5 (Last-Minute) Ways to Celebrate the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church - A New Universal Feast Day

Have you heard?  Earlier this year, the Pope decreed that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church will be universally celebrated in the Roman Calender on the day after Pentecost.

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If you'd like to celebrate this feast day day in your own Domestic Church, here are a handful of ideas we'll be enjoying.

(1) Challenge Ourselves to Be More Like Mama Mary

Fr. John A. Hardon wrote a wonderful article at The Real Presence Association about Mary, Mother of the Church. In it, he shared three ideas for how each of us might ideas pattern our lives after Mary and her maternal love, which I will be presenting to my children with this dual-challenge:

• Might we stay alert to one another's needs today, and act in haste to come to one another's aid?

• Who do we know who is suffering physically or spiritually right now and what can we do right now to help alleviate their pain?

We will also pray the beautiful prayer that Fr. John A. Hardon shared in his article, and, late in the day, use ideas from it as a part of a bedtime examen of sorts:

• Did I extend loving and tender sympathy to others who might have needed it today? 

• Were my thoughts kind? 

• Was my speech gentle?

• Did I remain patient and cheerful? 

We will also spend some time early in the day doing a 3-minute retreat from Loyola Press based on a verse from the Lectionary for the day 

(2) Read about The Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother

We have a stack of books about Mary in our home - any of which could do for this new feast day.  However, in consideration of the day's Gospel (John 19: 25-34), I have selected "Hail Mary for Little Catholics" from Jesus and Mary to read.  This short, sweet story seems perfect for the day since it ends with the words, "And when Jesus died, He gave Mary to us for our mother." 

Of course, any story centered on Mary could do! 

If you do not have one handy, Loyola Press offers a free "Story of Mary" pdf under their Marian Resources.  It even has pictures to color included in it.

(3) Pray a Rosary 

Madonna Rosary Holder

Of course, there is no better prayer on a Marian feast day than the Rosary, so we'll be praying one together, perhaps focusing on the Nativity decade using pages from a lovely children's Rosary journal pdf we have called Ponder for Kids, which is also available in print and on sale both as a pdf and in print!)

We used portions of this book on the Ascension and especially enjoyed coloring the nature pages that bring images of Mary Gardens to our minds!

(4) Enjoy Faith through Food

Friends will be joining us for a simple al fresco blue, red, and white luncheon tea.  I'll set an outdoor table with a blue tablecoth, white and blue candles, flowers, and a Madonna Rosary Holder statue, and, on it, we'll lay a potluck of blue, red, and white foods, to include:

• white tortilla chips
• white bean dip
• white tuna dip
• homemade coconut ice cream
• blueberries
• raspberries
• strawberry slices
• coconut
• blueberry-banana smoothies
• red rooibis ice tea

...and whatever our friends bring.

Blue, of course, is the color most commonly associated with Mary as it is both a traditional color of empresses and also the color of the sky (or heavens). 

Red comes into play because, in some traditional artwork, Our Lady traditionally wears red - a color for nobility and those in an elevated state, as well as a color the anticipates the suffering and passion and the devotion of the heart.  (On our table, the red berries will remind us of Mary's heart.)
White, of course, represents purity.

Before eating, as we typically do when enjoying faith through food, we'll ask the children why they think we chose to put each food on the table and what each could represent, and chat/catechize from there.

(5) Make a Notebooking Page or Craft

There are many wonderful Marian notebooking pages, crafts, and activities to choose from.  This year, we plan to use a fabulous free printable notebooking/coloring page that Katie from Look to Home and be Radiant shared, because it is perfect for this day (and because I did not think ahead to get supplies for our annual mini-Mary Garden planting.  (Lucky thing Mary's month is not over yet, so there will still be time for that.)

More Ideas

We often honor Our Lady here, so please scroll past posts for other ideas about Mary, the Rosary, and other Liturgical Year posts.

Among them, some simple ideas for the feast day are:

Making a Box of Hail Mary's and praying other prayers, too.

Making Mary Baskets

Enjoying a Cookie Rosary

Adapting an Instant Challenge to Make it Building a Symbolic Church with Our Lady as Its Mother

Painting a Marian Peg Doll

Of course, I could go on and on with ideas, but am going to stop here so I can get some sleep before early morning Mass on the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

I'd love to hear how you end up celebrating this day!

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

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Enjoy St. Luke's Little Summer with Rock Art and More

Last year, the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist fell on an unseasonably warm day here - a truly "St. Luke's Little Summer" sort of day.  Thus, we combined an excursion to our favorite "lazy river" with a feast day celebration, thereby enjoying an afternoon filled with faith, friendship, and fun.

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This year, it looks like St. Luke's Day will once again bring beautiful weather, so as we plan to enjoy another outdoor celebration with friends making rock art to leave behind for others.  This seems an ideal (and easy!) activity to enjoy for St. Luke's day, since St. Luke is patron to artists and painters,  his name means "bringer of light" and he was an evangelist among gentiles.  Creating rock art with faith-based images and messages on them and leaving them behind to brighten other's days can help share a bit of light and the love of God.  

A Look Back at Our Our St. Luke's Day at the Lazy River

Last year, as I mentioned, we ended up spending St. Luke's day outside enjoying the incredibly warm fall weather we were having. 

However, it was not just warm weather, it was unusual King Tide weather.  So, when we arrived at the beach, we found the King Tide was causing the parking lot to flood.

Thus - much to my amusement - while we waited for friends to arrive, my children decided to get to work right away building dams. 

Meanwhile, St. Luke (in peg doll form) watched over us.

Soon enough, the waters in the lot began to recede a bit, and our friends arrived, so we walked out onto the beach.

As we trekked down to the typically lazy river, we were surprised by how high the tide was. We'd never seen it so far up on the beach before.

Luckily, the "Give One - Take One" rocks my daughter had left on an earlier excursion were high enough up on the beach to escape the King Tide, and some still sat ready to greet passersby.

Then, when we got to the lazy river, we found the tide had made it more of a lazy river-lake. 

That was A-okay with the kiddoes.  

They enjoyed the warm ocean water caught in the deep tidal pool.

Meanwhile, I found a high bank to set up our St. Luke's Feast Day picnic on.  For it, we used a lace tablecloth atop our picnic blanket, since St. Luke is patron to lacemakers and set out our St. Luke peg doll and the Picture Book of Saints.  

Most of our fare was not so much symbolic as easy to take along to the beach, although I did make mini-meatballs since St. Luke is patron to butchers and is often symbolized by a winged calf.  These did not make it into the picture though as the boys scoffed them right up as soon as they saw me taking them out. 
 

So, it was onto prayers, lunch, and a reading and chat about St. Luke.

Then, it was time for more lazy river fun for the children while I packed the food away and out out Sharpies, paper, color sticks, and a few rocks.

And, oh the fun they had!

The lazy river was not so lazy at times...

After they children had enjoyed riding the current for some time, I invited them back to the blankets and suggested we make artwork to leave on the beach for others to find, since St. Luke was an evangelist and is also patron to artists and painters.

Some of us made Mary rocks, since St. Luke was said to have painted a number of images of Mary and Baby Jesus.

My oldest made Armor of God rocks.

Friends made artwork on rocks and paper, too.

After that, it was time for more fun straight through the golden hour.

It was truly a delight-filled celebration, and, this year, although we won't be returning to the lazy river on St. Luke's feast day, we intend to evangelize by rock out made outside again after Mass and co-op.

Perhaps where you are will experience St. Luke's Little Summer, as well, and be able to use our idea of creating rock art in honor of St. Luke's patronage and leaving it behind to brighten other's day's, in honor of St. Luke's name meaning "bringer of light" and of him being an evangelist.

Three More Ideas for the Feast Day

• Enjoy a Name Day Tea
• Utilize any o all of the ideas from my St. Luke's Round Up.
• Play Commissioned, or another game about the spread of the early church.

St. Luke, pray for us.

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Get a FREE St. Francis of Assisi Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Printable!

As I looked ahead at this week, I realized that my family may not be able to celebrate St. Francis of Assisi's feast day in some of our usual ways, but that we may have time to focus on the feast day outdoors with friends.  So, I thought it was a perfect time to make another scavenger hunt sheet, which I am sharing with you today as a FREE printable!

In conjunction with the introduction of our Symbols of St. Francis of Assisi Outdoor Scavenger Hunt, I will likely:

• Open with a prayer.

• Have a chat with the children to see what they already know about St. Francis of Assisi.

• Read from whichever of our home and library collection of books about St. Francis I can lay hands on before the 4th.  (See list below.) 

• Ask children what they typically notice in in depictions of St. Francis.  

• Explain that St. Francis is patron of ecology (the study of the relationships between living things and their surroundings, or environment) and, so, I thought it would be fitting to explore our surroundings while doing a scavenger hunt inspired by symbols of St. Francis.

Then, I will set the children loose with colored pencils (and cameras for some), to begin hunting for the items on the printable.  As the children hunt, in the boxes on the scavenger hunt, they can make a sketch, write a check mark, or pen a verbal description of what they found. 

(You can see my Saint Anthony Nature Scavenger Hunt post to get a visual of how they might work.)

Finally, I will wrap up by chatting about the significance of some of the symbols (as described on the second sheet of the printable) and will lead the children in a closing prayer.

{Disclosure:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.}

Some Books, Videos, and Audios Connected to St. Francis We've Enjoyed

• Picture Book of Saints
• Dragon Slayers: The Essential Training Guide for Young Dragon Fighters
• Loyola Kids Book of Saints
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon 
• Saint Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi (The Life of a Saint) 
• Saint Francis and the Wolf 
• Brother Wolf of Gubbio: A Saint Francis LegendHandprint Books 
• The Song of Francis
• The Knight of Assisi 
• Amazing Angels and Super Saints CD 

More Liturgical Celebration Ideas for This Week

Click through any of the images or text below for other ideas related to this week's feast days.
Guardian Angels on October 2

• St. Michael’s Symbols 3-Part Cards Free Printable 

• An Easy, Active Game for St. Michael's Day (with a Free Printable)

• Planning St. Michael’s Feast Day Tea: A Resource Round-Up

 

St. Theodore Guerin on October 2

St. Francis on October 4

 

I'd love to see snapshots of your nature walk if you go on one.  I also welcome your ideas for living the liturgical year with children.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

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Celebrate the Assumption of Mary with Food, Fun, and Fellowship

This week, I am in the midst of painting pegs for another swap, which reminded me of the Marian Peg Doll Swap I participated in last year on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.  That, in turn, reminded me that I never shared about the actual feast day activities we enjoyed at a friend's home.  So, I am doing so now in case they might inspire your Assumption Day plans for this year.

Our feast day table was set with Assumption-day inspired eats and a Marian peg doll for each month of the year (minus some that were late to the party).  We also had more food in the kitchen.  It included:

• gluten-free, casein-free "prayer arm" pretzels to remind us to pray for the intercession of Our Lady.

 

• fruits and herbs, since both are traditional on this day.
  
  

  
• blueberry pie and blueberry-and-cream topped pastries (since Mary's colors are blue and white).

• herb tea (again, herbs are traditional on this day.)

Of course, as enticing as all the goodies were, we did not dig in until we'd shared time for prayer, learning, activities, and chatting about the feast day.

For this, we gathered all the children together, lit candles, and prayed the rosary.
 

{Disclosure:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.}
 
Then, while the children colored some free Assumption of Mary coloring pages, my friend read and talked about portions of Mary, My Mother, of course, including the parts about the Assumption. 

After this, all the children stood in a line, and we processed into my friend's garden...

...where we prayed a Blessing of the Fruits and Herbs.

Prayers completed, the children enjoyed playing for a bit, the mamas exchanged pegs, then, we all prayed grace, dug into the goodies, and continued to enjoy one another's company.

We had Life of Mary cards available inside to play with and also supplies for making fresh lavender satchels, with the Legend of Lavender in mind.

It was a truly lovely Assumption Day celebration with friends.

As a bonus, my family also enjoyed our own traditional "waffle sundae" picnic later in the day.

We always start this easy meal with prayer and a chat about the symbolism of our foods - such as the blue and white for Mary's colors, "heavenly white" topping over "earth brown" waffles, etc.

Then, we build our sundaes and enjoy digging in!

We also typically select one or more readings about Mary and the Assumption. 

This past year, our selection was taken from Leading The Little Ones to Mary (of which we have an older copy - pictured above next to my son - than the one currently sold - pictured below.)

It certainly was a blessed and full feast day for us last year.  No doubt, it will be again this year. Whether we end up enjoying an at-home celebration as a family after Mass or a full-on Assumption Day celebration with friend's (as we did last year and in 2015), I have no doubt that the day will be meaningful as we remember Mary's Assumption and the hope that we, too, have to join Jesus in Heaven one day.

Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
(Collect Prayer)

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