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Showing posts with label All Souls Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Souls Day. Show all posts

Sunday, November 4, 2018

November 04, 2018

Introducing Our Mysteries of the Rosary Peg Dolls and our November Liturgical Shelf

October whizzed by before I made time for my children and myself to swap out our September liturgical shelf with an October one.



Thus, my daughter and I found ourselves combining inspiration from October's devotion to the Holy Rosary and November's devotion to the Holy Souls when making our November display.



For the display, we chose a white cloth to remind us of the purification souls must go through before enjoying the bliss of being in union with God in the glory of heaven.

Marian Devotions


On one side of the display, we kept the paschal candle our friends made for us this year and placed an Our Lady of the Rosary peg doll which we received in a Marian swap and had meant to put up in October. 



On the other side, we kept a blessed white candle another friend gave us for Candlemas place and put a vignette of our Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and St. Catherine Laboure in front of it, since Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal will be celebrated on the 27th of this month.




Betwixt these two Marian ends, we set up our main display to remind us to pray Rosaries and special prayers for the dearly departed throughout November. 

Introducing Our Mysteries of the Rosary Peg Dolls


Our Rosary reminders includes, of course, rosary beads. They also include peg dolls that we received in a swap a while back which represent each mystery of the Holy Rosary.




The Joyful Mysteries dolls include:



  • a Mary doll with an angel modge podged to it
  • a St. Anne doll with John leaping in her womb
  • a small-sized Jesus doll with a line sketch of the Nativity painted on it
  • a doll with Mary painted on one side, Jesus in the middle, and Joseph with doves on the other side
  • a Mama Mary and Child Jesus doll set




The Glorious Mysteries dolls include:


  • a John the Baptist doll
  • a Jesus with wine doll
  • a apostle with the Word doll
  • a golden (transfiguration) Jesus doll
  • a Jesus doll with bread and wine, plus a modge podged image of the Last Supper



    The Sorrowful Mysteries dolls include:


    • a beautiful Agony in the Garden set with a kneeling Jesus sweating blood, a small rock and an angel
    • a bound and scourged Jesus (the red scourging is on his back)
    • a Jesus crowned with thorns (which has gone missing so is not pictured)
    • a Jesus carrying a cross
    • a Jesus on a cross



      The Luminous Mysteries ones include:


      • a risen Jesus
      • an ascending Jesus
      • an apostle receiving the Holy Spirit
      • a Mary with clouds and stars (for the Assumption)
      • a crowned Mary

      Holy Souls Calendar Pages

      Behind these dolls, we placed the All Souls calendar pages that we made in our AMP club last month. 




      On three of these calendars, we have pre-written names of our own dearly departed as well as names of the beloved deceased of friends, relatives, and blog followers who have asked us to pray so that we can remember to specifically pray for these souls this month. 




      The fourth calendar page remains mostly blank, because one child of mine asked to write names after praying and not as a reminder to pray.



      Still to Come

      Later this week, since some of us have forgotten the words to the St. Gertrude Prayer for Holy Souls, we plans to redo our copywork of this prayer and to slip it between the wall and our Our Lady of the Rosary pegdoll for easy reading access. 


      (In the past, we have also done copywork of The Eternal Rest prayer, but do not need to redo this since we have all long since memorized this prayer and pray it faithfully upon passing cemeteries when we are driving around as well as when we hear of people passing.)

      It's Working




      We have just put our November liturgical shelf display together display, and it is already actively focusing us on both last month's devotion to the Holy Rosary and this month's devotion to praying for Holy Souls.  



      In fact, just before leaving for a walking Rosary to a local cemetery this afternoon, we checked our calendars for the names of the deceased we would pray for along the way.



      Then, as is our custom from the 1st through 8th of November when we got to the cemetery, we prayed for special indulgences for Holy Souls in Purgatory before selecting random souls to pray for. his tradition has become a meaningful and beautiful one for us, and I encourage you to consider making it customary for your family, too!

      Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.  

      Sunday, October 14, 2018

      October 14, 2018

      Create Art and Pray for All Souls

      Do you have creative kids?  Have you lost a loved one?  Then, this idea is for you!



      Make a calendar to remind you to pray daily for our beloved dead.


      It's super easy to do.





      Simply create an image that reminds you of November, and, then, glue it and a calendar grid onto a piece of cardstock.




      You may also want to expand this art project into a full lesson, teaching (or reminding) your children about All Souls Day, the monthly dedication to pray for the dead, opportunities to help the dearly departed through gaining an indulgence for them, pairing your project with Eternal Rest copywork or with a STEAM design challenge.


      Or you can make it into an art, faith, and poetry lesson as we did this past week in our Art, Music, and Poetry club.


      {Some links which follow are affiliate ones.}
       
      We began our club with a brief prayer, and, then, got right into reading about Paul, Jean, and Herman Limbourg in Artists that Shaped the Renaissance.


      After chatting briefly about the Limbourg brothers, the time in which they lived, and their art, we did a picture study of Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, October, a beautiful artistic work created by the Limbourg brothers between 1412 and 1416 as a part of a Book of Hours.



      The children were wowed by the detail within the reproduction on page 19 of
      Artists that Shaped the Renaissance.


      Then, we looked at a modern Liturgy of the Hours book, chatting about what it is and how it is used before pausing to read a portion of it. 

      We read and briefly discussed a psalm, asking the children what stood out to them in the psalm, both in terms of poetic devices and from the perspective of being Christians listening to the Living Word.


      Finally, we adapted the art project for Lesson 4 in Artists that Shaped the Renaissance in order to create watercolor paintings of things that remind us of November using watercolor pencils and regular watercolors.


      When each of our paintings was completed, we affixed it to a piece of black cardstock and, then, cut out a blank monthly calendar grid to attach below it.


      Viola!


      Individual calendar pages to be used throughout November to pray for our beloved dead.


      Now, we're jotting down names of our dearly departed to pray for on each day of November.  If you'd like us to add the name of your beloved dead to our prayer calendar, please just let us know

      Here are a few more snapshots of our lesson time:





      Also feel free to browse our other All Souls related posts.


       Take a Few Minutes of Your Day to Help Holy Souls

       Pray for All Souls with FREE Eternal Rest Grant unto Them Copywork Printable in English and Latin
       
       Try a Design Challenge for All Saints and All Souls Days

       5 Ways Children Can Live in Faith for All Souls
       
       Please Join Us in Praying for the Dearly Departed

       A Simple Activity for All Souls Day -- Or Any Day You Want to Pray with Children for the Faithful Departed
       
      Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let the perpetual light shine upon them. And may the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

      Sunday, November 5, 2017

      November 05, 2017

      Take a Few Minutes of Your Day to Help Holy Souls



      It's Sunday - a day to set aside for rest and service - and, since it's between November 1-8, one Work of Mercy you can easily partake in is praying for dead.  Indeed, if you go to a cemetery and pray for the dearly departed, you can gain indulgence applied to Holy Souls. 

      It's not difficult to do, and it can truly become a beautiful tradition of prayer for you and your family.  I know this, because stopping by a cemeteries to pray for Holy Souls between November 1-8 has become a peaceful and pleasurable annual tradition for my children and me. 

      We are blessed to live within walking distance of a cemetery, so some days, we just go for a stroll in order to pray for the dead, visiting familiar graves and noticing new ones. Other days, we invite friends to join us.  And, still other days, we stop at roadside cemeteries on our way to and from activities and errands, sometimes spending only a few minutes to pray and, at other times, making longer forays to explore, pray, and chat.  During these longer stops, so much comes up in conversation - history, art, nature study, precepts of our faith...  It's amazing what a simple stop at a cemetery can elicit.

      I truly encourage you to take time to visit a cemetery and pray for Holy Soul today, over he next few days, and even throughout the year.

      To Gain an Indulgence by Stopping by a Cemetery to Pray for Holy Souls

      After praying for a Holy Soul on All Souls Day at a local cemetery


      You can actually gain indulgences for Holy Souls any day of the year by stopping to pray at a cemetery, but doing so between November 1-8 makes the indulgence plenary.  

      November is the month the Catholic Church dedicates to remembering Holy Souls, and the Church offers a special eight day opportunity for the faithful to receive an indulgence for a particular soul - a grandparent, a friend, a relative, even an unknown - at the beginning of the month.  On each day between November 1-8, a person seeking a plenary indulgence for a soul must:


      "Visit to a Cemetery. 
      An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. 
      The indulgence is plenary each day from the 1st to the 8th of November; on other days of the year it is partial."


      A person must also ensure these four conditions:
      1. Have an interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.  (If you attempt to receive a plenary indulgence, but are unable to meet this condition, a partial indulgence is received instead.)
      2. Sacramentally confess sins 20 days before or after the indulgenced act of visiting a cemetery to pray. (One confession suffices for several plenary indulgences.)
      3. Receive the Holy Eucharist 20 days before or after the indulgenced act of visiting a cemetery to pray. (A separate Holy Communion is required for each plenary indulgence.)
      4. Pray for the intentions of the Pope. (An Our Father and a Hail Mary are suggested and a separate prayer is required for each plenary indulgence.)


      Please join us in praying for the dearly departed!  If you have a particular soul you'd like us to pray for, just let us know, and, also, please join us in praying for unknown souls, as well as for Nana (Theresa), who we lost this year.  Thank you.

      Sunday, October 29, 2017

      October 29, 2017

      Pray for All Souls with FREE Eternal Rest Grant unto Them Copywork Printable in English and Latin



      November - the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory - is just a few days away, so I'm readying for our week of praying for all souls at local cemeteries and continuing our tradition of praying daily for the dearly departed during our rosary time and whenever we pass a cemetery while driving.


      As part of my preparations, I have created a set of simple copywork pages of the Eternal Rest prayer in both English and Latin, using "him", "her", "them", and their Latin equivalents in printing and in cursive on different sheets, so children can choose the version mot appropriate for themselves.  I've shared this FREE printable Eternal Rest Copywork Set with you here


      My intent is to have my children copy the prayer early this week and, then, laminate it and put it in our minivan.  That way, we'll have it handy to bring to cemeteries between November 1 and 8, when we make cemetery visits to help gain indulgence for the dead.  


      We will likely also recopy and laminate our St. Gertrude Prayer Copywork, since I neglected to pop our copies in our faith binders last year and now cannot find them.  If you'd like this copywork as well, you'll find print and cursive options in English only here.


      If you are looking for more ideas for bringing the tradition of praying for the dearly departed to your children, you may also like 5 Ways to Pray for All Souls.




      Please join us in praying for the dearly departed this coming month, and, if you have a particular soul you'd like us to pray for, please comment with his or her name, so we add them to our prayer list.  Thank you.