Padre Pio

The Padre Pio dvd

Recently I have watched a great dvd of a Miracle worker. St Pio of Pietrelcrina. He is a remarkable modern day saint.
I purchased the dvd late last year at a homeschool camp, and left it on the shelf. Umm.. Why..? I wonder now. I was a fairly real portrayal of his life.
Recently I gave a small Pauline book to my Mum about St Padre' Pio, as she hasn't kept up with some of these 'modern day saint'. I will be passing this dvd on as well.
He was chosen by God for some amazing work and his Stigmata is well talked and queried.
I first learnt of him through the Disciples of Jesus, and have enjoyed discussing his life with Dermot & our children.

We are all watching this dvd in small portions throught this week as part of our Religion, Geography, History etc..
Pietrelicina is a small town in Italy, 2 hours drive from Sorrento. He was named Francesco after St Francis of Assisi. He received his gifts as a small child and announced at a young age that he wished to be a Friar.
He lived as a persecuted Priest due to his Stigmata,The gift of bilocation, wonderful confessor and the ability to have exactly thr right word of counsel. The church was sceptical about this, and it needed to be. He understood this, and offered his suffering through the crucified Lord.
Blessed John Paul II met with Padre' Pio and asked for prayers before he was even a Bishop.

He spend most of his days at a town known as San Giovanni Rotonda. It is the second visited pilgrim sight after Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We celebrate Padre Pios' feast day September 23rd. He dies in 1968 and was canonised in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.

St Pio of Pietrelcina Pray for us.

Christ the King Plans 2011

By Gae at Cherished Hearts at Home

The Feast of Christ the King ~
"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father"
 Philippians 2: 10-11

Ideas to Celebrate~
On a  home made drawn crown , write all of the reasons that Jesus Christ is our King and Savior.
Another idea is to  make a special "Christ the King" banner out of paper, or a more permanent idea out of fabric and fabric paint to proclaim The Kingship of Jesus.

Definitely make some felt crowns following this simple tutorial. Honestly you can never have too many crowns in a home in my opinion, they can be used for anything but for today in memory of Christ The King.

This detailed colouring page was made for us by Eden  based on the original image above. We will definitely be colouring this one in, I hope you would like to use it too

Great colouring page
Colouring stained glass window look page 
We have made this before but from Jen - a Foldable Table or Altar Decoration
Family Procession idea from Catholic Culture

Make a King Cake ~ I know there are many super duper version of this however we simply make a bundt cake and ice it. The kids then decorate it with lollies as jewels.
Lots of fun, easy to make and yummy to eat!

Here are our ideas and activities from  past years

 PRAYER~
O Jesus Christ, I acknowledge you as universal King. All that has been made has been created for You. Exercise all Your rights over me. I renew my Baptismal Vows. I renounce Satan, his pomps and his works; I promise to live as a good Christian. And, in particular do I pledge myself to labor, to the best of my ability, for the triumph of the rights of God and of Your Church. Divine Heart of Jesus, to You do I offer my poor services, laboring that all hearts may acknowledge Your sacred kingship, and that thus the reign of Your peace be established throughout the whole universe. Amen. 


May you have a blessed and memorable feast day,

A wonderful movie.....a review

By Leanne

Recently, we had the opportunity to see a wonderful Christian movie at the cinemas -COURAGEOUS. The same directors as Fireproof

We heard it advertised on our local Christian radion station and we wanted to support it. It was M rated, this concerned us as we wanted to take Brid. I suggested to Dermot we check the dove foundation for a review. We decided after reading there take on it, that it was OK for Brid to view.

After Piano lessons Dermot drove us into the city. It is usually rather busy on the roads in the late afternoon. This concerned me, bumper to bumper on the bridge into town. Oh Joy!!- not. It was a concern, because I had no idea as to how to get into the cinemas, as they were new-ish. The roads were completely clear and we arrived at the cinema 10 minutes before the movie started. This gave us plenty of time to buy an icecream and choose a seat.

The movie was fairly full. It looked like lots of people from various church groups with a smattering of others. How could I tell, you say. Well they are sat in rows together and they appeared to know each other.
There was no advertising before the movie, no previews. I wondered why? A projector failure. Surely they don’t use projectors. A computer failure, or just an agreement between the cinema and the movie company?? I don’t know, but it was very pleasant.
The movie was about a group of warrant officers in a state in USA. Their stories, where they came from and there walk with God. It showed good Christian morals and how each of these men wanted the best for their families. The movie centred around a Resolution that these men made in front of their families and each other to be the very best Father they could be, using the principles set out by Our Lord in the Bible.
It asked men to be men of God and stand for up for their believes in God to their family and the world. It showed their struggles afterward and the way The Lord worked in their lives. It stated that the problems we have today with gangs and young people would not be, if Fathers actually took there role seriously as fathers.
It ended with a scene in a church, and one of the men speaking of his experience to the congregation. People actually stood up at the end of the movie and made this resolution as well. It was a very powerful scene and a wonderful movie.

There was a point in the movie were the little girl asked her Daddy yo dance with her, in public place. He didn’t. Would you Dance with your son or daughter? I know Dermot would, He has. I would too?

Take a box of tissues and go see this movie. Brid and I sat close, holding hands and sharing tissues. There were a couple of scenes that were fighting scenes, which she needed me to talk her through, and scenes were she wanted to hold her dads hand- umm for 20mins. His arm stretched over me. He did it because she needed his hand.

May God bless you, May he empower us to build up strong men and women to bring the world to know Jesus.

The Beautiful People

By Sue Elvis

My youngest daughter Gemma-Rose is extremely fair. She needs to be very careful in the sun.  When I was slopping a handful of sunblock onto her skin the other day, I started thinking about my own childhood. I’m fairly certain we never used sunscreen. Even though we lived in the harsh, hot Queensland climate, I can’t remember my mother ever saying, “Don’t forget the sunscreen!” She didn’t even remind me to put a hat on my head.

If anyone should have taken care in the sun, it was me. I have red hair and fair skin. I can remember my mother’s friends laughing at me: ”She’ll turn into one huge freckle before the summer is over!” I wasn’t amused. I longed for the sun to toast me an even brown colour.

Every week during summer was the same: beach on Sunday, red on Monday, sore on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, peeled by Saturday, back to the beach on Sunday.

I grew into a teenager who was obsessed with the idea of a tan. I was small and pale and freckly and unremarkable in appearance. But I wanted to look like all the popular girls at school. So every lunch time when they took up their places on the benches in the sun, I did the same. Everyone would grab their bottles of baby oil. Liberal quantities were applied to smooth legs which were then stretched out to receive the full effect of the hot rays. Of course, every leg slowly turned a gorgeous shade of brown except those belonging to me. My legs were quickly fried to a startling shade of red.

It is remarkable how persistent and optimistic children can be. An adult would have given up on the idea of a tan almost immediately. But I didn’t. “Perhaps next time”, I’d think, ever optimistic. Ignoring the pain of burning skin, I would again and again return to the sun. It must have been very important to me otherwise why else would I have persisted in such a senseless and unsuccessful activity? I think I must have wanted so much to be one of the ‘beautiful people’, to be popular, to be accepted and liked by the other girls and it seemed to me as a teenager, that appearance was everything.

I am much older now. I know there are so many things that are much more important than having a tan. I never think about the colour of my skin. I guess we live in a different era these days. Everyone is very concerned about being ‘sun safe’ and avoiding skin cancer. Those people who deliberately expose their skin to the harsh sun’s rays are actually considered rather foolish and uninformed.

No, I am quite happy with my pale, fair, totally untanned skin. Well, not exactly happy... Nowadays, I am more inclined to gaze in the mirror and wish I didn’t have wrinkles. Are we never satisfied? Always longing to be something we aren’t?

I have seen people with serious skin problems, disfigurements or unsightly blemishes. When I consider the difficulties they have to deal with, I am ashamed I spend so much time looking in the mirror wishing I could change my appearance. I have a perfectly normal and acceptable face. Does it matter about the freckles and the wrinkles?

I guess our appearance is that part of ourselves that the world sees. It is what we are judged on. It tells others a bit about who we are. The difficulties arise when our outward image seems to be in conflict with how we feel on the inside. I feel like I am in my twenties. I am fit and active and feel quite attractive. I don’t at all feel like a middle-aged woman. I really am quite happy until I glance in the mirror. There staring back at me is an aging woman who, I am sure, is not really me at all. Perhaps the answer is not to look in the mirror.

I wonder if I am alone in my struggles to come to terms with my appearance, and especially the effects of aging. Probably everyone else has already come to the conclusion that what really matters is inner beauty, the kind of beauty that will last forever. Yes, the genuine ‘beautiful people’ are those that possess the virtues, those people who never have time to glance in the mirror. They are far too busy thinking and caring about others to worry about themselves. 


There is something else I have noticed. Inner beauty is eventually reflected on the outside. Grace cannot stay hidden. It shines out and the beautiful people truly end up being 'the beautiful people'.


Freckles, suntans, youth, wrinkles... grace. Will I one day end up beautiful?

A Chocolate Church?

On November 9 we celebrate the dedication of a church. The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Oft called the mother of our churches. 


The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. Also called the Church of Holy Saviour or the Church of St. John Baptist, it was the baptism church of ancient Rome. It was built in the time of Constantine and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. This feast became a universal celebration in honour of the basilica called "the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" (omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput) as a sign of love for and union with the See of Peter.


Each year on that day, or near abouts, our family makes a chocolate church.


Yes, you heard it. A church structure made our of chocolate...KitKats or fun size bars or Top Deck. An elaborate structure. Or a simple one. Either way, it is fun to make and eat and remember.

The Feasts of Halloween, All Saints and All Souls

Last week while in hospital with Trahaearn my friend Erinasked me if she could use one of my old posts about All Saints day for the  Australian Catholic Families Blog, I said sure no problem and assumed all was well.

It wasn't until I came home and started to look at my own blog to plan our own celebrations that I couldn't find a post on any of these three feast days that I began to wonder what was wrong. I knew we had celebrated these days over the last few years as well as pre blogging days and 'why can't I find the posts on this?"

The reason why was that, um, well,  I never actually posted them and I found them partially done in drafts. Oh dear how I hate my drafts, so many posts I part;y do and then leave some never to be published at at all.

So although we have celebrated All Hallows Eve today - commonly know as Halloween I wish to share these past photos of how we have celebrated in our home.
We have no parish parties here or home school groups to join in with for these and so essentially ours are 'home made feasts' in our Domestic Church

We have a wonderful opportunity  on this special three days to celebrate the Liturgical season of All Hallow Eve, All Saints and All Souls day this year and we will gradually do so with out trying to do too much.

So with out further ado  what I would like to share is some of our older photos of our feasts of these days and the celebration we have at home.
The reason we celebrate this at home is we have never lived where it was celebrated within the Church as a parish or had other homeschooling celebrate with us.
So over the years we have clelbrated many of these traditions with in the context of our family circle.

When instituting these traditions into our family, before blogging was a big thing on the Internet. I gleamed most of our ideas from the 4real message board and Catholic Culture.
I have a folders full of ideas I have printed out of Liturgical and seasonal ideas to do with our family, along with lots of handwritten notes over time.

As our ideas had to be home based one of the most influential  articles in how we spend these days was on Catholic Culture but written by Jennifer Miller and I will go into more depth as we cover the feast days per post. 

AS you will see the children look a whole lot younger and our little Arwen does not even feature as she was  a babe in arms or a 'thought in the mind of God' still.

These photos are of our dressing up for All Saints Day and the 'party' we had at home. They continue for a while down the page

This is our procession for All Souls Day and our subsequent bonfire for it

Home made graves for the remembering the souls of the departed.

An earlier year again with a combination of All Saints and All Souls Day

Another year-we celebrated in typical  Halloween fashion. 

We carved our first ever Pumpkin Moonshine (finding a pumpkin the right shape is harder down under as it is Spring not Autumn season)

We also had a new party complete with Paper Bag Pinata

Rather than Apple Bobbing we had Cheese Nibbling

Braedon has always been a comic and wonderful actor for these type of events.

Decorating our home for appropriate events is a huge must do for our family

Well with this blast from the past published finally I hope to write up today's events in another post and share our fairly easy day of celebrating  All Hallows Eve together.

Blessings to you and your homes,
Gae.


Enjoy more of Gae's posts at Cherished Hearts at Home including Celebrating Halloween 2011