These Thy Gifts

The Easiest Easter Craft Ever ....

Inspired by this month's issue of Family Fun magazine, we used leftover paper and plastic partyware to create this Easter egg display, in under 2 minutes!  An upside-down clear plastic cup is glued with Tacky-glue to the dinner plate on the bottom and the dessert plate.  An upside-down white dixie cup, decorated with Easter stickers, is glued to the top.  A hole has been cut into it's bottom to hold the top egg upright.  Easter grass completes the look.  This is my kind of craft - quick, easy, and using stuff I already have on hand!

Fasting on Sundays?

In reference to my Ash Wednesday post, a reader asks:

Happy Lent! I once asked my parish priest about being able to do whatever I gave up for Lent on Sunday, and he told me that while that some Catholics do this, it isn't technically correct to do so. I had never heard of people doing this until I went to college. Do many people do this at your church? Not too many do at mine.

That is interesting.  All the priests I have ever heard discuss it have said the exact opposite.  If you look at the calendar, you will notice that if you include Sundays, there are 46 days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday.  But, there are only 40 days of Lent.  My understanding is that this is because every Sunday throughout the whole year is really a mini-Easter, a celebration of Christ's resurrection and victory over death.  So we don't fast on Sundays.  I think many people are not aware of this, or, if they are aware of this, some people choose to fast on Sundays anyways because it's easier for them to just be consistent rather than start and stop with their chosen penance.

For more info see this article, particularly this quote from the last sentence:

And Sunday is never a day of fasting (not even during Lent).

and this article (scroll down to the second Q and A).

Ash Wednesday

I'm hungry.  Really hungry.  It's Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence.  No meat, no snacks, and only one normal size meal.  This is hard for me, a recovering food addict, and yet - I love it.  This is one of my favorite times of the liturgical year.  A time to be "forced" (not really, I choose to participate, but the external motivation really helps) to rebalance.  To focus more on what really matters and to allow myself to be pulled away from those things I've become overly attached to in the past year.

I've been thinking and praying about what God would have me do this year for my Lenten observances.  And what I am led to focus on is relationships.  I'd like to, with God's help, take a good hard look at those things that get in the way of my relationship with Him, with my husband, and with my friends.

Prayer

• Prayer of St. Ephrem every morning (see Elizabeth's post).  This one is for me, a seasonally appropriate addition to my morning prayer routine.
• One decade (at least) of the Rosary at bedtime with the kids.  This one is for us as a family.  The kids love praying together, when we do it.  We just need to get more consistent about it.
• Night prayer from the liturgy of the hours with Tom every night before bed.  This one is for our marriage, to grow closer to the Lord as a couple.  For some reason, we've really struggled in our eleven years to establish and maintain a consistent couple prayer regimen.  We even attended a Couple Prayer workshop that was really quite well done, but didn't "take" for us.  This will be a nice way to end the day together.

Fasting

• I will forego my beloved seltzer water (I have very few legitimate indulgences in the food and drink arena these days, so this one is quite a sacrifice for me!)
  
• Tom and I are giving up our almost nightly TV-series-on-DVD viewing (goodbye Lost, 24, Gray's Anatomy, and MI-5, except on Sundays of course!) and have high hopes for more culture, diversity, and interaction in how we spend our leisure hours together.  Such as playing board games, looking at our many, yet sadly, almost never-viewed home movies and photo albums, listening to music, watching our family Christmas gift of Sister Wendy's Complete Collection, or just talking - options abound!
• No more lists.  This one sounds strange, I know, but I have really become attached to constant list-making, to the point where I feel anxiety if I can't write down every thing I really must do today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year even.  Instead, I'm choosing to trust that between common sense and God's leading, I can be doing in each moment exactly what I ought, whether it be work, prayer, rest, or play.

Almsgiving

• I'd like to get caught up with some friends that I've fallen out of close contact with.  I am terrible at keeping in touch the way I'd like to, and hope to remedy that with a couple of key folks in my life.

I'm ready.  Ready to be hungry, instead of filled up, as I too often am on trivialities and vanities, the illusion of control.  It will involve some discomfort, to be sure, but I know from experience that once I make some room, God is ready to fill me with so very many good things.

Feast of Christ the King

Our King Cake turned out yummy (so I'm told) and was fun and easy to make too.  Nathan also enjoyed our new tubes of glitter to make our crowns!

Advent Plans

Advent will soon be here and it's time to plan!  I love Advent, that time of preparation prior to the Feast of the Nativity.  If Christmas is our celebration of the day when the Light came into the world, then Advent must be a time of darkness (since the light isn't here yet), of expectant waiting, of preparing for the Christ Child to be born in our hearts.  In contrast to the crass commercialism of malls decked out in so much glitz and glitter, blaring "holiday" music ever more devoid of references to Christ as each year passes, in a Catholic Christian home the tree isn't put up or decorated until just before Christmas Day.  Christmas lights aren't turned on until Christmas Eve, and the music that is played is Advent music - the Christmas carols and parties and feasting are not done before the fact, but saved for the Twelve Days of Christmas.

And so with this in mind, here are our Advent traditions.  Some are old, some are new, all help us to more fully appreciate the most wonderful Gift of all.

The Advent Wreath

The Advent Wreath is such a wonderful a way to involve even the youngest children in learning about this period of preparation. The wreath's symbolism of the advent (coming) of Light into the world is clear. The gradual lighting of the four candles, one on each Sunday of the Advent season, combined with the liturgical colors of the candles, help to symbolize not only our expectation and hope in Our Savior's first coming into the world, but also in his Second Coming as Judge at the end of the world.  The purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and good works undertaken at this time. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, when the priest also wears rose vestments at Mass.  Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday of rejoicing, because we have arrived at the midpoint of Advent, when our preparation is now half over and we are very close to Christmas. The wreath itself is also symbolic. The circle of evergreen in which the candles are placed represents everlasting life.  In our family, the Advent wreath is lit as we sit down to dinner, using the beautiful prayers found here.

Preparation of the Manger

Speaking of Advent being a time for penance, sacrifice, and good works, what better way to help our children prepare their hearts to receive the Christ Child than by allowing them to prepare His manger.  This custom originated in France, then spread to Germany and other European countries.  The children prepare a soft bed for Jesus by using little wisps of "straw" as tokens of their sacrifices and good works.  Every time the child performs a kindness or act of generosity, etc., they get to place another straw in the manger.

We tried this last Advent for the first time and it truly helped our oldest son, then age three, to make real strides in virtue development.  As I recall, at that time we were working on cheerful obedience without resistance or hesitation.  He made beautiful progress, because it was so easy for him to see how his good works added up over time and how they could be so pleasing to Jesus.  As far as behavior modification techniques go, we find this far superior to "You better watch out, you better not cry"!

We used a beautiful wicker basket as a manger, but a wooden crate from a box of clementines would perhaps be even more appropriate, and could even be painted or decorated as a supplemental craft.  For straw, we used yellow yarn, which Nathan enjoyed snipping off one strand at a time with a blunt pair of scissors we kept in the basket.  On Christmas morning, the children woke to find that Jesus had been born during the night - the manger had been placed under the tree with a newborn baby doll wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Tom and I were amazed to see that their first desire, even before ripping apart their gifts, was to tenderly hold and speak to Jesus and tell Him how much they loved him and were so glad to see Him, a truly beautiful sight for any parent to behold!

The Jesse Tree

Excerpted from this site: The Jesse Tree is a centuries-old family Advent devotion that has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in recent years.  It has particular value since it helps both kids and adults alike to locate Jesus, the Messiah, within the lineage of the shepherd boy who became King of Israel--David, son of Jesse. The whole idea of the Jesse Tree comes right out of a classic Advent passage from the prophet Isaiah: "A shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" (Is 11:1).  The Jesse Tree is hung with ornaments representing Old Testament people and events leading up to Jesus.  The traditional symbols hung on the tree are based on the genealogy of Jesus as recounted by the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew."

All you really need for this project is a homemade drawing of a tree that can be taped to a wall or hung on your refrigerator. Or you can make a Jesse tree by putting a few tree branches in a pot filled with gravel or sand, or using a tabletop Christmas tree on which to hang Jesse tree ornaments.

This will be our first year implementing this tradition, and I'm going to start simply by downloading these symbols on card stock and laminating them.  Then each evening after dinner, we will reflect on these readings along with the symbols of this ancient tradition. Perhaps in the future I will attempt something more crafty, there are lots of incredibly beautiful ideas from the amazing women at the 4RealLearning forums here.

November Feast and Saints Days

Nov. 1 - ALL SAINTS DAY - We will attend Mass, make a collage of saints from holy cards, and talk about heaven via this story.

Nov. 2 - ALL SOULS DAY - We will visit a nearby cemetery, make gravestone rubbings and pray for our loved ones who have died.  Soul food for dinner <grin>?

Nov. 3 - St. Martin de Porres (Zachary's birthday - how cool is that?  In case you aren't familiar with St. Martin, he was biracial like our boys, the son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed African slave.) - p102 PBS, p. 27 More Saints Lives & Illuminations.  We will also read The Pied Piper of Peru.

Nov. 4 - St. Charles Borromeo - p. 101 PBS, p. 23 More Saints Lives & Illuminations

Nov. 10 - St. Leo the Great - p31 PBS

Nov. 11 - St. Martin de Tours - p 121 PBS, p 14 A Book of Sanctity, p. 224 These Are Our Neighbors, p. 14 Saints Lives & Illuminations, p. 72 The Children's Book of Faith

Nov. 13 - St. Frances Xavier Cabrini p. 12 PBS, p. 46 Saints and Angels

Nov. 16 - St. Margaret of Scotland, p 4 More Saints Lives & Illuminations

Nov. 17 - St. Elizabeth of Hungary - p.104 PBS, p. 17 Saints and Angels

Nov. 22 - St. Cecilia - p. 105 PBS, p. 31 Saints and Angels, p, 8 Saints Lives & Illuminations

Nov. 25 - FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING, make this easy version of King Cake for breakfast.  Make this, (or maybe these) crowns and capes, print out a picture of Christ the King, and have a procession while singing "Soon and Very Soon, We are Going to Meet the King"  Pray this prayer pledging ourselves to Christ our King and renewing our baptismal promises together at dinner.

(The 25th is also St. Catherine of Alexandria - p. 28 Saints and Angels, p. 7 Saints Lives & Illuminations)

Nov. 30 - St. Andrew - p. 30 Saints and Angels, p. 108 PBS

A Feast Fit for an Archangel

Here's the result of Saturday's feast-day cooking .... deviled eggs, deviled chicken, roasted deviled potatoes, steamed carrots, and devils food cake!  As predicted all the kids enjoyed the swords immensely.  That's our goddaughter Natalie smiling so sweetly.

October Feast Days

• Oct. 1 - St. Therese - We will re-read the Theresa stories from Catholic Children's Treasure Box and maybe we'll also make sacrifice beads.  We will buy a dozen sweetheart roses (little flowers) for Nathan to arrange in a vase to enjoy during our dinner of French Onion Soup, Quiche au Fromage, and salad.


• Oct. 2 - Guardian Angels - Angel hair pasta and angel food cake of course!  We will also make and decorate a calligraphy Guardian Angels prayer to hang over Nathan's bed.  Here are some nice angel coloring pages.  And we will read pages 2, 21, and 31 from The Angels - God's Messengers and Our Helpers.  Possibly also Lucy Sees an Angel from A Book of Sanctity.  Or maybe the Wupsy stories from Catholic Children's Treasure Box.  Or Angel in the Waters (if you don't know about this beautiful book, you can read it online here).  Options abound!


• Oct. 4 - St. Francis of Assisi - Read Saint Francis and the Birds from These Are Our Neighbors, and The Poor Man of Assisi.  We will also have some stuffed animals strewn around our dinner table that evening - fun and easy!

• Oct. 5 - St. Faustina - We will color pictures of the Divine Mercy image and St. Faustina and pray the Divine Mercy chaplet.  Kielbasa, sauerkraut, and pierogies for dinner too, of course.
  

• Oct. 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary - We will begin praying a family rosary on Sundays using these beautiful cards.  I also plan to (try to) pray one decade daily with the children using this amazing Children's Rosary site.  This rosary coloring page also looks neat.

• Oct. 17/19 - St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Isaac Jogues and Companions - over these few days we will plant ("bury") our spring bulbs.  Perhaps some white (for purity) and red (for martyrdom) ones, and we will talk about the resurrection that will happen in the Eternal spring, just like these flowers will come to life again in spring. (This great idea compliments of ck from the Real Learning forum).
  


• Oct. 31 - All Hallows Eve - still making plans for what we will do in addition to trick-or-treating, will post later on this one!

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross

Here are the results of today's craft and cooking!

 

Happy Birthday Mom!

No, it wasn't my birthday.  I'm definitely blessed but don't generally go around being called the Blessed Mother!

Seriously, though - Mary is our spiritual mother so we thought we'd include her in our family birthday traditions ... including the birthday plate I painted and had fired at Pottery Creations, and the birthday hat from Nana.  Nathan wanted Mary to wear the hat, but, um, then we wouldn't have been able to see her, so Nathan got to wear the hat for her.

September Feast Days

This year one of my goals is to more fully live the liturgical year of the Church in our home, gradually incorporating celebrations of favorite saints and feast days.  My hope is that these festivities will not only help our whole family learn about and want to emulate those members of our "family" who have reached the goal for which we strive, but also make many happy memories and perhaps even begin some family traditions which will be carried on for generations to come.

Here's the tentative plan for September:

• Sept. 8 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary -  Cupcakes with light blue frosting (for the lovely lady dressed in blue!) and the "Happy Birthday" song, enjoyed while reading and discussing Mary's Immaculate Conception.


• Sept. 14 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross - We will invite a neighbor to join us for tea and cross-shaped sugar cookies as well as a simple stained glass cross craft.  We will also read The Tale of Three Trees.


• Sept. 29 - St. Michael and the Archangels - Dinner will be deviled eggs, Deviled Chicken, Roasted Deviled Potatoes, steamed carrots (St. Raphael is the patron saint of eyesight!) and, Devil's food cake for dessert, accompanied by those little cocktail swords.  The boys are going to love stabbing their cake with those!  St. Michael of course is the angel who cast Lucifer out of heaven. Nathan loves St. Michael's holy card with the armor-clad, sword-wielding angel stepping on the vile looking dragon.  We will also read "St. George and the Dragon" from The Children's Book of Virtues and pages 2, 3, and 28 from The Angels, where we will learn the St. Michael Prayer.


• Sept. 30 - St. Jerome - We will read St. Jerome and the Lion.

None of these ideas are original - I got them from the planning conversation going on here.