Celebrating Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette

     Our littlest princess has a mouthful for a name:  Mary-Katherine Bernadette Brown.  She is named for Our Lady of Lourdes, Saint Katharine Drexel, and Saint Bernadette.  This means that between her feast days and her birthday, she has 1 celebration per week from February 11th - March 3rd!!! Being the youngest of 6 and a little girl amongst many brothers and one loving big sister, she is beyond doted over.  Having this many feasts right in a row only adds to the fun and she wears the "princess crown" quite happily while she is fussed over and spoiled constantly.   I've mentioned in older posts (here) how much I enjoy watching all the siblings on feast days; how they take extra care to serve and honor and dote on the person who's saint is being celebrated.  Well the past 2 weeks have been no different as we celebrated both Our Lady of Lourdes (February 11) and Saint Bernadette (February 18).  Since these two feast go hand in hand, you could easily do some, or all, of the celebrations on only one of the days, but since Mary-Kate is named after both Our Lady and St. Bernadette, we like to spread the festivities out between the two days.
   
     For anyone who doesn't know the story, Our Lady appeared in Lourdes, France 17 times to a little peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous.  She told Bernadette to dig in the dirt near the grotto in which she appeared and a spring of water came forth from that place.  Many physical healings occurred by those who drank or came into contact with the water.  Many people also had spiritual healing and renewal and came back to the Faith because of the apparitions and healings that occurred.   Many people still visit Lourdes today and many healings still occur.  I visited both Navers, France (where St. Bernadette lived and died as a Sister of Charity) and Lourdes.  I was blessed to pray before the incorrupt body of Bernadette, bathe in the healing waters of Lourdes, and pray the rosary with thousands of other pilgrims in the nightly candlelit processions outside the beautiful basilica that was built next to the grotto where Our Lady appeared in 1858.  It was a most sacred experience and one I will hold dear forever.  I pray to someday be able to bring my little Mary-Katherine Bernadette there to experience the same peace and beauty and holiness from which her name came.

     To honor Our Lady of Lourdes we say a novena the 9 days leading up to her feast day.  We offer it for any and all loved ones in need of healing (both physical and spiritual), as well as for the sanctification of our little Mary-Kate.  Then on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes we go to Mass, eat blueberry french toast casserole for breakfast, and have an all white dinner of chicken or shrimp alfredo.  We also still have some of the Lourdes water from when the hubs and I visited, so we bless all the children and fill all the holy water fonts throughout the house.

     We were so busy enjoying our day, as well Our Lady of Lourdes fell on Thursday this year and Thursdays are our busy nights, that I didn't get any pictures.

     Exactly one week later on February 18th we celebrate Saint Bernadette.  For this feast we watch a short movie about Saint Bernadette and eat "dirt" parfaits.  I did remember to get a few pictures of this.  Sometimes we do a snacky lunch of baguettes, brie, grapes, and hard boiled eggs.  But this year we had a late breakfast, so we did the parfaits for lunch instead and then just had an early dinner.

     Below I have a list of our foods and why we chose them as well as any links to recipes or prayers.

~Overnight Blueberry French Toast Casserole: Blueberries for Our Lady's blue sash that she wore when appearing to St. Bernadette and FRENCH toast because Lourdes is in France.
~Shrimp or Chicken Alfredo: White for Our Lady's purity as she told Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception.
~Dirt Parfaits: These represent the dirt Mary told Bernadette to dig in where the spring of healing waters came forth.  This year my oldest two made these treats completely independently.  They were so proud of themselves and it was a big help to me.  I love having big kids.  They are such a gift!!!
~Baguettes and Brie cheese:  both of these are French and the French love to have snacky-type lunches like this all the time.  It reminds me of my time in France and is easy peasy.  By adding some grapes on the side and a few hard-boiled eggs, it is a delicious and well rounded meal.
~Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes
~St.Bernadette Movie (you could also watch Song of Bernadette, but MK is a little young for that yet)


I love teaching my kids about the Saints and their love for Our Lord!  Making it fun and tangible through delicious food just makes it even better!  May God Bless you and your family...and as always....Happy Feasting!!!

Ready to "dig in" to our "dirt" parfaits while watching our St.Bernadette movie

How we live Advent and PREPARE for the birth of the King of Kings!!!

This post was built over many many years of trying different things and tweaking them to fit our family.  There are lots of things here we never could have done with just littles.  But since it has been an organic growth,  the older kids can now help with a lot of it and the little kids, while they don't understand a lot of things, they are excited by  everyone else's excitement and love the whole experience, and eventually they will come to understand what it all means. 

Advent used to be a time where I was stressed; trying to do too  much....trying to do it all....wanting to make Advent "perfect" for teaching my children about the birth of Christ.  Thank goodness, over time God whacked me on the head and showed me that Advent is really about quieting our hearts and minds (be more like the Blessed Mother maybe, who "pondered all these things in her heart") and preparing! It has since become my most favorite season of the liturgical year.  I really feel like our traditions and their slow progression helps us to quiet ourselves and really focus on preparing so that come Christmas we can bust out the CELEBRATING!!!!

Without further adieu, here is the "breakdown" of how we live the season of Advent in our house:

Week 1: 

~Put out all Nativities (manger and animals only)
~ Put out and light 1st candle of advent wreath
~Hang advent calendar if we are using one this year
~Place Mary and Joseph out upstairs to start their journey to Bethlehem (we move them closer to the Nativity each Sunday of Advent)
~Every person chooses a sacrifice or "gift" they want to work on throughout Advent (this is their gift for baby Jesus).  We write them down and place them in a box and wrap it.  We often read the book, "The Littlest Angel" in the evening before we do this activity to help us get our minds and hearts in the right place for really giving Jesus a gift that is from our heart.  *(see note below)

Week 2:

~Prepare our insides (hearts and homes)....start decorating inside the house (indoor garland, stockings, etc).
~Continue lighting advent wreath...this week light 2 candles
~Move Mary and Joseph closer to the Nativity
~Since this is our lightest week, I usually address and mail my Christmas cards this week

Week 3: 

~Gaudete Sunday (which also means hope or rejoice) we put up and light our outside lights and put up and light our tree (no ornaments yet)
~Also light advent wreath...3 candles this week
~This week begins the O Antiphons leading up to the birth of Christ.

         *We read one antiphon each day at dinner after we light our advent wreath and sing the verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel.  

        *We hang an O Antiphon ornament (which we made several years ago) on the tree each night for the corresponding Antiphon.  We also hang a bigger O Antiphon card above our sliding glass door in  our kitchen (doing it this way with the visual really helps to build the anticipation for the coming of the Christ child).  

~Move Mary and Joseph even closer to the manger

Week 4: 

~Final preparations (this may be some baking and food prep)
~Continue O Antiphons
~Light 4th candle in Advent wreath
~Move Mary and Joseph to somewhere in sight of the manger
~Decorate tree on Christmas Eve while listening to Handel's Messiah

*Note:  We also keep the practice of "making the most warm and cozy bed of hay possible" for the Baby Jesus.  We have a bag of straw that we keep behind our manger (which is displayed in our kitchen) and throughout advent when our kids are caught being good or kind or making sacrifices, they can add straw to the manger, so that by Christmas Eve the manger is over flowing.  On Christmas Eve morning we place Mary and Joseph in the stable.  Then, after Midnight Mass we place baby Jesus in on the warm bed of straw we built throughout Advent and present him with our present that we prepared in week 1.  We kneel before the Manger and pray that our gift is made worthy for the King of Kings who is the greatest of all gifts (the hubs leads this prayer).

We have built these traditions over the years and they are so near and dear to my heart.   I love the slow preparation which builds anticipation and mimics the preparation you do when welcoming a new baby.  It takes time.  Doing it this way also helps us not to get overwhelmed because it doesn't all have to be done at once, and we really enjoy the season of Advent.  We are then prepared to really celebrate come Christmas.  I will share what we do for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas in another post.

Below are pictures I dug up from past years to help give a little visual. I wish I had better ones.  I will work on getting better pictures to illustrate these traditions as we live them this Advent and add them to the post for next year.  It is my hope that by recording these traditions they will inspire others, but mostly that they will be all together in a safe place for me to be able to draw upon them every year, and eventually pass them down to my children as they grow up and go out into the world and build their own families and traditions.

Our Advent wreath during the 4th week of Advent

The stockings were hung from the banister with care....

Gaudete Sunday
Everything lighted (no decorations on the tree yet)

All of the O Antiphons

Me and my girls 2 years ago next to our Nativity after Midnight Mass
Notice how stuffed with straw it is. 

~Thanks for stopping by!~

 May Our Lord bless your family's preparations during this most blessed season.  

Celebrating the Feast of St. John Paul II

Pope Saint John Paul II is "my pope."  He became pope when I was a mere 3 months old and remained pope until I was 27 and pregnant with my 3rd child.  He was all I knew for most of my life, and even more importantly, he was pope when I became Catholic at the age of 17.  When I studied abroad I attended a papal Mass and was blessed by him.  I still have several items from that special day that were blessed by him as well.

What makes him even more near and dear to my heart is his teachings on marriage and family.  While in college, I delved into all things Catholic.  I was eager to learn anything and everything about our Faith.  It was the most profound stuff I had ever read.  It made everything about life make sense.  And when I stumbled upon the teachings on marriage and family life, it became my passion and the only topic I wanted to read about.  Any time I could do a paper on it, I did.  From the encyclicals, Familiaris Consortio and Humanae Vitae, to Theology of the Body and Love and Responsibility, my fire was fueled.  After graduating with my undergrad in Theology and a minor in Sociology, I was headed to the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family Studies in Washington DC to study all the teachings on marriage and family.  Then the plan was to go on and get my degree in counseling and become a marriage and family counselor.

Attending the JPII Institute never came to fruition, because even though I was accepted, at the time they didn't offer any financial assistance. Since I couldn't afford to take out more loans and pile up more debt, I had to defer my plan for a while.  I continued reading on my own, and got a job as a youth minister and taught teens about the beauty of human sexuality and the beautiful plan for marriage and family as set forth by God and taught through the Church.  I had still hoped to attend the graduate school in the future, but God's plans are not my plans, and I got married and started a family. Instead of learning about marriage and family in the classroom led by a prestigious professor, I have been learning about it in the classroom of life.  Which has probably been a better teacher anyway.

Of all the books I have read, Love and Responsibility had the deepest and most profound effect on me.  St. JPII wrote it before he became pope, when he was still just Karol Wojtyla. Throw in the fact that he is polish as am I (my paternal grandfather was polish) and it is like our spiritual friendship was divinely inspired.  So on this feast that holds a special place in my heart, we celebrate by feasting on traditional Polish food that I grew up enjoying: pierogies and kielbasa.  We also pray this very special and beautiful prayer for marriage and the family by Pope Saint John Paul II himself.

~Amen~

May God bless your marriage and family life.  May we pray through the intercession of St John Paul II for the strengthening of all marriages, for as St. John Paul II himself once said:

If you have never made pirogies and kielbasa, they are oh so easy and delicious.
Here is a link: http://www.food.com/recipe/kielbasa-with-pierogies-caramelized-onions-493886
I don't make the sauce.  I just grill up my kielbasa and serve with ground mustard for dipping.  But either way it is sure to be delicious!!! Oh, and don't forget the sour cream for the pierogies!

I will leave you with this beautiful exchange between JPII and a dear mother friend of his.  It shows just how much love, respect, and understanding he had for us in our vocation.  Enjoy.  http://catholicmom.com/2015/10/07/a-pope-nails-parenthood-the-kingdom-of-irrationality
And a link to a printable of one of my favorite quotes on JPII about the family from the blog, Catholic All Year:
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzINSs2IJfApemVSZFdVamkzN3c/view

Happy Feasting

 
 Pope St. John Paul II, Pray for Us!!!


Here is our family's feast in pictures:

Sautéing the onions in butter
before adding the pierogies

finished pierogies

My sweet helper grilling up the kielbasa

The table all set and ready
my kids couldn't wait to eat, so I made them duck down while I took the pic
(see their backs sticking up) LOL

all my favorite faces ready to FEAST!

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Today is the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.  She was a French nun who lived in 17th century.  It is to her, whom Jesus shared His Sacred Heart.  Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and began showing her how much He loves all of us.  He wanted her to spread devotion to his Sacred Heart.  Despite much trial and many rebukes, she did her best to spread the devotion and carry our Our Lord's wish.
There is so much to talk about when talking about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  At it's simplest, the image shows us how His heart beats with love for us.  That image alone can be contemplated for an incalculable amount of time.  There are many other devotions and promises attached to the Sacred Heart.  You can learn more about those here: http://www.fisheaters.com/sh.html

In our house today, in honor of St. Margaret Mary, we will read a short biography of her life, study and discuss the image of the Sacred Heart, and try very hard to be kind to one another, trust each other in all situations, and compliment rather than mock or tear down since Margaret Mary suffered so much unkindness and so many lacked faith that Christ had truly appeared to her and given her His message of love.  We are also going to feast on French Toast (since Margaret Mary was from France) topped with heart-shaped strawberries to remind us of the love of our Lord's most Sacred Heart. (links and pictures below)

May God Bless your family and your domestic church. 

May you strive to love God more and live more deeply His truth in your own homes. 

Link to tutorial on how to make strawberry hearts:
http://www.californiastrawberries.com/in_the_kitchen/detail/2013/02/how_to_make_fresh_strawberry_hearts

Since we are a mostly clean-eating house, this is the french toast recipe we are using:

St. Theresa of Avila Fortresses

I think I have mentioned before that I spent a semester of college abroad in the most breathtaking little town in the Austrian Alps.  We stayed in an old, Carthusian monastery and it was pretty much the best thing ever.  Here are the pics to prove it.

Here it is in all its' glory.
Could it be more beautiful, nestled in the mountains???

This picture is from the Advent Market.
The townspeople set up their carts and sell their wares in our courtyard
all throughout the Advent season.
We can buy brats, and gluvine, and all sorts of glorious treats.
It was magical.

If those pics aren't enough, we also were given three-day weekends every weekend so that we could travel.  We also had two 10-day trips.  One was with the school to Rome and Assisi.  The other one we could venture out on our own to wherever we could dream to (and afford) go.  It. was. Awesome!
Anyway....lest I brag any more, that is not really what this is what this post is about.  But without this experience, this post would most likely not exist.

Today is the feast of St. Theresa of Avila.  And on my 10-day excursion, I was blessed to visit the city of Avila.  Next to Assisi,  Avila was my favorite pilgrimage city.  Not because of the experience I had there per-say, but because the city itself was absolutely incredible.  It was built as a fortressed city to protect if from invasions back in the day (I'm not a history buff, so excuse my lack of dates and names of the bad guys) and it is still completely in tact!  I remember walking up the hill from the train station at dawn and being awe-struck by the turrets and walls surrounding the outside of the city.  I had pictured crumbling walls.  And these walls were far from crumbling.  They look like they were built yesterday.  Then I was able to go into the city (which still has cobblestone streets...which add to the ambiance of the whole thing.....it's like stepping into a medieval times novel) and celebrate Mass at the basilica of St. Theresa.  Especially in the misty morning, I felt transported walking those streets.  I could picture St. Theresa walking along them secretly going to visit her friend St. John of the Cross to tell him something important.

Walking these streets (and those in other cities), seeing where saints lived and died, touching the history of the Church is what really transformed my heart and brought about the depth of my conversion to Christ and His Church.  It became so much more real to me and showed me how it had stood the test of time through persecution after persecution.  It gave me courage to live and fight for God and the Faith.  It showed me that truly, "the gates of Hell would not prevail against it."

So, today as we read the saint of the day at prayer time, I pulled out my old scrapbook from my European adventure and showed my kids the pictures of my trip to Avila.  We talked about her life and the city and made her life more real to them.  Then I challenged them to build their own "Avila," their own fortressed city that they could fit into.  Bringing the lives of the saints to life for them.  Making their faith tangible.....it is my greatest prayer that these things will imprint their hearts and their minds and take deep root so that their love for God, His Church, and the Truth will blossom and grow until they one day gain Heaven.

I leave you with a few photos of my adventures in Avila and my children's version.  May God bless your day and your family.

A collection of pics of the walls of the city,
me posing like only a college kid can,
and the basilica of St. Theresa of Avila where we celebrated Mass.

The kids and their "Avila"
They had a blast building it and were very proud of the finished product.

Beautiful and wise words from today's saint


***Update:  After I posted this, it came to me just how perfect this activity was for starting a discussion comparing the fortress built around the city of Avila to the symbolic fortress we should be building around our souls to protect it from sin.  So at lunch, we talked about it and then compared each brick of their creation to what it could represent as a symbolic brick to keep our souls free from sin.  It ended up being a really deep and beautiful discussion.  Even the 2 and 4 year old joined in.  :)

**** If you are looking for a Spanish themed food to go with this feast day, here is a quick and easy empanada recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-empanadas-recipe.html

Easy Treats to Celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary

Tomorrow (October 7th) is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  While brainstorming ideas on how to celebrate with my fam, I came up with this easy and super cute treat idea: one-decade grape rosary treats!!!

All you need is the following:

~grapes (red or green)

~dental floss

~a needle or paper clip (unfolded)

~peanut butter (or nut butter of your choosing)

~pretzel sticks or rods

Our completed one-decade grape rosary!
I would recommend pretzel rods for the cross, but I forgot them at the store last night.

Our floss "needle" paperclips.
I just tied the string to the end and we laced the grapes right up.
Easy peasy!!!

Break off a strand of the dental floss and tie one end to your needle or opened paper clip.  Lace through 10 grapes.  Cut the floss leaving a little extra string on both ends.  Break a pretzel rod into two pieces and using the peanut butter, glue together to form a cross.  Place the cross at the end of the strips (I didn't tie anything since they are just going to pull everything off to eat it.  Why make more work for yourself or your kids).

My bigger kids (7 and up) could do this themselves.  The 4 and 2 year old needed a little supervision and help.  Then, at snack time you can say a decade of the rosary....one grape at a time.  What a fun way to celebrate and incorporate praying the rosary (especially with little ones)!!!

Hope you enjoy!  

Happy feasting!!!!

Let's Celebrate the Guardian Angels

It has long been a practice of Christians that we each have been gifted with a guardian angel.  Throughout history angels have guided and protected human beings.  Angels delivered messages from God (Annunciation, twice to St. Joseph, Tobias, and more).  They have also protected people from danger and rescued them (St. Peter was freed and led out of prison by an angel).

Today is the feast of the Guardian Angels, added to the calendar of saints by Pope Paul V in 1608.  It is a comfort to know that we have the blessing of our own guardian angel walking through life's ups and downs with us, protecting and guiding us.  So today we celebrate them.

Our family invokes the protection of our guardian angels daily during our morning prayers.  Today we said the prayer more slowly and tried to focus on the words and truly appreciate the gift our guardian angels are to each and every one of us.

Below is the guardian angel prayer and a few pics of our celebratory lunch (shout out to Suzy Younger for the idea for the pancake angels).

Prayer:

Angel of God my guardian dear,

to whom God's love commits me here,

Ever this day be at my side

to light, to guard, to rule, to guide.

Amen

Everyone's guardian angel pancakes

Pancake angel on a cloud of whipped cream and a banana halo

We served these with a side of scrambled eggs and extra bananas to top.  The rest of the pancakes I made as regular pancakes.  I used a ziplock bag with a little hole snipped in the corner.  Next time I think I will bust out my cake decorating supplies for better control and accuracy.  But these were easy, great for a meatless Friday meal, and highly approved by all the kids.  Happy Feasting!!!

Celebrating Our Friends, the Saints...on the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux

Today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, often known as, "The Little Flower."  She was my first "saint friend."  I wasn't always Catholic, you see.  I converted at the age of 17 at the request of my father, who had fallen away from the Church, and then found his way home again, and wanted to bring his whole family into the fullness of Truth.

When I first became Catholic I didn't understand all that it meant, and I still wasn't sure about the saints and Mary.  Not that I didn't think they were important in some way, but I didn't quite understand their roles.  Somewhere in my late teens, after I was in college, I started to delve deeper into the study of Catholicism and tried to really understand and own it for myself.   Once I did, I discovered the gift and beauty of the saints... people who have gone before us and lived life with all the struggles that we do (and often more), yet they loved God above all else and strove with their whole being to serve Him in this life.  They can help to teach us how to love and serve God better in our own lives.  They can pray for us from Heaven.  They are our friends and confidants....those people we look up to because we can see through their lives that they have a wisdom and understanding that we want to gain.

St. Therese of Lisieux was the first among these holy men and women that touched my heart.  She was the first saint that I felt I could understand and relate to.  She was simple.  And I often felt (and still feel) simple in the way that I know, love, and serve God.  Her love for God was great, but she wasn't a master scholar and she was able to teach me about God and loving Him in a way that I understood.  My love for her and all that she taught me (and still teaches me) about loving God was so strong that I took a pilgrimage to her home in Lisieux, France, bought a medal of her and had it blessed by Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II), and said that I would name my first born daughter (if I were to be blessed with one) after her.

And here I am, more than 18 years later celebrating this beautiful woman and my daughter (Abigail Therese).  I still have the medal (which I wear regularly), and my daughter doesn't know it, but I will be presenting it to her on her First Holy Communion this May.  It will be emotional as that medal has been so near and dear to me, but I know she will treasure it as much as I have, and I pray that her love for St. Therese and for Our Lord will grow as she grows.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, since today is the feast of St. Therese (and we Catholics love a good celebration) and Abigail has her as a namesake, we celebrate much like we would a birthday.  We want to honor the Saint for whom we have named our child and make our children realize just how important a gift our faith and the saints are.  On these feasts we like to make the celebration symbolic (another Catholic thing....we are all about symbols and making things more tangible).  So, for the past 9 days leading up to the feast we have been offering special prayers (called a novena) asking St. Therese to pray to Our Lord for Abigail and any other special intention we may have at this time.  Then today, it culminates with going to Mass and eating something special that is  somehow related to that saint's life.

My sweet girl is a sucker for a fancy tea party.  So I surprised her this year and went all out.  Here is our celebration in pictures.

My little beauty amidst the spread

"heavenly clouds" cupcakes
The icing on these carrot cake cupcakes (Abby's favorite) was perfect.
It was like a gift from above finding them at the grocery store. 

"flower finger sandwiches"
I thought (incorrectly) that I had a flower cookie cutter.  When I realized I did not, I used a knife and did my best.  We only got 3 actual flowers....the rest are just scraps. (reality....but now I know what I need to order for next year)

"rose cookies"
We have been buying these cookies for several years now (Pepperidge Farm thumbprint cookies).
The design on the outer rim coupled with the jelly filling is a cute and easy way to do flower cookies.

"Jesus kisses"
Hershey kisses with a quote from St. Therese about how she felt when she received Jesus in her First Holy Communion.

I needed something healthy, so I cut up veggies and added some hummus and ranch dip.
Then I referenced the "hard" and"bitter" little sacrifices and crosses St. Therese bore with joy and love for God. I used this as an opportunity to talk about any examples they remembered from any of the stories we have read about her life.

The whole crew!
I think what I love most about these feast days is how excited all the kids get to help put together the treats for the person being honored.  Everyone pitches in and enjoys serving and doting on whomever's feast day it may be.  Abby was sent to the basement with a sibling of her choosing and the rest of us worked hard to get everything set for her.  The older boys came up with making the name placards all themselves, saying, "Abby loves things extra fancy.  Let's make name cards for everyone's places."  They even used fancy handwriting and the scalloped-edged scissors.  No detail was spared.  <3

There you have it....how our family celebrates the feast of St. Therese and tries to live the liturgical year.  Maybe this can inspire you in your own celebrations.  Thanks for stopping by!  

St. Therese of Lisieux, Pray for us!!!