Catholic Kids Liturgical Year

Fourth Week of Easter- Monday

2009-05-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

We're getting back in the saddle today after illness, the unwell one is feeling pretty hale and hearty and the other two are willing to do Catechism because they are fully sick of each other and quarantine....

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Today's Rosary- The Sorrowful Mysteries- The Crowning With Thorns (I once read where such a thing would be about the most painful a person could experience because of the number of nerve endings in the scalp and the short distance to the central nervous system- it made me realize how truly terrible this must have been...)

Patron Saint of the Day- St. Richard Reynolds whose gruesome death at the hands of Henry the VIII guarantees him the fascination of small Catholic boys and bodes well for the apsorption of any lessons his life may have to teach us.

We havent quite learned the Apostles Creed but we are forging ahead with the Baltimore Catechism
Lesson 2:1
What is God? God is a spirit infinitely perfect.

Third Week of Easter- Wednesday

2009-04-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Patron Saint of the Day- St. Catherine of Siena

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We are falling apart on the Catechism front. Sick kids are the absolute death-knell to homeschooling. I just cant manage to school the well one and take care of the sick one. Plus he has a scary illness- infected insect bite. Yike!!!

Third Week of Easter- Tuesday

2009-04-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

We did manage to do school and read the gospel. Which is something, but we havent done much of anything with the creed. Need to get cracking on that...

Patron Saint of the Day- St. Peter Chanel

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Today's Rosary- The Sorrowful Mysteries- The Scourging at the Pillar

Third week of Easter- Monday

2009-04-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

Patron St. of the Day- Blessed Nicholas Roland

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Today's Rosary- The Sorrowful Mysteries- The Agony in the Garden

We did nothing today, not even school- pathetic. And my children got angrily booted from the neighbors (she called them 'Free Range Chickens!!!'). Our lady, Mother of Peace, pray for me.

Third Week of Easter- Sunday

2009-04-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Patron Saint of the Day Pope Saint Marcellinus

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Daily Rosary- The Sorrowful Mysteries- The Agony in the Garden

Baltimore Catechism
Still on the creed- thinking its going to take at least another full week...

Second Week of Easter- Friday and Saturday

2009-04-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Too much playtime this weekend. We did no school and NO catechism at all and suddenly its Saturday night and we havent gone to Mass yet which means battling either the morning or evening commute to go at 8 or 6 tomorrow. YIKE!

We are making some progress with the apostles creed. They made a really good effort to say it tonight at bedtime- its something...

Thursday- Second week of Easter

2009-04-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

We almost bagged Catechism today because we are taking them to a waterpark in the afternoon and have a ton of school work to do, but thank God we didnt because today is the feast of St. George. Nothing like a good dragon story to shore up flagging enthusiasm for Catechism...
Link to a good St. George coloring page.
Click for St. George Saint Page with story and prayers.

We're still trying to remember the 'Entrance Hymn' and the 'Entrance Antiphon' for our parts of the mass today...

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Today's Rosary- The Luminous Mysteries- The Institution of the Eucharist

Baltimore Catechism
We are spending a few more days on the Apostles Creed before we move on to lesson 2.

Wednesday- Second Week of Easter

2009-04-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Talking about the parts of the Mass...
Mass begins with the entrance of the Priest and an entrance hymn will often be sung. Otherwise, a short passage (usually from Scripture) is recited called the "Entrance Antiphon".
Being our greatest prayer, the Mass begins by making the Sign of the Cross (the traditional way that Catholics "bless themselves" and begin and conclude "formal" prayers).

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Today's Rosary- The Luminous Mysteries- The Transfiguration

Patron Saint of the Day- April 22nd- We've got a gang of them today, so I'll choose St. Theodore of Sykeon mostly because he warded off a plague of insects and I've got aphids making a feast of my garden...

Baltimore Catechism Lesson 1:12 The Apostles Creed
I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried. He descended into hell: the third day He arose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Tuesday- Second Week of Easter

2009-04-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today, at the suggestion of my mother, I'm adding the Patron Saint of the Day

April 21st is St. Anselm of Canterbury

We did pretty well with the Hail Mary so I guess we'll start on the parts of the mass...

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Today's Rosary- The Luminous Mysteries- Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Baltimore Catechism
Where shall we find the chief truths which the Church teaches? We shall find the chief truths which the Church teaches in the Apostles' Creed.

Monday- Second Week of Easter

2009-04-19T10:13:00.001-07:00

Today we are doing review of the Easter week gospels, the Our Father and learning the Hail Mary. Gotta get through the 'fruit of thy wound' problem. Well, I thought it was that for years as a kid...

Hail Mary, full of Grace
The Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou amongst women and
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus
Holy Mary, mother of God
Pray for us sinners
Now, and at the hour of our death, Amen.

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Today's Rosary- The Luminous Mysteries- The Wedding at Cana (skipped it yesterday-went to Mass)

Baltimore Catechism- Lesson 1:10
How shall we know the things which we are to believe? We shall know the things which we are to believe from the Catholic Church, through which God speaks to us

Divine Mercy Sunday

2009-04-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Heading to mass in the crush of the Dubai Sunday morning commute...

What is Divine Mercy Sunday?- http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm

A Wiki on St. Faustina- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustina_Kowalska

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The image of Divine Mercy

Bright Week- Saturday

2009-04-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Today, we are going to talk about the sign of the cross.
Click to go to 'Sign of the Cross' prayer page.

And probably more about Jesus apparating and disapparating (Harry Potter again...) for his apostles following his resurrection....

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Today's Rosary- The Luminous Mysteries- The Baptism

Baltimore Catechism 1:9 (7&8 got ditched too...)
What must we do to save our souls? To save our souls, we must worship God by faith, hope, and charity; that is, we must believe in Him, hope in Him, and love Him with all our heart.

Bright Week- Friday

2009-04-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

The big topic of discussion is, naturally, why is Jesus popping up all over the place to his disciples and not just staying with them? Does he disapparate (too much Harry Potter...) in between these appearances? Why does eating (see yesterday's Gospel) help prove he is not a ghost? How can he be dead if he is God?

The question of why he makes these choices to appear in this way is a good opportunity to talk about the idea that the mind of God is Unknowable. Which is probably going to be my favorite topic this year... because it does neatly cover a myriad of problems...

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Daily Rosary- The Fifth Joyful Mystery- The finding in the temple. (personal favorite, most moms can strongly relate to our lady here...)

Baltimore Catechism 1:6 (anyone know what happened to 4 & 5??)
Why did God make you? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.

Bright Week- Thursday

2009-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

They do know the Our Father! How exciting. We made little booklets to help us remember it. The three year old got a big kick out of 'our daily bread'. "Is it flat bread?" "Can we have it with penut butter and jelly?" and of course we had to go to...
"Our Daily Poop!" Because we just LOVE to talk about poop. You havent lived until you've tried to calmly explain that yes, God gives us our daily poops too, all the things that make us function, without laughing (so they wont go on like this for hours) or crying (so they wont know its pushing your buttons...)

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Daily Rosary- The Fourth Joyful Mystery- The Presentation of Our Lord
(for anyone who is curious, one mystery- rather than a set of them- a day is MORE than enough for a 7 year old...)

Baltimore Catechism 1:3
What is man? Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.

Bright Week- Wednesday

2009-04-14T09:04:00.001-07:00

So we're going to try memorizing the Our Father, which really shouldnt be that hard since we say it every night, but you know how it goes when you try to contextualize things for little guys.

Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
On earth, as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our tresspasses
As we forgive those who tresspass against us
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Oh, what the heck, we'll throw in the Latin too (we're supposed to be learning latin in school anyway...)

PATER noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum.
Adveniat regnum tuum.
Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen

Click here for make your own Our Father book.
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Daily Rosary- The Third Joyful Mystery- The Nativity

Baltimore Catechism: Lesson 1:2
Who is God? God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things.

Bright Week- Tuesday

2009-04-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

Its not working out to be so bright, I gotta say. Easter Monday was just over-tired child central combined with nightmarish attempts to pay bills online, renew our toll-system credit, talk to our useless bank etc. etc. We did only one class in addition to Catechism.
So one has to ask oneself if these kinds of things start cropping up for no reason on days when you do something like try to re-commit to catechism for your kids. Like maybe SATAN is the reason??? Ya think?!?!
So with that in mind, we will try to soldier on gingerly with our lessons...

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Today's Rosary: The second joyful mystery- The visitation of Mary
Baltimore Catechism: Lesson 1:1 Who made the world? God made the world

Easter Monday

2009-04-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

I'm starting my effort to specifically Catechize my kids who are 5 and 7. In the last year, we have moved to a non-Catholic country which has proved pretty challenging from a -getting these boys ready for first communion- perspective. All the self-esteem based Catechism you could imagine is available here, but very little by way of actual information/ formation.

So, today on Easter Monday, I have resolved myself to doing my duty and spending the next year making sure they have daily catechism. Pray for me/ pray for us.

Easter Monday: He is risen.

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Coloring page for 'The Empty Tomb.

Today's Rosary: First joyful mystery- The Annunciation