Our Saints In Progress

On November 2nd, our homeschool group had an All Saints Party to celebrate All Saints Day, which was the day before.  So after some thinking (and borrowing of costumes, thanks Cas!), we came up with the following saints:

Catherine as St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Dominic as St. Gabriel Possenti

Anne as St. Faustina

Our "saintly" twins.

Joseph as St. George, and Anthony as the dragon.

St. George ready to slay the dragon.

By the way, Dominic has a gun in his belt because St. Gabriel is the patron saint of gun owners.

Love this picture of my little saints.

Finally at the party!

Each saint told who they were.

There were lots of different saints.

Lots of fun games to play.

Faustina and Kateri waiting patiently for the next game.

Some of the older homeschool kids set up a catacombs, where you could walk through and each early saint would come to life and tell about himself or herself.  It was really neat, all dark, with candles lit and the scenes set.  The older kids did a really wonderful job, and it was so much more awesome than I can describe.

All Saints Party

On the Sunday after All Saints Day, our homeschool group held an All Saints Party.  Anthony still had his broken arm at this point, so Dan stayed home with him and I took the rest of the kids.  That meant coming up with costumes, of course!

St. Dominic

St. Kateri Tekakwitha

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Dominic, St. George, St. Elizabeth, St. Kateri

After a potluck dinner, the kids lined up to tell everyone who they were dressed up as, and then they had a procession. 

Many of the families set up games to play, complete with prizes!  In this game, the kid had to try to knock off Goliath's head with a "stone."

Catherine stopped to decorate a cross.

Anne got her face painted.

Joseph asked this young girl to paint a tractor on his face!  It turned out cute.

Three of my saints, having a blast.

The balloon dart game was very popular.

Please Help Me, Um,... Whoever Is The Patron Saint Of Dryers!

You know the slot in your dryer that holds the filter?  Well, all the kids love to pull it out and clean the lint off.  Anthony is no exception.  Well, he doesn't clean it off, he just pulls it out and tries to put it back in again, over and over.  This morning, he came into the laundry room with me and sure enough, as I opened the dryer, he reached for the filter and pulled it out.  Only to drop the blue marker he was carrying(which I unfortunately hadn't noticed) down the slot!  The slot that is too skinny even for a child's arm to reach down. 

I peered down that slot and I saw many clumps of lint and that marker sitting down at the bottom where the vent curves and goes under the drum of the dryer.  What to do?  I didn't really want to run the dryer with that marker sitting down there and I had loads of laundry waiting to be washed and dryed.  So waiting until Dan got home was not my first choice.  I needed something long and skinny to try to fish it out.

First, I tried a plastic sword.  It could reach far enough, but I wasn't able to use it to get out the marker.  Next, I thought of the long attachment on the vacuum cleaner.  Maybe I could suction it out with that.  I went to get the vacuum from upstairs and while I was gone, a "helpful" child shoved the marker down farther into the curve of the vent with the sword.  Aaaaaah!

Banishing all children from the laundry room, and sending one for the flashlight, which I had forgotten, I tried the vacuum cleaner attachment.  It would not go down far enough to suck out the marker.  Failed again.  I sucked out the lint however, so that was good. 

Then, I went and got a wire hanger, bent it into a good shape, and tried to move the marker into a better spot so I could reach it with the vacuum.  It was really tricky!  At this point, I thought to myself, "I wonder who the patron saint of dryers is?"  Definitely needing some assistance, I sent up a prayer to the Patron Saint of Dryers, whoever he or she might be, rebent the hanger, and tried again.  This time, the marker moved, but into an even worse position.  I could only see about an inch of it.  Oh no!  I bent the hanger some more and fished again and what do you think happened? 

Somehow that marker moved out of the curve and partway back up the slot and the end of it was right next to the end of the vacuum cleaner attachment which I had left sticking down into the slot as far as it would go, running.  Holding my breath, I moved the vacuum tool a little and the marker moved with it.  Cautiously, I pulled out the vacuum tool and the marker came out with it and I was able to grab it!  Hooray!  I think the neighbors could have heard me whooping and hollering in my excitement. 

So, today, I am thanking the Patron Saint of Dryers for his or her assistance!

All Saints Day

On All Saints Day this past Monday, we did another craft!  I took a piece of poster board and cut it into five crowns, then I had the kids decorate their crowns with stickers and markers.  They were so excited and I kept hearing things like, "This is the best day I ever had!"  (Maybe I need to do more crafts.)



Here is St. Anthony.




St. Dominic, St. Joseph (not looking so saintly at the moment), St. Catherine, and St. Anne.  Or maybe I should call them all Saints In Progress.  :)



Happy Feast Day Catherine!

St. Catherine of Alexandria

Below is the entry from Catholic Online in the Saints and Angels section. St. Catherine of Alexandria is one of our Catherine's patron saints.

St. Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr whose feast day is November 25th. She is the patroness of philosophers and preachers.

St. Catherine is believed to have been born in Alexandria of a noble family. Converted to Christianity through a vision, she denounced Maxentius for persecuting Christians. Fifty of her converts were then burned to death by Maxentius.

Maxentius offered Catherine a royal marriage if she would deny the Faith. Her refusal landed her in prison. While in prison, and while Maxentius was away, Catherine converted Maxentius' wife and two hundred of his soldiers. He had them all put to death.
Catherine was likewise condemned to death. She was put on a spiked wheel, and when the wheel broke, she was beheaded. She is venerated as the patroness of philosophers and preachers. St. Catherine's was one of the voices heard by St. Joan of Arc.

Maxentius' blind fury against St. Catherine is symbolic of the anger of the world in the face of truth and justice. When we live a life of truth and justice, we can expect the forces of evil to oppose us. Our perseverance in good, however, will be everlasting. (emphasis mine)

This reminds me that we should expect trouble when we are living out our faith. We may not face martyrdom, but we will most likely, at some time or another, face anger, hate, scorn, or ridicule, and yes, maybe even outright persecution because of our beliefs. May we all have the courage to face the anger of the world like St. Catherine of Alexandria.

Words From St. Teresa of Avila

I found this quote on Karen Edmisten's blog and I liked it so much I had to put it on here.

Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
Everything passes
God never changes
Patience obtains all
Whoever has God wants for nothing
God alone is enough.
~~ St. Teresa of Avila

Today is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. I read these words and any anxieties about the election, the economy, etc., seem kind of small.

Padre Pio Exhumed

I have to post this for Dan, who has a special devotion to Padre Pio. Dan was born exactly one year after Padre Pio's death. Read the article here about the exhumation of Padre Pio. They said his hands looked like they had just had a manicure.

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

http://www.catholicculture.org/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm


Mary was born to be the mother of the Savior of the world, the spiritual mother of all men, and the holiest of God's creatures. Because of her Son's infinite merits, she was conceived and born immaculate and full of grace. Through her, Queen of heaven and of earth, all grace is given to men. Through her, by the will of the Trinity, the unbelieving receive the gift of faith; the afflicted are tendered the works of mercy; and the members of Christ grow in likeness of their Head. In Mary all human nature is exalted. We rejoice in her birthday, as the Church has done from the earliest times. This is one of the three birthdays in the Church Calendar — the Birth of Jesus (December 25), the Birth of John the Baptist (June 24) and the Birthday of Mary. All three were born without original sin, although Mary and Jesus were conceived without sin, and St. John was cleansed of original sin while in the womb at the Visitation of Mary.

Fr. Emil J. Kapaun - Servant of God

http://www.frkapaun.org/


Father Kapaun was born in Pilsen, Kansas in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas on Holy Thursday, April 20, 1916. He was ordained as a Priest for the Diocese on June 9, 1940 and entered the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps in 1944. Separated from the service in 1946, he re-entered the Army in 1948 and was sent to Japan the following year. In July of 1950 Father Kapaun was ordered to Korea. On November 2 of that same year he was taken as a prisoner of war.
In the seven months in prison, Father Kapaun spent himself in heroic service to his fellow prisoners without regard for race, color or creed. To this there is testimony of men of all faiths. Ignoring his own ill health, he nursed the sick and wounded until a blood clot in his leg prevented his daily rounds. Moved to a so-called hospital, but denied medical assistance, his death soon followed on May 23, 1951.

The Diocese of Wichita and the Vatican have begun the formal process that could lead to Father Kapaun's canonization. In 1993, it was announced that Fr. Kapaun would receive the title of "Servant of God".

Read more about Fr. Kapaun in "A Shepherd in Combat Boots"
http://www.amazon.com/Shepherd-Combat-Boots-Chaplain-Division/dp/1572493054/ref=sr_1_1/105-2966241-2338823?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189218561&sr=8-1