April 25: Happy Feast Day!

Happy Feast Day, St. Mark Community!

St. Mark, the Evangelist, pray for us!

Image Credit: Lawrence OP on flickr

Praying With Children At Night: the Examen

I see the moon, and the moon sees me...

The day is drawing to a close.  It's time to get ready for bed and prepare for tomorrow.  Practically speaking, this means brushing teeth, putting on PJs, and packing the backpack for another big, big day.  But what about our day with God?  How do we wind down the day with God and prepare for tomorrow -- and help our children to do this too?

Enter Ignatian spirituality, a branch of Catholic spirituality that prays through the events of the day.  I wrote a blog post on praying the Examen as an adult in the winter, but didn't mention a way to pray this way with children.  Well, now you can.

With the help of this blog post on praying with 12-year olds, I developed a worksheet to help children and adults to pray.  Below is a five-step prayer:

1. Start with a period of relaxation.  Throughout the day events and choices can overwhelm and pull at us.  Not even children are immune from tension.  This period of calmness allows us to ask the Holy Spirit to inspire us in our prayer.
2. With the strength of the Spirit, we work our way through the day, from beginning to the present moment, and list at least three things that we're thankful for.  Big or small; meaningful or seemingly irrelevant; whatever you're thankful for write them down.
3. Again, working back through the day, we think about what happened.  What sort of feelings or emotions came to us today?  When did these occur?
4. From this list, we focus on one item and ask God to teach us.  Spend a few moments in conversation with God, then complete the sentence "Maybe the message is/Maybe God is trying to tell me..."
5. Finally, we ask God to help us learn from our day today and live a better tomorrow.  Complete the prayer, "God, please help me to..."

The worksheet is embedded below.  The top half of the contains the guidance for praying the examen while the bottom half can be filled out as you pray.  A PDF version of this form can be downloaded by clicking here and pressing Ctrl + S.


May God be with you and your family as you pray your nightly prayers!

Photo Credit: Patricia Kashtock on flickr

Sky VBS - Coming July 9-13 to St. Mark Catholic Church!

Sky VBS is coming this summer to St. Mark Catholic Church!  More information forthcoming.  For now, check out this video:

The Hunger Games

Have you seen the Hunger Games movie?  It's all the rage right now with tweens, teenagers and young adults.  If you're considering taking your child to the movie, watch this three-minute review by Sister Rose, who reviews movies from a Catholic perspective for the benefit of parents.



And that's not all.  She also provides a few questions to help you think about the movie after the fact.  Click on the purple "Download Study Guide" button on this page to check it out.

Did you see the Hunger Games?  Are your children into the books?  What do you think?

Easter Sunday

He is risen!  Death, where is your sting?  Alleluia!

Holy Saturday

On Holy Saturday, the Church keeps vigil, as we wait for and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.

"Receive the Light of Christ," we tell one another at the Vigil

Where do I need Christ's light in my life?  Where do I need to shine light in my family, community, and world?


image credit: Lawrence OP on flickr

View from the Cross

For Good Friday, a painting depicting what Jesus saw from the cross called "View from the Cross," by James Tissot.

For a quick synopsis of what you're looking at, read this entry in Art and the Bible.

Where would you be in this picture (be honest)?  Far away, close by, or somewhere in between?

Holy Thursday

To prepare for Holy Thursday's liturgy (Mass of the Lord's Supper), take a look at this video from Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism series.  In it he talks about the words of Jesus in John 6.



What's my experience of the Eucharist?  Do I believe with my actions as well as with my mind that Jesus has the words of everlasting life?

Virtual Stations of the Cross

If you're looking for a way to pray the Stations of the Cross at home, I recommend taking at look at the Virtual Stations of the Cross put together by Busted Halo, a website run by the Paulists (in addition to the two I previously recommended).  These stations are very well done, combining our Tradition with contemporary artwork and reflections written for people trying to follow Jesus in the world today.  The Stations are pray at your own pace, so you can reflect on and pray with one station for as long as you wish before moving on to the next Station.

I've embedded the first two below, but you can pray with the rest by clicking here.

First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death


Second Station: Jesus Carries His Cross
 

A Guide to Holy Week's Liturgical Colors

Many colors, many meanings

"Wait, is Holy Thursday a white day or a red day?"

"Father wore red on Palm Sunday -- why not purple?" 

"What color should I wear on Good Friday?"

If you've asked yourself one of these questions, or many related questions, in the past few days, you're not alone.  During Holy Week, Catholics use three different colors liturgically: red, purple, and white.  Below is a quick guide to these colors, which days they're associated with, and what they symbolize.

Red: Palm Sunday & Good Friday

On Palm Sunday, celebrants wear red

Used twice during Holy Week (Palm Sunday and Good Friday), red is associated with passion and love in the world at large.  Red is the liturgical color for exactly this reason, to help drive home the point that Jesus loved us to death -- and beyond.  The two times that we read the Lord's Passion in it's entirety are Palm Sunday and Good Friday, so it's no coincidence that the liturgical color these two days is red.  Also associated with feast day of martyrs (those who witness to our Catholic faith to the point of giving their lives), the red liturgical color on these two days symbolizes the blood shed by Jesus.

Purple
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week all use the Lenten color of purple.  These days are the regular Lenten days and so get the regular Lenten color, symbolizing the penance we are undergoing in preparation for Easter.

On Holy Thursday, celebrants wear white

White: Holy Thursday & Easter Vigil/Sunday

*Did you know Lent officially ends on Holy Thursday?  On Holy Thursday, our mood turns celebratory as we poignantly celebrate the Last Supper the day before we commemorate Jesus' death on Good Friday, a day with no Mass.  Holy Thursday is the day we dust the Gloria off and represent it to Catholic communities world wide, singing triumphantly the song of praise and glory to God that we have not sung together in weeks.  And of course on Easter we joyously and triumphantly celebrate the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, singing "death, where is your sting?"  Jesus reigns and we celebrate!  So the liturgical color of white symbolizes joy, triumph, and glory.

*note: we don't end our fasting after Lent ends, but instead enter into the Triduum fast as we continue and intensify our preparation for Easter.


Image Credits: chelmsfordblue on flickr; bquad on flickr