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)

Hello families,

Happy October. Among all the fun fall activities, there's a lot you can do to enrich faith this month. Saturday, October 3 is the St. Francis Pet Blessing at 11 AM on the Good Shepherd Patio.

This year our parish school and faith formation programs are highlighting and remembering to "Love like the Sacred Heart of Jesus" so this month, it might be fitting to learn a little bit about the saint that brought about the devotion to Jesus' Sacred Heart--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. October is also the month of the Holy Rosary, which I highlighted in last year's newsletter, but find a creative way to say a Family Rosary this month. This month our parish second graders will be attending "Forgiveness Day" a retreat for parent and child about the Sacrament of Reconciliation, please pray for these children as they prepare. Have a great month!

Katie

Pet Blessing on Saturday, October 3 at 11 AM

Bring your pets to be blessed in honor of St. Francis' feast day coming on October 4. All pets are welcome for the blessing--horses, dogs, cats, fish, lizards, we have even had families borrow a pet from a friend or neighbor to bring along. It's a great event!

Feast of the Guardian Angel, October 2

Did you know that we each have a guardian angel?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, from the moment of conception until a person's last breath, a guardian angel surrounds each human being with "their watchful care and intercession." The church honors these guardians with a feast day Oct. 2.

Guardian Angel prayer
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Padre Pio, was granted the vision of his own guardian angel and the guardian angel of others. "How consoling it is to know that we are always under the protection of a heavenly spirit, who never abandons us, not even in the very act by which we displease God." “Padre Pio”

Recently someone told me when they have trouble falling asleep or when they're worried or anxious they ask that their guardian angel rub their back as they fall asleep. As someone that sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night I have found this really sweet and comforting.

October 5: Feast Day of St. Faustina Kowalska

The “secretary” of Divine Mercy

On February 22, 1931, St. Faustina noted in her Diary: “In my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus dressed in white: a hand raised to bless, while the other touched on his chest the slightly opened border of his robe, letting escape two great rays out: one red the other pale... After a while, Jesus said to me, ‘Paint an image according to the model you see, with these words written: Jesus, I trust in You. I wish this image to be venerated first in your chapel, and then in the whole world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish ... because I myself will defend it as my own glory. (D.47-48)’”

The image was painted, and came to enjoy great diffusion, along with other new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy that Jesus himself asks Sister Faustina to spread: the feast of Divine Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and Prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 pm).

To the humble Polish nun, whom Jesus liked to call secretary of my deepest mystery, Our Lord entrusted His message of love to every man. “In the Old Testament I sent the prophets with lightning to my people,” she records Him as having told her, “today I send you to the whole world, to all humanity with my mercy. I do not want to punish suffering humanity, but I want to heal and bind them fast to my merciful heart. (D.252)”

The devotion of Archbishop Wojtyla

Devotion to Merciful Jesus knew a rapid spread in Poland just after the death of Sister Faustina. In the 1960s, the then-Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, promoted the the spread of knowledge about her life and virtues. As Pope John Paul II, he proclaimed her blessed on April 18, 1993 and Saint on April 30, 2000, announcing on the same date the establishment of the Sunday of Divine Mercy. It was just on the eve of this feast, on April 2, 2005, that the Polish Pope reached the House of the Father. St. Faustina was among the patrons of the Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis.

If you feel inspired to do something special for this feast day, you might enjoy a polish inspired dinner or make your own Divine Mercy Cake like the one on Catholic Cuisine!

October 16, Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

From Catholic Cuisine: the idea to just make some cupcakes (any flavor, but strawberry goes well with strawberries on top) with cut strawberries on top to make hearts.

St. Margaret Mary was born in Burgundy, France, on July 22, 1647. She Suffered from a severe rheumatic fever that left her bedridden or partially paralyzed from ages 10 to 14, but was cured after making a vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary to consecrate her life to religious service. She entered the convent at age 24 and experienced several major visions of Jesus Christ between 1673 and 1675.

She is most well known for bringing about the devotion of Jesus' Sacred Heart. Jesus showed her His heart surrounded by a crown of thorns and flames, asking her to promote love and make amends for human coldness and sin.

She introduced the First Friday Devotions (receiving Holy Communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months), the Holy Hour of Thursday night prayer, and a specific Feast of the Sacred Heart, which is celebrated in June.She is regarded as the patron saint of devotees to the Sacred Heart, polio sufferers, and children who have lost a parent.

Have you tried a new liturgical tradition in your family?

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 every month! We hope you have a great summer and can find ways to incorporate our faith into every day. Send in a photo to kmccarthy@sthilarychurch.org to be featured here in future newsletters.