Blessing Your Home on Epiphany

We celebrate Epiphany, remembering the wise men visiting Jesus, this weekend.  A wonderful tradition to mark this day is to bless your home for the coming year.  I hand out a copy of the blessing and chalk at our Family Mass every year, and I've included it below for you!  You'll need a small piece of chalk.  We usually let each of our children mark the house, so we repeat the blessing three times at three different entrances to our home.

Marking the doorway.

PRAYER FOR A BLESSED HOME ON EPIPHANY

It is a tradition in Europe to bless the home on Epiphany.  You can use the prayer service below and a piece of chalk to ask God’s blessing on your home and family during the coming year.  The ‘C+M+B’ in the inscription stand for the names given to the Magi in Western tradition, and also for the Latin ‘Christus Mansionem Benedicat’ meaning ‘May Christ Bless this House.’  The ‘+’ are crosses.  The 20 and 15 represent the year.  You may make the inscription on the inside or outside of your home, above one or all doors leading into the home.  Traditionally, the Father makes the inscription and the Mother is the leader, but any family member could do it, or you could take turns. 

This is also a good chance to remind your children that although we talk of three wise men and give them names, we don’t actually know how many of them there were or their names.  We know they came from far off places to worship Jesus and that they gave him three gifts.  They remind us that Jesus came to be known by and save all of mankind, a wonderful fact we celebrate every Epiphany.  Have a blessed Epiphany and Merry Christmas!

Begin by the entryway to the house.  All make the sign of the cross.  The inscription should be made at the appropriate time (listed below) above the doorway in a horizontal line so that it looks like this:  20 C+M+B 15

Leader:  Peace be with this house and all who live here.

The three wise men,

Caspar,                                                    Write the ‘C’

Melchior, and                                           Write the ‘M’

Balthasar                                                  Write the ‘B’

Followed the star of God’s

 Son who became one like us

Two thousand                                         Write the ‘20’

And fifteen years ago.                             Write the ‘15’

May Christ bless our dwelling                 Write the first ‘+’

And remain with us throughout 

the New Year.                                       Write the second ‘+’

May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; and may we seek and serve, in everyone we meet, that same Jesus who is your incarnate Word, now and forever. Amen.  All make the sign of the cross.

One of our inscriptions from last year.

Happy Epiphany!

Reflecting on Faith at the End of the Year

I've found many templates for kids to look back and reflect on this year, but none from a faith perspective.  I want to give my children a chance to look back on their relationships with God, so I've made my own template, and you are welcome to use it with your own family and parish!  I've explained what I had in mind next to each entry below (except for the first 4, they're pretty self-explanatory,) but feel free to use it in a way that works for you.  The square to the right, which is only on the linked page, is for a photo.  You can get to the link for the printable sheet here.

Growing in Faith- 2014  

Name:                                                             

Age:

Favorite Hymn:

Favorite Prayer:

Favorite Bible/Faith Story:  Any favorite story of faith throughout the year.  It could be a true story, something that happened in your family, or something you heard about.  It could also be a story from a book or the Bible.

Religious Milestones:  Any first sacraments received, either by you or another family member.  It could also include a realization about your faith or relationship with God.

Favorite Church Memory:  A memory of a fun time with your church/parish!

A Time When God was There:  A period or event during the year when God was helping you.  Keep in mind, the help might not have been in the way you thought it would come or necessarily wanted, but God was still working in your life nonetheless.

My Goal for Growing in Faith in 2015:  What are your goals for strengthening your faith and your relationship with God in 2015?  For some great ideas, check out this post by Lacy over at Catholic Icing!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Santa looks an awful lot like Saint Nicholas doesn't he?  Some people forget that 'Santa Claus' (Saint Nicholas) was first a bishop!

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas!  Nicholas was a wealthy young man who became the bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey.  He gave what he had to the poor, and had a special care for the welfare of children. He is the patron saint of children and a model and reminder for us to be generous and giving, just as God is generous in giving us His only Son.

How can you be generous and giving this season?

Slow and Steady!

How did the tortoise not get frustrated in his race with the hare?  He had PATIENCE!  He joyfully kept moving forward, even though it was slow and steady, and he reached his goal.  That is how it is with Advent. We keep joyfully moving forward, patiently, calmly waiting for and working towards Jesus!  How are you patiently waiting for Jesus, and working to welcome him into your heart?

A Second for the Spirit: Advent

St. Lucy's name means 'light.'

My 'A Second for the Spirit' flyers give you ideas to nourish the faith of your family in just seconds, because they fit one of two criteria:  1. They really take very little time to accomplish, or 2. They are probably things that you were already doing anyway.  Click here for the Advent edition. It is packed full of ideas on celebrating saint days during Advent.  The flyer includes information on St. Andrew, and you can find a copy of his Christmas novena here, at EWTN (Eternal Word Television.)

Have a wonderful, saint-filled Advent!

Welcome Advent!

One of my favorite memories always happened on the first Sunday of Advent.  I'd walk into church with my mom and brothers and sisters (Dad isn't Catholic) and see the Advent wreath.  It meant it was coming! Christmas!  Christmas with family we didn't see often, Christmas with yummy food we only ate that time of year, Christmas with wonderful surprises under the tree!  Waiting was SO hard, but that wreath reminded me that I only had to wait a little longer.

I hope you realize by now that I had it slightly wrong.  Advent and the wreath are about waiting, but they are not about waiting for the what of Christmas, the parties, food and presents. They are about waiting for the who, Jesus.  It is for Jesus that we prepare during Advent.  For Jesus that we need to make room in our hearts and homes.  For Jesus that we wait joyfully.

How can you help your family focus on preparing for Jesus this Advent?  Perhaps you can help set up an Advent wreath in your home.  You may already have one that you can make a space for, or you can make your own.  Follow this link for my paper plate wreath or this link for a pipe cleaner and bead Advent wreath from Lacy at Catholic Icing! Remind your family to light the wreath each night during Advent, and say 'The Our Father' or another prayer together.

How are you planning to wait for Jesus this Advent?  Let me know in the comments!

Halloween: Quick and Easy Ideas to Celebrate The Vigil of All Saints!

The hardest thing for me about the modern holidays that, at least commercially, seem to start as soon as the kids are back to school, is balancing our fun, secular, American cultural traditions with the religious origins and deeper, richer faith traditions.  Halloween is the perfect example of this.  I have no problem with Trick-or-Treating, since it is a wonderful event that brings the community together in our neighborhood, and is part of the fabric of our culture.

I do want my kids to understand and celebrate that Halloween is much more than a fun holiday for kids, however.  Halloween is actually All Hallow's Eve.  It is the vigil of All Saints Day, a wonderful Solemnity for Catholics.  This is much like Christmas Eve is the Vigil of Christmas.  All Saints is the day that we celebrate the people who have died and are with God in Heaven.  We ask these saints to pray for us, and we try to model their examples of faith and holiness.  Following All Saints Day is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, better known as All Souls, on November 2nd, when we remember all of the people who have died in the faith.  This is a great day to remember family members who have died.

So, with all of the craziness of finding costumes, attending Halloween parties, going trick-or-treating, how do we put it all in perspective and remember these days as the church intends?  I find the activities need to be easy and tie into what we're already doing.  My top 5 list of go-to ideas, which require very little extra work, are below!

Celebrating a Catholic Halloween

1. Remind your kids that this is the vigil of a Catholic holy day.  This one's so basic that it's easy to forget to do it, but kids need to know that Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day.  All Saints is also a holy day of obligation, which means attending Mass.  ***Note: When All Saints falls on a Saturday or Monday, it is not a holy day, but it is still good to try and get to Mass.

2. Carve Jack-o-Lanterns, and when you get to that great moment of lighting your creation and seeing that warm glow radiate and bring life to everything, remind your kids that Jesus is our light of the world.  He lights the darkness and gives us life.  As the days get shorter, Jesus is still a light in the darkness, just like the Jack-o-Lantern is a light on Halloween.

Okay, I know, not exactly a blog-worthy photo, but this is real life...I sometimes forget to remove the coffee mugs!

3. Go Trick-or-treating, and when you are done, say a prayer for all the households you visited, especially for their relatives who have died.  You could offer individual prayers, or pray an 'Our Father' or 'Hail Mary' together.  This is actually a medieval custom of the British Isles, and the origin of trick-or-treating.  Children would visit homes and offer prayers and songs for the dead relatives of the families.  What the youngsters would receive brings me to the next item on my list...

4. Enjoy Soul Cakes, before or after you go out, share soul cakes as a family.  We do this afterwards, after we pray for the families we visited.  Soul cakes were given to children in exchange for their prayers.  They were a spiced, flat cake almost like a cookie, with a cross imprinted.  You can find recipes online in order to do them yourself, or do what I do, which is to get my family a once in awhile treat of doughnuts! They work just as well and are a huge treat around here!  You could add a cross on top as well.

5.  Donate Candy, and explain to your children that the saints are saints because they served God and served other people.  As Catholics, we are called to a life of service.  We have many places around here to donate candy the day after Halloween, and it usually goes to our military personnel serving overseas.  

I hope these ideas inspire you to have a more spiritual Halloween- happy Eve of All Saints!

If you are looking for other Halloween ideas, or an idea for the month of November, I've linked back to previous posts below:

Spooky Saint Stones: http://firstschooloffaith.blogspot.com/2013/10/spooky-saint-stones.html

Remembering Loved Ones:  http://firstschooloffaith.blogspot.com/2013/10/remembering-loved-ones.html