Feast Day: Feast of the Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of our favorite feasts -- first, because it is such a wondrous example of obedience, Mary's resounding YES! to the Angel's message. Here is the plaque I made to add to our growing collection of Marian plaques (made from Shrinky Dink plastic). I added a personal touch to this lovely picture (see below for the answer if you can't figure it out!).

The Feast of the Annunciation is also a special day around here because 11 years ago, dh and I said "I do" in front of our pastor, family, friends and most of the parochial school where we were both teaching. It was a gorgeous, early Spring Wednesday afternoon and a glorious ceremony.

Since then, we've lived in Austria, moved to SC, moved to Colorado, and now in Virginia. We've had three more kids (to add to our combined five others) and even a puppy for a short time. We pledged our troth in a lovely chapel in Clemson, SC and renewed that pledge yesterday in the lovely chapel at dh's high school. We spent the early evening eating a sumptuous dinner at the Globe & Laurel (you should have seen the size of dh's "small" prime rib!) and then spent a relaxing, slow hour at a nearby Starbucks ... a sensationally, wonderfully romantic evening!

Hope your Annunciation was wonderful, too! Our Blessed Mother is a wonderful role-model for all moms ... a wonderful intercessor to whom we can pray through to her Son ... a lovely guide for us all.

Annunciation Prayer
Lord who came down from heaven and stayed in the womb of St. Mary, after making the annunciationto her through his head of angels, is blessed. The Lord is blessed whom the heaven and earth,Angels and mankind are praising always. Oh Lord let the intercession of your mother be a fort for us all. Peace be unto thee, Mother of the Sun of righteousness. Peace be unto thee, the palace of holiness, Peace be unto thee the ship full of blessings,the fruit of your virginity is blessed, Holy Mother please pray for us,so that we would also be holy like you in our lives. Lord have mercy upon us. Lord Jesus,who was kind enough to take the presence in humble virgin,kindly live in us and redeem us from the strong bondages of sins and death. Lord make us good and worthy divine homes,so that you could stay in us. Lord who had been kind enough to take the human body from the virgin, unite us all in your peace.Unite us all with your grace. Fill your love in us so that we could share the love with you and among us all. Make us worthy to praise thee with your blessed Mother and all the saints. Holy virgin Mother, you are blessed, By thy prayers let the Holy church and her children be saved from all sorts of calamities and let all the departed get forgiveness for their sins. Amen.

* the little personal touch I added is that the Blessed Mother is knitting ... and has dropped one needle to the floor!

Christmas: on the fourth day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me a family pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This is an absolutely perfect place to go on the Feast of the Holy Family ... especially with your family in tow! We haven't been since we moved to Virginia in June (and hadn't been up to the Shrine since our Right to Life march in 2001), so this truly was a special event!
A stained glass window of the Shrine. This is downstairs on the Crypt-level in the cafeteria (where a very reasonable lunch may be obtained if you should have some kids -- or an adult or two -- that are starving!)

Here's a photo-essay that can say so much better what we saw today!Here are the three little ones in front of the Our Lady of Pompeii Shrine.Here's the chair Pope Benedict XVI used when he came in April ... since String Bean did her Catholic History project on the Papal Visit, this chair is especially cool to see in "real life". Notice, too, the memorial plaques that line the wall behind the Papal Chair. Here is a family memorial plaque purchased by my Great-Aunt (a Sister of Mercy who worked for years in the hospital in Chicago) for her parents and their progeny (so that includes us too!). One of the many Nativity scenes set up throughout the Bascilica. Even though the Magi are there a few days early, the scenes are still well-worth a moment or two of meditation.
Being Polish (and having seen the original in Chestochowa with BamBam when he was 3 months old), this particular Polish-American chapel holds a great pull for me and mine.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace is a beautiful, peace-filled chapel just outside the Crypt Church. Since "peace" will be our theme this year, you may see this particular image moved to our banner!
Our Lady of Ireland Chapel is different than I would have expected -- the statue is not of Our Lady of Knock ... but is so graceful and beautiful it really needs to be seen to give justice to. Here is the "nail on iron" Celtic-style cross placed behind the Pieta-style Madonna and it really is beautiful.This is the 9th Century poem (prayer really) that is carved on one of the walls of the Our Lady of Ireland Chapel. I'm so excited that the picture is clear enough to transcribe this beautiful prayer!
Our Lady of Altotting, a Bavarian-German image of Mary, has a lovely place of honor just off the main altar. Pope Benedict, when he visited in April, prayed at this particular shrine (he was born 5 km from the original and this was placed/dedicated here at the Bascilica on his birthday just before he was elected Pope!).
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most-visited of the chapels in the Bascilica. And the beauty is only superseded by the fact that Our Lady, under her title of "Our Lady of Guadalupe", is the patroness of the Americas (and I've dedicated my latest writing venture to this dear image).
Here is one side of the chapel wall leading to the OLof Guadalupe image above. This side is of the Pacific and South American pilgrims (including Aztecs who converted and Latin American saints). The opposite wall is a mosaic of North American and Old World pilgrims with images including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.

Here is the Shrine (and the stormy sky) as we left this afternoon. This Bascilica that every American Catholic (if not every Catholic) should really try and see in person. The mosaics ... the craftsmanship and devotion that went into each and every work of art in this patronal chruch ... really needs to be seen to be understood.

We may make another trip up there this week (while dh is still off!).

Feast Day: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Thanks to Charlotte at Waltzing Matilda, we were able to add this beautiful Marian image to our "shrinky dink" Marian plaque collection. Didn't she come out lovely?

We love the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- but not half as much as our chaplain here at St. Athanasius. Fr. Z. -- who BamBam "hired" as our official chaplain -- is very devoted to this Marian image, both for her pro-life, protector of the unborn status and her "Mother of the Americas" appellation. Our Lady of Guadalupe is an amazing story of evangelizing the Aztecs through this lovely apparition in Mexico back in the late 1500s and the ensuing miracle through St. Juan Diego where not only did he bring roses to the Bishop in December, he had this beautiful image of Mary engraved in his tilma! What a wondrous thing that must have been. I've never seen the original; our chaplain has been to Mexico City many times and participated in concelebrating Mass with Pope John Paul the Great in the Basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe!

And Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to respond to our prayers to her. I've just sent a book off to a publisher which I had put under her patronage -- and sent off to said publisher this morning! What better way to celebrate her feast? Please keep the book in your prayers as we move toward a Spring publication date.

With all this, I figured I owed Our Lady a great dinner so I tried to pull out the stops a bit: tonight we had bean/cheese burritos, cheese quesadillas, rice and for dessert: flan! A great meal to finish off our day of learning and loving and living the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, intercede for the Church, protect the Holy Father, help all who invoke you in their necessities. Since you are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from your most holy Son the Grace of a firm faith and sure hope amid the bitterness of life, as well as an ardent love and the precious gift of final perseverance. Amen.

Collect for Today:
O God of power and mercy, You blessed the Americas at Tepeyac with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. May her prayers help all men and women to accept each other as brothers and sisters. Through Your justice present in our hearts, may Your peace reign in the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. +Amen.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Feast Day: Immaculate Conception

Couldn't let today go by without posting ... The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a BIGGGGGG deal for Catholics. This is when we affirm that the Blessed Mother, in order to carry the Christ Child, in order to BE the Mother of God, in order to be "full of grace" -- HAD to be conceived and born without the stain of original sin. In some ways, this is an obvious doctrine -- how could the woman who carried the Son of God be anything less than the New Eve ... be anything less than the perfect human.

Some folks have a problem with this doctrine -- to me, it's an obvious one.

And we love to celebrate this feast -- it comes in the midst of Advent, when we're all focused on Christ's birth. It comes when we need to remember the joy of the season of Advent, while still remembering that Jesus came into this world to die for our sins! It comes at a perfect time -- which makes sense as this is all part of God's plan and MUST be perfect.

Today, since Kotch had the day off (going to a good Catholic school, ends up paying off), we all were able to attend Mass with the students of dh's school. The chaplain, Fr. Z., does an amazing job of explaining doctrine so all the kids (especially the teens who may not have a whole lot of Catholicity at home) "get it".

After Mass, we did a quick run to the library, than home to celebrate the Feast. We read Tomie de Paola's beautiful tribute to Mary, Mary: Mother of Jesus, and then watched Steve Ray's Footprints of God: Mary video which is an amazing mix of history, catechism and legend blended into an entertaining and informative 60+ minute documentary. We also colored pictures and made another Marian plaque to go with our collection (thank you, Waltzing Matilda!).

We would have done more, but the littles had dress-rehearsal for their plays this weekend right between 5-7:30p.m. (and dh had to have a crown re-glued at 3:15) which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for partying (especially when dh and I are up 4:30/5:00 each school morning!).

Prayer of Pope John Paul IIDecember 8, 2003

Queen of peace, pray for us!
Our gaze is directed toward you in great fear,

to you do we turn with ever-more insistent faith in these times marked by many uncertainties and fears for the present and future of our planet.

Together we lift our confident and sorrowful petition to you,

the first fruit of humanity redeemed by Christ,

finally freed from the slavery of evil and sin:

hear the cry of the pain of victims of war

and so many forms of violence that bloody the earth.

Clear away the darkness of sorrow and worry, of hate and vengeance.

Open up our minds and hearts to faith and forgiveness!
Mother of mercy and hope:

Help every human being of every race and culture to find and embrace Jesus,

who came to earth in the mystery of Christmas to give us 'His' peace.
Mary, Queen of peace, give us Christ, true peace in the world!

Mary, the Immaculate Conception,

PRAY for US!

Feast: Our Lady of the Rosary

Today is a lovely feast -- Our Lady of the Rosary commemorates the amazing victory of the European troops (led by Austrian Don Juan) against the Turks at Lepanto. This was the battle that GKChesterton immortalized in his poem, Lepanto (which we read today to give the kids the flavor of the battle).

[here's Bam-bam's version of the "ships" -- they then got out all their stuffed animals (I mean, Turks) and proceeded to fire on them!]

Here's an article from EWTN that explains the origins of the feast:

[this painting, by an unknown artist, shows the port of Lepanto during the battle]

On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under thecommand of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage,the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.

At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. St. Padre Pio,said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!

The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716 (who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712).

Here's what we did today to help remember this lovely feast:
Coloring page from our ever-resourceful Waltzing Matilda ...and "shrinky dink" plaque for the Marian feast.
We then put together a "Rosary Book". I bought "rosary cards" from Magnificat last May (but with moving, etc, never used them) and ...

we pasted those on card-stock. Here is the card for 5th Luminous mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist. Each set of mysteries is separated with a "summary" sheet so we know which mysteries on which days! All the cards are put in order in sheet protectors and the final page of our book is this quote from Servant of God, John Paul the Great:

… it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of
the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labors and endeavors which go to make
up our lives. “Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:23).
To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ
and his Mother. … I feel the need to say once more, as a warm invitation to
everyone to experience it personally: the Rosary does indeed “mark the rhythm of
human life”, bringing it into harmony with the “rhythm” of God's own life, in
the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life's destiny and deepest
longing. (paragraph 25, Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

And for dinner ... well, since Don John of Austria is the main man behind the Battle of Lepanto, we opted for an Austrian feast -- sausages, potatoes with apples and beer (add a salad and you got a great meal!). Since dh's birthday is tomorrow, we didn't make any sloppy-gloppy dessert as those will come over the next days (dh really likes to celebrate his birthday with food!).

Feast: Our Lady of Sorrows

(Durer's Seven Sorrows of Mary 1497)

Today is the day we remember the seven sorrows of the Blessed Mother:

1. The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)
2. The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
3. Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)
4. Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17)
5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30)
6. The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37)
7. The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47)

We celebrated today by coloring the beautiful drawings by Waltzing Matilda (the dear!) and I made a shrinky dink plaquesimilar to the one I made for Holy Name of Mary.For dessert, we made a crockpot version of the old classic, Espresso Brownie Pudding -- a bittersweet dessert to help us remember that Mary's sorrow is sad but had Jesus not died on the Cross for us ... if she hadn't given us everything she loved ... we wouldn't have the chance for salvation. Besides, anything with chocolate is always a great way to remember the good things in life!

Here's the recipe for Espresso Brownie Pudding:

Batter:
□ 1 Cup all-purpose flour
□ 2 tsp baking powder
□ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
□ 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
□ 1/4 teaspoon salt
□ 1/2 cup low fat milk
□ 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
□ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
□ 1/4 cup granulated sugar
□ 1/2 cup brown sugar
□ 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
□ 1-1/2 cups very hot water & strong black coffee
□ 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

To prepare the batter, combine the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk, melted butter and vanilla until blended. Spoon the batter into a 4-quart slow cooker.

To prepare the topping, combine the sugars and cocoa in a small bowl with optional nuts. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Carefully pour water-coffee over the cocoa-sugar mixture. DO NOT STIR.

Cover and cook until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean 1 to 2 hours on high (ours took just about 1.5 hours). Remove lid and let cool a little. The top is the brownie part, and there should be a great, gooey, lovely "hot fudge" syrup underneath -- best served in a bowl with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream!

This does not keep ... it should be served warm and fresh ... so eat up!

Feast: Holy Name of Mary

And I can't think of any picture of the Blessed Mother that honors her name more than this painting by Pietro Perugino, Madonna and Child Between SS. John the Baptist and Sebastian (1493). Doesn't she embody beauty, purity and love in this close-up?

Thanks to Aussie Annie and Waltzing Matilda, I was well-prepared for the Marian feast today. The Holy Name of Mary was named a feast of the universal Church in memory of King Sobieski (of Poland, of course) and his virtually miraculous victory over the Turks in Vienna on September 12, 1683.

Anne had a link to a great article about the Holy Name of Mary ... the story was interesting enough for even my littles to "get into" this Feast. Thanks to Matilda, we had great pictures to color during our discussion of Mary and why her name is so special (aside from the fact it's MY first name!):

The kids really enjoyed coloring these.

Then, since we had the Lyra colored pencils and Sharpie markers out, someone got the bright idea to get out the Shrinky Dink paper and make bunny "paper dolls", Ninja turtle figures and cool sports cars.

I decided to take a full sheet (8x10) and make my own Holy Name of Mary plaque. You can see how much the Shrinky Dink shrank just to the right of lower colored sheet -- but it makes a cool 3x5-ish size plaque. I'm thinking I'll do one for every Marian feast (as long as Matilda keeps making these cool coloring pages!).

For dessert, we created a deep-dish mixed-berry (blues and reds and purple for Mary and her times of joy and times of sorrow) crisp. The kids really don't want to have to wait till after pizza dinner to eat this one with vanilla icecream, but I'm sure they'll live!
Here are the many names by which the Blessed Mother is invoked (taken from the Litany of Loreto, an ancient prayer of the Catholic Church)

• Holy Mary, pray for us.
• Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
• Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us.
• Mother of Christ, pray for us.
• Mother of Divine Grace, pray for us.
• Mother Most Pure, pray for us.
• Mother Most Chaste, pray for us.
• Mother Inviolate, pray for us.
• Mother Undefiled, pray for us.
• Mother most amiable, pray for us.
• Mother most admirable, pray for us.
• Mother of Good Counsel, pray for us.
• Mother of Our Creator, pray for us.
• Mother of Our Savior, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Prudent, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Venerable, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Renowned, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Powerful, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Merciful, pray for us.
• Virgin Most Faithful, pray for us.
• Mirror of Justice, pray for us.
• Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.
• Cause of Our Joy, pray for us.
• Spiritual Vessel, pray for us.
• Vessel of Honor, pray for us.
• Singular Vessel of Devotion, pray for us.
• Mystical Rose, pray for us.
• Tower of David, pray for us.
• Tower of Ivory, pray for us.
• House of Gold, pray for us.
• Ark of the Covenant, pray for us.
• Gate of Heaven, pray for us.
• Morning Star, pray for us.
• Health of the Sick, pray for us.
• Refuge of Sinners, pray for us.
• Comforter of the Afflicted, pray for us.
• Help of Christians, pray for us.
• Queen of Angels, pray for us.
• Queen of Patriarchs, pray for us.
• Queen of Prophets, pray for us.
• Queen of Apostels, pray for us.
• Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.
• Queen of Confessors, pray for us.
• Queen of Virgins, pray for us.
• Queen of All Saints, pray for us.
• Queen Conceived Without Original Sin, pray for us.
• Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.
• Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.
• Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Feast Day: Our Lady of Knock

Today is one of my favorite Marian apparition feast days -- the apparition of Mary, St. Joseph, St. John and the Lamb of God in a small village in Ireland. The Feast of Our Lady of Knock, patroness of Ireland.

The time is 1879 Ireland ... an Ireland decimated by the potato famine and subjugation which led to the ex-patriation of many Irish. The small agrarian economy of Knock was as depressed as her townspeople. It was a rainy, blustery evening and folks were coming home ... the village Church was being locked for the evening.

Suddenly, a bright glow appeared and the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and St. John appeared to the passersby ... with the Lamb of God on an altar, surrounded by angels. The silent apparition remained for almost two hours, while the 15 or so villagers stood and prayed the rosary.

This apparition gave hope to those villagers, to all of Ireland. God was letting all of Ireland know that she was not forgotten or forsaken ... despair had no place on the Emerald Isle.

Today, this apparition still gives hope in a world that has gone so far astray. A shrine was built that needs to be seen to be believed. It is beautiful! Bam-Bam (ok, he was only four months old so he probably doesn't really remember) and I were fortunate to feel that hope when we went to Ireland in 2003 on pilgrimage, joining the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit Knock each year.

A pilgrimage I will never forget!

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF KNOCK, IRELAND

(Eleventh Century Irish Litany of Mary)

Great Mary,

Greatest of Marys,

Greatest of Women,

Mother of Eternal Glory,

Mother of the Golden Light,

Honor of the Sky,

Temple of the Divinity,

Fountain of the Gardens,

Serence as the Moon,

Bright as the Sun,

Garden Enclosed,

Temple of the Living God,

Light of Nazareth,

Beauty of the World,

Queen of Life,

Ladder of Heaven,

Mother of God.

Pray for us.

Amen!

Feast: Queenship of Mary

Today is the Feast of the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. This is a very hard Catholic concept for many. Here's an explanation from the Catholic-Forum website:

The feast of the Queenship of Mary was established in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. The
original date for this feast was chosen as May 31st, but was later moved to the
octave day of the feast of the Assumption, August 22nd. This memorial celebrates
the same event that is highlighted by the fifth glorious mystery or the Rosary.

Throughout the New Testament, Mary's role in heaven is mentioned. Mary is alluded to as Queen in the book of Revelations, and throughout the Bible. It is because of Jesus close relationship with his mother that she shares in his kingship.

The Church and the faithful for have also referred to Mary as queen since the fourth century. Various songs, litanies, and prayers refer to Mary as queen. (e.g. Regina Caeli during Eastertide.) The Church has affirmed the title of Mary in modern times through documents including Lumen Gentium (..."and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son" Lumen Gentium 59) and the papal encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam.

The title Queen is used to indicate the final state of the Virgin, seated beside her Son, the King of glory.

Here is an excerpt of the Ad Coeli Reginam written by Pope Pius XII:

38. From these considerations, the proof develops on these lines: if Mary, in
taking an active part in the work of salvation, was, by God's design, associated
with Jesus Christ, the source of salvation itself, in a manner comparable to
that in which Eve was associated with Adam, the source of death, so that it may
be stated that the work of our salvation was accomplished by a kind of
"recapitulation,"[49] in which a virgin was instrumental in the salvation of the
human race, just as a virgin had been closely associated with its death; if,
moreover, it can likewise be stated that this glorious Lady had been chosen
Mother of Christ "in order that she might become a partner in the redemption of
the human race";[50] and if, in truth, "it was she who, free of the stain of
actual and original sin, and ever most closely bound to her Son, on Golgotha
offered that Son to the Eternal Father together with the complete sacrifice of
her maternal rights and maternal love, like a new Eve, for all the sons of Adam,
stained as they were by his lamentable fall,"[51] then it may be legitimately
concluded that as Christ, the new Adam, must be called a King not merely because
He is Son of God, but also because He is our Redeemer, so, analogously, the Most
Blessed Virgin is queen not only because she is Mother of God, but also because,
as the new Eve, she was associated with the new Adam.

Makes perfect sense to me!

Queen of Heaven rejoice,
alleluia
The Son whom you merited to bear alleluia
Has risen as he said
alleluia
Pray for us to God alleluia
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary,
alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen alleluia

Death LOSES and Today Proves It!

Today, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother -- the day when she went to Heaven, body and soul, to prove death's defeat and the triumph for once and for all over Satan! This is a fabulous feast.

This picture, The Assumption of the Virgin, by Francesco Botticini is housed in the National Gallery of Art in London. Jesus did not allow His mother to be buried but rather brought her, body and soul, to His side in Heaven -- with all the angels and saints cheering and looking on in wonder.

So tonight we party -- thanks to Jennifer at 4Real, we have dessert -- Lemon Cloud (as in, Mary was taken up in a cloud) Pie. Of course, because I CAN'T follow directions completely, we're having LIME Cloud Pie (and ours is a graham cracker crust).

So how did y'all celebrate?

Today, the Church celebrates ...

... the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary gave her YES to God and the World was changed forever.

I love this image of the Annunciation that I found on the Internet -- but I don't know who did it. Any guesses from my readers? It's absolutely lovely with the blues and reds. It is also one of the few Annunciation pictures where Mary's head is slightly above Gabriel's head -- showing that she truly is Queen of the Angels.

For a field trip we went to one of the older parishes here in Denver -- Annunciation Catholic Church -- was established in 1883 and the current church dates to 1891 or so. The stain glass windows are amazing! We came home and did a stain glass craft -- a couple of those suncatcher kits where the plastic melts within the metal frame and looks like stain glass! These are much harder to do than they look but the kids are pleased with the results so that's ALL that matters. They also understand a bit about how careful glassworkers had to be to get the real stain glass windows to look so good so many years later.

[NOTE: the Feast of the Annunciation is March 25th; when it falls on a Sunday (as it did this year) the feast is moved to Monday. It's also dh and my anniversary, so we have double to celebrate!]

Better Late than Never

February 11th is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. However, this year, the feast occurred on a Sunday so we kinda lost track of it. But, we were planning to visit the Lourdes Marian Center here in Denver for a field trip today. That fell through, but we went ahead with the craft we'd planned -- holy water fonts for Our Lady.

A bit of foil, some Sculpey in shades of blue and white, some polished garden gravel and an image of Our Lady and St. Bernadette and VOILA!

We used the foil -- which we'd shaped into a shallow bowl and an upright area for the image of the apparition at Lourdes. We covered the foil shape with a thin layer of Sculpey, using the foil as a mold (you can see the foil on the back in the pictures). Once the foil was covered on the front (making sure to avoid holes or gaps -- which of course would leak!), we imbedded small rocks to give the feeling of the Lourdes Grotto.

After baking in a 275 oven for 15 minutes or so, we let the "grotto fonts" cool and carefully removed the foil. Many of the rocks came unstuck as the fonts dried, but we'll glue those back into place.

Once the fonts were cool enough to handle, we glue the trimmed apparition picture to the font and once that has set for a while, we'll seal the entire piece with matte varnish.

Now we're ready for that holy water! We're trying to reschedule the trip to the Center for next week -- Ash Wednesday!

One of the best parts of this activity was that we did it in company with another homeschool family -- after sharing heart-shaped pizzas, cranberry juice (which wasn't quite as red as we would have liked) and Valentine's Day cookies!

Mary M, y'all can come over to play anytime!

Our Lady of LaSalette

In the Jubilee Year of 2000, we were fortunate to be able to take the children on pilgrimage to shrines and Catholic sites all over France and Italy (culminating in seeing John Paul the Great in audience). My husband and I have a special devotion to Our Lady, and incorporated many Marian shrines in our planning of this momentous trip.

Of all the shrines and places we went -- including Lourdes and Lisieux -- no place had more impact on me then the small French Alpine village of LaSalette near Grenoble. The place is hard country -- mountainous and rocky, perfect for sheep, goats and shepherds. And, a Marian shrine that will live in my memory.

The story of this not-so famous Marian apparition, begins on September 19, 1846. Two young shepherds, Maximin Giraud (11) and Melanie Mathieu (15), had fallen asleep on that drowsy day and awoke to see a woman sitting on a rock, head in our hands, weeping.
She stood and said

Come near, my children, do not be afraid. I am here to tell you great news.

The beautiful Lady was tall. She was all light. She was dressed like the women of that region: a long dress, long apron tied at the waist, a shawl crossed and knotted in the back. On her head she wore a peasant bonnet. There were roses in a crown around her head, around her shawl and her shoes. Light shimmered like a fiery diadem on her forehead. A chain seemed to weigh heavily on her shoulders. A finer link-chain held a brilliant crucifix on her breast, with a hammer on one side and tongs on the other. (as described at the official site of the Missionaries and Sisters of Our Lady of LaSalette

Imagine, the Blessed Mother WEEPING! She, who held back her tears when Jesus was left in Jerusalem. She, who held back her tears when Jesus met her on his way to Golgotha. She, who held back her tears when her Son died on the Cross. This is the woman who was seen WEEPING in front of two children.

Her message was one of Divine Mercy and a plea for a change of heart by the French. They were no longer attending Mass on Sundays. They were no longer keeping the Lord's Day special. They were no longer venerating the Lord's name, but instead were blaspheming whenever anything bad happened -- crop failures or just plain bad luck.

Here are the words she spoke:

If my people do not obey, I shall be compelled to loose the arm of my Son. It is so heavy that I can no longer restrain it.

How long have I suffered for you!

Here was her simple, yet serious request of the children:

If my people are converted, the stones will become mounds of wheat and it will be found that the potatoes have been self-sown. Do you say your prayers well, my children?

The children answered with one voice: "Not too well, Madame, hardly at all".

Ah! my children, it is very important to do so, at night and in the morning. When you don't have time, at least say an "Our Father" and a "Hail Mary"; and when you can, say more.

Only a few rather elderly women go to Mass in the summer. Everyone else works every Sunday all summer long. And in winter, when they don't know what else to do, they go to Mass only to scoff at religion. During Lent, they go to the butcher shop like dogs.

In 1851 the Bishop of Grenoble, France, after a lengthy investigation, proclaimed the apparition of La Salette "bears within itself all the characteristics of truth."

This site had such an impression on me -- the lovely, graceful image of Our Blessed Mother weeping into her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. How sad she must have been! How racked with grief for the mistakes of the French. How little she asked of the French people -- attend Mass, keep the Lord's day holy, venerate her Son, and pray.

How little she asks of all of us.

Consecration to Our Lady of La Salette

Most holy Mother, Our Lady of La Salette, who for love of me shed such bitter tears in your merciful apparition, look down with kindness upon me, as I consecrate myself to you without reserve. From this day, my glory shall be to know that I am your child. May I so live as to dry your tears and console your afflicted heart. Beloved Mother, to you and to your blessed charge and sacred keeping and into the bosom of your mercy, for this day and for every day, and for the hour of my death I commend myself, body and soul, every hope and every joy, every trouble and every sorrow, my life and my life's end. O dearest Mother, enlighten by understanding, direct my steps, console me by your maternal protection, so that exempt from all error, sheltered from every danger of sin, I may, with ardor and invincible courage, walk in the paths traced out for me by you and your Son.
Amen.