St. Monica's "Sweet" Tears

Here I am, back to blog about what I really love to do...celebrate the feast days of the saints!  With our older kids not so keen about doing crafts or coloring much any more, I can still sneak in a saintly lesson (with food:)  Even the high school son was interested!

What's not to celebrate about a woman who persevered in prayer, through many tears, for her husband AND wayward son? Not to mention that her prayers were answered in a BIG way. Both Monica's husband and son (St. Augustine) eventually converted. Augustine's conversion is rather famous and he has been declared one of the greatest saints, prolific writers, and doctors of the Catholic Church...

Happy Feast of St. Monica!

I made these sweet "Tears of St. Monica" treats for our evening dessert and discussion about the back to back feasts of mother and son. (August 27 & 28)  It was nice to sit around the dinner table and talk about these 2 interesting heroes of the faith.  In our busy lives, it was worth the extra planning moments to make it happen!

 

Two easy ingredients...How can you beat that?

Crescent rolls and Nutella!  The treats represent the sweetness of God's grace, resulting from the sweat of Monica's prayers and tears.

 

I posted more details over at Catholic Cuisine.



These were super easy...Just spread and roll into the shape of teardrops!  

For a family of 6, we needed 2 rolls of Crescent dough...Big hit!

Prayer to conclude our dessert:

 

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,

You perseveringly pursued your wayward son

Not with threats but with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day

So that they may learn to draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain close to their children,

Even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother,

many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime.

Yet, you never despaired or lost faith.

With confidence, persistence, and profound faith,

you prayed daily for the conversion

of your beloved husband, Patricius,

and your beloved son, Augustine;

your prayers were answered.

Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord.

Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,

that God may favorably hear my plea.

(Mention your intentions here)

Grant me the grace to accept His Will in all things,

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

in unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen

 

May the hope of St. Monica be with us all!

 

On a side note, St. Monica's tomb and her relics are currently venerated at the church of San Agostino in Rome!  It was on my bucket list for my recent trip there, but I just couldn't swing it.  Darn, guess I need to go back;-) 



Sacred and Immaculate Heart (Healthy) Snack Platters

Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

 

I'm popping in to share these very easy and healthy snack platters for today's feast day and tomorrow's feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

  As a contributor to Catholic Cuisine, I have posted the details over there but here are a few more photos:

 

Immaculate Heart Fruit Platter

 I found a helpful post on Pinterest about how to cut a watermelon. I couldn't wait to give it a try for this fruit platter...Wow, amazingly easy!

 

Frugal tip!   Are you wondering what kind of platter might hold something like this?  I bought two 18" clear Sturdiware platters from our local party store a few years ago.  They were only a few dollars a piece and I've used the heck out of them, ever since.  They have come in SO handy for graduations, sacramental celebrations, and many parties!  I just wash them by hand after using them and store them for the next occasion:)

 

  Sacred Heart of Jesus Veggie Platter and Immaculate Heart Fruit Platter

 

Hope you are enjoying a blessed summer!

 



Miracle Morning Feast for Our Lady of Fatima

+Happy Feast of Our Lady of Fatima+
May 13th
 

How  about a Miracle (of the Sun) Morning Breakfast and Rosary prayers to celebrate a beautiful feast day?
  This colorful fruit and egg plate is supposed to look like the vibrant, miraculous, solar phenomena...Or at least that was the idea in mind:)

 Even though the Miracle of the Sun didn't occur until October 13th, 6 apparitions later, we can still commemorate this amazing gift...OR you can always save it for October, of course;-)

I posted more about this over at Catholic Cuisine...Be sure to pop over there for a visit:)  I continue to feel honored to be a contributor there!

 Read more about Our Lady of Fatima on EWTN and American Catholic.

Another post from a previous year:
Miracle of the Sun Edible Feast 2010 



Happy All Saint's Day! ~2013~

Happy All Saint's Day!

Can you guess the saints?

We've had a fun and busy couple of weeks but our homeschool group's All Saint's party was a highlight…

Here we have St. Sebastian and Saint Apollonia with her golden tooth.  Just prior to being burned to death, St. Apollonia was tortured by having her beautiful teeth pulled out, one by one with pincers, while defending our Christian faith in the 3rd century.  Can you imagine?  I prayed for her help quite a bit when I had my front teeth smashed in so that's how I got to know her story!  Princess is going to be asking for her prayers very soon when she gets her braces:)  Here's her prayer for dental issues. In ancient art, St. Apollonia is often depicted with a golden tooth, hence angel baby's costume as St. Apollonia's partner:)   

We made this fun snack to go with St. Apollonia…Apples, peanut butter and mini marshmallows.  Thank you, Pinterest!  It was a secular Halloween idea that fit perfectly into our All Saint's theme:)

Ok, enough about teeth…Yikes, it makes my mouth hurt to think about it! (But these were yummy:) And a good reminder of the Christians before us and all they endured to preserve our faith…Talk about a big dose of grateful!

Angel baby also wanted her own costume so she dug out one of her favorite saint costumes from the plastic bin in the archives…St. Joan of Arc!

All the kids in our group stand up and give a few clues about who they are and everyone gets to guess…So much fun!

Afterwards, most of the kids strip off their costumes and race off to play some fun games!

On to Halloween…

Well, even though Halloween is the Eve before All Saint's, we celebrated in reverse order this year.  

We have a fun tradition of visiting all of our grandparents on Halloween…It's been neat to collect the photos from year to year.  This is my grandmother who is only 93 years young!  She looks forward to having the kids come over all dressed up:) 
{Highschool son is absent since he had a football game}

Here's my Mom and Dad…

They aren't together in the photos since my Mom had somewhere else to go…My Dad loooooves to give out candy at our house in town since they live in the country.  It's nice to have him "man the house" since Rod is often working and I'm alone with the kids.  We have a great neighborhood for trick or treating:)

Sadly, Rod's Mom wasn't feeling very well so she wasn't up for our visit this year.

Had a little "fun" with food this year...surprise, surprise:)

St. Lazarus Mummy Dogs

(How's that for ancient biblical history!?)

Saw these on Pinterest and thought they were so cute…OK so I changed the name a bit;-) Princess is studying ancient history so these were also a perfect addition to her mummy study!

Our version was just wrapping a hotdog with strips of Pillsbury Croissant dough and baking @ 375 for about 15 minutes.  Some little dots of mustard made the eyes:)

I shared and posted more on our cute little All Souls Prayer Parfaits over at Catholic Cuisine! All Souls Day is up next, November 2nd...

 I am so thankful for the rich history of our faith that adds so much to celebrating!  

Missing my 2 older boys being with us so had to post a "throw back" All Saint's Day photo:)  {This was before Angel baby was born.}

St. Therese Liturgical Ideas to Share

I love turning the calendar to October...Some of my favorite church celebrations unfold this month (And family ones too:)

October 1st is St. Therese...A remarkable Story of a Soul, whose life story continues to radiate showers of roses from heaven.  It was a huge blessing to be able to visit her quaint little childhood town of Lisieux, France a few years ago.  I wrote a little bit about it, here.  Since she was born in France, we decided to make "french" toast in her honor this year.  Being that it's October and pumpkin is in the air, this seemed a fitting recipe to try...Pumpkin French Toast...Boy was it scrumptious!  The best part was being able to make it the night before and just popping it in the oven the next morning.  What a great way to kick off October:)  This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Pumpkin Pie French Toast 

(Overnight Casserole)

Courtesy of Gooseberry Patch

1 loaf Hawaiian Bread (cut into 1 inch slices or cubes)

3 Eggs- Beaten

1/2 Cup- Egg substitute (or 2 additional beaten eggs)

1 Cup Half and Half

1 1/2 Cup Milk

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar- Packed

1 Tbsp Butter- Cut Up

Instructions

1. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place bread in pan.

2. Combine remaining ingredients (except butter) in a bowl and pour over bread.

3. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. Dot with butter and bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes.

5. Optional to serve with syrup...It is actually quite delicious without it!

These little paper flowers were a fun craft and super easy to make. The link and directions are here.

May all the beauties of our faith continue to give glory to God!

Eat, Pray, and have Hope!

Our hope is in the Lord and He gave us His Mother as a living sign of this hope!

+Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary+

This was an easy feast day breakfast treat to celebrate...

Assumption of Mary "Blue"berry muffins:)
The clouds were just cut out of white paper and we had these stickers on hand...Just taped the clouds to a toothpick!  Kids love the 'visual' effect:)

We are preparing to start school next week so this Mama needs all the hope she can get:)  We often start on the Assumption or the Queenship of Mary but our oldest son's departure to his Rome semester is helping us mix it up this year!

Be back soon:)

Eat(Mass), pray, and have hope!
"She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God.  If you say 'Mary' she says 'God.'~St. Louis de Montfort

Assumption resources:
The Assumption explained...Lifeteen
Catholic Answers
Catholic Culture

Feast of St. Ignatius

+Happy Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola+

We love this saint and his story!

I shared our celebration over at Catholic Cuisine:)
Be sure to pop over there for a visit.

This would also be a great idea to celebrate the Holy Father, Pope Francis, as he is of the Jesuit order that St. Ignatius founded!

Sacred and Immaculate Hearts Fruit Dessert

Happy Feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary!

Oops, I thought I was taking a blogging break?;)

Well, just in case anyone is looking for ideas...Couldn't help but share these yummy (and easy) fruit dessert pizzas we made to celebrate.  Hint: It's just a roll of sugar cookie dough with the most amazing frosting!
These two back-to-back feast days are a couple of my favorites:)

+Check out the recipe...I shared it over at Catholic Cuisine+

Here's another one I made for a dear friend and her family, in thanksgiving for their hard work in coordinating our Parish VBS...They deserved a little treat for having the servant hearts of Jesus and Mary!

"In the Sacred Heart, every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden.  In that Divine heart beats God's infinite love for everyone.  For each one of us individually."
~Bl. John Paul II~

Fruit and Fuel of the Holy Spirit

A generous parish family has a Pentecost party every year.

It's always nice to socialize with church families and celebrate one of the biggest Church feast days of the year, next to Easter of course.  

I like to look at it like a "coming out" party.  The apostles could finally come out of their fearful hiding places because the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to move forward, live their faith, and spread the Good News.

We have the most amazing strawberries at a local fruit stand, practically walking distance from our house!  

I thought this fruity Holy Spirit dove was a fun thing to bring to the party.  It was a super simple design:) It also serves as a visual reminder that the Holy Spirit fuels us to come out of our own hiding places.

I shared it over at Catholic Cuisine as an idea to celebrate Confirmation as well.

(I'm making it again for my son's Confirmation party this weekend)

Just as our dear priest said in his homily, Pentecost is not just a thing of the past, it's the here and now.

For that reason, Pentecost is a great reminder for all Christians to come out and live Godly examples...Not always in words but in actions.

I know for me, it's a great time to get motivated when sometimes it's just easier to hunker down and not "go out" of my comfortable box, so to speak.

The Holy Spirit helps me get unstuck when I get mired down and gives me the fuel in my soul tank to live as I should.  Without it, I'm on E, for empty!

+May the force (of the Holy Spirit) be with you, too!+

Morning "Feasting" with St. Mark!

This was a fun and easy way to bring the feast of St. Mark into our morning!

Evangelist Mark is represented as a lion because he begins his Gospel in the wilderness, `The voice of one crying in the desert: Make ready the way of the Lord,' or because he presents the Lord as the unconquered King."

I made 4 Lion Fruit Plates.  

Each one took about 2 cutie oranges.  Then, I used a total of about 2 kiwi, 1 apple, and 1 banana.  
I also shared this idea over at Catholic Cuisine.

+Happy Feast Day+

"Jesus said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15

Saint Mark, a cousin of Barnabas, accompanied Saint Paul on his first missionary journey and later went with him to Rome. He was a disciple of Saint Peter whose teaching was the basis for Mark's Gospel.  Mark is said to be the founder of the church of Alexandria.

St. Patrick Fun

St. Patrick's day is always extra fun for us since we always have a birthday boy that day...This year he turned 14! (Can you guess what his middle name is)?

Thought I'd share this healthy St. Patrick Shamrock Fruit Platter that we made for our Youth group potluck.  It turned out really cute with kiwi and green grapes:) I just love how St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the people of Ireland about the Trinity.

This year we also bought fun t-shirts to share the spirit of St. Patrick...The real guy from whom this festive holiday originated.  A portion of St. Patrick's beautiful Breastplate Prayer is inscribed on the t-shirts.  It's one of my favorite prayers!  {It is called the breastplate prayer for those parts of it that seek God's protection.}

Didn't manage to catch the birthday boy in his shirt...He was busy with Confirmation class.  That's ok, he's at the age where he doesn't like having his picture taken much anymore:(

The little ones will bear with my photography for a bit longer, I hope!
Birthday boy's wish was a tour of the San Francisco Fireboat unit...His dream is to be a firefighter someday.  He got his wish and he was one happy camper!

This is the view of the Bay Bridge from the Fireboat Unit's back porch!

Big thanks to my youngest sister (Auntie L.A.) for helping to make it all happen since she lives in the City!

Happy and thankful to have Grandma and Grandpa join us (My parents:)

Here we are, shortly after the St. Patrick's Day Firefighter Parade, that started our fun day in the City.

It was a beautiful weekend of celebrating many blessings, most importantly the birthday boy!

+St. Patrick, please pray for us+