Just a Catholic Mom

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus: Feast Day Oct. 1 Today as we celebrate Saint Therese   of the Child Jesus, also known as Saint Therese of Lisieux,  my family chose to focus on her beautiful title: “Saint Therese the   Little Flower.” Even though she only lived a short life, Saint Therese’s book,“Story of a Soul,” and her concept of “The Little Way” have inspired many throughout the world; and she was declared a Doctor of the Church.  Activities and Crafts: Focusing on the “flower theme” with my toddlers, we began our day by making paper flowers. Here is a great website (“First Palette”) with directions  for folding  Paper flowers  . If your children are older, you can use these  printable templates , from the same website,  for younger children. After making paper flowers, we then learned about the parts of a flower using these  worksheets  from “Itsy Bitsy Fun”  (scroll to the bottom of the page to click on workshe...

Saint Wenceslaus: Feast Day Sept. 28 I’ve heard the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslaus” practically every Christmas and played the song on the piano too, but I never knew he was a saint until recently.    When I looked Saint Wenceslaus up and read about him, I learned he was from Bohemia and was a duke and not a king. He was declared a king after his death and proclaimed a saint soon after as tales of his virtue, piety, and care for the poor spread. Today as my family celebrated “Good King Wenceslaus’s” feast day, we took a Christmas theme approach, since,  the lyrics of his Christmas carol mention him looking out the window on the Feast of Saint Stephen (The first Christian martyr whose feast day is December 26th). Craft: While listening to the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslaus,” we made  paper snowflake patters . There are a variety of printable templates at this link that are easy to use. I then discussed with my kids that each snowflake is different and un...

Saints Cosmas and Damian: Feast Day Sept. 26th I don't know about you, but my favorite season of the year is fall. There's just something about the cool brisk air that makes me feel alive, and the crunch and smell of vibrant colored leaves beneath my feet that makes it impossible for me to not smile. So, when two saint brothers, who were physicians, have a feast day that falls in fall (pardon the pun) you go with the theme: "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away"— I know it's probably stretching it.  Family Breakfast: To start our morning off, we made apple cider biscuits served with honey and scrambled eggs, and enjoyed warm cups of apple cider to drink.     Activities: Since Saints Cosmas and Damian were physicians, today's activities included coloring a  human heart coloring page  and discussing two parts of the heart—veins and arteries. I then cut up an apple and using ink  and washable paint, had my kids use the apple slices as homemade stamps to ...

Passing on Prayer & Praying Throughout the Day: When I was a kid, my mom taught our family two prayer traditions she had growing up. The first: Praying three “Hail Mary” prayers as a family when you began a road trip together, and the second: When you hear an emergency vehicle pray, “Jesus and Mary we pray, bless them on their way.” I remember not only feeling comfort by saying these prayers together growing up, but also feeling like I was helping, even if it was only in a little way, by praying for those helping others and those needing their assistance.  Now, as a wife and mother, I realize just how important it is to teach your children prayers and praying together as a family. I didn’t know it then, but as a kid my mom and dad were helping my siblings and I build a solid prayer foundation that has helped us continue to grow in prayer as adults. I’ve passed the two prayer traditions from my childhood on to my family, and hearing my daughter recite the “Jesus and Mary prayer,...

Saint Hildegard von Bingen: Feast Day Sept. 17th Not only is Saint Hildegard a Doctor of the Church, but during her life she was a writer, scientist, and conveyor of the "spiritual importance of femininity" (Catholic News Agency).  During her life, she was not only a confident leader, but she also served as a beautiful witness of humility, allowing others to observe that confidence, leadership, and humility can all exist and work together. This article , from the Catholic News Agency, contains not only biographical information on Saint Hildegard, but also a wonderful discussion of how modern women can relate and connect with this smart and accomplished female saint who supported the truths of the Church.  Since Saint Hildegard is from Germany, and the majority of my family's ancestry derives from Germany, we decided to make "Nussecken" —dessert mini-nut bars—to celebrate today. The modifications that we changed to this recipe, were using raspberry jam instead of...

Our Lady of Sorrows: Feast Day Sept. 15th The sorrowful mother. As a mother, I honestly have no idea how the Blessed Virgin Mary was able to witness the crucifixion of her son, and the amount of unwavering faith she possessed to know and trust that it was all part of God’s plan, even though she most likely did not fully understand why Jesus must suffer and die the way he did. I know, as a mom, my heart breaks a little when my children cry from merely scraping their knee or tripping and busting a lip. How full of grace, faith, and strong our Spiritual Mother Mary is!  Today as my family celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows, we focused on “Mary’s Seven Sorrows,” the letter “S,” and the number “7.” We first baked scones, and added blueberries and cinnamon to the batter for Mary. I always like adding cinnamon to things we bake for Mary, because it is sweet and fragrant smelling. I guess I always imagine that Mary radiates a sweet and beautiful aroma. This is my go to scone ...

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Sept. 14th What does today’s feast day celebrate? Overall, it is a celebration of God’s gift of salvation to mankind through remembering and honoring Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ultimate defeat of death so that we can have eternal life in Heaven with Him. Today’s feast also commemorates when Saint Helena found the cross that Jesus was crucified upon, and when the basilica that was build upon Calvary, where Jesus’ was crucified, was deducted. Here is a great   article  I read that gives a good overview and background for today’s feast day.  Today to celebrate this wonderful feast day, my family began our morning with “Eggs in the Cross” for breakfast. I used a cross shaped cookie cutter to cut crosses out of pieces of bread and placed them in a frying pan. I then poured eggs beaten with a little bit of milk into the cross cut outs and when they were finished cooking on both sides served them with grapes and/or strawberries. This w...

Sunday—The Lord’s Day: Celebrate every Sunday as a celebration! Attend Mass together as a family, spend time together as a family—and if possible extended family—enjoying each other’s company, taking it easy, and just relaxing. God rested on the 7th day not only because he knew we as humans would physically and mentally need to rest, but I believe also to show us the value of just slowing down and enjoying the company of those around us. My family has been doing Sunday brunch with my sister and her husband for over a year now, and when my parents moved nearby this summer, they too have been joining our Sunday brunch tradition. We attend Mass together, and then rotate whose house we go to brunch at each week. We help each other in the kitchen, our kids get to spend quality time with relatives, and we talk, laugh and relax in one another’s company. Having brunch together has helped us all slow down and appreciate the beauty of keeping the Lord’s Day holy. Try having brunch, playing board...

The Most Holy Name of Mary: Have you ever wondered how many names/titles there are that reference the Blessed Virgin Mary? That was something I wondered today when I read the title for today’s feast day. After doing a Google search, I found this list of names/titles from Secular Franciscan USA. It is a wonderful compiling of all of Mary’s beautiful names/titles that was revised in 2017.  Family Activities: Today, you can have each family member select their favorite name for Mary from the list and draw a picture illustrating her and her title. You can also write a family prayer honoring Mary and her holy name incorporating your favorite titles for her and say this prayer together at dinner or before bed. You can also make a long paper chain, writing one of Mary’s names/titles on each slip of paper, and as you add a link say the name/title and then “Pray for Us.” If your children are older, you could also put all of Mary’s names/titles into a word search using this free puzzle make...

Feast of the Transfiguration: To celebrate the transfiguration of Jesus, when Jesus went to the top of Mount Tabor and was revealed in dazzling glory and wonder to a few of his disciples, my family made a  Transfiguration Jesus’ as our craft. The kids loved turning the lights off and on to have Jesus appear in radiant light. Today, you can also pray the  Luminous Mysteries of the rosary together as a family in honor of Jesus’ transfiguration. Saint Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the rosary, and the transfiguration is one of the mysteries. If your family hasn’t prayed the rosary together before, today is a great day to begin. You can discuss the luminous mysteries before and then say the prayers—for toddlers, you can modify the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” prayers by just saying “Hail Mary” and “Our Father.” That’s how my 2 year old prays when he walks around the rosary garden outside church. The website that I’ve linked as “Luminous Mysteries” above, provide...

Saints Peter Claver and Robert Bellarmine: Feast Days Sept. 9th & 17th  Today, September 10th, I decided to make homemade blueberry muffins with my daughter using a recipe a friend of mine had shared with me.  As we were getting our ingredients together, my daughter asked, "Mommy, what saint are we making these for?" I looked at her, and not having planned anything for a saint today, replied: "Well, I don't know, but let me check our liturgical calendar and if there's a saint listed for today we will make our muffins for them."  After consulting our calendar, I learned that today, September 10th did not have a saint listed, but a week from today, September 17th, is the feast day of Saint Robert Bellarmine, who was a Jesuit cardinal and is a Doctor of the Church. Looking at yesterday's date, I discovered that September 9th is the feast day of Saint Peter Claver, a Jesuit priest who ministered and served the people brought against their will as slaves...

Celebrating Baptismal Anniversaries:  When my husband and I went through our baptism prep workshop for our first child, one of the recommendations that was made, to help us and our child remember the importance of their baptism, was to celebrate the anniversary of their baptism every year like we would a birthday. What a beautiful way to remember that at the Sacrament of Baptism you are given new life in Christ! This year, we began this beautiful new tradition with our children, and they loved getting to made cupcakes, have us sing "Happy Baptism Day" to them, and get to blow out their baptismal candle. I hope you and your family are able to start this beautiful tradition too!

May Crowning: Crowning statues of Mary, during the month of May, is a long standing tradition in the Catholic Church. May is the month we dedicate to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and honoring our spiritual mother, by crowning her near or on the weekend we celebrate Mother’s Day, is a beautiful tradition! To help our children experience this wonderful tradition, during the pandemic of 2020, we crowned our statue of Mary that we have on our fireplace mantle. We sang the song, "Sing of Mary," and lit a candle next to our statue, while our oldest crowned Mary with a paper-crown we'd made. If you want to make an easy flower crown for your Mary statue, here are some easy directions from the website, “Catholic Inspired.”  My family then took our May crowning of Mary a step further on Mother's Day, when I gave my children each a couple of flowers from the bouquet they'd given me, and we drove to church. My husband and I had our children place flowers at the statue of Mary in...

Ascension Sunday:  In celebration of Ascension Sunday, we made blue jello and whipped cream parfaits topped with blueberries (as seen in Ascension Parish's children's liturgy video ). We then added the image of Jesus from the  Ascension Hanging Cup Craft  to our spoon, and also completed the entire hanging cup craft. There are lots of wonderful craft ideas for Ascension Sunday on Ascension Parish's children's liturgy blog that you can access by clicking on the "Ascension Parish's children liturgy video" link above. I hope you and your family have a wonderful day celebrating the Ascending Lord! 

Our Lady of Fatima: Feast Day May 13th  The feast day of Our Lady of Fatima holds a very special place in my heart. The year that I was pregnant with my second child, I decided to do a Marian Consecration. I read the book, 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do it Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Marian Consecration , by Father Michael Gaitley, and the day I was to consecrate myself to the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she could bring me closer to her son, was May 13th—the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Not only was May 13th that year the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, but it was also Mother's Day and the day before my baby was due. Ever since consecrating myself to Mary that day, I have felt closer to Mary as Our Lady of Fatima and enjoy reading everything I can about her message given at Fatima. This year, May 13, 2021, is even more special to me, because it’s the day I renewed my Marian consecration and enrolled in the Militia Immaculata. The Militia Immaculata (MI), founded by Sa...

Pentecost Sunday: Pentecost Sunday is a day filled with the Holy Spirit and all His gifts and fruits. Today we celebrate the birthday of the Catholic Church, when the Holy Spirit descended to remain with us as our advocate and guide, and filled the apostles with His gifts; empowering them to begin their mission of spreading the faith. At the end of Mass last week, when our priest reminded us to wear red to help celebrate Pentecost the following week, I began thinking about the color red. As I contemplated this liturgical hue, I found it interesting that not only is red the liturgical color worn to represent the Holy Spirit, but it is also the color that is worn on the feast days of martyrs. Could it be that red is used for martyrs not just to symbolize their blood that was shed for Christ, but also because they'd been emboldened by the gifts of the Holy Spirit— wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord? That amongst all the gifts, the Holy Spi...