3 Ways to Celebrate the Assumption of Mary

August 15 is the feast day of the Assumption of Mary, so, once again, we are planning festivities with friends.

As I so often do, I am taking a look back before planning forward, As I do, I thought I would share how we celebrated the Assumption of Mary last year, since I think it could inspire some of your domestic church celebrations this year.

~1~
Enjoy "Assumption Waffles" as a Family Breakfast (or Breakfast-for-Dinner)

We have a long-standing tradition of enjoying waffle sundaes on the Assumption.

Thus, last year, I greeted my family with a simple Assumption of Mary breakfast on the deck.

Flowers brought cheer to our table and, also, reminded us that today is a traditional day for the Blessing of the Herbs and Flowers.

A Madonna Rosary Holder focused us on Our Lady's image and also reminded us to pray the Rosary, or at least the Assumption decade.

A beautiful image of the Assumption offered us talking points in the way of a picture study and pages from A Year with God were read as well.

Blue and white candles, table decor, and food, all reminded us of Our Lady - the white for her purity and the blue for royalty, the heavens, and peace.

The waffle sundaes themselves with rich with symbolism:

Round brown GFCF waffles served as our "earth".  These were topped with syrup for the "sweetness of our Lord" and blueberries for the heavens (and to remind us of traditional Assumption festivities honoring first fruits).  Other toppings were: banana slices, ice cream, yogurt, and/or cashew nuts all reminiscent of the clouds so often depicted in images of the Assumption as well as of the purity of Mary and of God's love for us.

We all loved our breakfast - although one tired boy had trouble waking up for it as can be seen by his face in the photo - and will be repeating some semblance of it this year.

This year, however, we will be adding a bit of typology to our chat, since, each year, I try to add some new bit of symbolism, catechism, story, or artwork to our celebrations.

In Number 4:4-6. It says when the Ark was outside the Holy of Holies (when it was being transported) it was to be covered with a blue veil.

The Virgin Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, often appears in blue to visionaries (as she did as Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Our Lady of Banneax and in so many more of apparitions of Our Lady.

In the Catechism is says, "Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of God dwells. She is 'the dwelling of God [...] with men.'" (CCC# 2676) 

The Virgin Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, often appears in blue to visionaries (as she did as Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Our Lady of Banneax and in so many more of apparitions of Our Lady. 

In the Catechism is says, "Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of God dwells. She is 'the dwelling of God [...] with men.'" (CCC# 2676)

~2~
Go to Mass and Spend Heavenly Time Outdoors

My husband and I have long considered the beach of be a bit of "heaven on earth", so, after Mass in a nearby town, we took a short nature walk to the ocean and enjoyed a quick picnic lunch before he had to go off to work.  

Of course, by the time we had been to noon Mass, walked out to the beach, and prayed grace, everyone was hungry and wanted to eat, so Daddy was being goofy during Mom's "capture the moment for my memory" photos.

Then, we were all too busy enjoying chips, hummus, and watermelon by the ocean to take more photos.

I also laughed, because our quick picnic lunch was packed more for convenience than for symbolism, yet the children noted symbolism: 

Our 3-sided chips brought to mind the Holy Family, where Mary began her life as Mother of God and of the Holy Trinity, which she is now sees as Queen of Heaven.

Dipping our chips in hummus reminds us of how God continually comes down to earth for us - walking in the garden with Adam and Eve, coming in human form as Jesus, descending as the Holy Spirit...

And, fruit reminded us, again, of the traditional blessings made around the world today as well as of how when we say "yes" to God like Mary did, it brings fruit.

~3~
Gather for An Assumption Day Nature Walk, Blessing, "Tea", and Crafts

Once again this year, our friend played host and I facilitator for a wonderful Assumption Day celebration for her children and mine.

We started with a nature walk to go find herbs and wildflowers.

Shortly after we began, my daughter made a perfect find:

Wild blueberries for Our Lady's blue!

Yum! So tiny, but so delicious!

Then, while the girls kept on searching for wildflowers...

...building tiny bouquets...

..the boys went on ahead and found grapes - albeit sour grapes, which reminded us that in some places, like Armenia, they specifically bless grapes on this day.

Why?

In Old Testament times, grapes had a special place of honor and were considered the “first fruits”, so special services of thanksgiving were conducted by priests in the temple.

With the birth of Jesus, the dedication took on a new meaning: Jesus Christ was the first born—or the first fruit—of Mary and, as such, was offered to God in the temple. (Luke 2:25-30) 

Since Mary is seen as the image of humanity fully obedient to God and ultimately sanctified by doing God’s will, as we remember her falling asleep in Christ and Assumption into heaven, we celebrate the blessing of grapes.

Then, we went back to my friend's house to pray the Blessing of the Herbs and Flowers.

As we prayed, we blessed her gardens with Holy Water.

Then, we went inside to make small Marian vases.

Once these were made, we each picked out wildflowers and places them in our vases as we prayed the Assumption decade of the rosary.

Finally, as a break from free play the yard and pool, we enjoyed our simple tea, with "Mary in the Heavens"...

...grapes, which are traditional on this day, as well as herbed tomato salad, because herbs are traditional, too...

..."Blueberry heaven"...

...herb-infused waters (again, for the herb traditions of this day)....

...white casein-free "ice cream" (for purity and the sweet love of God), plus a good helping of silliness...

...and plenty of blessed beauty smiles!

It was a lovely celebration!

More Ideas

We hope this look back at our observances of the Assumption of Mary inspire celebrations for you and yours this year!

If you'd like more inspiration, feel free to browse former sharing at:

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

Celebrate the Assumption of Mary through Fun and Food!

Plan for An Assumption Day Playdate - A Round Up

A Simple Assumption Celebration for the Sick

Our Assumption Day Tea – A Day Full of Moments of Grace

Assumption of Mary: No Cake Nor Juice Boxes, Just Some Drama

The Assumption of Mary: It’s the Process (and the Aim) Not the Product

Mother Mary, pray for us.

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Celebrate Saint Clement and Blessed Miguel Pro Simply

It's no secret that we love to learn about saints and celebrate their feast days here.  It's also no secret that our home and lives are rarely picture perfect.  Tables get covered in stuff.  Groceries get low.  Life gets full. 

So it was in our home on the feast day of Blessed Miguel Pro and Saint Clement last November 23.  Luckily, I didn't let all the imperfections stop me. Instead, I gathered what I had on hand and spent the morning getting reacquainted with Blessed Miguel Pro and Saint Clement through prayers, books, a CD, some coloring, some conversation, and a simple floor picnic, followed by a few saint-inspired lessons.

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

Since I did not have any Mexican or Roman-inspired foods in the house, the floor picnic I set out for my children had symbolism through drinks and candles instead.  Water reminded us of the story of Saint Clement that we read in Once Upon a Time Saints and cocoa and chocolate chips reminded us of Blessed Miguel Pro's cocol. Likewise, a white candle stood for the purity of Blessed Miguel Pro's and Saint Clement's love for our Lord, while a red one recalled their martyrdom.

My children were delighted with our simple celebratory breakfast and dug right in, proving to me that what I thought might not be enough was actually just right.

The rest of our morning followed suit.

After praying and reading about Blessed Miguel Pro in the Loyola Kids Book of Saints, my youngest helped with some on-spot geography by finding Mexico on a map.

He also found Rome after we read about St. Clement in Once Upon a Time Saints.

Then, after chatting about the two saints, comparing and contrasting their stories and discussing history, the children set to coloring free printables from Paper Dali while listening to a
Glory Story about Blessed Miguel Pro.

Later we enjoyed a spelling game and some other lessons inspired by the saints, too.  

So, what started as me accepting imperfections and simply offering up the meager "loaves and fishes" of what we had around our home, we ended up blessed with the fruit of learning about history, virtue, literature, geography, and more related to Blessed Miguel Pro and Saint Clement - simply, relatively spontaneously, and all due to the grace and glory of Our Lord.

Indeed, each time my children and I make an effort to learn about and celebrate the saints, I am struck by what God can do when we just say "yes" to His will for us.  No saint was perfect - and neither are we.  Yet, through loving God and letting Him work in them and through them, the saints made amazing impacts on others, and, eventually, were able to join our Lord in Heaven.  Oh, that we may do the same one day as well.

Whatever imperfections you face today, may you not let them stop you from seeking to know and love God.  May you be inspired by stories of the saints and be unafraid to take the next step in whatever story our Lord wishes to write with you.

Blessed Miguel Pro and Saint Clement, pray for us!

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Celebrate the Memorial of the Exultation of the Cross with Food, Reading, and More!

On September 24, we celebrate the Memorial of the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross.  Last year, my family did this largely through prayer, conversation, reading, and food.  This year, we intend to add some further lessons.  So, today, I thought I would share a look back and a look ahead, plus share the story of the history of the day (towards the bottom of this post).

A Celebratory Breakfast

 

 
Last year, my children woke to a morning note which let them know we'd be enjoying a special breakfast together for the Memorial of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Before the rose, I set up our simple meal as a breakfast picnic.  I decorated our breakfast blanket simply, inspired by an excerpt at Catholic Culture which explains that:

The cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with the cross on top, symbolic of the triumph of our Savior over the sin of the world, and world conquest of His Gospel through the means of a grace (cross and orb).

I used a small globe and a crucifix raised up on an upturned cup.

I also set out our laptop, so we could read about the day on Catholic Culture, the Story Library of Saints so we could read about St. Helen, who found the True Cross, and Pray Always, opened to a picture of Jesus on the cross.

Our meal was a simple "apple pizza" made with a GFCF pizza crust, apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

After grace, while focused on our cross above the world, we prayed a quick prayer also found on Catholic Culture:

O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

Then, inspired by the following passage at "The Triumph of the Cross" at Catholic Culture, during our meal we chatted about crosses in our own lives:

"... the Finding of the Cross... is connected with the old tradition that the Empress Helena discovered the True Cross of Christ in the fourth century and built a church on that place. What the Church wants to bring home to us is this: that we must take the word of Our Lord seriously: 'Whosoever wants to become my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me.'
When we celebrate this feast of the Cross in September in our family, this leads to talk about the different crosses in our life, small ones, big ones."

We also read "St. Helen" in the Story Library of Saints and located relevant locations on our mini-globe.

A Quick and Easy Addition to Lunch

Tradition says that sweet basil grew all over the hillside where Saint Helena discovered the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  Thus, as a part of our lunch, I made a small "hill" of hummus and laid a GFCF pretzel cross in it, surrounded by fresh basil leaves.   

While enjoying our lunch, we narrated to one another a bit about what we recalled from St. Helen's story.

A Symbolic Dinner

Keeping up with symbolic eats, I decided to continue the basil theme into dinner by serving a GFCF penne pasta with "love" (or "blood of Christ" tomatoes in it.

I also fashioned some bread into a quick cross.

Unfortunately, just went we sat down for our meal, ominous storm clouds rolled in. 

Fortunately, the storm held off long enough for us to pray quickly and dive into the meal with joy and gusto.

Further Lesson and Discussion Ideas

This year, I will be curious to see what my children recall about the Exultation of the Cross and St. Helen, so I plan to serve up symbolic meals again, to take out some St. Helen readings, and to see what the children recall.  I also hope to include further lessons, chats, and resources in our week's plans, to include:
Copywork

One of our learning goals this year is to build our copywork muscle.  Thus, this week, we'll be using the lovely Sign of the Cross print and handwriting pages that Crusaders for Christ freely shares.  (To find the download link for these pages, just scroll down to the section of the page entitled "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass".)  When giving these pages to my children, I plan to chat with them about some of the times and reasons we use the Sign of the Cross, such as:

• to profess the deepest mysteries of our: the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and the saving work of Christ on the Cross
• before prayer to help fix our hearts and minds to God
• after prayer to keep close to God
• during challenging times as a sign of protection
• as a seal at Baptism to signify the fullness of redemption belonging to Christ
• at any point when we seek to give our entire self to God -- mind, body, soul, will, and heart.

Digging Deeper into Prayer

 Depending on the way our day is going, we might also read "Significance of the Sign of the Cross" at EWTN, which details how the sign came about, what six meanings it has, and why making it reverently can enhance one's life in Christ.

Old and New Testament

After reading the daily readings, we will also likely chat about how when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it foreshadowed our salvation through Jesus when Jesus was lifted up on the Cross. 

Nature Study

If we have time, the children an I might also play a nature version of the cookie hide-n-seek I read about at Catholic Cuisine.  Basically, my thought is that each of us could fashion a cross out of found materials in nature and, on one of these, we'll put some red.  Then, one of us will hide the crosses and the rest will seek them.  Whoever finds the one with the red will get to lead us all in a prayer and, then, hide the crosses for another round.

Stations of the Cross 

We will likely pray the Station of the Cross at home or at church, too, especially focusing on the prayer:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

If we do so at home, we may use our D.I.Y Stations of the Cross Prayer and Sequencing Sticks.

Folktales
We may re-read The Tale of the Three Trees...

... or watch The Legend of the Three Trees on video.

A Basic History of the Triumph of the Cross

On September 14th, we celebrate the Exultation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  During Jesus' time, the cross was used as an instrument of public torture, punishment, and shame for criminals that broke Roman law.  Our Lord used the cross for a different reason, however.  He took on the suffering of the cross as an sacrifice for the sins of everyone else in the world, and died in public view, so people could see how much He loves us.

from Wikipedia - True Cross by Agnolo Gaddi

In the 300's AD, a Christian queen named St. Helen went to Jerusalem to search for Christ's cross.  She found three crosses here and decided to test them to see which was the one Jesus died on.  A very sick woman touched each cross and, when she touched the third one she was instantly healed.  Through this miracle, St. Helen determined which cross was the true cross of Christ.

from Wikipedia - Illumination from Tres Rich Heures, Duc du Berry by Jean Colombe

 

St. Helen's son Constantine was not yet a Christian, but when he was about to go to war, he had a vision of the Cross and heard the words, "In this Sign, you will conquer."  He had crosses drawn on flags and shields, won the battle, and became a Christian.  Then, on September 14, 335, he had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher dedicated on the site where Christ died and rose again.

from Wikipedia - Treasure Room, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem with True Cross

In 614, Persians invaded Jerusalem and stole the True Cross.

In 629, the True Cross was recovered and brought back to Jerusalem on September 14.  Thus, on this day, we celebrate the discovery and recovery of the True Cross and that, through uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross, we can enter into eternal life. While doing so, we think about our love and gratitude for Jesus and respect for the cross.

For more thoughts about the feast day, listen to Bishop Barron's podcast at Word on Fire. 

Also This Week...

This is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is on the 15th.  If you didn't catch them last year, you might like to browse my Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea planning post:

You might also enjoy our post-tea post filled with pictures and descriptions of how our Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea and Art time actually went.

As always, we'd love to hear your favorite prayers, ideas, resources, and practices for living the liturgical year.  Do share!

God our Father, in obedience to you, your only Son accepted death on the cross for the salvation of mankind. We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth. May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~Collect Prayer for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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