Monday (March 19) is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph and you’ll want to honor him by learning more about this most holy man and powerful patron. If you’re ambitious, you can find lots of ideas on the ‘net to celebrate, but you may want to keep it simple and just listen to the Life of Saint Joseph audio provided with your March lesson. Check this month’s packet for instructions on how to download it to listen.
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Reposting from 2016:
From a very young age, John had a love for the Faith and felt a desire to teach it to others. His methods were unique for the time and have much to teach us still today. John knew that he needed to get people’s attention before they would listen to what he had to say, and he was determined to develop the skills to help him do so. His creative attention-getters included magic tricks, juggling, acrobatics, and even tightrope walking. Once a crowd had gathered to watch, John found ways to weave teaching the Faith into the show.
Eventually, he was ordained to the priesthood and gathered a growing number of street urchins for his informal oratory – instruction, Mass, and play time. His joyful spirit and love for the Faith was very attractive and soon he had such a large crowd of boys that his “school” needed a permanent home.
John’s creative methods, kindness, love and joy are outstanding examples for Family Formation parents as we strive to pass the Faith on to those in our own little oratories.
Saint John Bosco, patron of catechists, pray for us!
“Raise [your children] with great care in the holy fear of God, because on this depends their health and blessings for your house.”
We love new stuff! We love new Saints! We love lessons that are in a different format! Hooray that all have converged into this new supplement!
Go to the sidebar on the Family Formation blog and click on the Saints of Mexico link. From there, you’ll be able to download two new stories or just click to listen.
The first is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, one of the most dramatic stories you’ll ever hear, responsible for thousands of conversions to the Faith! The other story is that of newly canonized Jose Sanchez del Rio, a boy whose bravery and faith inspired many adults to keep fighting for the Faith at a very hostile time in Mexico’s history.
We tell a version of the tale that is less graphic, but he was a martyr, so please pre-listen if your kids are younger or sensitive to such things. Either way, listen for yourself. We think you’ll be edified by it and there are certainly spiritual lessons for you all that apply to our anti-Catholic culture today.
We learned some things about the Saints in class time this month, but to help bring this topic to the level of relationship we want you to work on it at home too. The Saints are our brothers and sisters in the Faith. They can also be our mentors, examples, intercessors, helpers, and kindred spirits, but if you want your kids to have that kind of close relationship with a Saint (or several), you need to make the introductions. Saint story audios do that. So do print biographies, Saint of the Day books, web sites, and apps. And so do several of our Family Formation Home and Classroom Lessons.
Besides a few mini biographies, this lesson has some information – What are some qualities all Saints have? How does someone become a Saint? And then to the most important question, how can I become a Saint? Because if this topic remains a conversation about someone else, it may be interesting information, but it has no power to transform, and that’s a wasted opportunity to learn about one’s whole purpose in life!
Last week, all the kids came home with either a sword or a shield. Part of that is a tie-in with Saint Martin of Tours, whose story they heard in class. St. Martin was a soldier who carried an actual sword and shield, but the real connection is here:
The people we see walking around on any given day are only a part of the full picture: those in heaven (The Church Triumphant), those in purgatory (The Church Suffering), and those of us still on earth (The Church Militant) fighting our battles against sin and injustice.
See what we did there with the sword/shield project, St. Martin the soldier and the Church Militant? 😉
Forgive the mixed metaphor, but all three branches are part of the Body of Christ. We are all intimately connected, all praying for one another, and all mindful of each other’s needs, and the greatest of those needs is getting to heaven.
So the key words as you’re doing this lesson are personal and relationship. We’ve said this many times before, but it bears saying again in this context: the point is not to know a lot about the saints, but it is to become a saint. Keep that in mind as you’re sharing this lesson with your kids.
Thanks to everyone who helped make yesterday’s All Saints’ Day party such fun! And special thanks to the Kraft, Clarke, and Brooks families who put in lots of hours on the project. Enjoy a few of the photobooth pics here and those of you who got your picture taken should have a card with the link to the full album.
Echoing what Fr. Jim said at Mass, we cannot wait for the day when, after all your adventures on your path to heaven, people will be dressing up as you for All Saints’ Day!
St. Bernard’s feast is tomorrow, so this is your head’s up on cooking for the day.
Bernard is the patron of bees, beekeepers, and candlemakers (a pretty big deal when he lived almost 1000 years ago in the days of no electricity or refined sugar), and this is an easy connection for celebration food. There are so many options for using honey in recipes: baklava, honey pound cake, honey dijon sauce on your grilled chicken … even simply serving peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch will make the connection. (Extra points for lighting a candle while you eat!)
There’s a lot more to Saint Bernard than a delicious snack opportunity though.
Bernard came from a very holy family and founded a monastery which soon attracted over 700 other monks. He wrote extensively, and was an adviser to a pope. He fought heresy, helped heal a split in the Church, and was eventually named a Doctor of the Church; a title given to only 35 men and women in the whole history of Catholicism! It’s said that his first thought upon waking up each morning was “Why have I come here?” and his second was a reminder that he was there to live a holy life; a good daily thought for each of us!
Saint Bernard is also the author of the Memorarae, a really nice way to start your family’s prayer time tomorrow.
REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
The All Saints’ Day party is coming up soon, and there are tons of great ideas out there for costumes!
I’m going to start with a few posts from this blog and link up with some others below.
And the mother lode on Pinterest, of course.
In case you haven’t already signed up for the parish party at COSP, the registration tables will be open for two more weekends after all the Masses. We start with Mass for the holy day of obligation (including a procession of Saints) and after there is dinner, games, and lots of fun. Don’t miss it!
