Ideas for Celebrating the Feast of St. Teresa (Therese) of Avila

Today (Oct 15) is St. Teresa of Avila's Feast Day. She was a Carmelite nun, like St. Therese of Lisieux. However, based on her biographies like this one from Catholic.org, unlike St. Therese, she did not have a fervent desire to serve God at an early age:

"..she led a fairly ordinary life, though she was convinced that she was a horrible sinner. As a teenager, she cared only about boys and clothes and flirting and rebelling -- like other teenagers throughout the ages."

(I see she and I had A LOT in common when we were younger, haha!) Nevertheless, despite all her faults and struggles, God blessed her immensely, and truly shaped her to be holy and a saint (something we all hope to be one day, right?)

To celebrate her Feast Day today, here is a round-up of ideas from other fabulous, creative Catholic moms, mostly homeschoolers:

1. Make a St. Teresa of Avila Prayer Bookmark from Paper Dali

Catholic Lesson Plans for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

I am so amazed by the wonderful Catholic moms who take such time and effort into posting free stuff for other Catholic families to use! ;-) Aside from my favorite crafty Catholic mom Lacy's Catholic Icing blog, "Amazing Grace's" The Catholic Toolbox blog  is a great resource too!

Here are her lesson plans for PreK-K. :-) Hope this helps you! God bless you abundantly, and God bless moms like Lacy and Grace, who are such blessings to homeschoolers like me! ;-)

Lesson Plans: Pre K - K

I have made several Pre K - K lesson plans. Here is a list of the ones I have done so far. Each lesson plan consists of: Objectives, Word Wall, Bible Story with questions, Songs and/or Finger Plays, Activities, Crafts, Games, Snacks, Coloring/Puzzles, etc.

How we celebrated Mama Mary's birthday

Photo from whenmomspeaks.com

Here is what we did aside from incorporating "tidbits" about Mama Mary's birthday in our homeschool lessons for the day (I had to report to work today though - thank God for my mother, who for us who are blessed to know her, consider her as a modern-day Mama Mary in many ways! She became "Teacher Lola*" for today.):

 - Cupcake decorating for Mama Mary's birthday "cake"
I brought home supermarket-bought cupcakes and blue and white icing (ready for decorating) from Goldilocks bakeshop and let Tim and his cousin Gabby (one of his FAVORITE playmates!) decorate them. Rysse and Gabby's brother (born a month apart, they love playing with each other too - when they aren't fighting over toys and books! haha!) participated in the fun by trying to decorate their own cupcakes too - though they ended up eating their share too early! haha!

- Candle-blowing ceremony for Mama Mary
After the kids were done decorating the 10 cupcakes, we arranged them on a plate, placed the plate in front of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lit and placed a single, white candle beside it, and sang "Happy Birthday" for our dearest Mother. The kids had lots of fun taking turns to blow out the candle!

- Eating and sharing the "cake"
Once we were done with that, the kids (and some of the adults present!) enjoyed eating the cupcakes! :-)

- Praying the Holy Rosary
This morning at the office we had a recollection focusing on "Moments with Mary" (one of the perks of working fulltime for our Catholic community) and I was reminded again of the power of God's grace manifested through the sacramentals attributed to Mary, one of which is the Holy Rosary. 

It was wonderful then for the kids and I to pray the Rosary together with my parents (after such a loong time, especially since we don't live with them anymore!), and brother and his kids. (Hubby was at a Thanksgiving Event for our community's "Build My House" project, heading the Logistics Committee).

To my delight, our almost 5-year old son Tim occasionally led us in praying the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, and would even lift up his own intentions when my dad would offer up prayer intentions before each decade. (Of course, towards the end, he was already getting restless and asking me "Are we almost done Mama?" hehe). Praise God!

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our dear Mother's birthday, and bond with extended family members too! ;-)

I'll be posting pics from my dad's camera soon :-) hehe.

Once again, dearest Mother Mary, thank You for your love and for saying "YES" to God's will! May we imitate you in all we do! WE LOVE YOU!

A "holy" start to the new school year

Homaygash!!! ;-) September is already HERE next week (in a few days!!) Waaaah. Thank God for this E-newsletter from CHC!

Time to get our routine and schedules in order! Dear St. Monica, pray for us!

+ August 27, 2011
St. Monica, pray for us!

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints….

-- Col. 1:11-12

With what eager anticipation we begin the school year, knowing His presence in our homes; we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  Our happiness is not based on the ups and downs of one day, but rather on the quiet certitude that He Who revealed to us this great gift of homeschooling will also guide us on the Way.  

Ideas for beginning the school year with a 'holy start':

~ Surely, begin with Holy Mass; you may even inaugurate the school year with a celebratory dinner or party, inviting your parish priest and asking his blessing on your school room/area.

The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Home Schooling - Parents for Eternal Life

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

(from http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Education/Education_028.htm) 

Why should we ask the question, “What is the teaching of the Catholic Church on Home Schooling?”

The reason is obvious: Because we are Roman Catholics!

We know how much emphasis the Church had placed for generations on Catholic education, and for generations people came to practically equate Catholic education with institutional education. Home schooling as home education had not been the focus of the Church’s magisterial teaching until fairly recent times. We might say it was taken for granted.

But no more. The rise of global secularism on every level of modern life has placed the Church on guard. Her authoritative stress is now more than ever on the role of parents as the primary teachers of their children.

The most recent and authoritative ecclesiastical documentation on this subject is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, issued by Pope John Paul II on the very day of the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.

The key word that stands out in the Church’s teaching on home schooling is the word “primary”.

Parents’ responsibility to educate their children is primary. This means, it is their first responsibility. It is primordial; it is inalienable; it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.

It is critically important to understand what the Church means when she says that parents have the primary right and duty to teach their children.