Our Resurrection Cross - A New Easter Tradition

A few days ago I started showing you some of the changes that we have made in our home for the Easter season. Today I'd like to share one more with you.

This year my husband made a large wooden cross with the boys during the season of Lent.

On Good Friday he talked to them about how Jesus was nailed to the cross and about His immense love for us. He took out 3 nails, let the boys look at them and hold them, and gave them a little poke on each of their hands and feet (don't worry...it was just a small poke) so that they would understand that it HURT Jesus. Then, they nailed 3 nails into the cross.

On Holy Saturday, we placed a cloth on the cross.

And on Easter Sunday, we began to decorate the cross with beautiful signs of life (i.e. paper flowers, butterflies, ladybugs, bees, etc) to celebrate Jesus' Resurrection.

It is now our Resurrection Cross and we have placed it in a prominent place in our living room, to remind us of Christ's love for us, and His victory over sin and death.

It is such a joy to listen to the boys as they tell everyone who comes to visit about their "Easter/Resurrection cross". They'll say things like,"Jesus is not dead anymore","Jesus got on the cross because He loves us so, so much", and "Jesus is risen and His boo boos don't hurt Him anymore". Precious.

Here are a few pictures...

Good Friday Cross

Holy Saturday Cross

Easter Sunday!!! - Resurrection Cross

 

Note: I have to give partial credit to Kimberlee and Dana for the inspiration behind this project (...the rest was Divinely inspired). Thank you for your beautiful ideas!

Lift High The Cross

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.

Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died.

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee.

So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Words: George W. Kitch­in; mod­i­fied by Mi­chael R. New­bolt in 1916.

Music: Crucifer, Syd­ney H. Ni­chol­son, 1916

Blessed Pope John Paul II

 Our hearts are in Rome today...

My Mr and I had the opportunity to see him there in 2003...on my birthday...what a GIFT!

We were THIS CLOSE!

"From Mary we learn to surrender to God's will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her son and the son of God."
John Paul II

Totus Tuus

It is neat to think that they're together in heaven...praying for us all 

Two saints of our time!

 This is a special and exciting day for our "2" (JPII is his namesake and he was born on the anniversary of his death).

I just LOVE this man!

 Blessed John Paul II, Pray for us!

Celebrating the Feast of Divine Mercy

This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday!


Jesus said to St. Faustina "The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross....Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him."


Here are several ideas that I have gathered for celebrating the feast...

Listen to/Read Stories of St. Faustina and Divine Mercy

For the Littles:

Holy Heroes has a series of CDs on the lives of the saints called Glory Stories. They are perfect for listening to in the car, and have lessons for adults too! For this feast listen to the story of St. Faustina.

To purchase Holy Heros Glory Stories click here

  

I absolutely LOVE this children's book about St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy Image by David Previtali. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print so most copies are QUITE expensive. If you happen to find one for a reasonable price, don't hesitate, just buy it!

EWTN has a wonderful DVD series of saint stories called My Catholic Family. In this particular DVD the parents teach their children about Divine Mercy.

To preview this DVD visit EWTN Kids

EWTN also has this DVD in which St. Fautina teaches children about Divine Mercy and how to pray the chaplet.

Father Lovasik has written a fabulous book called The Works of Mercy. This would be a perfect book to read and teach children about God's Mercy and about BEING merciful. It is also quite IN-expensive

For adults

Read The Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul (my favorite section of this book is the one on Faustina's Eucharistic reflections. It is at the very end of the book)

Read about the life of St. Faustina and the History/Message of Divine Mercy

Color Pictures and Make Crafts

Here are a couple of links to my FAVORITE coloring pages pertaining to the Feast of Divine Mercy

I just LOVE this Divine Mercy Icon coloring page by Charlotte over at Waltzing Matilda. It is the perfect outline for making your own mosaic (just cut up several pieces of paper, in a variety of colors, and glue all the little pieces to the picture).


(I equally love this stained glass window coloring page of the Divine Mercy Image from the coloring book: Fenestrae Fidei: A Coloring Companion for Catholic Mosaic. However, it is not a free print out...but it is only $9.99 and worth every penny! It includes 48 stained glass style pictures of the saints and major Feasts of the Church)

This picture was found at Shower of Roses, my new favorite Catholic blog.

You can also find a coloring page for St. Faustina, the Mercy Image, and JPII, as well as a couple of word searches at Divine Mercy Kids.






I think that this is a perfect craft for little ones.

Visit Make Music Praying Twice for FREE print outs and the full tutorial here

Eat!(after all it is a FEAST-DAY)

Serve foods that are red and blue to represent the rays of light (which in turn represent the blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of Christ).

I think these two ideas are so beautifully clever!

Mercy Pancakes!

Doesn't this cheesecake look just DIVINE?!


*For these and more amazing food ideas visit Catholic Cuisine


Pray!

Set up a sacred space with the Divine Mercy Image as your centerpiece.

 
Decorate with a vase filled with roses/flowers (half red and half white/blue).

Pray the Mercy Chaplet as a family (you may wish to pray this during the 3:00 Mercy hour...the hour that Jesus died on the Cross).

*To burn a free CD of the Mercy Chaplet (Chanted) click here.

Practice one or more of the spiritual or corporal works of mercy as a family ("The first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy...I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me." Diary, 742).

Works of Mercy, by the Master of Alkmaar

Have a lovely Feast day!!!



Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

Liturgical Wheel for the Littles

Another change we made in our home this past Sunday, was turning our liturgical wheel from Lent/purple to Easter/white. You may remember this idea from my earlier post on Lenten ideas for the littles (you can find info on how to use the wheel, and the significance of the liturgical colors there). Well here is our version of the liturgical wheel for the littles.

Note: We didn't have any Catholic catalogs to cut pictures out of, so I just drew the pictures.

Note: We couldn't find brad(?) clips, so we used velcro on our wheel. And, as a finishing touch, my wonderful Mr laminated it for us.

Back Piece

Back Side of Front Piece

 

Our "2" and "3" have really enjoyed talking about the colors as the liturgical seasons change. They especially love to talk about the colors before going to mass and then seeing the same colors on the altar and the vestments of the priest (boy did Palm Sunday throw them for a loop!...I may make another wheel that includes even more colors. For now, this works just fine.).

Trading Spaces... (Our Easter Sacred Space)

 Alleluia! He is risen!!!   

I thought I'd share a couple of changes we have made around our home to celebrate this joyous season. The first is our sacred space. On Easter Sunday, we traded out purple for...

White!

These are a couple pictures of our Easter sacred space...

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ... 1 Peter 1:3

 

* More to come tomorrow!

Our 2011 Paschal Candle + Tutorial

I wasn't sure if I would actually get around to making an Easter candle this year since we will be moving in a few weeks. But, this morning, I woke up bright and early to make this year's Paschal Candle for our home. It will be placed on our sacred space and we will light it each day/evening during our family prayer times this Easter season.

So, what exactly IS a Paschal Candle? To learn about the origin and usage of the Paschal Candle click here or here! 

To make this candle

You Will Need:

Tall Candle

Pencil

Paper

Scissors

Ribbon

Paint (Oil or Acrylic)

 Paint Brushes (Fine Tipped)

Beads

Strait (sewing) Pins

Step 1 - Draw an alpha, omega, a cross, 2, 0, and two 1's on your paper.

Step 2 - Cut out each symbol. One by one, hold each symbol down on the face of the candle while you trace the outline of the symbol with the pencil (press down hard with the pencil). This will make an indentation of each symbol on the candle which you will be able to paint.

(Look very closely...the Alpha indention is there. I promise!)

Step 3 - Paint each symbol with gold paint (you may choose to skip this step but it gives the colors over it a nice shine).

Step 4 - Paint each symbol (using colors of your choice).

"Christ yesterday and today (vertical bar of the cross)

the beginning and the end (horizontal bar of the cross)

Alpha (A, above the cross)

and Omega; (Ω, below the cross)

all time belongs to him (2, upper left quadrant)

and all the ages: (0, upper right quadrant)

to him be glory and power (1, lower left quadrant)

through every age for ever. Amen." (1, lower right quadrant)

Step 5 - Add five pins and five beads to the cross (these represent the 5 grains of incense that a priest will insert into the candle at Mass - held in place by the 5 "nails").

"By his holy and glorious wounds may Christ our Lord guard us and keep us." 

Step 6 - Add ribbons (I used pins and beads to secure these).

We are so happy to have our Paschal Candle ready for Easter! Remember that according to the liturgical calendar, Easter is celebrated for 50 days! So if you don't have time to make a Pascal Candle before tomorrow don't sweat it! You still have time to make one just like ours for your home... 


-OR- you could make this SUPER EASY one from Homeschool Goodies...

Just print, glue/tape, Viola!

-OR- you could order this bees wax candle kit (yeah...you get to ROLL your own candle! How cool is THAT?!) which includes easy peasy water decals ( =  no painting or intricate details).  You can order it directly from Illuminated Ink OR on Amazon.

Check out Jessica's finished candle (the inspiration for ours - she used this kit with her littles) over at  Shower of Roses.

"May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds."