The Feast of the Real Santa Claus -- December 6

"Saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint."



St. Nicholas -- December 6

Read about this Saint HERE.

Coloring page here, here, here, here, here, and here.

More here and here.

Many St. Nicholas prayers here. Or copy the one I used: 

Dear God,

thank you for Saint Nicholas.

Let us always give the gift of kindness

to others, as he did.

Thank you for the gifts of love we receive
from our families and friends.
Amen.

We've started talking about St. Nicholas -- a little early for his Feast Day -- and working on St. Nick art, so that we know about him when he visits us this year.  We painted St. Nicholas coloring pages and Flower was calm and thoughtful throughout the activity.  

(Ahh, my girlie's hair is getting long enough to wear bows again.)

Grandma Nettie painted with us too.

Thin, careful, brush strokes . . .  

Here are some of Flower's coloring pages of St. Nicholas.

 

We are patiently waiting for this book in the mail . . .

Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions for a St. Nicholas book.  It was still so hard to choose. 

St. Nicholas, Pray for Us !

Click on HERE to see a listing, in order, of all the Saints and Feast Day folders for the liturgical year, or click on the Archangels folder at the top right of my sidebar.

Also, Xhonane at Familia Catolica has a similar post HERE listing the liturgical folders she has made thus far, and she will add to it as well.

Christ the King Folder

The Solemnity of Christ the King falls on the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent.  That means it is this Sunday. 

The Solemnity of Christ the King -- Last Sunday in Ordinary Time

Read about this Feast Day HERE

Coloring pages HERE HERE and HERE and crown HERE (Some of them you need to enlarge before printing).

The Prayer I chose, adapted from HERE:

Dear Almighty God, You make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth proclaim your glory and never cease to praise you.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


And a beautiful hymn.  I hope to hear it this Sunday at Mass:

A Prayer (Hymn) To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King



To Jesus Christ our Sovereign King
who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring
and thanks and adoration

Your reign extend O King benign,
to every land and nation;
For in your kingdom Lord divine
Alone do we find salvation

To you and to your Church, great King
We pledge our heart's oblation;
Until before your throne we sing
In endless jubilation

Christ Jesus, Victor!
Christ Jesus, Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer


--Msgr. Martin Hellriegal, 1941


Read more about the Symbols of this Feast Day:

Crown of Thorns
Crown
Jesus on Throne
Jesus holding scepter and orb
Kingly attire/activities
Crucifix




Click on HERE to see a listing, in order, of all the Saints and Feast Day folders I've prepared for the liturgical year, or click on the Archangels folder at the top right of my sidebar.

Also, Xhonane at Familia Catolica has a similar post HERE listing the liturgical folders she has made thus far, and she will add to it as well.   Xhonane's post on Christ the King coloring pages is HERE.

Advent Books and Movies -- Part 2

Here are some more books we will be reading during Advent (Part 1 is here if you missed it)

Clopper, the Christmas Donkey. The story of the St. Joseph's donkey, he carried Mary to Bethlehem.  He was one of the first to see the Baby Jesus.

Great Joy. A story of a young girl preparing for her Church's Christmas play, struck with compassion for a homeless man.  It's a message of what Christmas and giving of one's self truly means.

Stranger in the Woods. Beautiful photographs of a deer and his friends who meet a snowman in the woods, and the little boy and girl who made the snowman.

The Spirit of Christmas.  So many things make up a wonderful Christmas, especially the birth of the baby Jesus.  But Christmas isn't Christmas if it isn't spent with the ones we love.

The next two have lights and sounds -- they both play the song, "Silent Night."

The Nativity Story, a gift from Meme in 2008, and a favorite.

Four Friends at Christmas.  A Tomie de Paola story, so you can't go wrong!  Frog usually sleeps through winter, so he always misses Christmas, but this year, he's determined to see what Christmas is all about.

The Little Drummer Boy.  A favorite movie from my own childhood, we are already watching it ! It's a message of turning anger and sadness into love, all because of Jesus.  Highly-highly recommended by this momma.

Mortimer's Christmas Manger.  The little mouse creeps around the house and finds a nice little straw bed for sleeping.  He pushes the Baby Jesus out of the crib, until he hears Daddy tell the story of Jesus to his children.  Then the mouse realizes that Jesus is the Savior and puts Him back in the crib.

The Donkey's Dream. Another story of a donkey's experience of Advent and Christmas !

The classic. Who can resist ?

The Night Before Christmas.  A gift from Meme, we read this beautiful book every Advent. We love this version.

Elf on a Shelf.  "Elfy" made his appearance during Adent 2009.  We think he'll be coming back this year too.

Sticker Stories:  The Very First Christmas.  This book has reuseable stickers of all the people and animals who participated in the Nativity.  The child places everyone and everything where she thinks they should be.

The Story of the Three Wise Kings. Charlotte at Waltzing Matilda recommended this one, and we are waiting for it to arrive.

And this one, Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  I can't wait to start reading it with Little Flower.

Looking forward, ever forward, to Advent ! 

Nativity Candles for Advent

We made these nativity candles yesterday, for Advent. 

I used candles from years passed,

and mod podged some pretty nativity scenes

 on them.  I found the nativity scenes online, so they were free!

I had been looking for glass candle holders with Christmas images on them,

and couldn't find any anywhere so I did the next best thing . . .

The one below will be our Jesus candle which we'll put inside our Advent wreath.

Fourteen days until Advent. 

St. Thomas More -- June 22

St. Thomas More -- June 22

St. Thomas More was a martyr for Christ.  He was born in London in 1478. He studied and became a lawyer, and began had a career in Parliament. In 1505, he married Jane Colt and they had four children, and when she died at a young age, he married a widow, Alice Middleton.  He had many Bishops and scholars whom he called friends, and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book "Utopia."  King Henry VIII of England appointed him to several important posts and missions, and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529.  But St. Thomas resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation, when Henry persisted in holding his own opinions regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope.  The rest of his life was spent in writing mostly in defense of the Church.  In 1534, he refused to proclaim allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined to the Tower for 15 months and then tried and convicted of treason.  As he was to be killed on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as "the King's good servant, but God's first."  He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. His feast day is June 22nd.   St. Thomas is the patron saint of lawyers and of adoptive families.   He was elevated to sainthood in 1935, four hundred years after his death.

Read more about this holy man HERE.

Read this beautiful prayer composed by Saint Thomas More during his 15 months imprisonment.  The prayer I used, below, was adapted from this beautiful one he wrote, HERE:

Dear God, give me a mind that is humble, quiet, peaceful, patient and charitable, and a taste of your Holy Spirit in all my thoughts, words, and deeds.

Dear God, give me faith, hope, charity, and a love for You. Take all the lukewarmness from my thoughts, and all the dullness from my prayer. Send me Your grace. Give me, Dear God, the grace to work for the things I pray for.
--St. Thomas More 

St. Thomas More, pray for Us !

Coloring page HERE

Click on HERE to see a listing, in order, of all the Saints and Feast Day folders for the liturgical year, or click on the Archangels folder at the top right of my sidebar.

Also, Xhonane at Familia Catolica has a similar post HERE listing the liturgical folders she has made thus far, and she will add to it as well.

St. John Vianney -- August 4

"Here is a rule for everyday life. 

Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God." 

-- St. John Vianney

In researching our next saint, I discovered some beautiful quotes of his . . . things he said as a humble parish priest. 

John Vianney -- August 4

"Love for your neighbor consists of three things:

to desire the greater good of everyone,

to do what good we can when we can,

and to hide other's faults."

"It is always Springtime in the heart that loves God."

"I have had crosses in plenty -- more than I could carry, almost. 

I set myself to ask for the love of crosses -- then I was happy."

This humble Saint is the patron saint of all priests. He gave us an amazing example of holiness by praying, fasting and helping people. He would often hear peoples' confessions for 10 to 12 hours at a time and lived in the church. In honor of the 150th anniversary of St. John Vianney's death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a year for priests, from June 2009 to June 2010.

A prayer composed by St. John Vianney:

I love You, O my God,

and my only desire is to love You

until the last breath of my life.

I love You, O my infinitely lovable God,

and I would rather die loving You,

than live without loving You.

I love You, Lord

and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally...

Read more about Saint John Vianney HERE and HERE

Coloring pages HERE from Waltzing Matilda, and HERE from Relevant Radio.

St. John Vianney, Pray for Us !

Click on HERE to see a listing, in order, of all the Saints and Feast Day folders for the liturgical year, or click on the Archangels folder at the top right of my sidebar.

Also, Xhonane at Familia Catolica has a similar post HERE listing the liturgical folders she has made thus far, and she will add to it as well.

St. Isidore the Farmer 5/15

St. Isidore the Farmer and his wife, St. Maria -- May 15

Read about St. Isidore and his wife St. Maria HERE and HERE

Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain.  Isidore's parents were tenant farmers and like them, their son would be a farmer too.  When he grew up, Isidore went to work for a rich land owner, Juan de Vargas, in Madrid and worked there all his life.  He married Maria de la Cabeza, from a family as poor as his own.  Isidore and Maria loved each other very much. They had a son, but he died when he was just a baby.  Isidore and his wife offered to Jesus their sadness over the child's death, knowing that their son was happy with God forever.

St. Isidore went to Mass every morning before going to work.  He plowed and planted and prayed. He called on Mary, the saints and his guardian angel and they helped turn his ordinary days into special, joyful times.  When he had a day off, Isidore spent extra time praying and adoring Jesus in church. Sometimes, on holidays, Isidore and his wife would visit a few neighboring parishes on a one day pilgrimage of prayer.

Once Isidore attended a parish dinner with a group of beggars! The parishioners were upset. What if there wasn't enough food for all those beggars? But the more they filled up their plates, the more there was for everybody else.  St. Isidore said kindly, "There is always enough for the poor of Jesus."

Stories of miracles began to spread about this farm worker saint. It is said that one day, Isidore was late back from Church, Senor Vargas was looking for him and found angels plowing the fields in place of Isidore.  Lore has it that Isidore's wife, Maria is a Saint as well.
Isidore is one of Spain's most popular saints. He died on May 15, 1130. In March, 1622, Pope Gregory XV proclaimed five great saints together. They were St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Philip Neri and St. Isidore the Farmer.

Prayer, adapted from HERE:

Dear God, St. Isidore was a holy Farmer who served you with humility, and gave his food to the poor.  May I too always serve you every day with a humble heart, and be charitable to others. Amen

St. Isidore the Farmer, pray for Us!

Click on HERE to see a listing, in order, of all the Saints and Feast Day folders for the liturgical year, or click on the Archangels folder at the top right of my sidebar.

Also, Xhonane at Familia Catolica has a similar post HERE listing the liturgical folders she has made thus far, and she will add to it as well.

Books and Advent books -- Part 1

Books we love right now:

A huge favorite right now, Flower asks for this book at bedtime every night. This book tells the story of a wolf who terrorized a little city because of his fiercesomeness. The city sent a knight in shining armor to slay the wolf, to no avail. Then the city sent an army of soldiers to slay the wolf, to no avail. Finally, the city agreed to send St. Franics, and he quickly made peace with the wolf, and taught him that as God's creatures, we should love everyone. St. Francis brought the wolf to the city so the wolf could apologize to everyone for scaring them, and the wolf lived happily ever after with the city folk.

 

You will fall in love with these owl babies ( we have !) who worry and fret because their owl mommy left them in the middle of the night.  Of course, the mommy comes back.  She had been out hunting for food for them.  This books show the stability and love of family and mothers, and that fear is an acceptable emotion.

Books we'll be reading during Advent:

This book describes the tradition, believed by some sources to have been started in Guatemala by Saint Hermano Pedro de Jose Betancourt, the first Saint who lived and worked in Guatemela, of reanacting Joseph and Mary's plight in Bethlehem to find lodging on that holy night that the Christ Child was born.   (Some sources point to St. Ignatius of Loyola as the originator of Las Posadas.)

Las Posadas (the inns): This Mexican custom is really a Christmas novena, begun on Dec. 16, which is acted out. Nine homes or families in the neighborhood are selected in advance to represent the posadas or inns. Each night of the novena the families taking part form a procession and make a pilgrimage to one of the inns. They carry candles and sing hymns depicting the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. Songs are sung at the door of the "inn". On each of the first eight nights the family of the "inn" sings a little song which indicates that there is no lodging for the Holy Family, and Mary and Joseph are sent away. But before they go, the whole procession, singing, passes through the rooms of the home. On the last night the procession is admitted to the house in which a Christmas crib with a manger has been set up. In many places refreshments have been made a part of the evening's ceremonies in all nine houses. This practice of Las Posadas makes the preparation for Christmas more real.

Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe have feast days on December 9 and 12, and we'll be learning more about them with this book:

Jesus, of course.  Beautiful illustrations!

A Mexican tale is told in this next book of how the Pointsettia came to be associated with Christmas.

OK, so I love Tomie de Paola.

There's a wake up angel, a bath time angel, a kitchen angel.  This Angels Angels Everywhere book explains to the child that our guardian angel is present to help us in our every day life activities.

   St. Nicholas helps three of the youngest angels in heaven play a big part in the Christmas celebration this year in heaven !  I love that this story feastures St. Nicholas instead of Santa.

Almost all of the above books I bought second hand (or third hand) from Amazon and saved quite a bit of money that way.  There's something special about a book that looks and feels as though it has had a long life -- the worn edges and sometimes dog-eared pages mean it has been loved.  So when I get a used book in the mail, I love to see if I can tell who might have been its previous or original owner.  One of the above books came from Queens Library in New York, and another from the Reading Library in Reading PA.  The Reading Library marked the book "DISCARD."  How can anyone discard a book !

And one for myself (because Tiffany and Patty both recommended it).  I think I'm going to love this book:

I'm finishing the last pages of this book:

Therese, The Saint Who Loved Us, is a very easy read, flows very nicely, and has separate chapters on the different time periods of St. Therese's life.  The end of the book has a chapter on two poignant sections of her original writings. 

Advent Books Part 2 is HERE.