First Saturday

Happy First Saturday!  A few months ago I started doing the Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I have seen so many blessings in our lives since I started.  Here is the prayer:

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world. Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully. We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home. Amen. --Venerable Pope Pius XII

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart became even more popular after Mary appeared at Fatima, Portugal to the three young shepherd children in 1917 (before the Russian Revolution).   She asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart to prevent the spread of "the errors of Russia." Eight years later, in 1925, Mary appeared to one of the visionaries -- Lucia, who'd since become a nun -- and requested reparations for the various ways in which her Immaculate Heart was offended -- such as attacks against her Immaculate Conception, virginity and divine maternity, and for those who teach their children contempt of Mary or who insult her by desecrating her images.

To make these reparations, she asked that we do 5 things, all with the intention of making reparation to her Immaculate Heart: 

• recite at least Five Decades of the Rosary every day
• wear the Brown Scapular
• offer our daily duty to God as an act of sacrifice (ie., make the Morning Offering)
• make Five First Saturdays of Reparation to Her Immaculate Heart (see below)
• the Pope, in union with all the bishops of the world, must consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart. Russia would be converted through this means, and a period of peace to be given to the world. If this is not done (and it hasn't been done), Russia will "spread her errors throughout the world." This consecration must be of Russia -- not "the world," but Russiaby name.

The "First Saturdays of Reparation" was not a new devotion, but it was even more popularized after Our Lady appeared at Fatima. It consists of, on the first Saturday of each month for five consecutive months: 

• going to Confession (may be 8 days before the Saturday as long as one stays in a state of grace)
• receiving the Eucharist
• praying 5 decades of the Rosary, including the Fatima Prayer
• "keeping her company" for 15 minutes while meditating on all of the Mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to her. This can be done by reading Scripture or other writings relevant to the Mysteries, meditating on pictures of the Mysteries, or simple meditation.

The promise given by Mary to those who make the First Saturday devotion is her assistance at the hour of their death.

Feast of All Souls

The Feast of All Souls has been celebrated since the eleventh century.  Catholics believe that we are all united in a spiritual bond.  The faithful on earth, the Saints in Heaven, and the souls in Purgatory.


Through prayer we communicate,  since we never die, but live forever through the death and resurrection of Christ.   As believers on earth, we can pray to and for our brethren who are in Heaven or Purgatory. Those in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves, so we need to remember to pray for them. 

On All Souls Day we can remember St. Gertrude the Great.  She is invoked for souls in purgatory and for living sinners. Our Lord told St. Gertrude that the following prayer would release 1000 souls from purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners as well.

Prayer

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

How we celebrated:

We went to Mass in the morning and we made a poster in remembrance of those that have passed from this world before us.  We hung the poster in our kitchen so we could remember to pray for the souls of those we know, love, and care for.

The Girls with the poster they made.

Feast of All Saints

Today is the Feast of All Saints, which is celebrated every November 1. It was originally called The Feast of All Martyrs and was celebrated on May 13. The words “martyr” and “saint” originally meant basically the same thing — someone who is a witness to Christ even unto death.  The date was changed to November 1st in the ninth century by Pope Gregory IV.

In 1484 Pope Sixtus IV established November 1 as a holy day of obligation. The vigil for this feast day was known as “All Hallow’s Eve,” today called by its shorter version. Hallowed means holy (as in “hallowed be Thy name”). The abbreviated name for evening became “e’en” and this is where we get the name “Halloween.”

Instead of focusing on the scary aspects of the "Halloween" that our modern culture celebrates, let us think about those who have gone before us.  The Saints that have persevered in holiness and faithfulness, setting before us the way unto salvation of our souls. By celebrating them and learning about them, we can  teach our children about true heros that they can look up to and model their lives after.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, anoint us with the oil of joyfulness in the midst of our sufferings and the gift of perseverance during persecution, that we may run the race of those saints who have gone before us, keeping our eyes on the crown of glory and eternity with You. Amen.

How we celebrated:

We went to Mass.  Our homeschool group had an All Saints Party.  It was so much fun for the children and parents alike.  The Saints paraded in while singing "When the Saints go Marching In"  The younger children played a game of guess the Saint.  They dressed in costume and gave 3 facts about their Saint and the other children tried to guess who they were.  After that the 5th and 6th graders acted out a scene from the life of St. Clare.  It was very dramatic and moving.  The 7th and 8th graders decorated a portion of the gym as heaven and dressed as Angels and Saints so the younger grades could take a "walk through heaven."  After this there were different booths and games.  I enjoyed setting up and managing the St. Martha's Bakery Booth - Decorating Holy Cookies.  The booth was a big hit and while most of the "Holy" cookies seemed to be more of an attempt to pile the most icing on a cookie, there were a few that stood out.  In particular a Santa Hat made by a second grader, a Dove made by a 5th grader, and one profound lad explained to me that his cookie with yellow, white, and red squiggly icing depicted heaven, earth and hell.  Pretty profound for a cookie!

 St. Sophia - my martyr and St. Abigail - my little Queen

 Our Lady of Guadalupe

 My sweet little Blessed Theresa of Calcutta (thanks to Lacy at Catholic Icing for the idea!)

 My Guardian Angel during the walk through Heaven

 St. Martha's Bakery Booth - We decorate Holy Cookies!

All Hallows Eve aka Halloween

We do allow our little Saints to Trick-or-Treat around the neighborhood.  Since dressing up is part of a typical day around here, we may as well go visiting and collect candy while we are at it!  I don't let them dress in scary, evil, or immodest costumes - we just try and make it fun.

This year Miss Dramatic went out with her good friends from our homeschool program.  We missed her, but she had a lot of fun and it was nice to go at a slower pace with the younger girls.  I don't have the stamina of a 13 year old girl on a mission for candy!  She and her compadres decided to dress in Theme and chose Alice in Wonderland.  Miss Dramatic was Alice...

Miss Dramatic was Alice...

Miss Musical was the Angel Gabriel.  She wanted to be the one who announced the coming of our Lord to Mary.  

Miss Comedian was her favorite story book character - Ladybug Girl.  She even had Ladybug Girls's fearless sidekick and dog, Bingo.

Miss Busy was a Care Bear.  She calls all stuffed bears Care Bears and someone was kind enough to give us this costume.  It looked a bit like the bear was eating her head, but she was still cute!

The Baby was a pumpkin....ofcourse.  Aren't most babies pumpkins?  It is really an adorable costume for a baby.  This one was Miss Busy's just a couple years ago.

The four younger girls right before we met up with some neighbors to get some treats - no tricking involved.