I love gardening. And I have always wanted to have a Mary garden. It just hadn’t happened till now. What better way to celebrate May than with a Mary garden! Having a Mary garden is a very simply way to honor the Blessed Mother, it’s easy to do with children and can enhance our own devotion to Mary as well. It’s not difficult to do and pretty self explanatory. The most important part of the Mary garden are the flowers. {Read More}
Contrary to popular belief, Hallmark (nor the local pub) did not canonize St. Patrick. There is so much to love about this Irish man. He was imprisoned but escaped to tell people about Jesus – an evangelizer in the truest sense. Perhaps he’s most famous for using the shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity. The word is still out if he’s actually responsible for banishing all snakes from Ireland! As we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Patrick, I pray {Read More}
Despite the fact that I am of half-Irish descent, I never knew much about St. Brigid, one of the patron saints of Ireland, until I had my own children. In fact, it was not until I ran into the picture book titled Brigid’s Cloak that I really took note of this child-friendly saint. Since then, my children and I have enjoyed celebrating St. Brigid’s feast day together and, in honor of the Year of Faith, hope to invite friends to {Read More}
This week’s printable… Topic or Skill: Word Search Text: Nine Names of Catholic Saints Who Have Feast Days in January Possible Additional Activities: Children can work on finding the correct Feast Day for each saint. Children could also be asked to find other facts about each saint on the list, such as when they lived, the circumstances of their life and death, where they lived, or what causes/places/things of which they are patron saints. Directions: Words can be found running {Read More}
The following is a post from contributing writer Dianna Kennedy. One of my favorite things about being Catholic is our treasury of saints. Countless men and women have gone on before us, struggled with some of the same vices, and gone on to be models of our Catholic faith. They’ve finished their time on Earth, and are now prayer warriors in Heaven. Think of them as Church Alumni — they’ve been through the battle and now serve on the advisory {Read More}
The following is a post from contributing writer Dianna Kennedy. Looking for Christmas crafts and books that keep Jesus in the center of our celebration? I’ll share my favorite Christmas and Advent books, crafts and recipes that you can use with your children. This Advent season, I’m going to create a Countdown to Christmas box, and wrap up some of our favorite books. We will unwrap one each day, and enjoy them as a family. Here are some of {Read More}
Advent in our house is a busy, joyful time filled with anticipation and activities we do at no other time of year–activities that nourish our faith and rev up our sense of fun–and sometimes, both at once. I spend all year jotting notes to myself on fresh ideas to include in our Advent calendar. This year, I’ve spent some time making friends with the saints. It inspired me to dig up some easy ways to incorporate saint celebrations into our {Read More}
I’m always trying to find new ways to teach my children about the saints, especially the less popular saints. The majority of activities for the saints are geared toward older kids and we’re on short supply of those around here! Theology lessons have to be boiled down to pictures, quick activities and food in most cases. I spent the last week or so working out a lesson on St. Rose of Lima whose optional feast day is August 23rd. St. {Read More}
