Weekly Liturgical Activities -- Week 11

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Lent
This is the last week of Lent before Holy Week. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday (could it be?), and then Holy Week; this is the Passiontide. We begin to completely focus on the Passion of Christ. Many churches will cover their statues will purple cloths this week, some will wait until next week. This is to draw the focus toward the crucified Lord. According to fisheaters.com it also symbolizes that Christ's Divinity was hidden until his Passion and Death.

It's about time to make sure we get the children (and ourselves) to Confession. And we will begin some of our "late in Lent" activities, like the Crown of Thorns bread (the thorns are toothpicks that we take out for good deeds). I tried to find an online source for making it, but came up empty. I'll get some pictures when I get ours made.


Feast Days
It is likely that you already know that the feast day of two of our great saints, St. Joseph and St. Patrick have been moved on the liturgical calendar. Since their feast days fall within Holy Week this year, and Holy Week events take priority over feast days, the church moved them and it's likely that each diocese is celebrating them at different times. I will post what I have found on them this week, for you to use whenever you celebrate.


St. Patrick -- Feast Day normally March 17

Because this holiday has become a secular holiday for most people, it is actually fairly difficult to find religious activities. You can Google St. Patrick's Day and find a million leprechaun coloring sheets, or rainbow crafts. I'll let you do that, if you want -- it's not difficult. I'm going to pretty much limit this post to activities related to our faith.

● For the story of St. Patrick, go here.

● You can find a coloring page of the Celtic cross here.

● For a coloring page of St. Patrick, go here and click on Saints by Feast Day and then find St. Patrick on March 17.

● Catholicmom.com offers some suggestions for a St. Patrick's Day party.

● I normally steer clear of using symbols, especially those that are abused by the secular celebrations. The shamrock, however, holds religious symbolism so I will include it in our lessons. It is said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the concept of the Holy Trinity -- one stem, three separate leaves. Many grocery stores stock this plant during March --Oxalis sp. (They are fascinating plants for children because they go to sleep each night -- the leaves fold up -- and wake up each morning.)

To have fun with shamrocks:

● A shamrock pin craft here.

● To create a paper shamrock angel, go here.

● Make a stained glass shamrock for the window.

● Take a potato, cut it in half and "carve" a shamrock image to use as a stamp. Like this.

● This little craft requires buying a few supplies, but would make a cute pin or hair clip.

● Because I like to incorporate food into our feast day celebrations, here and here are entire pages of St. Patrick's Day recipes. I cannot vouch for any of them, but I can vouch for this Irish Soda Bread -- it's my favorite.

● For kindergarten/preschool activities, go here.

● Prayer:

The Shield of St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today the strong name of the trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, the One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever by power of faith Christ's incarnation,
His baptism in the Jordan river, his death on the cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to harken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me;
Christ to comfort and restore me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word;
Praise to the God of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord!

St. Joseph, Husband of Mary -- Feast Day March 19 (celebrated on March 15 on the church calendar)

● For the story of St. Joseph go here, or here. Or, if you have this book at home, use it.

● For a coloring page, take your pick from this lovely resource.

● For crafts, visit this Domestic-Church.com page for several.

● For an online matching game that includes St. Joseph, go here (Who is Who 1 and Not so easy Who is Who 1).

● Many families set up a St. Joseph altar in their homes and I think this is a lovely way to remember this special saint. According to Faith & Family Women many Italians particularly revere St. Joseph (San Guiseppe) because a novena to this beloved saint resulted in Sicily being saved from famine (or some say drought). Many Italian-American families have altars to remember St. Joseph. Even if you're not Italian, find a special place in your home to revere Saint Joseph this year -- but his statue should soon be covered with purple cloth until after Easter. Go here to read about family altars (scroll down the page).

● Make a big pot of Minestrone or Tortellini Soups. If you are celebrating on Friday, just substitute some vegetable broth for the beef or chicken broth. And don't forget a big loaf of St. Joseph bread. If you read my food blog you know that my family celebrates feast days with food frequently. I think it's a great opportunity to bring the feast day to life in our home.

● A practice that I find particularly appropriate for our teens, and which I just recently read about, is the wearing of St. Joseph's Cinctures (Cords) as a reminder for chastity. Read more about it here. Many teens these days would be hard-pressed to adopt this old fashioned practice, but if you think your teen would benefit from this symbol, please share this link.

● Prayer to St. Joseph:

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who devote their lives to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in order thereby to atone for my many sins; to work conscientiously, setting devotion to duty in preference to my own whims; to work with thankfulness and joy, deeming it an honor to employ and to develop by my labor the gifts I have received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties; to work above all with a pure intention and with detachment from self, having always before my eyes the hour of death and the accounting which I must then render of time ill spent, of talents wasted, of good omitted, and of vain complacency in success, which is so fatal to the work of God.

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all in imitation of you, O Patriarch Joseph! This shall be my motto in life and in death, Amen.

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The Gospel
This Sunday's Gospel is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Most children, at least those who have learned a little bit of the Bible, remember this story. It tells of one of Jesus' great miracles and even young children can understand how miraculous it was for Jesus to raise a man from the dead. Grab your children's Bible before you attend Mass on Sunday and read the story again. It's a long Gospel and the children will pay more attention if they can anticipate what's going to happen.

Lazarus, John 11:1-45 -- March 9

● For a short explanation of "the tomb" go here.

● For a coloring page, go here or here, or download here.

● Go here for some Lazarus crafts and games. I like the wrapped up Lazarus paper doll and paper tomb -- clever!

● Click to download a Crossword puzzle, a Quiz on the reading, a Maze puzzle, a Word Jumble puzzle, and a Word Search puzzle.

● A link to a Word Search here.

● Download this Mass worksheet for littles or bigs.

● To download an entire lesson, click here.
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