Catholic 12 Days Of Christmas (Day 11 & 12)

~A clean school room in honor of Mother Seton~

It's back to school around here!

These are the last plans for the final days of Christmas as we get back "to work."

Note: I created a Catholic 12 days of Christmas page on our blog sidebar that lists all 12 days in one spot:)  I know that I will need it for future reference!

Day 11 (January 4)

Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Read and Reflect on the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  She is an important saint for all Americans being the first American-born canonized saint.  After the death of her husband, she continued to raise their 5 children and became a nun while doing it!  Numb with grief, she marched on to found many Catholic schools, orphanages and the American Sisters of Charity.  She holds a special place in my heart as the Patron Saint of Widows and those who have lost children. (She later lost 2 children to tuberculosis) Read the Gospel (John 1:35-42) and reflect on following Jesus.


Reflection: Would we be ready to change our plans for Jesus?  Would we drop what we are doing as readily as both the apostle Andrew, Simon and even Mother Seton?  I am in awe of this when I reflect on my own widowhood and how paralyzed I was at the time.  I pray that I will have the strength and grace to handle future trials with deeper trust and hope in the Lord.


Respond:  In preparation for the Epiphany and the arrival of the Magi to honor Jesus, we are cleaning house!  (Not taking down our decorations quite yet, but cleaning and organizing the clutter:)  As a special honor to Mother Seton, we hit our very MESSY school room this week!

Here are the "before" photos...

One VERY cluttered desk!

After a full day of work, we are tidy again and ready to hit the books!

Our pre-schooler wanted to start back "to work" today!  Every child is different but this one LOVES her work books.

(AND she was the only one with an eager spirit)

The rest of us will start back to school on Tuesday.

Pray Psalm 23, known to be Mother Seton's favorite prayer, and/OR this prayer:

Prayer by Mother Seton

O Father, the first rule of our dear Saviour's life 
was to do Your Will. 
Let His Will of the present moment 
be the first rule of our daily life and work, 
with no other desire 
but for its most full and complete accomplishment. 
Help us to follow it faithfully, 
so that doing what You wish 
we will be pleasing to You.

Day 12 (January 5th)

Last of the 12 days of Christmas

Feast of St. John Neumann

Read and Reflect on the life of St. John Neumann who came as a missionary to 

America. He ministered to American Catholics when there was an extreme shortage. 

(Only 36 priests to serve over 200,000 Catholics) Discuss how it must have felt for 

John to be uncomfortable as he lived in poverty to serve the poor...How can we get

"uncomfortable" to serve those that Jesus calls us to? In what ways can we stretch 

ourselves from our comfort zone?

What have we learned the most from these 12 days of 

Christmas?

Respond:  We will be planning for our Epiphany Royal Celebration to celebrate on 

Sunday.  

It will take a bit of organizing to gather what we need... We will pretty much 

following the same menu and plan as last year. Our Firefighter Dad will be on duty

through the weekend, until then, so we will look forward to him coming home:)

Prayer for the Epiphany of the Lord:

Dear Jesus, as You led the Three Kings to You by the light of a star, 

Please draw us ever closer to You by the light of Faith. 

Help us to desire You as ardently as they did. 

Give us the grace to overcome all the obstacles that keep us far from You. 

May we, like them, have something to give You when we appear before You. 

Mary, Our Mother, help us to know Your Son. 

Amen.

Wishing everyone a glorious and royal celebration!