As the reform of the Roman Liturgy gears up, perhaps there will be Catholics who know how to sing. With a little refinement, they may do just fine…
First Communion Wednesday, Mar 26 2008
Family Life and This N That arizona, first communion, gifts, globe, holy angels, missals, rosary 2:19 pm
Do you remember your own first communion? I remember mine almost as if it were 50 years ago! Actually, what I remember are the memories created by pictures I have seen of my first communion back at Holy Angels Catholic Church in Globe, Arizona.
I still have my first communion dress and veil which my daughter wore 19 years ago.
I hope her daughter Bella (and any future daughters will also wear it). When my mother died and we were going through her treasures, I found my first communion rosary and missal. (The missal is not the one in the picture of me–that was a prop missal the photographer had in his studio).
They are truly treasures to me and a link to my childhood, and I was so grateful my mother had saved them all these years.
Do you know anybody preparing for first communion? How about giving them a gift which they will cherish? Need some ideas?
Saint movies for April Tuesday, Mar 25 2008
Family Movies and Feast days and Inspirations saints, Family Movies, cottolengo, catherine of siena, bernadette, gianna molla 3:17 pm
Some months we have to scramble to find movies about the saints of the Church. April is not one of them, because there are numerous feast days in this spring month.
Bernadette of Lourdes is celebrated on April 16. Bernadette was the young French peasant girl who was privileged to see Our Lady eighteen times over the course of five months in 1858. Because she was poor and uneducated, she suffered much abuse at the hands of others who thought she was making up her stories of the visions. At the age of 22, eleven years after the first vision, she was allowed to enter a convent of sisters at Nevers who served the poor and homeless. She died at the young age of 35. She is the patroness of Lourdes, of sick people, shepherds and people ridiculed for their piety. Movies about Bernadette include Bernadette, Her Vision Became a Legend which was created by a noted French filmmaker and which is shown daily at Lourdes. The Passion of Bernadette takes up where the previous movie left off, after Bernadette entered a convent. It stars the same young actress, Sydney Penny, and shows how she lived a life of sanctity, even in very difficult circumstances.
The classic black-and-white film, the Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones, is still available and worth watching. For younger children Bernadette, the Princess of Lourdes is a good introduction to this ever popular saint.
St. Gianna Molla was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2004, and her feast is celebrated on April 28. Gianna Molla is truly a saint for our times. Born in 1922, she was a brilliant woman who was a faithful wife and loving mother, as well as a physician and a surgeon. She used her medical knowledge to take care of women and children, as well as the poor. She was athletic, being an enthusiastic skier. When she was pregnant with her fourth child, the doctors discovered a large cyst on her ovary and recommended an abortion to save her life. She refused the abortion and died a week of her delivery of a little girl. Though her life was short, just 40 years, she lived it to the fullest and her husband and children were present at her canonization. Her story is documented in Love is a Choice.
Another female saint celebrated this month is Catherine of Siena who lived in the 1300s and was the 23rd of 25 children born to her parents. Catherine was a mystic who at a very young age knew she would dedicate her life to God and forego marriage. While still a teenager she became a Dominican tertiary, and wore the Dominican habit and at 19 had a vision of mystical marriage with Christ. She tended the sick and poor in hospitals and then received a calling to work in the world. Though illiterate, Catherine was intellectually gifted and astute about the political and ecclesial controversies which abounded in her day. She dictated letters to powerful people in secular society and launched an effort to reform the clergy. She communicated with Pope Gregory XI whose papacy had moved to Avignon, begging him to return to Rome where he belonged. He finally moved back. She then served in the court of Pope Urban VI. Catherine died at the age of 33 and was canonized in 1461. She was named the first female Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970. She is the patroness of firefighters, Italy and nurses, and against bodily injury and sexual temptation. EWTN has a 6 hour view of the life of St. Catherine in Catherine of Siena, Reforms of a Mystic.
A less well-known saint for April is the Italian Joseph Benedict Cottolengo who lived in the 1800s and whose feast day is April 30. Joseph was a priest who didn’t realize his true calling until passing the night at the bedside of a poor sick woman in labor who was refused medical help for lack of funds. He gave her the last rights and then baptized her infant, after which both of them died. That moment was pivotal in his vocation, and he opened a hospice for the sick and dying poor which was known as the Little House of Divine Providence. That house grew to include numerous facilities and still operates, serving 8000 people daily. The story of this unlikely saint is beautifully told in Cottolengo.
Applying skills learned Sunday, Mar 23 2008
Family Life and Homeschooling 101 11:22 am
Remember the young carpenter? http://blackforestmusings.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/training-young-carpenters/
Kitty shows him in action at home…
http://kittyeleison.blogspot.com/2008/03/room-transformations-i-boys-room.html
More About Socialization Monday, Mar 17 2008
Homeschooling 101 homeschooling, Irish dance, Socialization 8:15 pm
THE $64,000 question all homeschoolers get is: What do you do about socialization?
I don’t know any unsocialized homeschooled children. Socialization is what happens as we raise our children among people of all ages, not just their peers. This was brought home to me for the 100th+ time this weekend. Our granddaughters participate in Irish dance and were in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday.
Looks like they “socialized” just fine…
Beginning of the season of endings… Monday, Mar 10 2008
Family Life and Homeschooling 101 beginnings, endings, graduation, homeschooling, lesson plans 6:31 pm
I know the title is awkward, but a friend who becomes dearer every day, told me that her family has entered into the “season of endings. . . and beginnings,” because their only child will be graduating this year and is tying up the loose ends of his high school life while at the same time planning for the next step. I have been through that three times with the older children, and it didn’t get easier as time went on. I have always loved having our children at home, so their leaving gave me a major case of the bends.
Now, number four child is in the “season of endings. . . and beginnings,” and it is harder yet. He relinquished leadership of his 4-H club this year, where he had been involved for years and served as president for two terms. He no longer sings in the choir in which he sang since he was a boy. He will be doing his last mission with the Legion of Christ during Holy Week, and the list goes on.
What I didn’t count on was weeping over lesson plans. Yes, this weekend I wrote the last lesson plans of my life for Mike’s final high school quarter. As I did so, I couldn’t hold back the tears. It is not that lesson-plan writing is my favorite activity. Homeschooling is not without its challenges and we have had our share. I have yelled (and regretted it), anguished over whether or not I was doing the right thing, had to apologize more times than I can count, had to follow-up on missing assignments which often resulted in lost privileges, and had to take abuse from a Naval Academy recruiter who believes homeschoolers pad grades to make their kids look good. Ask our kids–every grade they got they earned, whether they were A’s or F’s . . . but that is another story.
Mike’s “season of endings . . . and beginnings” is also mine. For the last 15 years my life has followed the rhythm of running a homeschool. It has been a routine of writing lesson plans, searching out curriculum, teaching them to drive, praying, writing three books, grading papers, going to Mass, laughing, running kids to various types of lessons, praying, correcting papers, helping fill out college applications, praying, arranging for peer time with friends, cajoling, correcting, praying, and watching them grow up and leave the nest. The cycle is coming to end with the last child. Am I handling it gracefully? Probably not. My tears are flowing as I contemplate the house without our “midlife” child. I know God isn’t through with me yet, but I am not sure where he is leading. Mike wants to go into the service and he has an Air Force Academy appointment as well as an AFROTC scholarship. So he just has to decide which one he will accept. I don’t have a choice of accepting or not. I must, and I must thank God for the endings. The endings mean that there were beginnings, and I would not trade one of those beginnings for a break from the bittersweet sadness/happiness that I am experiencing now.
Training young carpenters Monday, Mar 3 2008
Around and about and Family Life and This N That 5:41 pm
Once a month, Lowe’s and Home Depot offer opportunities for dads and sons or grandfathers and grandsons to spend a morning together working on fun projects at no cost. My husband and oldest grandson have been to the carpenter workshops at both locations, sometimes having breakfast out beforehand. Each child gets a canvas apron, the project materials, safety glasses, a certificate of completion and either a pin or a patch to put on the apron. In the process of making a wooden project, memories are made, skills are learned, bonds between the generations are strengthened and the child grows in competence and confidence.
PS This isn’t exclusively for boys and men, but since I don’t do this kind of work, I tend to think of it as a “guy” activity!
Bella is Born Saturday, Mar 1 2008
Family Life and Prayers and Family Life 11:47 am
