On The Feast of the Holy Rosary

I am printing off these beautiful coloring sheets and meditations.

The idea for a Rosary Box is great for little ones

and I'd LOVE to print the Rosary cards onto cardstock and laminate them! 

Our Lady of the Rosary ~ Pray For Us

St. Teresa of Avila, Suffering, and Being Blessed

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila. A great doctor of the church and no stranger to suffering and persevering.

Yesterday I printed off these paper dolls for Snuggle Bug and Honeybee to play with. To my surprise Buck wanted to play with them too. So, first thing this morning I came to the computer to find a priest for him to be. .



It reminds me of how he is such an answer to prayer. Our third pregnancy ended with a D&C. I can't call it a miscarriage because I wasn't having any problems until I went in for my 13 week check up. The doctor could not hear the heartbeat so he sent me over for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed there was no heartbeat. Needless to say I was devastated. In hindsight, I can see how God was using this experience to refine me. I can actually say I am thankful for it. However, at the time I wasn't. Can you believe I stopped going to Mass? My honey was so patient with me. He continued to go to Mass and prayed for me. We didn't want to chance going through that again so we weren't open to more children.

I was such a different person back then. God used this trial to bring me closer to Him. After a few months we started attending a new parish, our current one. We have been so blessed there and have grown so much stronger in our faith. I started turning away from worldly things and making more room for Christ in my life. The veil was lifted from our eyes and we realized what a mistake we were making not being open to life.

The House Cat and Snuggle Bug were so much smaller then. They enjoyed playing Mass. They had a problem though - they needed a priest. They began to pray for a baby brother.

God answered their prayers and sent us a little lad. He has filled my heart with such joy. We look at him and Honeybee and can't imagine life without them.

We are so thankful they do have a brother to play Mass with them now.

And maybe even a future priest?

St. Edward the Confessor and a History Lesson

There is a wonderful story about Saint Edward the Confessor in Once Upon a time Saints from Bethlehem Books. (I just love their books! They are such treasures.)

The story tells us of a wonderful king who loved and served his people for Christ. God healed the sick through his touch. St. John the Evangelist visited him and asked for money to buy sandals. King Edward gave him the only thing he had, a gold ring. Years later this ring was returned to him with the message of his approaching death. Before being taken to his eternal reward, King Edward finished building Westminster Abbey and was the first to be buried there.

It's interesting that we just finished watching A Man For All Seasons. With King Henry VIII's divorce and separation from the church, Westminster Abbey has become more of a historical place than religious.

Westminster Cathedral is the Roman Catholic Church. As I looked around this morning, I found a couple of interesting articles.

• On Monday evening of this week (6.30pm 12 October) the long awaited Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux arrive at the Cathedral for the completion of their nationwide tour.
• In recent years, the relations between the churches in this country have become closer and warmer than perhaps ever before. The fact that the Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops in England have been able to meet more than once for prayer and reflection, as well as for discussion of the challenges we share in witnessing to the Christian faith in our nation, is a welcome development, and a sign that we all recognise common challenges and a need to pray and act together. (May 2009)

Visit Waltzing Matilda for a coloring sheet of St. Edward.

Columbus Day-Book Entry

Captain Christopher Columbus' ensign (banner) pictured a cross and the crown-topped initials F (for King Ferdinand of Spain) and Y (for Queen Isabella of Spain).

For today ~

Monday October 12, 2009

Outside my window ~

The rain is trickling from the roof. My poor honey had to head out in a downpour this morning.

Around the house ~

The House Cat's sleeping in. I remember vividly not wanting to get up and head out to school on a rainy Monday morning. I am so thankful my kids don't have to! My other three blessings are watching Peep and giggling :)

Celebrating Columbus Day ~

Enchanted Learning and Apples For the Teacher have some fun activities for the kids. I printed out some mini-book work for Buck. They've already had fun coloring these pics online this morning. I also requested some books and a DVD from the library (this morning -better late than never.) I also found a poem we will read and I'll either have my big girls copy it or we'll do some dictation. I hope I didn't pack these lap books from last year away :/

To Live the Liturgy ~

This week we celebrate two great saints - Teresa of Avila and Ignatius of Antioch.

I requested St. Teresa's Interior Castle also this morning. I need to check EWTN's program guide to see if they will be airing St. Teresa of Avila this week.

How I'm Doing ~

So far I've only been out of the house once, for my two week follow up. Oh, how I miss Mass and our church family. I had hoped to be able to go yesterday but, I'm still too sore. I have had a lot of ups and downs over the past 3 1/2 weeks. The pain and soreness have been more than I was expecting. My sweet husband continues to remind me, "This was your 6th surgery in that same area and it's tired of being messed with!" I am improving daily - very slowly- at God's pace - not mine. I have had a new sense of peace these last few days. I am resolved to His time table and not my own. I'm feeling remarkably peaceful. I know a huge part of this has come from your prayers. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you and pray for God's peace and blessings upon you.

Looking ahead~

I'm afforded the opportunity to practice patience and self-discipline. We've already missed seeing the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Little Children's Theater. I should call and see if I can transfer the tickets to sometime next year. I guess it couldn't hurt to try. Did you notice I said next year? Our home school group has gym day this week. Buck loves it so I'd better not mention it! I'd really love a family outing to the pumpkin patch. Maybe in a couple of weeks? I really want us to try our hand at Saint-O-Lanterns this year. On Nov.1 we have our home school faculty meeting followed by our All Saint's Party. The kids always have a blast at this! Lord willing, I'll be there!

Have a Blessed Week!

Visit Peggy for more daybook entries.

Divine Mercy in My Soul

From Your open Heart, as from a pure fount, flows comfort to a repentant heart and soul . . .

- Diary; 1b

St. Faustina is well known throughout the world as the woman who communed with God and brought to others a deeper realization of His infinite mercy. She was born on August 25th, 1905, and at the age of seven received a definite call to a religious vocation. However, her parents refused her request to enter a convent at 18. From then on, she tried to ignore God's call, and forced her interests to center on the world. But when the suffering Christ appeared to her at a dance, He asked her, "How long shall I put up with you, and how long will you keep putting Me off?" The next day, she left her home for the city of Warsaw in search of a convent.

After more than a year, she was accepted into the order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. In that order she was to spend the rest of her life, physically and spiritually communing with the Lord.

During the next 13 years, she endured persistent illness (which became tuberculosis), and also the personal injuries from other sisters who scorned the idea that the Lord appeared and spoke to her. She battled severe attacks of despair and spiritual dryness, and the overwhelming fear that Christ had rejected her. It was during these years that she wrote her Diary, out of obedience to her confessor. Our Lord also ordered her, saying, " . . . be diligent in writing down every sentence . . . concerning My mercy, because this is meant for a great number of souls who will profit from it." Her Diary is a great eye-opener to Jesus' mercy, and His desire to enter souls and sanctify them. The way she participated in His grace, and persevered through her sin in the belief in His forgiveness is inspiring and encouraging.

Through all her suffering and doubt, Christ remained with her, and on October 5th, 1938, He took her to her eternal reward. Maria Faustina Kowalska was canonized on April 30th, 2000, by Pope John Paul II. Her feast is on October 5th.

- by the Housecat

Lord, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

On October 4, or another appropriate day, the household may join in the blessing of pets and other animals. The blessing takes place wherever the animals can be gathered. Stories about Saint Francis (Francis and the wolf at Gubbio, for example) could precede the blessing. more at Catholic Culture.

My Guardian Angel Watches Over Me

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Guardian Angels. I actually made it downstairs to the computer this morning. I am thrilled! It's amazing how much a change of rooms makes a difference. Oh, by the way, my 2 week check-up went well yesterday. I felt like I was on a date with my honey!

Anyway, we began our morning with one of our favorite CD's for the little ones. We are very blessed to actually know this family. They are just as sweet as they sound on the CD! I copied the angel activities from A Year With God and we enjoyed discussing the activities.

I'm still not in the kitchen -for a while- but, if I was, I'd definitely be making some type of angel hair pasta and angel food cake tonight :)

We have a wonderful catechist at our parish who shared this prayer with us:

Guardian Angel

Dear guardian angel, I love you. I thank God for giving me such a wonderful heavenly friend. I want to love you as much as you love me! Please stay near me and teach me to grow holy! My name is ___________ . I want to know your name. Please whisper your name in my ear and my mind. I have so many secrets to tell you. I want you to tell me heavenly mysteries. I want to learn to love you each day more and more! Oh beautiful angel, my guardian dear, stay with me and be my guide forever. Amen.

St. Therese ~ Pray For Us

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux. Jessica at Shower of Roses has so many wonderful ideas to celebrate this beautiful saint. This morning she posted a novena to St. Therese that starts today.

Start with:
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel, you said you would spend your heaven doing good upon the earth. Your trust in god was complete. Listen to my prayer; bring before God my special intention...Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence in the loving promises of our God. Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me, and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.Saint Therese, you kept your word to love God and to trust the world to that loving providence. Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love. May our lives, like yours, be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.

DAY ONE
Loving God, you blessed St. Therese with a capacity for a great love. Help us to believe in your unconditional love for each of us.

DAY TWO
Loving God, you loved St. Therese’s complete trust in your care. Help us to rely on your providential care for us in each circumstance of our lives.

DAY THREE
Loving God, you graced St. Therese with a capacity to see your hand in the ordinary routine of each day. Help us to be aware of your presence in the everyday events of our lives.

DAY FOUR
Loving God, you taught St. Therese how to find a direct way to you through the “little way” of humility and simplicity. Grant that we may never miss the grace there is in humble service to others in family and neighborhood.

DAY FIVE
Loving God, you graced St. Therese with the gift of forgiving others even when she felt hurt and betrayed. Help us to be able to forgive others who have wounded us, especially...

DAY SIX
Loving God, St. Therese experienced each day as a gift from You, as a time for loving and through others. May we, too, see each new day as a single moment of saying yes to Your will in our lives.

DAY SEVEN
Loving God, St. Therese offered to You her frailty and powerlessness. Help us to see in our weakness and our diminishments an opportunity for letting Your light and Your strength be all we need.

DAY EIGHT
Loving God, You shepherded St. Therese with a gracious love and made her a tower of strength to people who had lost faith in You. Help us to be unafraid to pray with confidence for the many in our culture who do not believe they can be loved.

DAY NINE
Loving God, St. Therese never doubted that her life had meaning. Help us to understand our possibilities for loving and blessing our children, our elderly parents, our neighbours in need, and for priests throughout the world.


To conclude this novena: Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

P is for Pumpkin

Today we are reading
The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

Hopefully we'll carve a Jack O' Latern after dad's home from work. I've been thinking of a way to incorporate a moral or virtue into doing this and finally it hit me :) I've read to the family the story of Stingy Jack. (below) I'll read it again tonight as we carve our Jack O'Latern and we'll remember to fight against being stingy! Have a Blessed Hallowtide!

There once was an old drunken trickster named Jack, a man known so much for his miserly ways that he was known as "Stingy Jack," He loved making mischief on everyone -- even his own family, even the Devil himself! One day, he tricked Satan into climbing up an apple tree -- but then carved Crosses on the trunk so the Devil couldn't get back down. He bargained with the Evil One, saying he would remove the Crosses only if the Devil would promise not to take his soul to Hell; to this, the Devil agreed.

After Jack died, after many years filled with vice, he went up to the Pearly Gates -- but was told by St. Peter that he was too miserable a creature to see the Face of Almighty God. But when he went to the Gates of Hell, he was reminded that he couldn't enter there, either! So, he was doomed to spend his eternity roaming the earth. The only good thing that happened to him was that the Devil threw him an ember from the burning pits to light his way, an ember he carried inside a hollowed-out, carved turnip.

How Halloween Can Be Redeemed

Each year we wonder is trick or treating ok? Even if we "get" the meaning and choose appropriate costumes - what about those who don't? I recently came across this article and found some good insight. Below is a clip from the article. If you'd like to read it in it's entirety, you can follow this link.
http://www.americancatholic.org/newsletters/cu/ac1099.asp


The connection between trick or treat and forgiveness deserves to be reclaimed, don’t you think? While we wait for an imaginative catechist to draw up a format, we can allow our kids to enjoy the costumes, the goodies, the excitement of traipsing around after dark if we exercise prudence. Most communities now impose a curfew for trick or treat, and most parents select the houses of friends they know. Sometimes the PTA will sponsor a party. Avoiding costumes and decorations that glorify witches and devils goes without saying, but there’s no reason to fear skeletons, skulls or Thomas More with his head tucked under his arm. After all, can’t skulls and skeletons be healthy reminders of human mortality? Can’t witches and devils symbolize the evil Christ has overcome?

Today's Artwork - Passionist Symbols

SAINT PAUL OF THE CROSS

PRAY FOR US!

The special insignia of every Passionist is the “Sign,” the heart-shaped emblem you see on this page. It catches, in an image, the meaning of Passionist life.
In the middle of the emblem are the words, “Jesu XPI Passio.” Written in Greek and Latin, the languages of the early Church, these words mean: “the Passion of Jesus Christ.” (The three nails at the bottom and the cross at the top remind us symbolically of His suffering and death.)
Every Passionist takes a special vow, a solemn promise, to spend his energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus. This vow defines the purpose of the Passionist community. We pledge to keep deep in our hearts the memory of the cross and to do what is in our power to remind others of it.

Saint Paul of the Cross (Founder of the Passionist)

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!

For a wonderful video clip on St. Paul of the Cross visit this site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJBmPcUl8Y

Feast of St. Luke

St. Luke is often shown with an ox or a calf because these are the symbols of sacrifice -- the sacrifice Jesus made for all the world.

Enjoy this coloring sheet from Waltzing Matilda.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6815972/St-Luke?secret_password=l81c9oeldmwevzprvn1

Have a blessed weekend!

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

In the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Jesus gives twelve promises for those who are devoted to His Sacred Heart.




"Look at this Heart which has loved men so much, and yet men do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth."