We are truly blessed to work with the youth leaders in our parishes. Our Youth Leadership Teams - PULSE: Passionately Uniting and Leading Students to Evangelize, had their project presentations on Mother's Day. They wrote a beautiful speech (attached) and also decide to do the Everything skit with the music by Lifehouse.
The project theme was Abiding in God's Will and Surrendering to God's Will.
The speech the team wrote is truly inspirational. Remember - we coach and advise, we don't write for them. We pray and allow God to work through them to give the message He has for us.
The YLT PULSE is a 2 parish joint team so they performed at 2 parishes that same day.
Mother Mary - Continue to pray for all youth. They are the future of our church. Ask the Holy Spirit to continue to guide them. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen
John 15:9-17 (Gospel for the feast of st. Matthias May 14, 2015)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”
A favorite commandment - to LOVE
Mother Mary - Pray for us to share the love within us. Amen
"Sure as a chick comes from an egg, Jesus rose from the dead." That is what my Grandmother would tell me when I asked her why we have Easter eggs on Easter.
That brings up the old saying, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?'' Giving way to the creation story.
We also compare Easter to a caterpillar and a butterfly. The caterpillar goes off into a cocoon and emerges as a radiant butterfly - NEW LIFE!
New life through Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus died for us, we are able to have our sins cleansed and that allows us to be with Him in heaven - NEW LIFE!
Jesus gave Himself for us on the cross, but death could not stop God. Jesus rose from the dead, the Resurrection and the NEW LIFE!
Today, Easter Sunday, is the most important day in our Catholic faith. The Resurrection!
Jesus entered our world as an infant to show us His humanness. He died and left the world as a Man. He rose from the dead as God.
Jesus was always God Man, but He didn't stop anything just to make Himself feel better. He could have removed His chains and the cross at anytime. He chose the Cross.
His Resurrection gives us faith and hope for a NEW LIFE!
Good Friday - Why do we call it GOOD? It is the day our Lord died. Exactly why we call it good.
Jesus our Lord and God, chose to die for our sins. That makes it a very good day for us.
Mother Mary - Thank you for saying yes. Thank you for giving Jesus to us so that He could say His yes too. Amen
Vocation is a calling. When we think of vocation- a priest or nun comes to mind as having the "calling". That is correct, that is a vocation, but there is more to it than that. It is an invitation to love and serve God in a particular way.
There can be the vocation into the religious life - priest, sister, bother, deacon.
There can be the vocation to the married life - wife or husband. That can also lead to being a parent or not.
There can be the vocation to live a single life - man or woman - no particular reason for some and for others it may be that they have a same sex attraction and they choose to follow the Catholic teaching of not acting upon that temptation.
Society and the media outlets have been desensitized us to premarital sex and homosexuality for years. We can turn on our TV and find shows that have these things on many channels at all times of the day.
In the last 100+ years we have lived the machine revolution, sexual revolution and technology revolution. Why does this matter you are thinking - right?
Well - in the late 1800's into the early 1900's we were introduced to machinery to help with the labors of the land. Instead of using animals for the farming - tractors and other machinery was introduced into our food production - mainly. Now machines are doing the work of many people, reducing jobs and giving people more free time - which can bring about better family time or it can lead to finding other things to fill the time - "me time" and take away from the family.
Before the machine revolution men would come home (in) from the fields and spend time with the family. They would pray more with the family. There was the role model of the family setting. Family life was important.
Now on to the sexual revolution - started late 50's (in my opinion) on through the 60's. It started with the birth control pill. When the birth control pill was introduced- that in turn introduced sexual promiscuity. It started with premarital sex, which don't get me wrong, there probably was always premarital sex. It gave the opportunity to experiment and not have to worry about getting someone pregnant or getting pregnant. Which in turn led to sexually transmitted diseases, other disease and cancers. Again, we see sexual promiscuity on all TV shows, movies and even family shows - which in turn takes away from the true family setting and meaning. Children and youth are groomed to accept same sex relationships, divorce and premarital sex as being the norm. This is where the true family values and core is breaking down.
Now we are in the technology revolution - technology is in our everyday life. It can be a very good thing and used improperly can be a very bad thing. If you just watch a movie that is 20 years old you can see how quickly technology has changed. Even 5-10 years ago we can see how cell phones have advanced to being a computer in our pocket and having access to the internet via wifi or data. We live in a time of instant gratification. We can look something up quickly, it becomes a part of our gatherings with family and friends. An example of this was yesterday - we were having lunch at our daughters house and sent the children out on a scavenger hunt. One of the things on the "list" was to find a birds nest and show us. We all looked up and saw leafy nests above our heads as it is spring and the trees are still bare. I said I spotted 3 nests and my #1, daughter, said that they were squirrel nests. So of course we jumped on our phones to see if they were squirrel or bird nests. She was right.
Technology can be fun. There are great things to find and use for our faith as well - but then we have the bad that comes in to play. There are pop ups, gambling, pornography, and sexual predators on social media sights. These can lead to terrible addictions and danger.
It is important for us to teach our children and youth how to use technology safely and to always feel that they can talk to us about anything that they find uncomfortable with media and technology. We need to make rules about when children and youth can have access to these things at home - that it may not be allowed during family meals for example. AND ESPECIALLY CAN NOT BE USED WHEN DRIVING
Technology can help the family teach good values and it can also tear down the family with addiction and acting on temptations.
We need to get back to talking about VOCATION ~ so how does all of this tie into vocation?
Family values that we see and live with are what lead us to our vocations. We need to stand up for what we believe in and teach our children and youth these values so that they can choose to have a good Catholic vocation in life.
Mother Mary, Pray for your children to make good vocation choices. AMEN
My granddaughter had her appendix out on Monday, she is going to be 10. It is scary and yet it was inspiring to see her so brave.
She was so well taken care of at the Children's Hospital. They gave her crafts to do, games to play, a stuffed animal with an IV needle, a new blanket for her to keep and so many other ways that they went above and beyond to keep her comfortable and happy.
My #2, daughter, an RN and her husband is in the medical field too - were so impressed with the care of our little princess.
It is such a great gift to know that our children are being taken care of in such a loving and compassionate setting.
God gives people gifts and we try to recognize those gifts to see where we can make a difference in the world. Not just for ourselves, but for others.
We need to search our hearts to see what talents we have.
It wasn't just the Doctors and nurses at the Children's Hospital that make it a special place, it has to be a team effort from the administrative staff to the maintenance crew and people that wash the sheets.
I could see in the "treasures" that she brought home that there are many volunteers and organizations that donate as well - from the homemade little quilt to the kit to make the cute octopus from yarn. The kit lovingly put together with instructions and everything she needed to make it.
These ideas can be inspiration for youth groups and Youth Ministry projects - there are places in our own areas that can use these "treasures".
Our youth make blankets for the Baptism Ministry at our parish. They come and sit around the table and tie the knots and make beautiful baby blankets. These can also be lap blankets to give to nursing facilities and hospitals with swing beds.
When my Dad was close to death, Hospice wheeled in a cart with a beautiful handmade blanket that had the Lord's Prayer on it. My Mom was so happy to lay that blanket over him - to wrap him in the love of our Lord.
We don't know who we are going to touch with acts of kindness, but just know that they don't go un-noticed. They may not be noticed by everyone, but isn't that what it is all about.
"Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up" Galatians 6:9
Mother Mary, Pray for us to share our time, talent and treasures with others! Amen
What else does this simple scriptural sentence mean except that all our lives God calls us to prayer?
Make your life a prayer. Do everything with respect and dignity.
Look at all situations in life as a prayer challenge.
I know, easier said than done. I am the first one to falter here.
There are so many things pulling us in so many directions that we forget this simple sentence. I am one to lose my temper and that is definitely not a prayer moment.
That is why Jesus' Sacrifice is so special, so that we can be forgiven. Our sins washed away so that we can begin again to "Pray Always".
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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
"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.
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).
#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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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!
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend.
sexual passion or desire.
a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart
(used in direct address as term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
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!
.jpg)
