Liturgical Living at Home

The Parish Religious Education Office wanted to share a monthly selection of feast days and celebrations within the church that you can celebrate at home with your family. Challenge: try one new thing! It's a fun way to make the liturgical year come alive for your family. Once you start, your kids will ask all sorts of questions--"What feast day is today?" "What do you know about this saint?" "How can we make the celebration of ___ extra fun?"

We hope each month you will journey with us along the special feast days we highlight with a few ideas of how to make them extra special and memorable for your family. If you ever have ideas you'd like to share, send them to kmccarthy@sthilarychurch.org so they can be added to a future newsletter. If you try one of our ideas, or one of your own and take a picture, send it in so we can select a few to share in the next month's newsletter! (See where it will go down below)

The dedication of April is to the Holy Eucharist allows us to focus our hearts and minds on the profound mystery of the Eucharist—the real presence of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity.

8 Ways to Grow in Devotion to the Holy Eucharist this April (from www.covenantcatholic.com)

Here are a few ideas to help you dedicate April to the Holy Eucharist in your life and home.

1. Prayerfully participate in the Mass, especially during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The better our disposition and preparation for the Sacraments, the more abundant graces will flow.
2. Go to Confession. Remember, we must be in a state of grace to receive our Lord in Holy Communion. And even confessing venial sins can better prepare you for Communion.
3. Commit to a weekly time slot at an Adoration Chapel at your church or one nearby. This practice fosters a deep sense of reverence and awe for the Eucharistic mystery and offers time for mental prayer before Our Lord. Perpetual Adoration may be available to accommodate a busy schedule.
4. Learn more about the Eucharistic Revival and how you can get involved.
5. Attend a seminar, retreat, or bible study focused on the theology of the Eucharist and its transformative impact on the lives of the faithful.
6. Go to daily Mass during the week to pray and receive Our Lord. Remember, you don’t have to wait until Sunday to receive the Eucharist! And there are manifold graces to be received at every Mass. As Saint Lawrence Justinian reminds us: “No human tongue can enumerate the favors that trace back to the Sacrifice of the Mass. The sinner is reconciled with God; the just man becomes more upright; sins are wiped away; vices are uprooted; virtue and merit increase; and the devil’s schemes are frustrated.”
7. Take time after each Mass to pray in gratitude for the Holy Eucharist. The word “Eucharist” means thanksgiving, and there is no greater gift to be thankful for than the gift of Christ’s presence with us.
8. Lastly, memorize Scripture verses that highlight the Holy Eucharist. For example, “Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53). “While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26). “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)

I took up the practice to do a Walk through Holy Week with my students a few years ago after some retired catechists suggested I give it a try and it's one of my favorite lessons of the year!

I start with the excitement of Palm Sunday, if there's time we weave palms into crosses. We read about Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey (you can choose any of the Gospels that details this, but I usually choose the one we read at the start of Palm Sunday Mass: Matthew 21:1-11 or other years would be Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-44, or John 12:12-19.

I also try to teach about the reverence for Blessed Palms (taken from Kendra Tierny's book Catholic All Year Prayer Companion): When palms are blessed, they become sacramentals, which the Catechism tell us "are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments....By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy." Sacramentals should be treated with respect and never be thrown away. Blessed palms may be disposed of by burning or burial at home or can be returned to church before the next Ash Wednesday, so they can be used to create sacramental ashes.

Read Mark 11: 12-25; 14: 3-9:

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leave, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to in, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs, And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow any one to carry anything though the temple. And he thought and said to them, "Is it not written, 'my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." and the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, "Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered." And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the jar and poured it over his head. But there were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment thus wasted? For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to this poor." And they reproached her. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do good to them; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burying. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."

Read John 12: 23-25:

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

Also, Tuesday is the Chrism Mass and this year it's not in Cleveland, instead it is just a stone's throw away at St. Sebastian!! If you're interested in attending (it will be packed), check the St. Sebastian website for details. The Chrism Mass is the where all the oils for the entire diocese are blessed and distributed for the year.

Read Matthew 26: 14-16:

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Attend a Holy Thursday Mass if you're able. St. Hilary is at 7 pm. When my children were still pretty young, we would make Unleaven Bread (recipe below) at home to have on Holy Thursday followed by reading from Matthew 26: 17-30:

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.

The Betrayer.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve.

And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

The Lord’s Supper.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks,* and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.”

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

As a family we also take turns washing each other's feet with warm water (not FREEZING cold, not SCALDING hot)...

We find a meaningful experience to be Stations of the Cross. You can also read From Mark 14: 26-15: 47 the Passion...

St. Hilary hosts 3 Good Friday opportunities for reflection:

• Outdoor Stations of the Cross at NOON hosted by Family Life (there are LOTS of families).
• Indoor Stations of the Cross at 2 PM in Church
• Good Friday Prayer Service at 3 PM in Church with Veneration of the Cross.

Not only is this the day we celebrate the Easter Vigil (8 PM start time this year at St. Hilary), but Fr. Steve joyfully blesses food baskets at 2 PM in church. This is a tradition from Polish and Eastern European cultures, to bless the food for the first meal of Easter.

These aren't the plastic egg baskets that children often receive, but baskets filled with symbolic foods—meats, bread, eggs, and butter—are brought to church for blessing, representing gratitude for the Resurrection.

Key Traditions and Symbolism:

• The Basket: Decorated with white linen, ribbons, and greenery (boxwood or pussy-willow) to signify new life.
• Common Contents:
  • Butter (Masło): Shaped into a lamb (Lamb of God/Christ's victory).
  • Bread (Babka): A rich yeast bread representing Jesus as the "Bread of Life".
  • Eggs (Pisanki): Hard-boiled and decorated to symbolize the Resurrection.
  • Meats (Ham/Sausage): Representing the joy of abundance.
  • Horseradish/Salt: Representing the Passion (bitterness) and the need for us to be "salt of the earth".
• When It's Eaten: The blessed items are eaten on Easter Sunday morning to break the Lenten fast.

I hear back and forth about the Easter Baskets children receive from "the Bunny" and read a really sweet reflection about that...(shocker, it's from Catholic guru, Kendra Tierney)

The whole Easter Bunny thing seems....odd, right? As least Santa Claus is a saint! And he has a magic sleigh and flying reindeer. How is a bunny even supposed to make this happen? When I was a child, no one ever explained this to my satisfaction. Even as an adult, I have reminded rather troubled by all the unanswered questions. A bunny delivering baskets of candy just doesn't seem to go with the Resurrection....at all.

Then a friend told me that her grandmother used to say that when Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning, the first creature he saw was a rabbit. This was a great honor for the rabbits, of course. So, in gratitude, every Easter, every rabbit in the world brings one Easter basket to one child. Suddenly, it all made sense to me. Obviously, a bunny would be honored to be the first creature to see the Risen Lord. And I can see a bunny managing one basket, for one child, if it were really important to him. He could drag it with his teeth, right? So, now I tell my kids that's what I heard about the Easter Bunny. And we all get excited if we see a bunny in the yard, wondering whose bunny it might be.

I just love this and that it ties right back to the resurrection!

Another special family tradition in my family is to make homemade cinnamon rolls because they rise all night and, like the Lord, they're RISEN in the morning for us to enjoy!

Snap a photo and send it our way so we can show others how much fun you're having! There's so much to celebrate and enjoy this month as Christmas is wrapping up and we are back to Ordinary time for a short bit.

The Hague children celebrated the Feast Day of Oscar Romero with homemade pupusas.