Get a FREE Printable Christ the King Novena Set!

Get a free printable set.

Okay.  I admit it.  I have never been good a praying novenas, and, therefore, my children are not either.  Yet, I know that praying novenas can be a beautiful way of imitating the Lord's command of the Apostles when hey prayed for nine days in anticipation of he coming o the Holy Spirit, can help connect us to the liturgical year, and can focus us on the powerful act of praying and trusting in God.

Thus, even though I have missed Days 1 and 2 of the Christ the King Novena, which leads up to movable feast day being celebrated in the Church next Sunday, I thought I would begin the Novena anyway - simply doubling up on prayers for two days.

As a prayer aid, I also thought I would take the time to make simple Christ the King Novena copywork set to offer my children this week.  I am sharing them here in case your children can benefit from them, too.

This FREE printable Christ the King Novena set contains on copy of the novena prayer in print, one in cursive, and blank lined sheets with images, too.

To pray the novena, recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be and the Novena Prayer.You might also enjoy our:

• Last-Minute Ideas for a Christ the King Feast Day Tea

• Celebrating Christ the King Day with Stories, Symbolic Eats, and Starting Our Advent Chain

We so enjoyed celebrating Christ the King with books and symbolic eats.

• A GFCF, Plant-Strong Christ the King Liturgical Tea

Christ is King of Our Hearts, so my baby wore this crown at our simple family tea.

O Lord our God, You alone are the Most Holy King and Ruler of all nations. We pray to You, Lord, in the great expectation of receiving from You, O Divine King, mercy, peace, justice and all good things. Protect, O Lord our King, our families and the land of our birth. Guard us we pray Most Faithful One. Protect us from our enemies and from Your Just Judgment.Forgive us, O Sovereign King, our sins against you.Jesus, You are a King of Mercy.We have deserved Your Just Judgment Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us. We trust in Your Great Mercy. O most awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray; May Your Reign, Your Kingdom, be recognized on earth. Amen.

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Enjoy An Illustrated Rosary Book for Kids and Their Families {A Review, Giveaway and Coupon Code!!}

Don't you just love when you find a wonderful faith-based resource and have the opportunity to give one away for someone else to enjoy?

{Some links which follow are affiliate links.}

With thanks to a friend who works for Gracewatch Media, that's exactly what I am getting to do.  At the end of this post, you can enter a giveaway for an individual softcover Joyful Mysteries, Luminous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries, or Glorious Mysteries Illuminated Rosary book.

First, though, I would like to share with you why I appreciate the Illuminated Rosary books so much.

A Simply Beautiful Tool for Praying the Rosary (and Doing Picture Study!) with Children

It's no secret that praying the Rosary with children can be challenging.  Attention wanes.  Strings of rosary beads morph into fidget toys instead of prayer aids. Antsiness happens.  So it is helpful to have resources that draw your children into praying the Rosary and keep them focused on each mystery prayed.

In the past, I've used everything from cookies and cupcakes, to 3-part cards, to celebrations with friends to entice my children into joining in full Rosaries with prayerful attention. Eventually, such efforts helped us get used to praying the Rosary, and we developed habits of praying one decade or a full Rosary as a car rosary, on a rosary walk, as part of the Children's Rosary prayer group movement, or as a bedtime rosary daily.

Now, you'd think that with such habits in place, praying the Rosary with my children would typically be a peaceful and reflective experience. However, I have to be honest: it can still be challenging, especially when we pray the Rosary before bedtime. There is just something about that time that makes my children lose focus and act out.

Until recently, then, our best strategy for praying the Rosary at bedtime has been to use Youtube videos with beautiful artwork in them, which kept my children's attention focused.

Unfortunately, I don't relish screen time just before bedtime - even if it is prayerful screentime, so I've been looking for another engaging strategy.

Enter The Complete Illuminated Rosary: An Illustrated Rosary Book for Kids and Their Families by Jerry Windley-Daoust at Gracewatch Media.  As soon as I saw digital samples of it, I thought, I know just what I am getting with my birthday money this year!

I was excited to order a hardcover edition of the The Complete Illuminated Rosary at a discount pre-publishing rate and have been happy to use the prayer aid with my children. 

This Rosary resource is perfect for our family at bedtime: It is large enough for each child to see when we cuddle together and allows us to pray while perusing artworks which help us with meditation and attention.

Okay, admittedly, the first time we prayed each decade of the Rosary using The Complete Illuminated Rosary, the artwork almost drew too much of my children's attention, and I found that they kept interrupting our prayers to comment on the images - what they liked, what surprised them, and more. 

Now, though, my children simply examine the artworks while remaining engaged in prayer.  Thus, The Complete Illuminated Rosary has been serving us as an effective alternative of sorts to typical rosary beads, helping my children pray bedtime Rosaries with peace.

Using the book is so simple. 

We just open to the appropriate set of mysteries for the day, then read the prayers, which are printed in an easy-on-the-eyes font while meditating with the large reprints of artworks that accompany each prayer.

These reprints vary in style,

...time period,

...and cultural lens,

...with some classic...

...and some modern...

All artworks, however, are carefully selected to be child-friendly and engaging.

There are also "prayer beads" of a sort include on the bottom of each page.

For each set of mysteries, a large circular detail of an artwork follows the Canticle of Mary, another follows the Creed and Our Father, and three small detail circles accompany the "Hail Mary"s for Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Then, each mystery begins with a brief paraphrased text from the Bible for meditation as well as a prompt to remember your intentions just above another large circular detail.

Then, the "Our Father" page, too, includes a large circular detail of an artwork, acting as a large Rosary bead.

After that, on each "Hail Mary" page, strings of roses act as beads, allowing children to count to keep track of the number of prayers prayed should they wish to do so.

The Complete Illuminated Rosary also contains pages listing art credits and ideas for how to pray the Rosary using the book.

It is truly a well-designed and lovely prayer aid that, in my children and my opinion is only missing one thing: a list of which day to pray which mystery of the Rosary.  (Sure, we should have this memorized, but do not, so we're sliding a bookmark with this information into our book.)

Same Wonderful Rosary Resource, Several Formats

The Illuminated Rosary comes in  a number of formats:

• single volume softcover

• single volume hard cover

• individual volume softcovers for each of the mysteries.

Each of these formats measure 8 1/2  x 11", and The Complete Illuminated Rosary, which I purchased in hardcover, has 368 pages.

So, if you like a lighter resource, the softcover individual format might be for you.  We like the all-in-one hardcover ourselves.

Purchase Your Own Illuminated Rosary at a Discount

If you'd like to purchase an Illuminated Rosary book, but are not sure which you would prefer, the following videos might help you decide.

You can purchase  a hardcover copy of  The Complete Illuminated Rosary on Amazon (which, at the time of this writing is 26% off with free shipping!) You can also get the Joyful Mysteries, Luminous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries, or Glorious Mysteries Illuminated Rosary books and other books by author Jerry Windley-Daoust on Amazon.

Alternately, purchase an Illuminated Rosary book direct from Gracewatch Media between now and December 12 using the coupon code ROSES 25 for a 25% off discount!

Or, while supplies lasts, get an imperfect copy for 50% using the code dents&dings, for as Allison Gingras from Reconciled to You posted on Facebook earlier this month:

We all acquire a few dents and dings along the journey of life, right? Well, so did a shipment of our new Illuminated Rosary books. Grrr.
On the bright side, while these books aren’t perfect enough to sell new, they’re still in “good” condition, with minor flaws or damage: banged-up corners, dented page edges, ink smudges on the last (blank)page, imperfections in the glossy coating on the spine, etc. You can give these less-than-perfect illustrated rosary books for kids a home for 50% off the sale price using coupon code dents&dings at checkout. Quantities are limited and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

BUY YOUR COPY HERE: http://bit.ly/2F9N7kY

We’re so confident that you’ll be satisfied with these books, we’ll honor our usual no-hassle return policy…we’ll send you return postage and a full refund if you don’t like them.

You can also always check the deals page at Gracewatch Media for other deals and discount codes on wonderful faith-related publications. There product line is truly fabulous for families of faith!

Enter the Giveaway!

I am excited to be able to offer one reader a softcover copy of an individual mystery in the Illuminated Rosary series using this giveaway Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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You Never Know which Habits Will Stick... and How Much Hope They'll Bring

My oldest has been in a tween-ragery stage and sometimes the blustering is still full blown at bedtime. Yet, no matter how silly or sullen he's been being, I almost always see him go out to our living room helves, grab his little blue book, and pray his bedtime prayers, which, by now, he's more or less memorized.  

So why does he grab his blue book? Why does he flip to its final page to pray an Examen and Act of Contrition?

Why doesn't he just pray his bedtime prayers from memory? 

Why is it his particular habit that has stuck for him when so few of the other habits we attempt to build here have not?  Seriously, why this one?  

Habits we have been encouraging for many more years have been rejected or are still in development.  Some of the other prayer habits that the same prayer book tool promotes have been ignore.

Other prayer habits - like morning prayers - are oft only habitual with my son when done as a family.

But the Evening Prayers ritual? It has become a strong habit.

Why?

To be honest, I just do not know, and I am no sure I ever will. I am, however, ever-grateful to his prior co-op teacher for initiating this independent prayer habit and to the Spirit for whispering to my son each night, prompting him to pray even when he's being stormy.

Bedtime prayers with his falling apart blue book. Undoubtedly, the act or praying them brings grace to my son, and, surely, witnessing my sometimes challenging tween grab his prayer book brings hope to me.

Lately, there are many nights when, by bedtime, I am spent.  Drained. Discouraged. Weary from efforts to connect, correct, redirect, reset, and, of course, love my son through the challenging phase he is going through. The glaring difficulties of the day sometimes make it hard for me to reflect upon the quieter moments of sweetness, virtue, and Spirit-led growth that are there.

Then, my boy's hand opens his blue book, his lips move silently in prayer, and the Spirit reminds me - Momma, not despair, prayer.  

What habits are helping you and your tween or teen make it through more challenging day and nights?

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An Open Letter to Discouraged Mamas

Dear Mama,

Have you had a difficult day?  A challenging night?

Have you wondered why God gifted you a husband and children, when you are apparently are ill-equipped to effectively fill your calling as wife and mom?

So much undone, right?  So many people and things needing your attention...  So little energy or patience left for any of it.

Yep, I've been there.

Are you tired? Worn?  Depleted? Discouraged?

Perhaps even frustrated and a bit angry?

Have you ever felt that there is too much to do and too little day to do it in?  Too many things and people needing your attention and not enough of you to go around? Much less enough of you to do so and to get a sound portion of sleep.

Do you ever just feel like, I simply cannot do all this by myself anymore?

Well... you're right.  You cannot.

And you don't need to.  The Lord God is your help.

Pause. 

Pray. 

Cry if you need to, but as you do, cry out to Him. Ask Him to help.

Give everything over to Him, confident that in your distress and sorrow you can call upon His name.  He is gracious and merciful and is there waiting for you.

Mama, trust me on this.  You are not alone.  I've been in a similar spot as you and I can attest: He is there - even amidst the mayhem of motherhood.

Perhaps especially amidst it.

He is wise and loving.

He knows everything you need, and, sometimes, all you need is a deep breath and a reset.

So, go on.  B-r-ea-the. 

Again.

Ask Him to fill you with grace and strength.

B-r-ea-the.

Again.

Thank Him for loving you and entrusting you with so much.

B-r-ea-the.

Again.

Ask Him to cast evil away from you and to restore you.

Thank Him for all the blessings in your life... For all the things vying for your attention... For all the people you are surrounded by daily.  Especially those you may be most exasperated with...

Thank Him for the very things you are discouraged about, frustrated by, feeling hopeless about... 

He puts nothing and no one in your life without equipping you to deal with it - and to do so with supernatural strength.

That's right, Mama.  Supernatural.  Not Super Mama strength.

Count on it.

And br-ea-the.

Again.

Pray.  Ask to be filled with His strength.

Recognize joy does not always equate to outward happiness and that even when carrying crosses, joy can exist.

Tap into that joy again, Mama.

Let it permeate you. Let it seep past every bit of negativity you may still be feeling and fill you.

Be filled with gratitude. With grace. With giving things over and offering them up.

Then, if there still remains a proverbial cross is in front of you, just pick it up.  Take it and Follow Him. 

That may be all you can do today, and it is enough. It is a path to holiness. 

Yes, embracing your cross of the day as you follow Him.  THAT is enough.

Just to trust.  Just to share in His love.  Just to depend on his mercy.  Just to take a step forward.

It's enough.

Oh, Mama, you may want to, but you simply can't do everything.  But you can can do one thing - follow Him.

Choose to do that in this moment.

Christ will strengthen you.  I know this to be true. 

Br-ea-the.  Trust.  Love.

With love and prayers, 

A Mama Who's Been There
(maybe like five minutes ago)

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Make a September Prayer Shelf: Our Lady of Sorrows

The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary, so my daughter helped me put together a simple visual display to help focus our prayers in the coming weeks.

For the base of our display, I considered using a green cloth, since green is the color of Ordinary Time which is the liturgical season we are currently in. However, my daughter suggested we use dark blue in honor or Mary's traditional color of blue, but in a more somber hue.

That's when the real vs. ideal mode I so often work in kicked in.  Ideal would be a lovely dark blue silk.  Real is that the only dark blue cloth we could find in our home was an old bed sheet. Folded, it worked.

Then, my daughter and I went through several images and prayer aid booklets, and she asked if we could print an image from the Catholic Company website, which she "framed" with cardstock and placed on one of our mini-easels.  

I, then, decided to print out a free Devotion of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary pdf from the Fatima Center to go on our other mini-easel.  This pdf has beautiful prayers, images, and more in it to help us focus this month.

Near one of our easels, we placed the two candles we have decided to keep out all year - a Paschal candle a friend made and gifted us and a blessed white pillar candle from another friend. 

Then, in the middle of our display, we placed a blue candle (for Mary's color).  On one side of this candle, we put a Marian peg doll of Our Lady of Sorrows atop a red origami box stand (recycled from last month's display).

On the other side, we placed the heart box my daughter made last month, but, pierced it with seven cocktail swords.  Inside the box, we wanted to place our laminated Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-part cards, but, since we could not find them, we simply printed and cut a new batch without lamination.  (Again, real vs. ideal.  We always seem to make do with the real here.)

Our simple Seven Sorrows of Mary display will serve as a practical visual reminder for us all month, connecting our family with the current season of the the Church year and directing us toward Jesus, as each of Mary's Seven Sorrows points directly toward a Biblical event in Jesus' life.

We'd love to hear about your favorite Seven Sorrows of Mary images, prayers, and traditions. Please do share about them in a comment here or on our Facebook page.

We'd also appreciate if your continued prayers for a baby we know that has had two unexpected heart surgeries within the past month and is still in recovery.

O God, who willed that,

when you Son was lifted high on the Cross,

his Mother should stand close by

and share his suffering,

grant that Your Church,

participating with the Virgin Mary

in the Passion of Christ

may merit a share in his Resurrection.
Who lived and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Also, dear God,
please offer extra measures of strength

and abundant blessings 

to baby Alex and his family.
Unite their suffering 

with that of Jesus on the Cross

and turn their their suffering into joy.  

May strength, healing, hope, and love be theirs.
Amen.

Thank you for praying this prayer adapted from the Collect with us!

If you'd like more ideas for Our Lady of Sorrows, check out:

Plans to Honor Our Lady of Sorrows through Art, Music, and a Poet-Tea

Honoring Our Lady of Sorrows with a Poet-Tea and Art

Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards (A Free Printable - Now Updated)

You might also like to see our other liturgical shelves.

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Immaculate Heart of Mary Prayer Aids

The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so my daughter helped me set up our August liturgical shelf with an aim to focus our prayers this month.

On the base of our display, we chose to use a blue tablecloth with white lace over it, since Mary is traditionally depicted in blue and white.  (Blue for royalty and heaven; white for purity.)  My daughter, however, also thought we needed red for Mary's Immaculate Heart.  So, she got to work with cardstock, cutting out a red heart and attaching it to a handmade origama box.

Initially, we were going to use the box to hold some sort of small  item each time we prayed, much like we did with the small chalice in our July liturgical shelf, but, then, we realized that the box is the perfect size for prayer cards.  So, it became our prayer card holder.  

If you make something similar, though, you could easily place a flower petal, bead, or small object in the box every time your offered a prayer to Mary and her Immaculate Heart.

{Some links in this post are affiliate ones.}

Some prayers you could use,might be the ones found on the prayer cards we are using: The Golden Prayer, An Offering to Mary, and the Consecration to Mary.

Statues and images also help focus our prayers, so one one side of our prayer card holder, we placed our Immaculate Heart of Mary statue.  (Long-time readers my recognize the statue as she has been in our mini Mary gardens, Assumption celebration tables, and more.)

On the other side of our prayer card holder, we put our peg doll of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (We got this in a Marian swap we did.)

Then, we balanced the corners of our shelf with two mini displays, too.

On one side, my daughter placed a favorite card with an image of our Lady and Our Lord on a wooden easel (almost like this one) and surrounded it with blue and white candles.

On the other side, I put our read together for the month: St. Louis De Montfort: The Story of Our Lady's Slave and surrounded it with a homemade Paschal candle and an Immaculate Heart of Mary prayer candle.  We also put some rosaries there for easy reach!

All of the prayer aids on our August feast table, we hope, will help us focus our prayer and turn our own hearts towards virtues and live for Jesus, as Mary's heart is always turned.   

We'd love to see pictures of your August liturgical shelf, feast table, or prayer corner and also to hear about your favorite books, images prayers, etc. related to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Please do share them in a comment here or on our Facebook page.

We'd also appreciate if you'd pray with us for a baby we know that had unexpected heart surgery within the past few weeks and may need another surgery if a miracle of healing does not occur. 

Thank you for praying with us!

O Most Blessed Mother, 

heart of love, heart of mercy, 

ever listening, caring, consoling, 

hear our prayer. 

As your children, 

we implore your intercession 

with Jesus your Son. 

Receive with understanding and compassion,

the petitions we place before you today,

especially for the healing 

of the heart of a baby named Alex. 

We are comforted 

in knowing your heart is ever open 

to those who ask for your prayer.

We trust to your gentle care and intercession,
those whom we love and who are sick
or lonely or hurting. 

Help all of us, Holy Mother, 

to bear our burdens in this life

until we may share eternal life 

and peace with God forever.
Amen 

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A Father's Day Prayer

Several different church bulletins from today, I know, had this prayer in them:

God and Father of all creation, we come before you today with humble hearts. 

You are our model of a loving father. 

When we fail and fall short of your expectations, you are always there at the end of the day with open arms, ready to heal the cuts and scrapes of the day and to encourage us to try again and not to give up. 

We hold up these men in our midst who act in the world as fathers to their children or models of fathers for others. 

Bless them in their moments of doubt and frustration with their children. Give them warm and open hearts to forgive failures. Provide them with the words needed for encouragement and perseverance. 

We ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

I have to say, I love this prayer! 

I also love how my husband loves our children.

Indeed, today, he wanted nothing more for Father' Day than to have each child spend an hour of 1:1 time with him doing whatever they wished and, then, all of us spending some time at a beach.

Witnessing my husband's true desire to follow the passions of his children - and to fumble and fail, as well as laugh and love alongside them - made me so appreciative. It also made me think of how our Father in Heaven must love when we invite Him into our days, spending focused time with Him.

I am so grateful for my husband's love for our children and, more so, for Our Father's love for us.

Our Father in Heaven, thank you!

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