God is Good Everyday! Faith Formation, Lent and Music

I forgot how much I enjoy working with Elementary age children for Faith Formation. My coworker is still out with an injury so I worked with the Faith Formation program again yesterday. We had the First Communion Retreat last Saturday and that just fueled my flame for formation again in young children.

Last night at the start of the program we had a gathering to pray and talk about the Liturgical Season of Lent with a powerpoint. Then out came the music. I had some videos stored on my computer from a few years ago when I was the coordinator, so I didn't have to work too hard to pull it all together.

A few of the older elementary (we had pre-5th at that time) remembered me and the music so they were leaders for the younger children in the "choreography".

This is one of the favorites - we made up our own "movements".


 This video has it all - music and choreography!

 

Prayer, powerpoint and music only lasted 10 minutes so it didn't infringe on the Catechist's time with the students, but enhanced the experience. If the children aren't engaged, they become bored and that leads to being tired and not paying attention. Elementary session is from 6-7pm, so that age is tired by this time of the day and need the music and movement to invigorate them for the rest of the lesson.

I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy time in prayer and Catechesis with all people, but especially children and youth.

The youth group meets from 6-7pm too, so I had them come out for the gathering with the younger students. After the elementary were released to their teachers we went to the youth room to work on posters for the March Food Drive.  They were so understanding of the situation.

At 7:00 we had a few minutes to get set up for the 6-10th grade to start at 7:15pm, playing music in the gathering area of course~

The youth gathered for prayer. Then we had a powerpoint that started with Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus in the Desert that youth volunteered to read. We then watched a great video from Busted Halo that was only a couple minutes long about our personal journey in the desert.

Make Faith Formation joyful. Learning can be joyful. Praise and worship can be joyful.
Lent is a penitential time, but still can be joy filled.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

"Therefore I praised joy, because there is nothing better for mortals under the sun than to eat and drink and be joyful;"

Mother Mary, Pray for us to be joyful and praise God everyday!  AMEN
God is good - EVERYDAY
and EVERYDAY God is good!

What We Believe - The Creed

What We Believe - The Creed or should I say creeds?

When we say "I believe" - we are pledging ourselves.
Just like saying Amen (I believe).

The creed exclaims our faith - our beliefs. This is what we believe!

Catechism of the Catholic Church

CCC 194 The Apostles' Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles' faith I is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from the fact: it is "the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith".

CCC 195 The Nicene Creed draws its great authority form the fact that it stems from the first two ecumenical Councils (in 325 and 381). It remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day.

Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Her suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the Communion of Saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
the Resurrection of the body
and live everlasting. Amen.

Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ.
the only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial
with the Father;
Through Him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
He came down from heaven
and by the Holy Spirit was Incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
He suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and His Kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Hillsong - This I Believe



Mother Mary, Pray for us to dig deep into our faith and believe. Amen.

10 Minutes a Day for Prayer?

Matthew Kelly asks, "Can you set aside 10 minutes a day for prayer?"

 In the same spot? How would that change you? What would get in your way? Is this something that can help you become the best version of yourself?
(Questions from his Decision Point program - session 4 - The Prayer Process)

Can we set aside 10 minutes a day for prayer? We can and we should.

We have our cup of coffee, we may read the paper, we watch the news or our favorite show. We make sure we are in front of that TV at just the right time to catch the newest episode or our sports show.  We make sure we are on time for work. We make sure we get to school and sports activities. We just need to make sure we "get to" prayer.

There is so much hustle and bustle in our lives that we need to "get to". Do we? Do we need to watch TV now? Do we need to get to that event?

We have to answer these questions everyday. If and when we choose the 10 minutes a day to pray we find peace and peace leads to happiness and happiness leads to less stress.

We hear all the time that we need to find time for ourselves - when you find time for yourself, invite God in.

Mother Mary, pray for us so that we find a time for prayer. AMEN

Approved Eucharistic Miracles for Faith Formation & Youth Ministry

Approved Eucharist Miracles can be very powerful to youth and young adults for faith formation and youth ministry.  One that is my favorite and I have come back to time and time again is the
Miracle of Lanciano.
There was a priest having doubts about the real presence in the 8th century. During the Mass the Body and Blood of Christ that would have had the appearance of Bread and Wine took on the appearance of Flesh and Blood. The Flesh is real flesh and the Blood is real blood. These Relics can still be viewed today and should have decomposed long ago.

There have been scientific tests done - the Flesh is of a heart and the Blood is type AB (which just happens to be the Blood type on the Shroud of Turin - but that is for another day!).

Eucharistic Miracles are not needed for the faithful, but can be a good teaching tool for the Real Presence. EVERY MASS AND EUCHARIST IS A MIRACLE - A SPECIAL GIFT!



Mother Mary, Pray for us to know the Miracle of every Mass through the Holy Eucharist and Real Presence. AMEN

Praise, Worship and Youth Ministry

I enjoy music at Mass and Christian music on the radio. I enjoy hymns and I enjoy praise and worship songs. I like the old saying, "When we sing we are praying twice!"

When no one is looking, or listening, I sing at the top of my lungs to praise and glorify God.
I like to sing the Divine Mercy prayers. Usually when I am meditating on the Divine Mercy prayers, I am singing them in my head.

I have always wished I could read music or play an instrument. If there is one thing I could change, that would probably be it!

I like to use music in youth ministry.  I listen to the new Christian songs to see what they are about and how to incorporate them into the teaching.

One that comes to mind for me, that was an easy choice is Do Something - Matthew West.

You can make an entire year out of that song as far as Works of Mercy and Charity!


 Last summer I played this song/video for our youth group and asked them what they wanted to "do".

They had such great ideas. They started a food drive (by the pound with a "thermometer" chart), asked for donations for birthday bags (cake, frosting, candles, small toys) and they did a clothing drive!  So they not only did something - they did it BIG!

So that brought us to Jamie Grace's song Do Life Big!




Mother Mary, Pray for us to be what God is calling for us to be. AMEN.

40 Ideas for the 40 Days of Lent

There are so many great resources available to teach children during Lent through activities.
Children learn by doing and seeing as well as reading and hearing.

Loyola Press has a great link to 40 Ideas for 40 Days for children. 

They also have Lenten Activities for Children.  This link has age appropriate activities for youth and children by grade level -  through 8th and include the Sorrowful Mysteries and online Stations of the Cross.

Encourage youth and children to pray during Lent. These ideas and activities will help them to meditate and think about Jesus more and give them the tools.

Mother Mary, Pray for us to teach our youth and children to be followers. Amen.

First Eucharist Retreat

My coworker has taken a bad fall and broke her leg in a few places, she will be out for quite sometime. She has an elementary First Eucharist Retreat scheduled for Saturday. Being I had been the elementary coordinator in the past and was a second grade Catechist for many years, it was assigned to me. I am very sorry for her fall and pray for a speedy recovery from her injuries, but at the same time it gives me another good Lenten opportunity to teach and pray!

We will start the retreat with prayer and then move on to the prayer stations my coworker had already made. She made 3 beautiful stations for them to review as they prepare for First Communion.

Then we will gather together again and do a presentation Q&A that I had made years ago. (It can be downloaded below.)

Link for First Eucharist Retreat download.

After the Q&A - we will gather with Father and "break bread". Before we eat we will have the Bible readings for the Passover, Water into Wine, Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and Last Supper - around the table. Each reading having a miracle and each with sharing a meal.

 The table will be set with loaves, grapes, grape juice, and wheat along with butter and grape jelly.

The children enjoy being a part of the meal and especially having Father come down with "images" to share and explain..

I am looking forward to working with the First Communicants again!

Mother Mary pray for us to have a good retreat on Saturday! Amen

It's Here! Lent is Here!

It is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.

What can I bring from the ashes?

What can I give to Jesus?

"Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments and return to the Lord your God." Joel 2:12
Link for today's readings

In today's Gospel we hear that we should not do things so that others see what we are doing. We should keep it secret between God and us.

Return to God with your whole heart today!

Today is Fat Tuesday

With Ash Wednesday starting Lent tomorrow,  today is called Fat Tuesday.

Fat Tuesday was the day that people would consume the indulgent foods to get rid of them for Lent.

Today I reflect on what I can "get rid of" to prepare for my personal journey through  Lent. I will try to get rid if resentment to prepare my heart.

Mother Mary, pray for us to your Son to help us overcome resentments that can stain our heart and get in our way to follow Jesus' path.

40 Days of Lent

We all hear about the 40 days of Lent but actually from Ash Wednesday this year to Easter Sunday it is 47 days. So where does 40 come from?

First, Sunday's during Lent are not recognized as a time for mourning since it is the day of the Resurrection and calls for celebrating.  Friday being the day of Jesus' death on the Cross is the day for penance and mourning all year, and even more so during Lent.

Lent ends on Holy Saturday Easter Vigil. (Holy week starts with Palm Sunday and the Holy Triduum starts on Holy Thursday.) Without counting the Sunday's and Holy Saturday we have our 40 days this year.

There are many references to the number 40 in the Bible. Moses stayed on the Mountain of God for 40 days and the Hebrew's wandered the desert for 40 years. The spies were in the land for 40 days (Numbers 13:25). Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had the vision. Nineveh had 40 days to repent.

The most important 40 is the 40 days Jesus spent praying and fasting in the wilderness. We are called to imitate Jesus' 40 days of prayer and fasting during Lent.

"'For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning' [Heb 4:15]. By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (CCC 540).

Feeling Blessed

#6 daughter is home from college this weekend to visit us before she leave for Europe on a backpacking trip in March.  It is a four and a half hour drive for her from college, so these visits are precious.

The others have all come home today. We feel truly blessed that all 7 and their's and all of our grandchildren can visit at the same time. It is no easy feat to get them all together at one location.

Games come out of the closet, cards and the sleds.

Short post today, need to be with family.

God is good!

Who Was this Saint Valentine?

Who was this Saint Valentine anyway?

We know he is the patron saint of love, young people and happy marriage. Feast day February 14th.

Seems that around the year 269, Valentinus was a Roman priest. He was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding people being persecuted during the reign of Claudius II. Such things were considered a crime.

Valentinus was captured and imprisoned. Claudius came to like Valentinus until he tried to convert the emperor.  Valentinus was condemned to death.

Before he died, legend says he cured his jailers daughter of blindness and on the eve of his death he wrote a note to the jailers daughter and signed it "from your Valentine".

St. Valentine was a priest martyred in Rome in 269.

Lenten Regulations and Unregulated Practices

Lenten Regulations

The following Lenten Regulations will serve as a guide in the observance of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015

“Christian faithful are to do penance through prayer, fasting, abstinence and by exercising works of piety and charity. All Fridays through the year, and especially during Lent, are penitential days”.

Abstinence: All who have reached their 14th birthday are to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during Lent. 

Fasting: All those who are 18 or older, until their 59th birthday, are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Only one full meal is allowed on days of fast. Tow other meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to one’s need: but, together, they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids are allowed. The obligation does not apply to those whose health or ability to work would be affected seriously. People in doubt about fast or abstinence should consult a parish priest or confessor.

Unregulated Lenten practices:

The regulated Lenten practices are for all Catholics. Below are ways to pull it all together during Lent for each person individually to decide.

Fasting and Abstinence: Not just from meals and meat.  Fasting and abstinence can be from other things too. Suggest ways that children and youth can fast and abstain such as from a favorite TV show or not play a favorite video game.  Maybe suggest "giving up" candy and/or soda pop during Lent for what Jesus "gave up" for us.  

Almsgiving: Together with prayer, fasting and abstinence - almsgiving is a way to give back for what has been given to us.  For children and youth it doesn't have to be monetary. Suggest ways that they can "give back" with what they do. Let them know that doing things are a way of giving too.  Pick up a Rice Bowl from Catholic Relief Services and have them put money they would have spent on candy, pop or a new video game in the Rice Bowl to donate at the end of Lent.

Prayer: Fasting, abstinence and almsgiving without prayer are just actions.  Plan times for prayer with children and youth during Lent.  Maybe start with The Stations of the Cross (also called The Way of the Cross). If you have never "walked" the Stations of the Cross, it is a good time to start as a family or project.  You can do this at home or go to your church and walk them in private or at the scheduled times. 

Links to Stations of the Cross:

 Stations of the Cross  from Catholic Online

Stations of the Cross from Online Ministries

Stations of the Cross and 7 Last Words from Patheos

The Stations of the Cross to meditate on with the Divine Mercy
(has scenes from The Passion of the Christ - may not be appropriate for children)

(

Suggested reading during Lent - a Lenten Retreat. Our parish is using Consoling the Heart of Jesus - a do it yourself retreat, inspired by the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius.


  

Creating Floral Centerpieces with Youth and Children

Create floral centerpieces for anything you have going on at your church.  Let the youth and children be a part of the decorating crew!

These floral centerpieces are inexpensive and a great first project for anyone to take on to learn to make floral arrangements.

I used glass salad bowls for the "vase". 

You will need:

 floral foam

florists sticky clay

water

 glass bowls

scissors

 flowers

foliage (fern, leaves)

(I get the flowers/foliage from either Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, etc. You can get bunches for less $)

You can cut the floral foam, so get the most inexpensive you can find. They do not need to be as big as the bowl. I have a link below for some foam and sticky clay.

Soak the foam  in water for at least 2 hours, make sure it is heavy and well soaked through.

Put a piece of the sticky clay in the bottom of the bowl and push the soaked foam down tight against it. The foam will form a bit to your hands, that is fine.

Lay the flowers out by color and type. 

The stems will be clipped short to put into the foam. 

Don't cut too short, but don't leave them too long either.  Try about 4-5 inches to start. 

Set the stems aside as you will use the leaves to fill in 

between flowers and finish your masterpieces!

Let the youth and children create their own works of art. Try not to do it for them, just give suggestions as to where to put leaves and how to arrange the flowers.

ENJOY your Floral Arrangements!

NOTE: You could use floral wire and tape to make the stem stronger but with these simple arrangements, it is not necessary.

Live Life as a Prayer

Prayer is so hard to try to comprehend. We have our memorized / learned prayers, we have our conversations with God, we have meditative prayer. We have private prayer and we have prayer as groups. The Mass is one of the greatest ways we pray.

When I was a Catechist for 10th graders going to be Confirmed, I had the segments on prayer as the youth moved from Catechist to Catechist that year.

There are 5 types of prayer:

Adoration  and Blessing - adoring God and God's gift and us acccepting

Petition - asking for something (forgiveness, etc..)

Intercessory - on behalf of 

Thanksgiving - giving thanks and the Eucharist (which means thanksgiving)

Praising - how Glorious our God is

More on these 5 types from the CCC.

One thing that I try to remember and have told the youth is that we can live our life as a prayer. What we do and how we act is an expression of prayer if we are leading a good life and following the actions and examples of Jesus and Mary.  The two greatest examples of who we should try to strive to act like.

What ever you do, do it as prayer. Think about what you are doing and offer it as a gift to God. Do all things with your greatest love and charity and do all things to your greatest ability.  That is when you live your life as prayer.

Lead by example.  

If we fall, the good news is we can ask for forgiveness (petition) and get right back in line to follow the path that He has put before us. We choose the direction to go - make it count! That is where we will find our key to happiness.

Craft to Create Prayer Booklet

When I was a young girl, my great aunts "the nuns" (4 of them) would come to our church and do the Vacation Bible School in the summer. I loved to help them.  They were so talented.  One of the things that I really liked was creating prayer booklets.

I took their idea and used it for our Little Flower's Girls Club project and for VBS a few times.

It is a fairly easy concept. Pick your prayers, pick your colors, get prayer cards, print a few things and put it all together.

I used the prayer / holy cards as the images and typed and printed the prayers to go with them.

Take a few sheets of colored paper. Fold them together in half. On the top of the fold side, punch 3 holes. Have the children use yarn or ribbon to put them together. Remember that every sheet of paper is FOUR pages,

Plan out you prayers so you don't have too many pages to the booklet.

This one was for our Little Flowers, so that is what we named it.

For VBS, we just used the basic prayers that every child should learn. 

Sign of the Cross

Glory Be

Lord's Prayer "Our Father"

Hail Mary

Grace Before Meals

Guardian Angel Prayer

Apostle's Creed

Act of Contrition

and you can add the 

Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity 

Glue works best, but if you don't have time to dry - use glue dots.

Hint - Have the pieces of prayers cut out for them with a paper cutter before you start.

Let them assemble and tie the yarn or ribbon.

Saints Calendar, Feast Days, and Making Saints

Something that people have a hard time understanding is Saints. The names are everywhere - on our schools, churches, to the names of some of our towns.

I have found some great links for reference.


Canonized Saints and holy people can have a Feast Day assigned to them.

On this feast day, the saint or holy person is remembered in special ways.

For a calendar with feast days, click here.

For an alphabetical listing of Saints, Patron Saints and popular Saints, click here.

Interesting facts in the process of  "Making Saints" - click here.

Listen to the Rosary and Pray Along

On another of my blogs, by far, the most viewed post is about listening to the Rosary online, phone or ipod (Mp3).

The Rosary that you can listen to, pray with and download.

This is a great way for people that don't know how to pray the Rosary to learn, or for people that want to pray the Rosary in different forms or while they are working.

It can be downloaded and taken with you or prayed while you are bustling to get ready to go somewhere.

There are so many wonderful resources available for people to use, you just need to want to find them and pray!

Click here for the website.

For the Android App link - click here Or visit your app store, Search: Free Audio Rosary

These are great ways to get children praying more too.

Ever pray in your car? When my children were young - most of their prayers were learned at bedtime and in the car.

Is There a Connection with the Book of Revelation and the Eucharist?

I have said before that I have 7 children - 5 girls and 2 boys. It is going to get confusing when I keep referring to them as my daughter or my son - so I am going to give them a number of 1 through 7. When I refer to them, I will say (example) #5, daughter. #'s 3 and 4 are sons, the rest are daughters. So if I say #7 - daughter, you will know that is my youngest. Hope that helps.

#5-daughter called me on Wednesday and asked if I had ever read Revelation. I told her yes, I had. I could tell she was shaken a bit. I told her that Revelation needs to be interpreted and it is confusing to people, not just her. Of course she was most shaken by the beastly creature.

I told her to go to youtube and watch Scott Hahn explain Revelation from his book The Lamb's Supper:the Mass as Heaven on Earth. It is such a beautiful reflection on Revelation and the Eucharist. This clip is a bit over an hour, but time goes so fast when you are listening to such a great teacher!




She called me after listening to Scott Hahn and said how this changed her whole outlook on the Book of Revelation and the Eucharist.

Many people read and study Revelation as the end times, Dr. Hahn sees it as a comparison to the Mass.

The Lamb's Supper: the Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn is very in depth and descriptive on the comparison of Revelation and Eucharist.

I recommend anything that Scott Hahn has written - but in this instance, especially this book.

Youth Leadership Team Pastoral Project - Youth Ministry in Action!

I was fortunate to be a part of building a Youth Leadership Team (YLT) at our parish.  A few youth that possess good leadership skills were asked to help write the "bi laws", application process and expectations of the new team. 

This process took over 6 months to get in order. After everything was in place, applications were taken and the team was established.

Part of our YLT is to work on a Pastoral Project each year. The priest picked the topic of Forgiveness for the first undertaking. The team tackled refining the project for a year, meeting once per month for one and a half hours each session.

First they researched forgiveness and what it means to them. They worked on a "speech" for the presentation for months, making sure that it would be well understood by the audience. It was important that they weren't trying to "teach" about forgiveness, but rather to go in depth on what it meant to them.

Then they needed a project to go with it. The team decided to have cards of 3 different colors that they passed out after the speech presentation and asked the parish family to each write one sentence or draw something that forgiveness means to them. Everyone - even children.

The YLT had decided early on that they wanted to arrange the cards into something - they chose a heart. We had a canvas made - it is about 4'x4' and the YLT arranged the cards, placing them on the canvas so that each card can be viewed. 

Our YLT is know as PULSE - Passionately Uniting & Leading Students to Evangelize

The cards were put on the canvas with hot glue and were folded in half and arranged so that each card can be moved to look at, but yet keep the beauty of the heart.

This project was public for about 6 months in a main part of our parish, then we moved it to the youth room where it remains on display.

Book Referral - The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin - by Venerable Mary of Agreda

 Book referral.  I read this book during Lent. The first time I read The Divind Life of the Most Holy Virgin  -from the Mystical City of God. I was wrapped in it deeply. It has just enough chapters for one a day during Lent (give or take).  It is so good that it is hard to only read one chapter a day! I copied the information about the author Venerable Mary of Agreda and put it below. It is said that Mel Gibson used this book as one of his sources in the production of The Passion of the Christ - that is quite obvious as you read it if you have ever seen the movie

 I also found a video on youtube that reflects on Venerable Mary of Agreda's life.

  Venerable Mary of Agreda pray for us.

About the Author

Venerable Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda, also known as the Blue Nun, was born in 1602 at Agreda, Spain. She possessed a considerable amount of divine knowledge even at a very young age, and consequently was confirmed at just four years old. When she was twenty-five, Mary was instituted as president of a Franciscan nunnery that her mother left behind after the older woman's death. She wrote fourteen books throughout her lifetime, among them the four-volume Mystical City of God, and also served as spiritual advisor to King Philip IV of Spain. It has also been said that her writings were inspirational for Mel Gibson as he produced his film The Passion of the Christ, released in 2004. Mother Mary of Jesus died in 1665 at the age of sixty-three, and less than ten years later was declared venerable by Pope Clement X.

More about Venerable Mary of Agreda

Are the Daily Reading the Same in all Catholic Churches?

My daughter goes to school in Fargo - her boyfriend is in Europe for a semester abroad. They were Skype "ing" and talking to each other about Mass. They realized that they both had the same readings that day.

My daughter called me to ask, "Are the reading the same in all Catholic churches?".

The Catholic Church daily Mass readings are from a Lectionary and are the same in all Catholic Churches.

The Lectionary is arranged in 2 cycles, one for daily and one for Sunday readings.

The Sunday cycle is arranged in 3 year segments - A, B & C. (Click here for more information on which Gospels are used for each year).  The Liturgical Calendar for 2015- (Dec. 2014 through Nov. 2015)- is Year B.
(The weekday cycle is divided between 2 years - Year I and Year II. Year I is read on odd numbered years and Year II on even numbered years. The Gospels are the same for both years.)

The Church's Liturgical Year Calendar starts with the First Sunday of Advent and ends with the Solemnity of Christ the King - on Nov. 22, 2015.

The Liturgical Calendar can be viewed and printed here.

A fun way to teach children about the Liturgical Year and explain to them the different colors of the different "seasons" is to print a calendar and have them fill in the colors. There are many free printables to choose from on Pinterest.  One that I think is a good image to print for children is this one.

The Liturgical colors are white, red, green, violet, black and rose. (Sometimes we see gold vestments too.) For more information on the Liturgical Seasons colors click here.

Ordinary Time is green. Advent and Lent are violet. Christmas and Easter are white. These are the main colors. See link above for red, pink and black.

Loyola Press describes how the date for Easter is determined.

Pflaum has the best Liturgical Calendars in my opinion.  They are around $11 each  16"x22" (or 25 for around $25 - 11"x16"). A very good visual for teaching all children and youth about the seasons of our Catholic Liturgical Year. It also highlights Holy Days and the reading.

Technology and Youth Ministry - Yes Please

Technology for youth is essential. It is a part of who they are today. We can incorporate the good from technology into our faith formation.

A fun activity for teens is to do a poll and  have them use texting to respond to the poll. There is a free poll creator at Poll Everywhere . You can have 25 replies (individual) free or teacher (educators) can have 40 replies free per poll. Replies can be texted, Twitter (tweets) or by web browsers.

It is fun to incorporate into PowerPoint presentation or just as a separate activity.

The results come in at real time, so they can watch the results.  I like to project my laptop on a screen.

It doesn't matter if you have more than 25 or 40 youth - it just takes the first 25 or 40 responses that come in (first in are the first recorded till the quota is met) for the free version.

It is a good way to start intriguing dialog with the youth. The results can lead to chatter and input on great topics.

Think of questions to ask your audience -

Which is the most important Feast - Christmas or Easter?

Is the Immaculate Conception Mary or Jesus?

Etc...

The questions are endless that can be used.

Or you can use the poll as an ice breaker to get everyone talking to each other about questions like-

"Would you rather be the best player on a team that always looses or the worst player on a team that always wins?"

For faith formation or for ice breaker youth group game, either way, it is using technology in a fun and positive manner.

Photography as a Tool for Youth Ministry

My youngest daughter is now 17. She is the youngest of 7 children. When the older sibs were young, I would have them make things - crafts, sewing, etc, anything to enter in the local fair.  They enjoyed getting ribbons and ribbons led to money! It was always a fun time for them to start early and get ready for the fair.

Well as time went on, I wasn't on the ball quite as much as before so I wasn't always on my game to have our youngest ready for the "fair".

So when she was about 7, I gave her my digital camera and told her to take some pictures so I could quickly go and get them printed to make it to the fair on time and enter!

Well, this led to a love of photography for her. That first blue ribbon gave her confidence. Then the grand champion many years later. She became enthralled in photography and has a great eye!  So my "not being so on the ball" turned out to be a blessing in disguise!

She has started a blog with her photography and I have one of her pictures for the cover photo on this blog.

Since she is in our Youth Group, I decided to have them make a video.They picked a song, which took a few sessions to decide on and printed the lyrics so that they could start compiling pictures for the movie.

I told them they needed to take all of the images for the video and that there could be no faces (people) in the pictures. They took the pictures and made the video using Movie Maker (It is usually pre installed on Windows based computers).  The song they picked out is How He Loves Us by David Crowder Band - Very good choice!

I had never created a video from images and music before but one of my daughters had made a few for me for Vacation Bible School. A quick tutorial from her and we were on our way.  There are many tutorials on youtube to help you out.

It was fun to watch them learn to use the software. They learned a new skill and created a beautiful praise and worship video that we uploaded to youtube.com . It turned out to be a fun Youth Ministry project that took most of the year working on it from song decision to pictures and arrangement to the finished project.

Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord February 2nd

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. The 4th Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary. Occurring 40 days after the birth of Jesus.

More information and details on today's readings.

Listen to the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

February - the Month of Love. What is Love Anyway?

In February our attention turns to St. Valentine's Day - the day of LOVE.

But what is Love?  I love my husband. I have a different love for my children. I know my dog loves me. How can there be different types of love?

When we have a child, we feel a bond, knowing that child needs us and we feel the love from them as well.  Is that a nurturing love?
I remember after my first child was born, I looked at her and felt unconditional love. When I got pregnant with my second child I had a feeling that I couldn't love another baby the way I loved my little girl. I never told anyone the feeling that I had, I just kept it in my heart. After I gave birth to my second child - another daughter, I took her in my arms and I felt that love all over again. I was smiling and so happy. I was overjoyed that I could feel that way again. I was rejoicing! I never feared that again. The bond and love we have for our children is different than the bond and love we have with our spouse or our parents.  Another kind of love?

Love is hard to define. It is a virtue. It can be AGAPE (one of several Greek words meaning love) - a self sacrificing love - the kind Jesus has for us. The kind that He has that would have Him lay down His life on the Cross for us!

Dictionary.reference.com defines love-

love [luhv]

noun

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart
5. (used in direct address as term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
6. a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
7. sexual intercourse; copulation.

Nothing in the definition from the dictionary can capture the true meaning of LOVE!

I think St. Paul defines it much better in his epistle.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

¹ Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.

² And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing.

³ Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

⁴ Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited,

⁵ it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.

⁶ Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.

⁷ It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

⁸ Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away with.

⁹ For we know only imperfectly, and we prophesy imperfectly;

¹⁰ but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will be done away with.

¹¹ When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways.

¹² Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known.

¹³ As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.

As Catholic Christians we are always striving for the truth - the purpose - the meaning. When we think we know all there is to know - we know nothing. So keep searching, it will always bring you closer to love and to God!