Our "Catholic" Week...

Well, minus one day, you'll get the idea :0)

I noticed a few weeks ago that this week was to be Catholic Schools week and, being a Catholic school (with fewer students and better food ;0) ) we decided to take part. I spent last weekend talking to DH (aka principal of said school) and we agreed that "7" was a good target. As always, I over shot but we got some really good lessons in and, for me, that's what counts.

Our focus for the week was "What makes us Catholic?" so the "7" included things like: Sacraments; Gifts of the Holy Spirit; Cardinal and Theological Virtues; Seven Saints who had something to do with Catholic education. As I said, way overshot...still.

Sacraments

This one was really fun. We tried to do one each day. Sunday was First Communion to prepare for our family-friendly Adoration on Monday. We found this most excellent craft online (I'm not sure so I'm just going to say, pretty much everything we did this week came from Look to Him and be radiant..she has some really amazing stuff there). For the Eucharist/Adoration, we made a nice monstrance, complete with a very special host. The host looked like all hosts from the outside but when it was opened, we were reminded of Who dwells within each consecrated host. I think it definitely helped get the point across...Adoration seemed to go more smoothly.

Most of the kids have some idea about the Sacraments but revisiting them all in one week was a good refresher. There was a lot of good discussion about the different symbols, whom was eligible for what, etc. After discovering our dear deacon was one of the few people we knew who had/was eligible for all seven, the kids got to work on a "sacrament superstar" card to congratulate him on the supreme achievement. He probably thinks we're nuts like everyone else. LOL

Saints 

We covered Aquinas (of course) and St. John Bosco (yes, do you know he stopped at the second-hand store to get clothing before entering the seminary?) but we were also happy to end up celebrating some wonderful Saints just by following along with the calendar. I already covered St. Angela Merici, who had a call to educate poor girls in hopes of spreading the Catholic faith to families. We also had St. Blaise and St. Agatha this week. The first doesn't have much to do with Catholic education but it was a good reason to wake up early and attend Mass as a family (never underestimate the throat blessing!). St. Agatha is a wonderful patron for young girls, especially in this world. She maintained her purity to death. Added bonus...red velvet cupcakes and seeing the priests in red vestments twice in one week! (little man loves them both)

 Virtues 

Again, LTHABR has some fantastic information for those looking to cover the Cardinal (Moral) and Theological virtues. We covered one a day, complete with coloring sheet, and hung them up to remind us of what we should follow as we go through the world. 

The Cardinal 4...don't take extra meaning from Temperance being smaller, it just happened that way.

 Works of Mercy

Well, it is a Jubilee Year...actually we only passed over these when they happened so I can't count them as part of the lesson. Still, it's kind of cool that there are 7 Corporal and 7 Spiritual.

Tomorrow we will be practicing one of the Corporal works by making valentines for inmates as part of our ccd program (yes, we do have the best dre...no, you can't have her). I was also blessed to "pray for the living and the dead" on my Tuesday run downtown. I ended up at St. Mary's at the point because, you know, I like to end at a church just in case my heart decides to give out. It was beautiful as usual and I took a minute to gather myself before I went in.

I stumped DH with "Guess the Church" on this one ;0)

Inside was dark and quiet and lovely. I gravitated to the Marian shrine which is usually not an option with my helpful entourage. I prayed and, looking at the inscription, took time to light 4 little candles, one each to remember our two little ones in heaven and two others from a family very dear to us. It was a nice prayer, surrounded by images of Our Lady with them, sharing all the glories of heaven together. 

"See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name. " Beautiful

Pray for us, sweet little ones.

Today was Step Up and another lovely afternoon spent with Mr. G. I so enjoy our time together and he's even getting a bit better with Mass (I think the red vestments help). He's growing so quickly and asking so many questions...I think that covers "instructing the ignorant". 

We even walked through the actual Holy Door this time ;0) Poor tiny heard the bells and thought his class was starting without him.

All-in-all a very blessed week full of learning why we are Catholic and what things make it so. I think we even managed a rosary on all but one of the days. Now I assign them each a mystery and on their day they get to assign each of the decades...it's a power that has proven quite motivating!

Wishing you all rest this weekend. Enjoy the Superbowl for next week is Lent ;0) We are blessed.