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

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."

Easter Story Cookie Recipe! (perfect for littles)

A dear friend of mine just sent this Easter Story Cookie recipe to me today and we are going to put it to use tomorrow with our littles. I think that the idea sounds wonderful and that it is a perfect end of Lent/Easter activity for little ones. It is also a beautiful way to emphasize the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ on the last day before Easter. I can definitely see this becoming an annual Holy Saturday tradition in our home.  Enjoy!

Easter Story Cookie Recipe

EASTER STORY COOKIES

To be made the evening before Easter.

You Will Need:

1c. whole pecans

1 tsp. vinegar

3 egg whites

pinch salt

1c. sugar

zipper baggie

wooden spoon
wax paper

tape

Bible

Preheat oven to 300 (this is important--don't wait until you're half done

with the recipe)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. 

Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.

Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.

 Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.

Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. 

Read Luke 23:27.

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1c. sugar.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because

He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. 

Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 7-10 minutes or until stiff peaks are formed.

Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. 

Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.

Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. 

Read Matthew 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!

Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.

Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. 

The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.

Read Matt. 28:1-9

Happy Easter!
He is Risen!!!

Phew! What We've Been Up To...

Over the last couple of weeks we have been SO BUSY!

We've had a HUGE birthday bash (for our two boys), visited the E.R. with our 2 (long story...and he's fine after 4 stitches), mourned the loss of a dear student, packed 30+ boxes to get ready for our big move, searched our entire home (every closet, shelf, and drawer) to find things to get rid of at our moving sale, had a very successful ($$$) moving sale (and got a great big, blistering, burn...very appropriate and right in time for Palm Sunday Mass...my face matched the red vestments...no pics. Sorry.), went on a date with my Mr <3 <3 <3, visited the dentist 2 times for fillings (ARGH!), detailed our cars (well, my husband did while I watched the kids...and then of course I "oooed" and "ahhhed" at how sparkly clean everything looked), sold one of our (2) cars, made painting smocks (for the kid's Easter baskets...tutorial to come), altered some jeans, and sewed the top of a baby quilt (pictures after Easter)...PHEW!!!

Currently, we are trying to focus our minds and hearts on the passion and death of Our Lord and (with great anticipation) look forward to the great celebration of His Resurrection this Sunday. (I had so many things I wanted to share on this blog for Holy Week and Easter Sunday...but soooo little time...I'll have to post them all next year)

Have a blessed Holy Week and a Happy Easter everyone!

Something Lovely...

I found this display over at  MADE and think it is just lovely...and magical. This is what we'll be doing today...

It think these would make beautiful Easter decorations too! Don't you?...We just couldn't wait.

Happy Spring!