Christmas Play

Miss Musical brought tears to my eyes today in the Nativity play.  She was absolutely precious as Mary.  The look of pure joy on her face was unmistakeable and she did an excellent job with her lines.  The Sisters told us that she was the perfect Mary.


Miss Comedian was an absolutely adorable angel.....from the audience.  She was a little too shy to go on stage.

Angel and Mary

The Annunciation

Mary, Joseph, and the donkey

Miss Dramatic did a great job singing.

Las Posadas

Las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.  Las Posadas has origins in Spain but these days it is primarily celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of the Southwestern United States.


It is a nine-day celebration lasts from December 16 to Christmas Eve (Noche Buena or "Holy Night") and includes a candle-lit procession of children and parents reenacting Mary and Joseph's journey through Bethlehem.

Today at our Homeschool enrichment day, the girls participated in an abbreviated version of Las posadas that culminated in an Advent/Christmas party.  It was beautiful!  Mary and Joseph knocked on each classroom door and there was a dialog back and forth.  They asked for shelter and were turned away.  After the dialog, those in the classroom joined Mary and Joseph as they processed to the next classroom.  While they were processing, they sang Silent Night.  It was really lovely and the children were really excited to be a part of it.  

The party was fun too.  The kids had pizza and everyone brought a treat to share.  I feel very blessed to be involved with such a caring, faith filled community. 

Christmas Play

Miss Musical was asked to be Mary in a play today.  She is beyond excited!  It is being done by the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa's Sisters) in their outreach ministry.  We got a call from the Music teacher at our homeschool co-op asking if my family could participate.  I was thrilled to volunteer the girls.  :)  As soon as we walked in, one of the sisters pointed to Miss Musical and said "I want her to be Mary."  She was so excited.  She told me on the way there that she wanted to be Mary and I told her that we would be happy with whatever part we were able to play - no matter how small.

She has been practicing her lines and is really looking forward to the performance this weekend.  Miss Dramatic will be singing and Miss Comedian may be an Angel.  She was a little too shy to practice with the other children but I think she really wants to do it.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to post next weekend!

Feast of Juan Diego

I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She seems to have her hand in my life lately and I find her almost everywhere I go.  See here.  Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Juan Diego.  I just love this story.

On December 9th, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.   Juan Diego, a recent convert to the Catholic faith, was walking to attend the early morning Mass in Mexico City. Passing by Tepeyac Hill he heard the beautiful singing of birds. Looking to see where the music was coming from, he heard a young woman's voice calling his name.  When he reached the top of the hill, he saw a radiant woman clothed in splendid light - the Ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God. She told Juan Diego that she wanted him to be her special messenger to the Bishop of Mexico City. Juan was to tell the bishop that Our Lady wanted a church to be built where she could manifest her Son and hear the petitions of her spiritual children.


The bishop was reluctant to see Juan, but he was finally granted an audience with Franciscan Bishop Fray Juan Zumarraga. The bishop didn't initially believe Juan Diego and asked him to return another day. Secretly, the bishop had been invoking the intercession of the Mother of God for help. The Spaniards had recently conquered the native Aztec people and were treating them harshly. Very few were willing to abandon their pagan gods and embrace the religion of their new dictators. All of this weighed heavy on the heart of Bishop Zumarraga, whom history now knows as the "Protector of the Native People." He wondered if Juan Diego's story was the answer to his prayers.

Dejected, Juan returned to Tepeyac and asked Our Lady to use someone else more worthy than himself. She assured him that he was personally chosen to be her ambassador. The next day he returned to plead with the bishop. Though impressed by Juan's persistence, he was still unsure. He sent Juan to tell the Lady he needed a sign in order to know if it was truly her.

Upon hearing the bishop's request, Our Lady told Juan to return the next day and she would give him the sign he needed. Returning home, Juan found his uncle ill and close to death. Instead of returning the next day, Juan stayed home and took care of his ailing uncle. Early on December 12th, Juan rushed to Mexico City in order to get a priest to administer the last rites to his dying uncle. He went around the back of Tepeyac Hill in order to avoid Our Lady whom he felt would surely understand.  Our Lady met him anyway and told him that his uncle was already healed. He learned later that Our Lady had appeared to his uncle, and he was restored to health. Our Lady urged Juan to go to the top of the hill were he would find flowers miraculously growing. Juan was surprised to to see so many vibrant flowers during the frosty time of the year. He cut them and gathered them in his tilma (cloak). Our Lady arranged the flowers with her own hands, rolled up the tilma and ordered Juan not to open his tilma until he was in the presence of the bishop.

Juan had a difficult time getting an audience with the bishop, but he was finally allowed in and  after recounting every detail of his conversation with Our Lady, he let down his tilma and the flowers fell to the floor. Juan was surprised when everyone in the room also fell to the floor on their knees. The image of Our Lady had miraculously appeared on Juan's tilma! Repenting for his unbelief with abundant tears, Bishop Juan Zumarraga promised to build the shrine that Our Lady had requested.

Soon the church was built and the holy image transferred. The story spread and people began to stream in to see the heavenly image and hear the story from Juan Diego. Many miracles starting happening and in the following years some 10 million were baptized and converted to the Jesus Christ!

Prayer to St, Juan Diego:

You who were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as an instrument to show your people and the world that the way of Christianity is one of love, compassion, understanding, values, sacrifices, repentance of our sins, appreciation and respect for God’s creation, and most of all one of humility and obedience;

You whom we know is now in the Kingdom of the Lord and close to our Mother;

Be our angel and protect us, stay with us as we struggle in this modern life often not knowing where to set our priorities;

Help us to pray to our God to obtain the gifts of the Holy Spirit and use them for the good of humanity and the good of our Church, through the Heart of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Heart of Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception

What is the Immaculate Conception?

Although many non-Catholics (and even some Catholics) believe that this refers to our Lord Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit, it actually refers to the conception of Mary.  Catholics believe that God intervened in the conception of Mary and created her without the stain of original sin.  How else could she be pure enough to give birth to our Lord?  

Prayer:

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for thy Son, we beseech thee that, as by the foreseen death of this, thy Son, thou didst preserve her from all stain, so too thou wouldst permit us, purified through her intercession, to come unto thee.  Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Kid-ism of the Day

Miss Musical:  "One of the chocolate coins that I got from St. Nicholas says Elizabeth on it."

Me:  "That is Queen Elizabeth.  We have a President here in the United States, but in England they have a Queen."

Miss Musical:  "Well Mary is our Queen.  She is Queen of Heaven and Earth."

<3  She *gets* it!  Better than I do sometimes!!  :)