading card swap we are hosting here on the blog (we also swap cards of Marian artwork in May).  We have had hundreds of families participate, with artists young and old.

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Lydia (at age 15), pen

An ATC is precisely 2.5" x 3.5" (6.35 x 8.89 cm) in size - you can buy ready made cards at a craft or art supply store or cut your own from larger pieces of paper. Card stock, heavy watercolor paper or any sturdy paper is good. We usually cut ours from watercolor paper or bristol - a 9x12" sheet will give you ten cards. Their small size makes them fun and non-intimidating to work with.

St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes by Anna Ruth (at age 13), pen and watercolor

Artwork can be of any media or combination thereof -watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink, colored pencil, calligraphy - whatever you like.

St. Peter and St. Paul by Mary Rose (at age 10), pen and watercolor

Once again, we welcome participants of all ages in the swap, from the littlest budding artists - 

St. Therese by Kateri (at age four), pen and watercolor (oh, that spelling!)

all the way through to adults.  One of the greatest pleasures for me was seeing so many other busy moms taking time for their own creative endeavors and to see their individuality reflected in their artwork. Some participants expressed their artistic talent drawing or painting while others demonstrated their creativity through various scrapboook and papercrafting techniques. Last swap I was particularly delighted to receive lovely cards from a great grandmother learning to paint later in life.

 Parents, children, adults, teens - everyone is invited to participate. We look forward to having the repeat swappers who have traded in all of our previous swaps as well as new folks joining for the first time!

 

 watercolor by Lydia (at age 15)

The swap will work the same way as we did it previous times. Here are the details:

• Each participant will create five ATC's to mail out and will receive five different cards from five different artists in return.
• Everyone will send their cards to me. I will sort them out roughly by age group of the creator, and then mail the cards back out to their new recipients. When you mail your cards to me, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope that I can use to send your new cards to you.
• International swappers are most welcome! It's always extra fun to receive cards from a far away place. 
• The swap is open to all ages. This is the perfect opportunity to sit down and create some lovely artwork alongside your children.
• Each card should be labeled on the back with the creator's name and however much info you'd like to share - age (for the kids), date, title of the piece, media used, location, email etc. Last time some participants were looking to connect with others for possible pen pals and the like, so you are welcome to include more info if you like.
• If you are interested in participating please send me an email at kimberlee (at) beadsofmercy (dot) com, and put ATC swap in the subject, and I will send you further information. Anyone can join in and definitely the more the merrier.
• Please mail your cards to me postmarked by Friday, November 18th.

If you have a blog, please feel free to spread the word and you can grab this button if you like:

  

You can see some of last year's saint cards here: Saint Swap 2010

Please note: Trading ATC''s makes a wonderful project for a class or group, but may I suggest large classes swap amongst the members rather than sending the cards to me. I aim to have each artist receive cards from five different people. I learned in a previous swap that if I have large classes participating it can be impossible to do the trading so that people get cards back from five people who are not in their own class, so I recommend you just swap within the class rather than going through the trouble of mailing them. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy drawing and painting For All the Saints!

On the Eve of Lent

On the brink of Lent I'm finding it so edifying to traverse blogland and peek in on others as we make final preparations for this holy season. I don't mean reading about particular penances or spiritual practices or crafts or anything like that, but just knowing that we are not alone in this journey, that so many others are packing their bags and lacing up their boots to begin this spiritual trek.  It's like we're setting out on this great adventure, not really knowing where the Lord is going to lead us or what He's going to show us or teach us in these forty days. We do know He takes and accepts and uses and magnifies whatever it is we have to offer, however wretched we are at the moment, no matter how often we have strived and fallen short in the past.

We do this every year. We start over. We aim to climb higher and go deeper and crawl closer. We forget our past failures and falling short, our regrets and regressions and we set out once again. All these willing spirits, wanting to grow closer to Our Lord and grow in holiness - for me there is hope and courage and comfort in this feeling of solidarity.

O Jesus, I place myself at the foot of the Cross, help me to understand how necessary it is to suffer in order to resemble You. (from Divine Intimacy)

Some of us our choosing our 'sufferings', our Lenten penances and detachments. Others are struggling to keep crawling along under the weight of the crushing crosses given. Pain, hurt, illness, separation, anxiety, being misunderstood, feeling betrayed, standing accused, enduring loneliness, fear, loss, rejection, failure, sin.

O Jesus, I place myself at the foot of the Cross, help me to understand how necessary it is to suffer in order to resemble You.

Cleanse me, Lord. Purge me. Show me clearly the filth that needs to be made clean. The stone that needs to be turned flesh. The idols that need to be smashed.

O Jesus, I place myself at the foot of the Cross, help me to understand how necessary it is to suffer in order to resemble You.

A couple of simple things for the journey - we updated the calendar print out from last year. This is a helpful visual for little ones to help them see just how long Lent is, how close we are getting to Easter day by day.

They color a block a day using the appropriate liturgical color. Download Lent 2011

 
And these prayer cards you've seen before. I like to have these visual reminders to mentally stop and pray, and I put them all around in mundane places so I come upon them frequently. Download We adore You

O Jesus, I place myself at the foot of the Cross, help me to understand how necessary it is to suffer in order to resemble You.

 
Many blessings to you and yours for a holy, fruitful Lent.

Epiphany

Behold, the Lord the Ruler is come: and the Kingdom is in His Hand, and power, and dominion. Ps.71:2 Give to the King Thy judgment, O God: and to the king's Son Thy justice. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. (Introit, The  Epiphany of Our Lord)

O God, who on this day didst manifest Thine only begotten Son the Gentiles by the guidance of a star: graciously grant, that we, who know Thee now by faith, may be led even to contemplate the beauty of Thy majesty. Through the same Christ Our Lord, Amen. (Collect, The Epiphany of Our Lord)

 

Today we celebrated The Epiphany of Our Lord and we were blessed to be able to attend Holy Mass for the feast. It is traditional to bless the home on this day and we brought home the blessed chalk to mark the New Year and blessing over the door. We also walked through the rooms of the house sprinkling inside and out with holy water, and Jonathan sang the Magnificat and antiphon for us.

Also in honor of the feast Josiah has posted a video of the Christmas mummery the children performed for us on Christmas night. A 'mummery' is a very short play performed by a troupe of travelling actors, and this one involves an encounter with St. George and Father Christmas. They got the idea to do this from a brief mention in Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse, and this particular mummery is in the notes section of the Ignatius Press edition. They staged this entirely on their own as a surprise for Michael and I, and we were quite surprised indeed. The children suddenly announced they had to go downstairs for a few minutes, and then they disappeared into the cellar. We had no idea what they were up to until the front doorbell rang, and Michael thought to grab the camera when it did.  I remain quite astonished that even Kateri (Mince Pie) memorized her lines and practiced with the big kids with nary a peep about the whole business. The video is just a few minutes, but it sure was jolly good fun.

Hope you all had a Happy Epiphany!

 

Advent Banner

 

Just a quick post to show you my Advent banner that I promised someone I would post. I was inspired by some lovely banners I've seen on etsy such as this one and this one. I do have the purple wooden 'WAIT' letters on the mantel in the living room but I wanted something for the kitchen/sunroom as they are our main living areas for most of the day. The stars and lights are leftover decorations from the birthday party my children staged for me last month - we left them up as my dear husband declared them so very cheery to come home to on these dark and dreary gray days.

The squares are cut from stiff cardboard. I discovered scrapbookers call this stuff 'chipboard' but I just used some I had saved from the backs of sketch pads and such. I covered the squares with patterned cardstock - it is a subtle vintage floral that I printed from a free digital scrapbook paper site. Then I inked the edges with a brown stamp pad for added interest.

The flourishes are stamped with gold paint using a stamper we cut out of foam. I did purchase a set of large alphabet stamps from Joann's as I thought they were a good investment with lots of potential uses -I can see a lovely blue Ave Maria banner for May, and I am almost (but not quite) tempted to picture a Christus Natus Hodie in red and green. It is just lower case letters but I made do for the capital E . (Can you tell I'm from New England? We save and reuse and make do.) I stamped the letters with acrylic paint, which gives an interesting effect when the paint dries. Mary Rose asked how I got the cool viney pattern in the purple paint letters - that's just how the paint dries when you stamp with paint. You could always cut the letters from purple cardstock if you didn't have the alphabet stamps.

Joann's also had inexpensive packages of purple cardstock from which I cut the scalloped squares. I punched holes to string a purple ribbon through, and I did use gold eyelets in the holes - not necessary but a nice touch. I also added bows of sheer gold ribbon between the words using up bits of ribbon saved from something or other.

 

I think it turned out rather nice and I really like having such a big and bold declaration on display.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

 
The first clementines, cocoa, and candy canes of the season make for a very merry feast day. Later on we'll enjoy some special chocolates sent by a dear reader in Norway that we've been saving for the occasion.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful St. Nicholas day!

Advent, St. Andrew, and Alternate Realities

We humbly entreat Thy majesty, O Lord: that as the blessed Apostle Andrew was once a teacher and ruler of Thy Church: so he may be a constant advocate for us before Thee. (Collect, Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle)

 

(statue of St. Andrew made by Josiah)

Today is the feast of St. Andrew, and the day to start praying the St. Andrew Christmas novena prayer. This prayer is traditionally said fifteen times a day from November 30 to Christmas.

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, O my God!
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

We've gotten out my little purple prayer cards. You can read more about them in this old post - Simply Advent.

Our single star is shining in the darkness.

We have started our simple but lovely evening Advent prayer time. We light our Advent wreath candle. We read our Scripture passage of the day and put our ornament on our Jesse tree. We sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Creator Alme Siderum, and finish up with Alma Redemptoris Mater.
 

We are slowly easing into this season of expectation.We have yet to change out the home altar and I am still working on a banner I am making. That's okay. We are in no rush in this season of waiting and preparing. As November draws to a close we still linger over the thoughts and images and prayers of the previous month. The purple and penance of Advent is not such a surprise because we have just assisted at so many requiems and offered sacrifices for the souls of the dearly departed. 

Our 'Black Friday' was apparent in the priest's vestments as he offered one of November's last votive Masses for the dead.

 

Our Advent began in the presence of Our Lord as our good bishop answered the call of the Holy Father and lead a cathedral full of people in prayer for the unborn. We prayed the rosary, sang vespers, and participated in Benediction.

 

We are used to quietly waiting and preparing for the good and holy things to come. We are not uncomfortable resisting the glitter and glitz and glare of the holly jolly world around us. We are happy to wait. And yet we do not harbor grudges against the revelers around us. As Father gently reminded us on Sunday, we do not need to beat anyone over the head with Advent Advent Advent as with a club. (!)

We take our time entering in. As Sunday's collect, Excita, implored the Lord to Stir up Thy power we take this time to stir up our own hearts and prepare them for the coming of the Savior. We are glad to do this.

For we wait in joyful hope.

Scenes of Easter Joy

In our church-

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful church. White lilies adorn the main and side altars, and we are so filled with joy to have the sacred images visible once again. Josiah was grateful to be able to serve for all of the Holy Week liturgies. The waiting Paschal Candle -

 

The organist/schola director-

We are extraordinarily proud of Jonathan in executing all of the music for the many complex liturgies of Holy Week -choosing the music and rehearsing the men who come from far and wide to sing, in snippets here there and everywhere (even singing on the street corners), teaching Gregorian to some who don't even read music, and squeezing it all in between his college schedule. The music was beautiful.
 
 
And in the domestic church-

 

Eliza was so excited to run all over the house uncovering all her familiar friends, the saints. We had covered all the images and statues during her naptime on Passion Sunday, and when she woke up she wandered from room to room asking, What happened to Jesus? What happened to St. Joseph? What happened to Blessed Mother? and on and on throughout all of Passiontide.

 

But she also remembered Father and the 'hoook' they use at church to remove the big purple cloths.

She was so thrilled to do the honors at home.

And now it is Easter.

This sweet little cactus, grown from a leaf found on the floor in a store, bloomed for the first time on Easter.

And of course we must have lots of feasting to replace the fasting, and around here that means baking.

Some People like to make all kinds of cookies. J
 

This picture is for dear Mr. Toad.

The eggs - (We'll all just look at the pretty colors and none of us will mention what our refrigerators all smell like, okay?)

 
The Easter bread - (my grandmother's Hungarian kalacs recipe here)
 
 

The nut and poppy rolls -

Easter imp- she keeps asking if it is still Easter.

Oh yes, Kateri, it's Easter for fifty days!

 

And we are forever indebted to Meredith for linking to these chocolate covered eggs! I didn't buy much candy in the store so I was greatly enticed by these homemade delicacies. We made buttercream, coconut cream (I didn't have extract so I added some coconut oil - yum), maple cream and cherry nut- oh my.

 

I was thanking Meredith aloud all day. They are sooo good, and it's so much tastier to have all natural treats. We definitely have a new Easter tradition going here. The chief chocolate dipper -
 
 

Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird were on an Easter Sunday date and visited frequently to enjoy their grape jelly -

Easter cross-

 

 Blessings of Easter joy from our house to yours! Fifty days' worth!
 

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

This is the day with the Lord had made; let us celebrate it with transports of joy. (Office of the Church)

 

A few snippets from the beautiful Paschal Vigil. The richest liturgy of the year celebrating the pivotal moment in our salvation history is a glorious thing to behold. The ceremony starts outside with the blessing of the New Fire and the Paschal Candle. The priest cuts a cross and the alpha and omega into the wax, and he fixes five grains of incense into the Candle symbolizing the five wounds of Christ.

 

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then the Light is brought forth - the priest carries in the candle, repeatedly chanting Lumen Christi, and the response Deo Gratias resounds throughout the darkened church. The Light is then spread to all as everyone's candle is lit from the Paschal Candle, and the Light of Christ permeates all darkness.

 

Here is one of the Old Testament Canticles from Isaiah: Vinea facta est

Here is the Sequence from Easter Sunday Mass, a very old medieval chant repeated throughout the Octave: Victimae Paschali Laudes

And here is Jonathan's glorious postlude. After forty days of silence, the pipes get a magnificent workout. Widor - Toccata from Symphony V

As we continue to celebrate Easter joy the overwhelming prayer of the heart remains Deo Gratias! Deo Gratias! Deo Gratias!

Blessed Eastertide to you and yours, friends!

A Little Late for Lent

We still have sickness in the house so I'm a bit late here with a Lenten activities post. I thought I'd share our Lenten Calendar as this is new for us this year. Around the blog world you see families use a variety of countdown calendars to help their children keep track of the 40 Days of Lent. We've opted for a small size sheet as we don't have a lot of wall space to hang a large poster. The idea is to let the littles color a block each day, matching the liturgical color of the day. This should prove especially useful for Kateri who is already asking if it's going to be Easter soon.

 
We've kept it pretty simple, but the major feasts in Lent and  the countdown is shown. We're very thankful to Lydia who drew this up for us! Download Lent 2010

And here is a roundup of most of my previous Lenten posts:
Merciful Cross - visual for keeping track of sacrifices and works of mercy

 
Stations of the Cross Grottos - craft  to make a set of Stations to hang on the wall

Stations of the Cross for Littles - hands on manipulatives to help little ones understand the Stations

 
Settling into Lent - Lenten home altar and 'decor', prayer card download

Another Cross -  if you like to plan ahead, our large outdoor cross we put up on Good Friday

 
Blessings to you and yours as we begin this holy season of Lent!

Epiphany

O God, who on this day didst manifest Thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles by the guidance of a star: graciously grant, that we, who know Thee now by faith, may be let even to contemplate the beauty of Thy majesty - Collect, The Epiphany of Our Lord

 
Hope you all enjoyed a Blessed Feast of the Epiphany today! And as you can see, if you peek in the window here it is still definitely Christmas around here. We are easing back into regular work and routines, but I whole heartedly agree with what she said - we are not quite ready to 'let go' of Christmas and Holy Mother Church tells us it's not quite time to. I still need and want more time to gaze into the manger and see Him lying there.

O my Jesus, while I beg You to reveal Yourself to the world, I also beseech You to reveal Yourself more and more to my poor soul. Let Your star shine for me today, and point out to me the road which leads directly to You! May this day be a real Epiphany for me, a new manifestation to my mind and heart of Your great Majesty. He who knows You more, loves You more, O Lord; and I want to know You solely in order to love You, to give myself to You with ever greater generosity. - Divine Intimacy - The Epiphany of Our Lord

In Nómine Jesu Omne Genu Flectátur

Today is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus on the traditional calendar.

In the Name of Jesus let every knee bow, of those that are in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth: and let every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. O Lord our Lord: how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth! Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.  - Introit, Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11, Psalm 8:2)

O God, who didst constitute Thine only-begotten Son the Saviour of mankind, and didst bid Him to be called Jesus: mercifully grant, that we who venerate His holy Name on earth, may fully enjoy also the vision of Him in heaven. - Collect,  Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

The Holy Name is unlike any other name on earth. It is itself a prayer, ofttimes repeated continuously by those who seek to pray without ceasing. It is the first utterance that comes to the heart and mind and lips when we are in grave distress - our soul instinctively cries out to the Name that is above all others. It is the Name by which we are saved. It is the Name by which we live and breathe and have our being. This feast day, and this month of January dedicated to the Holy Name, is a perfect time to increase our love and practice devotion to the Holy Name. We can make a prayer card with Philippians 2:9-11 on it, and give it a prominent position in our homes. We can take the time to memorize these verses this month if they are not already known. We can teach our children the custom of bowing our heads whenever we hear His Holy Name. We can encourage older children to pray the litany of the Holy Name as part of their daily prayers. And we can instruct our children to make reparation for sins against the Holy Name. Whenever we hear the Lord's Name taken in vain we silently pray the first few lines of the Divine Praises (or as much of the Praises as can be recited given the circumstances).

Blessed be God.

Blessed be His Holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

Blessed be the name of Jesus.

Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.

Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.

(Optional) May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.

 At Mass today Father began his sermon with the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux:

"The Name of Jesus is Light, and Food, and Medicine. It is Light, when it is preached to us; it is Food, when we think upon it; it is the Medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it. Let us say a word on each of these. Tell me, whence came there, into the whole world, so bright and sudden a light, if not from the preaching of the Name of Jesus? Was it not by the light of this Name that God called us unto [H]is admirable Light? Wherewith being enlightened, and in this light, seeing the Light, we take these words of Paul as truly addressed to ourselves; Heretofore, you were darkness; but now, light in the Lord." (do read the rest of St. Bernard's words here)

Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. 
Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us .
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Splendor of the Father, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Brightness of eternal Light, have mercy on us.
Jesus, King of Glory, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Sun of Justice, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most lovable, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.
Jesus, mighty God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Angel of great counsel, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Lover of chastity, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Lover of us, have mercy on us .
Jesus, God of peace, have mercy on us .
Jesus, Author of life, have mercy on us .
Jesus, example of virtues, have mercy on us .
Jesus, zealous lover of souls, have mercy on us .
Jesus, our God, have mercy on us .
Jesus, our Refuge, have mercy on us .
Jesus, Father of the poor, have mercy on us .
Jesus, Treasure of the faithful, have mercy on us .
Jesus, Good Shepherd, have mercy on us .
Jesus, true light, have mercy on us .
Jesus, eternal wisdom, have mercy on us .
Jesus, infinite goodness, have mercy on us .
Jesus, our Way and our Life, have mercy on us .
Jesus, joy of Angels, have mercy on us .
Jesus, king of Patriarchs, have mercy on us .
Jesus, master of Apostles, have mercy on us .
Jesus, teacher of Evangelists, have mercy on us .
Jesus, strength of Martyrs, have mercy on us .
Jesus, light of Confessors, have mercy on us .
Jesus, purity of Virgins, have mercy on us .
Jesus, crown of all Saints, have mercy on us .

Be merciful unto us, spare us, O Jesus!
Be merciful unto us, graciously hear us, O Jesus!

From all evil, Jesus deliver us.
From all sin, Jesus deliver us.
From Thy wrath, Jesus deliver us. 
From the snares of the devil, Jesus deliver us.
From the spirit of uncleanness Jesus deliver us.
From everlasting death, Jesus deliver us.
From the neglect of Thy inspirations, Jesus deliver us.
Through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy Nativity, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thine Infancy, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy most divine Life, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy labors, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thine agony and passion, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy Cross and dereliction, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy faintness and weariness, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy death and burial, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy Resurrection, Jesus deliver us. 
Through Thine Ascension, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thine Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy Joys, Jesus deliver us.
Through Thy Glory, Jesus deliver us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord Jesus!
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord Jesus!
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord Jesus!

Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

Let us pray. -

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast said, "Ask and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"; grant, we beseech Thee, to us who ask, the gift of Thy most divine love, that with all our heart, words, and works, we may love Thee, and never cease to praise Thee.

Make us, O Lord, to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy Holy Name; for Thou never failest to govern those whom Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. Who livest and reignest for ever. Amen.

A Very Merry Christmas

 Has it been a week already?

The warmth and glow and magic and joy that is Christmas continues to spill over and dominate our days. Holy Mother Church tells us Christmas is an octave of feasts and a whole season of rejoicing, and we are so happy to comply, carrying on with music and feasting and celebrating day after day.

Some of my favorite Christmas memories this year come courtesy of Eliza, who firmly believes that it is very much still Christmas. She continues to greet everyone in the family numerous times a day with a sincere "Merry Christmas", and she is not happy until you respond in kind. The Christmas tree still delights her so- she runs from shiny ball to shiny ball to peer at her own shining self. We will always remember Midnight Mass where the two little ones blissfully slept through it all until the very end. At the first notes of the recessional hymn, Angels We Have Heard on High, Eliza woke with a start and declared It's Christmas! Indeed.

After Mass again Christmas morning and much needed naps we all settled in to open our gifts. Surely Christmas is the celebration of mankind's greatest Gift, but that doesn't mean we don't revel in our humble gifts to each other. Each family member takes turns passing out their gifts.

Gifts made with their own hands and made for the sole purpose of delighting their recipients.

And delighted they are. Mary Rose is thrilled with her new bow and arrows.

 

You know you have the best brother in the whole world when he gives you your very own battle ax.

 
And Dad is very pleased with his sword not forged by dwarves or elves but carved by the hands of his own son.

But we relish 'boughten' gifts as well. Lydia was tickled with the boxed Legolas her big brother found for her at the thrift shop (and everyone knows Queen Susan gets her best moves from Leggie).

And the dudes were in dire need of new hats.

And this is surely the sweetest apron you could ever give a bird loving baker. Thanks, Nana! 

 
Finally, at an extraordinarily late hour that is too embarrassing to mention Jonathan and Lydia made gnocchi for a late supper. When it's just the immediate family you can do that sort of thing, and make Christmas dinner when you are hungry and get around to it. Though we have not a drop of Italian blood in us, they can make awesome gnocchi like an Italian grandmother - light fluffy pillows of potatoey goodness.

 
Despite being so tired from the late night and early morning no one wanted to go to bed, and we ended our festivities by singing late into the night. It was a most blessed Christmas Day from start to finish.

Puer Natus Est

O God, who hast made this most holy night shine forth with the splendour of the true Light: grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who have known the mysteries of His light on earth, may enjoy also His happiness in heaven. - Collect, The Nativity of Our Lord, First Mass at Midnight
 

Blessed Christmas to all of you from all of us! 

Feast of St. Ambrose

Today is the Feast of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church. He was a great orator and preached to oppose the heretical teachings of Arianism, which denied the true nature of the Trinity. He is also considered the father of Western hymnody. Though he died in 397, he is an important part of my daily prayer life.

I love to start my day with this Morning Hymn in my missal, which so succinctly and poetically summarizes my hope for every day -

Jam lucis orto sidere... (Breviary Hymn of St. Ambrose.)

Now that the star of light has risen, let us to God most humbly pray,

To save us from all hurtful things in all our actions of the day.

To bridle and restrain our tongue, that wordy war may not resound,

To cover and protect our sight,  from dangerous follies all around.

To drive iniquity away, and purify our inmost soul,

And by spare use of meat and drink, our rebel passions to control.

That, when the day has sped away, and He again the night shall bring,

We may through holy abstinence, with purity His glory sing.

All glory to the Father be; all praise, eternal Son to Thee;

All honour as is ever meet to God the holy Paraclete. Amen.

And this beautiful prayer of his is said in preparation for Holy Mass and reception of the Holy Eucharist-

Prayer of St. Ambrose

O loving Lord Jesus Christ, I a sinner, presuming not on my own merits, but trusting in Thy mercy and goodness, with fear and trembling approach the table of Thy most sacred banquet. For I have defiled both my heart and body with many sins, and have not kept a strict guard over my mind and my tongue. Wherefore, O gracious God, O awful Majesty, I, a wretched creature, entangled in difficulties, have recourse to Thee, the font of mercy; to Thee do I fly that I may be healed, and take refuge under Thy protection. And I ardently desire to have Him as my Savior, Whom I am unable to withstand as my Judge.

To Thee, O lord, I show my wounds, to Thee I lay bare my shame. I know that my sins are many and great, on account of which I am filled with fear. But I trust in Thy mercy, of which there is no end. Look down upon me, therefore, with the eyes of Thy mercy on me, who am full of misery and sin, Thou Who wilt never cease to let flow the fountain of mercy.

Hail, Victim of salvation, offered for me and for all mankind on the tree of the Cross. Hail, noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, O Lord, Thy creature, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Blood. I am grieved because I have sinned, I desire to make amends for what I have done.

Take away from me, therefore, O most merciful Father, all my iniquities and sins, that, being purified both in soul, and body, I may worthily partake of the Holy of Holies. And grant that this holy oblation of Thy Body and Blood, of which, though unworthy, I purpose to partake, may be to me the remission of my sins, the perfect cleansing of my offenses, the means of driving away all evil thoughts and of renewing all holy desires, the accomplishment of works pleasing to Thee, as well as the strongest defense for soul and body against the snares of my enemies. Amen.

It can be hard sometimes early in the morning when my brain is still sleepy, or at Holy Mass when so many potential distractions abound, to try to formulate words into meaningful prayers. I am so thankful I can rely on the words of this great saint who so beautifully expresses with words the inner longings of our hearts.

St. Ambrose, pray for us!

St. Nicholas Day in the Morning

 
 

 

 

Simply Advent

Stir up Thy power, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and come: that from the threatening dangers of our sins we may deserve to be rescued by Thy protection, and to be saved by Thy deliverance: Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost God, world without end. Amen. - Collect, First Sunday of Advent

 

The new Liturgical Year has begun with the First Sunday of Advent. Our family altar is draped in purple and sparsely decorated. Our Advent devotions are typically a mix of long held family traditions and perhaps a few new elements here and there. The bare Jesse tree awaits the symbols that will tell the story of our salvation history. The Missal is replaced after its daily journey to Holy Mass, and left open to the propers of the day.

The empty manger awaits its most precious Guest; as we make sacrifices and practice penance we add pieces of straw to prepare a soft bed for the Holy Infant.

The Advent wreath marks the weeks for us as we light it in the evening when everyone is gathered home. We read the Bible story of the day and hang the corresponding symbol on our Jesse Tree and we pray together. We conclude by singing all the verses of O Come, O come Emmanuel, the words turning out hearts towards the final days leading up to the Nativity when we will pray the O Antiphons which the hymn is based upon.

  

We've started praying the St. Andrew Christmas novena, the beautiful prayer to be said fifteen times a day from St. Andrew's feast day on November 30th until Christmas.  There are many ways to do this - some families like to use chaplet beads and say the prayer all at once; a friend at church told me her family says the prayer together five times at each meal. This year we've decided to try saying it together five times at a mealtime or two, and the remainder independently. We are all fond of my practice of placing little prayer cards all around the house  as visual reminders to stop and pray and ponder throughout the day. Our old cards were getting rather shabby so we made some pretty new ones with various purple scrapbook paper bits I had.

Additionally, the little ones are enjoying the Advent Adventure videos available through the Holy Heroes website. After watching the video of the day we also read the Bible story again and use our Bible felts to illustrate the passage, and I encourage them to help with the retelling. As Eliza is especially enamored by all things video, this is a great resource for us.

For the 'big ones', we are hoping to work on some Scripture memorization during Advent; those of us who don't already know it are starting with the Last Gospel (John 1:1-14). We are continuing to learn the Angelus in Latin as a family, Josiah plans to teach us the Confiteor, and we'll see where we go from there. Jonathan hopes to teach us some Advent hymns such as Alma Redemptoris Mater (don't miss Jen's post at O Night Divine on Advent music), though he has his work cut out for him as we are not singers.

As for me personally, I am trying to read the day's meditations from Divine Intimacy twice a day with my morning and evening prayers. This is a new book for me. I happened to come across a stack of these books while I was at a party this summer, and while I never got a chance to ask the hostess about it I figured it must be really good if she had a well-worn dog-eared pile of them. So I ordered one right away, but when it arrived and I found the meditations go along with the Liturgical Year I decided to keep it for Advent. My anticipation grew as I came across others who know and treasure this book. I was in love after Day 1. Highly recommended.

And while the penitential season of Advent is not as austere as that of Lent, we do undertake fasting from sweets and treats. I admit I was not really looking forward to another period of fasting as it wasn't long ago that we finished fasting for the 40 Days for Life. But Meredith linked to this article reminding us if we are to feast then first we must fast, so we persevere in resisting the visions of sugarplums and gingerbreads and peppermints until Christmas. We always hold off on the tree and lights until just before Christmas as well. I am very thankful I took a few hints from some other bloggers (thanks Danielle and Susie) and got almost all of my gifts purchased before Advent, something I didn't ever really consider as possible. I have a couple of things to order online, but I shouldn't have to go into any stores and that is such a relief on so many levels. We also plan to wait on the Christmas music, and we are so pleased to be discovering rich treasures of the Church to listen to and (try to) sing instead.

And so we begin our twenty-six day journey towards Bethlehem. We pray for the strength to be faithful to our intentions and to keep our hearts fixed on the One Who is to come. As the world screams a very different message of the season we just need to look to the altar when we enter the church, and the purple speaks for itself. There are no flowers on the altar, and the organ lies silent. Quietly, patiently, simply, we prepare and ponder and wait, just like Mary did.

Loving mother of the Redeemer,
gate of heaven, star of the sea,
assist your people who have fallen yet strive to rise again.
To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator,
Yet remained a virgin after as before.
You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting,
have pity on us poor sinners.

Alma Redemptoris Mater

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

O God, Who didst will that this day the ever blessed Virgin Mary, dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, should be presented in the temple: grant, we beseech Thee, that through her intercession, we may be worthy to be presented in the temple of Thy glory. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.. - Collect, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

All Souls Day

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. - from the Introit

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful: grant to the souls of Thy servants and handmaidens the remission of all their sins: that through pious supplications, they may obtain that pardon which they have always desired. -from the Collect

We had a beautiful Solemn High Mass this evening, though our Catafalque was a bit simpler than this one in Rome. Here is an audio of our Men's Schola (with Jonathan conducting - the Requiem Mass is sung a cappella), singing the Dies Irae, a most beloved and popular piece of chant. Latin text and translation is found here.

Dies Irae

May the prayer of Thy suppliant people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, avail the souls of Thy servants and handmaidens: that Thou mayest deliver them from all their sins and make them sharers in Thy Redemption. - from the Postcommunion

Gaudeamus Omnes in Domino

Let us all rejoice in the Lord as we celebrate the feast in honor of all the saints, upon which the Angels rejoice and praise the Son of God. - from the Introit, Feast of All Saints

Yesterday we were blessed to attend a little party for the Feast of All Saints. It is always a delight to gather with friends and see the young ones so joyful and enthusiastic to dress up and tell about their friends in heaven, the saints. As I did last year, I will let you guess our saints!

The guys-

And here's a close-up of Josiah-

They are pretty easy if you know your Latin!

Anna and Mary Rose, and they do go together-

Lydia-

Eliza, with her basket of wood-

And I have to show you a picture of my friend's stunning statue of Our Lady which graces her living room. She's about four feet tall and so beautiful, and of course she is the Queen of All Saints-

And here's Kateri to show you it can be hard to be a saint, sometimes it just tires you right out-

And here's the lot of us. To guess who I am you might want to pay attention to my neck. ;-)

Well, I've certainly given you lots of clues. Never the less some of us are rather difficult to identify, though it would help if you read the same books we do and visit the same blogs. (that last link is a giveaway) Leave your guesses in the comment box!

For the Feast today I brought a variety of Charlotte's beautiful saint coloring pages to the coffee social time after Mass.

Children young and old and even some of the grown-ups enjoyed coloring them and delighted in Charlotte's talent in representing such a wide range of saints. Thank you Charlotte!

And another lady brought in supplies for the young (and young at heart) to make holy cards. She provided index cards and some beautiful holy cards for inspiration, and asked the children to draw a saint on one side and write a few things they knew about the saint on the back.

She also brought laminating sheets and laminated the cards when they were finished. Here are Mary Rose's St. Elizabeth, St. Rose of Lima and St. Anne, Lydia's Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Josiah's St. Joseph-

They turned out very nice and would be a great activity to continue throughout the month.
  
  

Hope your Feast day was a most blessed one!

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast enabled us to honour in one solemn Feast the merits of all Thy saints: we beseech Thee, that, with so many praying for us, Thou wouldst pour forth on us the abundance of Thy mercy for which we long. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. -from the Collect, Feast of All Saints

On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on whose solemnity the Angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God. (From the Introit)

We enjoyed a lovely feast day today, breaking our fast to indulge in sweet treats, painting pictures of Our Lady in the afternoon, listening to the beautiful voices of our schola singing at Holy Mass this evening, and praying the rosary at the clinic by candlelight after Mass. Well, a bit of candlelight - it was a remarkably windy night! It was good to be praying there on this feast day, which was established in 1571 in commemoration of the Christians’ unlikely victory at the Battle of Lepanto, and the feast was originally called Our Lady of Victory. We pray for victory in the battle for Life, and we beg Our Lady's intercession for our cause. (Josiah has posted a report he did on the Battle of Lepanto on his blog.) St. Padre Pio reminds us that the 'rosary is the weapon' against the evils of the world today. Let us wield it well and often!

In honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary I would like to give away a set of my crocheted roses that can be used by little ones to count the prayers while saying the rosary.

 

I originally posted about this idea here: Praying the Rosary with Little Ones and I find it's still making its way around the internet, particularly during this month dedicated to the rosary. It certainly blesses me to think that so many little ones are learning to love Our Lady and her 'weapon' at such a young age!

 

Just leave a comment on this post before noon (EST) on Saturday and we will draw a name at random to select the winner.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

O God, who this day dost gladden us by the yearly feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: grant we beseech Thee, that we who on earth acknowledge the Mystery of Redemption wrought upon it, may be worthy to enjoy the rewards of that same Redemption in heaven. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

(from the Collect)

Christ became obedient for us unto death: even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above every name. Alleluia, alleluia. Sweet the wood, sweet the nails, sweet the load that hangs on thee: thou only wast worthy to bear the King and Lord of heaven. Alleluia.

(from the Gradual)

In this morning's sermon the priest said Our Lord took a thing of horror and made it into a thing of love. On this day Mary Ellen graciously shares a bit of what it's like to partake of both the horror and the love. Do go read her beautiful words.

On the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I've been talking with Jonathan and trying to come up with ways he can encourage his fellow Catholic students in their faith. He commutes to a Christian college and the percentage of Catholic students there is quite tiny. There's an occasional Newman Club meeting and the students are driven to Sunday Mass at a local church, but that's not a lot of support in the day to day living of our Faith. I suggested perhaps just getting together to pray a rosary once a week with other students might be well received. I imagined a small group of young people gathering on some nice green quad somewhere with a statue of Our Lady in their midst, praying the rosary where the rosary has likely never been prayed in public before.

Jonathan thought it sounded doable, and he planned on suggesting it at the first Newman meeting. We mentioned this idea out loud recently and Michael said something to the effect of, But what are you going to do for a statue? How about Jonathan starts this rosary thing after we find a statue.

Now, every little bit of me wanted to protest this declaration. Loudly. Why do we have to have a prerequisite? Why can't he do it without a statue? Why can't he just take one of ours? Where are we ever going to find a statue? Don't you like my great idea? Shouldn't he do this sooner rather than later?...

But I didn't. Through some amazing grace arriving just in time I was able to exercise an enormous amount of restraint and I actually Kept My Mouth Shut. And we just left it at that.

So tonight as some of us were browsing briefly in the thrift shop before heading to the grocery I was quite startled to find Our Lady sitting on a shelf. I've never found such a treasure in a thrift shop and I certainly wasn't looking for her there. I actually walked right past her but as I paused and turned back to say something to Lydia my gaze turned up and I caught sight of her in the corner of my eye. I said, Here she is! It's Jonathan's rosary group! And I watched my children's eyes grow big as they figured out what I meant and Lydia grinned and Josiah smiled and Mary and Anna giggled. And so I kissed her and wished her Happy Birthday and brought her home to our blue frosted cupcakes.

 

She needs to spend a little time with Josiah before she's ready for campus, but that's okay.

As we sat on the couch staying up too late and chatting for too long I said to Jonathan, See! She really wants to be on campus. And he immediately replied, We already knew that.

I do love that boy. And I love how Our Mother cares for us and knows when we really, really need a little boost.

At the time of Mary's birth the whole world was plunged in darkness. The heathen nations were steeped in vice and pride. The Jews, beloved of God, had strayed from Him. Everywhere there was sin and gloom, no bright spot on the face of the earth. But when Mary was born a light arose amid the darkness: the dawn of the glorious day that was to usher in the Redeemer. So, too, the darkness of the sinner's soul is dispersed by Mary's holy influence. Where the love of her is born in the soul, all becomes full of light, and Jesus comes to make His habitation there. Mary, in the first hour of her life, brought more glory to God than all the Saints of the Old Testament. In her were made perfect the obedience of Abraham, the chastity of Joseph, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses, the prudence of Josue. It is because she is the model and pattern of these and all other virtues that she can communicate them to us. (from the Roman missal)

Bestow upon They servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gift of Thy heavenly grace: that as the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin was the beginning of our salvation, so the solemn feast of her Visitation may bring us an increase of peace. (from the Collect)

Petitions of St. Augustine

O LORD Jesus, let me know myself, let me know Thee,
And desire nothing else but Thee.
Let me hate myself and love Thee,
And do all things for the sake of Thee.
Let me humble myself, and exalt Thee,
And think of nothing else but Thee.
Let me die to myself, and live in Thee,
And accept whatever happens as coming from Thee.
Let me forsake myself and walk after Thee,
And ever desire to follow Thee.
Let me flee from myself, and turn to Thee,
That so I may deserve to be defended by Thee.
Let me fear for myself, let me fear Thee,
And be amongst those who are chosen by Thee.
Let me distrust myself, and trust in Thee,
And will to obey for the love of Thee.
Let me cleave to nothing but only to Thee,
And be poor for the sake of Thee.
Look upon me, that I may love Thee.
Call me, that I may see Thee
And for ever possess Thee. Amen.

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

Happy Feast Day, Kateri!

Today is the feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

Here is a prayer for her canonization: LET US PRAY

O God, who, among the many marvels of Your Grace in the New World, did cause to blossom on the banks of the Mohawk and of the St. Lawrence, the pure and tender Lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, grant we beseech You, the favor we beg through her intercession, that this Young Lover of Jesus and of His Cross may soon be counted among the Saints of Holy Mother Church, and that our hearts may be enkindled with a stronger desire to imitate her innocence and faith. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

My Kateri was named after Blessed Kateri (you can read about why she is named after Blessed Kateri in this post.) Our priest gave a very nice sermon about the life of Blessed Kateri, highlighting some of the many difficulties she faced during her short life. She was persecuted for her faith, but her spirit of joy and peace was pervasive, and others noted how her face changed and looked beautiful when she was in prayer and it was a blessing to be near her. Father told of how she loved to spend time in prayer and would stay for hours in the chapel. He also told of how she liked to make crosses out of sticks and hang them on trees in the woods as a witness to her Savior. So in honor of the feast today my big girls made these rustic crosses.

 

I think they look cool, and they can't look that different from the ones Blessed Kateri must have made. The girls are going to hang them in the trees both in the woods and in our yard.

 

I have to also tell you that my Miss Kateri is still as spirited as she's always been. After Mass I took her by the hand and brought her over to greet Father J. as he is new and doesn't know our names. I tried to explain how it was her feast day and I told her to tell Father her name.

And she solemnly replied, "Gwendolyn." (Yesterday she was Princess Imogen.)

And then of course when we laughed and corrected her and said her name was really Kateri she dissolved into tears and cried her eyes out in embarrassment and dismay.

That's my girl. :-)

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Helen has a lovely post up today for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart with some meditations and activities for children. She suggests having the children cut out 33 red hearts and write prayers on them, following St. Margaret Mary who was asked by Our Lord to adore Him 33 times upon the cross.

 Helen also mentions the 'Jesus meek and humble' prayer, and I immediately thought of combining the two. You already know how I love to put little prayer cards around the house for Lent and Advent as frequent, visual reminders to stop and pray many times throughout the day. So using supplies I had on hand we made 33 red heart prayer cards. (Call me predictable, but my need for incessant prayer is quite constant.) We are midway through June but they would be nice to have out for July as well, the month of the Precious Blood.

 

Here is a pdf of the prayer cards if you would like to make them: Download Meek Hearts The text is in red, as at first I thought I'd like to use a light colored paper. If you want to print on red paper as I did, just change to black and white before you print.

 

We cut the hearts out and glued them onto patterned scrapbook paper. I was tempted to stop at the craft store for cross stickers, but ended up sticking with things we had on hand. We cut crucifixes out of catalogs and glued them on top, reminiscent of the Sacred Heart image. We are reminded of Our Lord's meekness and humility even as He suffered His passion, and it is through His sacrifice that we beg the graces to become like Him always.

 

 

 

Thank you, Helen, for your inspiration, as always. And if there is anyone out there who doesn't already subscribe to Helen's daily Mary Vitamin, today would be a wonderful day to sign up!

Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine!

(Edited to add: I can't figure out why the heart pictures are coming up blurry and I have no more time to fiddle with them. If you click on them to enlarge you can see them clearly. Sorry!)

First Friday in June, Month of the Sacred Heart

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart. In the year 1672 Our Lord Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and asked her to promote a special devotion to His Sacred Heart as a symbol of His love and mercy for us. (You can read more about this devotion here and here. ) We had our First Friday gathering here today and so our theme was the Sacred Heart.

As it is Pentecost Friday (surely you've seen this story about Paul VI and the Octave of Pentecost) and also during Embertide, we made these flame cookies:

Lydia and Anna made sugar cookies, and then iced them with a mix of yellow and red to resemble flames. I took an extra holly leaf cookie cutter that I had (a fifteen cent Christmas clearance item) and bent it a bit to make the flame shape like so:

For the younger children I printed out some nice coloring pages found here. They look very nice glued onto red construction paper like so:

The older children's Sacred Heart craft is seen above. Now, I must tell you that I just came up with this idea last night. All week my children were asking me what our craft was going to be and I would say, "Something for the Sacred Heart".  As we dashed off to the craft store last night half an hour before it closed my girls kept asking, "But what are we going to buy?" And I repeatedly insisted, "I have no idea." I told them we'd figure it out when we got there, and I reminded them of Mrs. Gunther who says she walks through the aisles of the craft store praying to the Holy Spirit for inspiration. Mary Rose remarked it was like the book she just read, in which the family was having twins but didn't have a van large enough for the family, but the Dad said if God gives the twins He will also provide for all their needs. She concluded if God is giving us the party with our friends, He would also provide the inspiration.  "Yes, that's it exactly," I told her.

So I sang Veni Sancte Spiritus under my breath as we walked into Michaels and the first thing we saw was a large display of wooden frames. I told the girls to grab a stack and we were on our way to our craft (I think my girls were quite relieved that I didn't need to sing the next line). The frames come in ovals and rectangles and have a little peg stand included and are only a dollar apiece. We found small heart plaques and a few other items and we were soon dashing home to make the prototype. Here is Lydia's sample project:

Start by using a wood burning tool to create the crown of thorns. I had Josiah do the crowns on some extra hearts so the younger children wouldn't have to do it themselves. Start with the wavy lines and then add the thorns.

Next we painted the heart with red acrylic paint watered down to a transparent 'wash' consistency. A paper towel is adequate for blotting on the wash, and you can add a second layer of paint around the edge of the heart to add more depth to the look. By using the watered down paint the crown is still clearly visible.

The frames were painted with plain acrylic paint and left to dry. The flames were cut from some neat crinkly orange scrapbook paper I found, and the crosses from gold paper. I purchased one of those gold metallic paint pens for the writing and it worked very nicely. The hearts are simply glued onto the frames with craft glue, and then the flame and cross are glued on as well.

I always enjoy seeing the variety of the children's finished projects as they add their own unique creativity and special touches.

 

They make a very nice addition to our June altar.

 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Tis the Month of Our Mother

Tis the month of Our Mother

The blessed and beautiful days,

When our lips and our spirits,

Are glowing with love and with praise.

May Altar-

We just found this beautiful wooden book holder at a thrift sale on Saturday, and one of my children keeps a missal there opened to the propers of the day.

May Crowning-

All the excitement and anticipation! The May Crowning was also the occasion for a 'baby shower' and a celebration of the lives of the babies the children have spiritually adopted. For the procession the girls all carried up baby gifts which will be donated to various local crisis pregnancy centers. My dear daughters donated ten baby hats and a dozen hat and bootie sets that they crocheted.

Hail holy Queen enthroned above, O Maria

Hail Mother of mercy and of love, O Maria

Triumph all ye cherubim, Sing with us ye seraphim

Heaven and earth resound the hymn:

Salve, salve, salve, Regina!

First Friday in May-

Our group made Marian May Baskets as popularized by dear Alice some years ago.

 

Simple supplies such as stickers, catalogs of religious goods, construction paper and bits of ribbon and glue are all that's needed for the children to create an endless array of bookmarks and holy cards to put in the baskets.

 I also provided plain sugar cookies for them to decorate with colored frostings and such to add, and a few candy treats. My girls later made additional baskets for various friends and godparents, including some homemade fudge. (Cute little templates for homemade boxes can be found here: Mirkwood Designs.)

 

 May Music-

Actually it's August music- the Introit from the Feast of the Assumption. Jonathan wrote this music for his composition class, and it was performed by four of his fellow students the other night. I think they did a lovely job, and I trust Our Lady was pleased.

Signum magnum aparuit in coelo: mulier amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus ejus, et in capite ejus corona stellarum duodecim. Cantate Domino canticum novum: quia mirabilia fecit. Gloria Patri, et Fillio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

A great sign appeared in the heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because He hath done wonderful things. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Blessed May to all of you, and may Our Lady rain down her love and care to all who seek to honor her during this most special month.

Full of Easter Joy

The most blessed, joyous Octave of Easter has come to an end. The celebration of Our Lord's Resurrection has left me feeling buoyed by constant waves of joy flowing over a deep underlying sense of unending gratitude. We began our Eastertide at the Vigil, starting at 10pm on Saturday night, followed by Mass at midnight. It was our first time attending the Vigil in the Extraordinary Form, and we were all overcome with the beauty of this glorious Mass.

If you haven't already, please do click over to Josiah's blog to see the video he compiled of the Vigil and Mass. He worked very hard putting it together and it turned out very beautiful.

I was especially thrilled and honored to be a sponsor for a young lady entering the Church with her family.  

The services were several hours long and Kateri fell blissfully asleep, but Eliza wasn't about to miss anything so glorious.

Truly one of the most beautiful moments of the Mass is when the Gloria is sung and the beloved, sacred images which have been shrouded in violet throughout Passiontide are uncovered. As Eliza watched them revealing the familiar, holy sights she happily and knowingly declared, It's Easter! As the priest and schola intone the threefold Alleluias it is Easter, indeed.

Throughout all of the Vigil and Mass whenever I tried to pray I couldn't muster anything other than a never-ending stream of Deo Gratias.

We've spent a lovely Easter week basking in the joy and the ever-present Alleluias. The little ones have quickly caught on to the Regina Caeli and Alleluia-saturated Night Prayer and proclaim the constant Alleluia! with glee. As the Church directs us with these prayers infused with praise and rejoicing, so we too fill our days with the same.

We've been fairly soaking in joy, and the Divine Mercy celebration today was a beautiful conclusion to this most jubilant week. As we continue on with our fifty day celebration of Easter we are all too happy to follow the command to Rejoice!

Let the angelic choirs of Heaven now rejoice; let the divine Mysteries rejoice; and let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of so great a King. Let the earth also rejoice, made radiant by such splendor; and, enlightened with the brightness of the eternal King, let it know that the darkness of the whole world is scattered. Let out mother the Church also rejoice, adorned with the brightness of so great a light; and let this temple resound with the loud acclamations of the people.

(from the Exsultet)

Alleluia!

Wordless Wednesday: Passiontide

Ode to Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laetare!

Rejoice!

Today is Laetare Sunday, from the Latin Laetare meaning rejoice. It is the first word of the Introit, one of the opening prayers of today's Mass . The Church provides for a day of rejoicing in the midst of our Lenten journey, and it is with great joy that we welcome the sight of the rose colored vestments that signify joy and give even our eyes a respite from the penitential violet. We pause and rejoice that our time of penance is half completed, and we look ahead to the joy that awaits us at Easter. It always seems to me a good time to reflect on how our Lent has been progressing, to sort of take stock and see what areas we need to concentrate on for the remainder of Lent. We pray for the grace to persevere in our sacrifices, to enter into the mystery of the Passion as fully as we are capable, and to dispose ourselves to truly celebrate the joy of the Resurrection.

Hope you all had a rose colored, blessed, joyful day!

Stations of the Cross Grottos

 

As I mentioned previously, the theme for our First Friday gathering this month was Stations of the Cross.  While the little people were busy with their activities the older children made these Stations of the Cross grottos. Lent is naturally the time we think about the Stations, but many people include them in their weekly Friday devotions year round, and some even daily, particularly during the three o'clock hour. I thought having a set of stations at home, whether on the family altar just for Lent or hung throughout the house, would facilitate and encourage this devotion of meditating on Our Lord's passion.

 

Making fourteen of anything may seem like a lot to do, but by having the children work together each family was able to complete a whole set. There was even one girl there without the rest of her family as they were ill, and everyone helped her to make a set to bring home to her family.

 

  Everyone seemed to enjoy the craft and certainly felt a great sense of accomplishment when they were finished!

For each set of stations you need a set of Stations pictures. I used the cards generously shared by The Bookworm on her Liturgical Boxes page: Stations of the Cross Cards . I printed them out on cardstock.

Also needed are:

•  wooden craft (popsicle) sticks - approximately 364 per set. I bought the economical boxes of 1000, though they have a few 'duds' that are bent or warped and unsuitable to use.
• jumbo wooden craft sticks (tongue blades), 28 per set. Cut these to four inch lengths. I used a pair of kitchen shears and they cut quite easily - just go slowly.
• small decorative pebbles from the craft shop. I got these tiny ones at Michael's.
• Tacky glue. I bought the good stuff as it sets up much quicker than regular glue making it much easier to work with. Also, I thought it would be better for holding the stones.
• 14 small wooden crosses as seen here: Lara's 1 1/2" laser cut wooden crosses. I found these at Michael's as well, and at eight for about a dollar they seemed very reasonable.

Step-by-step directions and pictures follow. I also have the instructions as a pdf file for download, as I had several copies of them printed out for our group:  Download Stations of the Cross Grottos

1.   Lay out 12 popsicle sticks together in a row. Apply glue to four sticks and place them perpendicularly to hold them together. Let dry a bit:

 

2.     Add another stick horizontally to the top, going across the four. This will make a hanger so you can hang them on the wall if you wish:

 

3.     Glue roof pieces (tongue blades cut to four inches) together at an angle, squaring up the edges. Let dry a bit:

 

4.     Flip over your flat board you made in step one. Cut out the pictures, removing the label and leaving a white margin. Center picture left to right; vertically, the picture should be placed so the bottom of the colored picture is about one popsicle stick width from the bottom. You do not need to put glue on the picture as you don’t want it to ripple – the sticks will hold it in place.

5.     Add a horizontal stick at the bottom and three at the top. All the white of the paper should be covered. Glue the three sticks in place:

 

6.     Arrange two sticks vertically on either side of picture, covering all the white of the paper. Glue in place:

 

7.     Glue one more horizontal stick in place at the top:

 

8.     Take the pointed piece that you made out of the tongue blades and position it at the top. You want the open triangle to be small enough to be mostly covered with the title piece. When you are sure it is in the right spot, glue it in place using a generous amount of glue. Press down on it until it is set.

 

9.     Glue on label.

10.     Glue cross at the top.

11.     Working on a paper plate, add glue and decorate with pebbles. Apply the glue very generously, making sure you have all areas covered as it is very difficult to try to add more glue and pebbles if you’ve missed spots (but try not to get glue on the picture). Press the pebbles into the glue firmly, and then shake off excess onto the paper plate, just like sprinkling cookies.

12.     Place on a paper plate to dry so that the rim of the plate is supporting the cross. Keep pressing on the bottom of the ‘roof’ pieces occasionally so it dries flat.

 

We put ours in a basket to take them to church to have Father bless them. Michael had the foresight to tilt them forward in the basket so the holy water wouldn't get on the pictures and make the ink run. :-)

It was also Michael's idea to place them throughout the house so we could walk through the rooms meditating on the Via Crucis. 

Stations of the Cross for Littles

We had our First Friday homeschool gathering at my house last week and our theme was the Stations of the Cross. For the younger children I wanted to use the 'Stations of the Cross Box' idea - presenting tangible symbols for each of the stations. This seemed like a wonderful way to help little ones learn the fourteen stations and also give them something to hold and think about as they 'meditate' on the Way of the Cross. This is not my idea but one I came across as seen here in this blog post at Growing With My Girls. In the comments there is a link to another post which gives credit to the original creators of this idea, and The Bookworm also has a link there for beautiful cards of the Stations that you can print out. 

Since I had over a dozen little people to provide for I adapted the idea somewhat. Instead of the large picture cards I printed out a fold-out booklet of the stations for each child to color.

These can be found here: Catholicartworks. Scroll down to the images of the fold out booklet - I used the black and white images. Click on the image to bring up a printable pdf. I used card stock to make them sturdy. Print one page and then the other on the back of it. Be sure you have the pages lined up so that stations 3 & 4 are right on the reverse of stations 11 & 12. Then cut the cardstock in half lengthwise. Fold each piece in half twice to make the page folds. Place the two pieces next to each other and secure with scotch tape; flip it over and tape the seam on the other side as well. You should have stations 1 - 7 on the front side -

 

and 8 - 14 on the reverse. These are very nice little booklets and I printed out extras for some of the older children who like to color (and even one of the moms).

For something less expensive than boxes I purchased paper bags in purple at the craft store. I made labels for the bags that say 'My Stations of the Cross Bag' and the prayer: We adore You O Christ and we praise You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. (I actually just modified the prayer card printouts from this post.)

I spoke to the children a little bit about the stations, showing them each item that went with each station. My items are similar to those the other moms used with a few simplifications as this was for a group:

1. Jesus is condemned to death - a piece of rough twine. I talked about how the rope used on Jesus was much thicker and how it must have cut His precious hands.
2. Jesus takes up His cross - wooden cross
3. Jesus falls the first time - bandaid How Our Lord must have hurt falling under that weight>
4. Jesus meets his Mother - blue ribbon for Our Lady's mantle
5. Simon helps to carry the cross - wooden heart
6. Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus - Holy Face sketched in pencil on scrap of white fabric
7. Jesus falls the second time - bandaid
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem - tissue for the weeping women
9. Jesus falls the third time - bandaid
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments - piece of purple felt for His purple cloak
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross - nail Oh, how big their eyes got when I talked about much bigger nails.
12. Jesus dies on the cross - plastic crucifix A good time to remind them of the devotion of  kissing a crucifix.
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross - a picture of the Pieta We talked about Our Lady's sorrow.
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb - a rock Spoke about the big stone and how it was rolled away on Easter morn.

 The cross and heart pieces can of course be painted, but again I was keeping it simple. As the children finished coloring I gave them the items for their bags.

 

 Kateri just loves her bag and is always looking for someone to help her 'learn my stations'. The handle bags are just right for little ones who love to carry things around, and she loves that it is her very own. She is learning to match up the items with the stations, and is also working on what comes next.  She talks about 'Jesus' boo boos'  and the 'Blessed Mother's blue ribbon'. She can't possibly understand the enormity of Our Lord's suffering but she is taking little steps in learning our traditions and our beautiful Faith. 

 

We also have a set of colored station prints inserted into a small photo album that she likes to use as well.

All of the little children seemed to enjoy this activity, and I hope their parents find it meaningful to use with them at home. (Obviously these items should be kept away from littles who still put things in their mouths.) I hope to post next about what the older children made for their craft...

Settling into Lent

The time of penance has come, the time to atone for our sins and to seek our salvation. (from today's midmorning prayer)

The first week of Lent is always something of a time of transition - it seems to take me a little while to get acclimated to the spirit of continual penance. On Ash Wednesday our priest spoke about the joys of fasting and how it can't help but draw us closer to God, how our empty stomachs facilitate a longing for intimacy with Our Lord. On the way home in the car I told Michael I wasn't doing very well spiritually - the only thing fasting made me long for was the day to be over. Those first cups of sugarless tea, those first rumblings of hunger left ignored always come as a bit of a shock to my coddled, indulgent, fleshy self. And so it takes a few days to progress beyond the flesh's resentment to the 'spiritual sugar that takes away the bitterness of mortification' that St. Francis de Sales describes.

So we've been gradually settling in to the rhythms that we will follow for the forty day journey. The festive decorations of last month have been replaced with our 'Lenten decor'.

I am a very visual person and I like to have lots of observable reminders of the season around the house. I really like the little prayer cards I place all around for Advent with the St. Andrew prayer on them, and I wanted to do something similar for Lent. I love the way the cards just stop me in my tracks, both literally and figuratively in my thought patterns as I pause for a brief prayer and to remember. So today I made these little prayer cards for Lent with the prayer, 'We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.'

I printed them out on a piece of scrapbook paper, ten to a page, and then glued those onto brown cardstock. The children all wanted brown to better call to mind the cross and to be different from the purple ones of Advent. We added a sticker of a cross or a picture of Our Lord to each one, and then stuck them all over the house in all sorts of mundane places. Very simple.

Today we started the Jesus Tree Scripture study that Jessica shared on her blog. We will be making the felt symbols each day as we go along, and we plan to hang them on a tree branch rather than a banner. Here is Lydia's drawing of the Presentation and two turtle doves. We don't have the kit that Jessica has so we're just winging it (pun intended, hee):

We are also using the cross visual as a way to encourage works of mercy and other sacrifices. See this old post for more on this idea. It's really precious to read some of the sacrifices.

And on our purple draped altar we have this simple wreath with a card of Ecce Homo that one of my customers kindly sent me. Isn't it beautiful?

 I put the Universalis link as a sticky post up top as a visual reminder as well. Although to be honest I prefer the translations used at ebreviary as they are the same as in my prayer book, but ebreviary does not have all of the prayers for free on their site like Universalis does. They do have night prayer for every day, and in a nice format to print out. As night prayer is mostly a weekly cycle it would be easy to print out a week's worth of booklets to be able to use these beautiful prayers with the whole family. I try to pray morning and night prayer every day, and add extra hours if I am able to fit them in during the day.

And finally I've been encouraging less frivolous reading and more substantial, appropriate Lenten fare.

 

So far, people are taking the bait of this round of blatantly 'strewed' books.

Just look at this dear one-

So I'd say we are all finally settling in to the ways and means of Lent in our family. :-)

Edited to add: Here's a pdf of the prayer cards: Download We adore You

Valentines

Yesterday we had our First Friday homeschool group meeting at our house.

Valentine wreath with Christmas tree - photo by Josiah (I think this shot is so pretty!)

With St. Valentine's Day just around the corner, our theme was all things Valentine.

Heart garland - made just like the Christmas garland seen here.

We enjoyed heart shaped cookies along with scones, buns and other teatime treats, and then it was time for crafting.

Cookie hearts and shadow hearts - photo by Josiah

We had four families altogether with a total of twenty-seven children. I just love seeing my kitchen full of delightful children working happily together!

 

First they made Valentines to send. I told them St. Valentine's Day is a wonderful opportunity to send greetings to our family and friends to let them know how much we love them, but we can also give our missives eternal value by including a spiritual bouquet for the recipient's intentions.

 

I had lots of cards pre-cut and scored, and just provided the usual array of stickers, markers, colored card stock, old garden catalogs, glue sticks, fancy scissors and the like. I printed out the spiritual bouquet blanks so they were ready to glue inside the children's cards:

I've included the forms here for download to save time if you are crafting with a crowd or just for your own family's regiment of grandparents, godparents and all. Download A Spiritual Bouquet for You

I also printed out hearts with 'Happy St. Valentine's Day' for the littlest crafters who can't yet write to use. You can download those as well - simple stuff but if I can save a few moms some minutes of computer time I'm happy to share! Download Valentine Hearts

For our other craft we made these hearts:

We used the following supplies: five inch wooden heart cutouts, an assortment of scrapbooking papers, small wood punch out shapes, ribbon, glue, and paint. I put out a few colors of acrylic paints that coordinated with the papers, and since the wood punchouts are small we just used paper plate palettes and Q-tip brushes for easy (disposable!) cleanup. I prepared print outs of St. Augustine's famous quote, 'You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you,' seen here: Download Augustine Hearts

We talked about how these words tell us that we can only find peace in life resting in the Lord and His will, as we were created to know, love and serve Him. Most people celebrate Valentine's Day as a secular holiday, but all of those red hearts that we see all over the stores and decorations everywhere can serve to make us think of St. Augustine and the peace he knew when he finally came to belief in Christ.

Simply trace the heart onto decorative paper and cut it out.

Cover the wooden heart with a thin layer of glue and add a ribbon loop for hanging before pressing the paper heart on top.

Then just decorate the front as desired, with more paper, ribbon and the painted wooden shapes as desired.

You can see some of the variety here, and how most of the boys naturally skipped the fancy paper part. :-)

  

I think the hearts turned out very pretty, and they make a cheery and meaningful decoration to have around the house. Mary Rose has made several more of them with the extra supplies, intending to share them as gifts.  

An Epiphany of Sorts

As we were so ill last week we all missed Mass (except Jonathan - Providentially the organist did not fall ill until Sunday evening!) and we missed out on celebrating Epiphany. We had a party planned with about forty guests coming to sing carols and eat king's cake and all, but alas it did not come to pass. So we were delighted when Father announced this morning that there was still some blessed chalk available for the traditional house blessing - a wee bit of Epiphany for us after all.

 

Our door frame is painted all white, but straight away Michael decided to pain the 'lintel' so he could make the inscription in chalk. Isn't he grand?

 

The initials of the three traditional names of the Magi are inscribed, along with the year, over the entryway.

 

 It was so wonderful to be back at Mass after being away for over a week! Eliza sang her heart out for three verses of Angels We Have Heard on High. For the Feast of the Holy Family, celebrated today in the Extraordinary Form, we heard part of St. Bernard's sermon. And the epistle was one of my most favorite passages of St. Paul, Colossians 3:

12 Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: 13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. 14 But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection: 15 And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. 17 All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

I love the admonition to 'put on' mercy, humility, modesty, and patience, and charity, as if it is a garment that can be put on. Even if I am feeling impatient and uncharitable and cranky on the inside I can 'put on' these virtues and bless my family with them; as Peter tells us elsewhere, love covers a multitude of sins. If we have charity, we will have the peace of Christ in our hearts, rejoicing in our thankful hearts. The world tells us we should act according to our feelings, but Scripture tells us that our feelings will be according to our actions. Putting on charity and being thankful lead to peace and joy in our hearts. These are the verses I need to remember as we head back to the school books and the rigors of regular life tomorrow!

Good night, my friends, and Happy Epiphany!

Puer Natus Est

 

Puer nátus est nóbis, et fílius dátus est nóbis: cújus impérium super húmerum éjus: et vocábitur nómen éjus, mágni consílii Angelus.	Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Dominion is on his shoulder and his name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.
Cantáte Dómino cánticum nóvum: quia mirabília fécit.	Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he has accomplished wondrous deeds.
Glória Pátri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sáncto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in saécula saeculórum. Amen.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Puer nátus est nóbis, et fílius dátus est nóbis: cújus impérium super húmerum éjus: et vocábitur nómen éjus, mágni consílii Angelus.	Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Dominion is on his shoulder and his name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel.

Blessed Christmas to you and yours!

Christmas Play

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.  So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

. 

And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

 

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

 

The children participated in two performances of the Christmas play; they oldest three as musicians and the younger four as angels. On both occasions, the Baby Jesus was accompanied by His very own sweet little self-appointed guardian angel named Eliza. At the first performance she planted herself right beside the manger where she knew the baby doll was hiding, and somehow at the right moment she presented him to the Blessed Mother. Which seemed quite fitting. At the second performance she again staged herself right at the manger. The girl who played Mary put the baby doll in the manger, and this seemed to displease Eliza. She kept patting the Baby Jesus, rearranging his swaddling clothes, trying to give him back to his mother, and she would not leave his side.

 

Both times, as soon as it was over she quickly scooped the Baby Jesus up in her arms, and then she was happy.

  

Made me cry both times too.

For All the Saints

 We spnt the day at All Saints Day parties. Can you guess our saints?

Lydia-

 

Mary Rose-

 

Kateri and  her cow-

 

Anna Ruth-

 

Josiah-

 

Jonathan-

Mom, Dad and Eliza-

Eliza also had a visit from her patroness-

 

I'll leave the answers in the comment box. Hope you all had a wonderful feast day!

 

 

 

Feast of St. Bonaventure

Today is the feast of St. Bonaventure. The prayer of St. Bonaventure for after receiving Holy Communion is an ardent, beautiful, soul-stirring plea.

Dearest Lord Jesus, pierce the inmost depths of my being with the sweet and wholesome pang of Thy love, with true and tranquil and most holy apostolic charity, so that from sheer melting love and desire of Thee my soul may ever faint with longing, yearning for Thee and for Thy dwelling-place, asking only to be released from the flesh and to be with Thee.

Grant that my soul my hunger for Thee, Who art the Bread of Angels, the food of holy souls, our daily, supernatural bread, all sweetness and delight to the taste. Let my heart ever hunger for Thee and feed upon Thee, Whom the Angels yearn to look upon, and let the depths of my being be filled with Thy sweet savor; let me ever thirst for Thee, Who art the source of life, source of wisdom and knowledge, source of eternal light, flood-tide of pleasure, God's own treasure-house. Let me ever desire Thee; seek Thee and find Thee; have Thee for my goal and my achievement; think and speak of Thee only, doing all that I do for the honor and glory of Thy Name, humbly and prudently, with love and delight, with ready goodwill, and with perseverance to the end.

Be Thou ever, Thou only, my hope and all my trust, my treasure and pleasure, my joy and delight, my rest, peace, and quiet, my sweet and delicious fragrance, my food and support, my refuge and help, my wisdom, my heritage of wealth, my very own. Let my heart and soul be set on Thee, firmly and immovably rooted in Thee henceforth and forever. Amen.

Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Lily of the Mohawks

Today is Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha's feast day. You can read more about Blessed Kateri here, and why our little sweetie is named Kateri here.

Here is a prayer for her canonization: LET US PRAY

O God, who, among the many marvels of Your Grace in the New World, did cause to blossom on the banks of the Mohawk and of the St. Lawrence, the pure and tender Lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, grant we beseech You, the favor we beg through her intercession, that this Young Lover of Jesus and of His Cross may soon be counted among the Saints of Holy Mother Church, and that our hearts may be enkindled with a stronger desire to imitate her innocence and faith. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Happy Feast Day, Kateri! We love you!

Feast of the Annunciation

As Father said at Mass this morning, it is kind of startling what the Church does to us - here we are in the middle of Easter celebrations (or more typically, Lent) and suddenly we have the Feast of the Annunciation. And yet it is fitting and proper that nine months before Christmas we should celebrate this glorious feast that started it all.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God... And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. John 1:1,2,8,9

The Incarnation is what began our redemption through the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and so we can't not celebrate it. The Annunciation was moved from the 25th this year because every day in the Octave of Easter is a Solemnity, the Church's highest form of feast day, and no other feast can be observed during this time. But just like families sometimes do due to other circumstances, birthdays and celebrations get moved but we don't just forget about them. Today's readings are just so beautiful I have included them here:

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us!”

Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10

Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.
For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”

First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrew 10:4-10

The beginning of our beloved Hail Mary or Ave Maria prayer comes right out of today's gospel reading-

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38

And so this year we have a little Angelus celebration in the middle of our Regina Coelis.

This of course makes perfect sense!

Some ideas for feast day goodies can be found in my post from last year. Find a coloring page here or a more detailed one here, courtesy of Jenn at Family in Feast and Feria. And Alicia has reminded us that now it the time to start the Impossible Novena which will end at the celebration of the Nativity.

Blessed, happy feast day to all of you!

Divine Mercy Sunday

O Blood and Water,

which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us,

I trust in You!

Here's a 'vintage' picture from Divine Mercy Sunday four years ago:

I've explained how Eliza was baptized the night she was born, but she had her baptism 'completed' and received her anointing on Divine Mercy Sunday when she was four months old. It was very special to have this ceremony on this day so important to us, and I held a relic of St. Faustina clutched in Eliza's hand as she was anointed with the holy chrism. Divine Mercy Sunday was 'coincidentally' the only day that our priest and the godparents and my family were all available to have this done before Eliza's upcoming heart surgery. We had forgotten to plan ahead and order a cake for a little bit of celebrating. When we called the bakery just before 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon they said they were just about to close, but offered to keep the store open until we arrived to purchase the cakes!  Eliza's life has been filled with innumerable moments of Divine Mercy, large and small.

The devotion to the Divine Mercy was revealed by Our Lord to St. Faustina, a Polish nun who lived from 1905-1938. A simple, uneducated girl, she was lead by the Lord to give up her worldly life and enter a convent. She subsequently received numerous visions of Our Lord who instructed her to have a painting created as a visual representation of His mercy, showing the rays of Blood and Water issuing forth from His Heart as a fount of mercy for all, and with the words Jesus, I trust in You. Sister Faustina was to be His "Secretary of Mercy', and she was to record all that the Lord was teaching her and share it with the world so that all may come to His mercy. She faithfully recorded the story of her soul and all of her interactions with Our Lord in her diaries.

It was then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla who opened the cause for Sister Faustina's sainthood and he was instrumental in arranging for the diaries to be properly translated. From the beginning of John Paul II's pontificate he saw himself on a mission to spread the message of God's infinite mercy. He wrote an encyclical on mercy. St. Faustina was beatified on April 30, 2000 and Pope John Paul II declared 'this is the happiest day of my life'. As our homilist pointed out today, the message of mercy is really the message of the Gospel as so succinctly summed up in John 3:16- For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. There are five aspects to the Divine Mercy devotion; the Image, the three o'clock hour, the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and the practicing of works of mercy. Read more about John Paul II and Divine Mercy here. General information can be found at The Divine Mercy website, with a timeline of St. Faustina's life here.

The Diary is a lengthy tome but it so very rich and inspiring to read. There is also a book of excerpts  from her diary, broken down into daily readings. There are so many beautiful images and quotes from St. Faustina's writings, but I think one of the most astounding is Our Lord's words referring to His ocean of mercy. When we visited the sea last fall I sat on the beach and meditated on these most precious words. The ocean is such a sight to behold - we stand before it and try to imagine it all - how big it is, how deep it is, how it seems to just go on forever. No amount of water removed could make a dent in its vastness. The waves just keep coming, lapping onto the beach with gentle regularity, sometimes with more force, always receding quietly to rejoin the waters from which it came. Nothing can stop the waves; nothing can take anything away from them and each wave takes nothing from the ocean. That's what His infinite mercy is like. An ocean of mercy, and He calls us to immerse souls in it.

Today we attended the Divine Mercy program at our cathedral. This is always a beautiful gathering for Adoration, confession, chanting the chaplet at 3 o'clock, prayers, reflections, a homily and closing with Benediction. We arrived right at 3; the plan being the littles would conveniently nap (don't laugh). Kateri fell asleep on the way there but then woke up when I took her out of her car seat. She continued to fuss and cry and wrestle and scream for 45 minutes or so in the sling, completely inconsolable. I was really getting tired of pacing in the vestibule, trying to keep her quiet, and she was so tired and miserable. I am very grateful that God sent me an angel of mercy before the Hour was up- a kindhearted Maw Maw from Oklahoma who came to my assistance. She walked over to me and patted Kateri, who immediately settled down with her head on my shoulder, resting peacefully. Until Maw Maw left. So Maw Maw came back and stood next to me chatting in hushed tones for quite some time, all the while rubbing Kateri's back until she fell sound asleep. I made it inside just in time, last in line before Confessions ended! May God richly bless Maw Maw for her kindness.

Easter 2008

We attended the Easter Vigil at our parish, and we were blessed to have the boys serving at the altar. Kateri was delighted with the flowers.

After a late night, Michael wandered downstairs at 7:30 on Easter morning, sleepy and bleary-eyed and startled to find this sight:

Jonathan was up and working on transposing the organ part of the trumpet voluntary he was going to play as a postlude after Mass. We were very blessed to have Jonathan play the organ for the Traditional Latin High Mass on this most splendid of feast days.

After feasting on our traditional Easter goodies we all enjoyed a most delicious nap. (Not all bliss is made of chocolate you know.)

A tip of the Easter Bonnet goes to Molly for inspiring our centerpiece:

 

It is so wonderful of our holy mother church to give us fifty days to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord. Forty days of Lenten penance and fasting may seem like a long time, but our scheduled time to rejoice is even longer! Like Father said this morning, it's so wonderful we don't want the party to end, so the church commands it to go on for fifty days, until the great feast of Pentecost.

We are happy to oblige.

Happy Easter from all of us to all of you!

He Is Risen!

Resurrexit sicut dixit!

Be sure to click over and read this: Easter Vigil, one year later from Et tu?.

And Happy 23 Years Later to my honey!

Blessed Easter to you all!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Deo Gratias, Alleluia!

What We're Doing Today

If you could peek in our door today you would find we are doing the same things we did last year.

(That's what makes it tradition.)

Our cross is in place.

The countdown to the Vigil has begun.

And if you didn't start the Divine Mercy Novena yesterday, you can still start it today and finish on Divine Mercy Sunday.

Hope you are enjoying this blessed time of final preparations!

Thankful Thursday: The Eucharist

On Holy Thursday we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper. We commemorate the Last Supper when Our Lord gave us the Eucharist and the holy priesthood. Thus begins the Sacred Triduum. We were blessed to have Jonathan playing organ for the Traditional Latin Mass this evening, and even the organ music ceased after the Gloria. No bells are used at the consecration, but are replaced by somber sounding wooden clappers. At the end of Mass the altar is stripped of its usual cloths and adornments. The Eucharist is taken to an altar of repose where the faithful may pray in silent adoration until midnight.

Traditionally the faithful visit these altars in various local churches, following Our Lord's call to stay awake and pray with Him.

 

We are able to get to five churches on this night - a tradition our family looks forward to with great anticipation.

 

 

We pray in silence as we contemplate the great sacrifice made for us, and also in thanksgiving for the gift of the Eucharist, Christ remaining with us even until the end of time.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Tenebrae

Wordless Wednesday: Passiontide