4 Ways to Grow in Faith this Summer

Summer and faith go hand in hand

Tomorrow we turn the calendar to June.  Children all across Fairfax County will wave goodbye to their school buildings for the summer and engulf themselves into summer activities: camps, sleep overs, and (hopefully) reading a book or ten.

The summer is also a great opportunity to continue their faith formation in the home.  Here are three ways your child (and your family) can grow in your faith this summer.

Weekday Mass
Try attending a weekday Mass once or twice a week with the family.  At St. Mark, the weekday Mass is in the chapel, providing an intimate worship setting you and your family might not be familiar with.  Make sure to place an unconsecrated host from the glass bowl to the gold ciborium for every person receiving communion.  Before going to Mass, check out the readings with your family beforehand using the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's website dedicated to Mass readings.  Use the calendar on the right hand side to find the day.

Mass is celebrated at 9:15AM Monday through Friday, at 7:30PM on Monday and 6:15AM on Friday.

Vacation Bible School

This year, give VBS a try.  It's a week full of faith, fun, and community.  Each day focuses in on a different Bible story about Jesus, with each activity reinforcing the story.  Whether it's children interacting with the story during the story time or singing songs with similar themes beforehand, they will learn about God while having fun.

This year's VBS is from July 9-13 and features Sky VBS, which focuses on trusting God in all situations.  Watch a trailer about this year's VBS to learn more information.  Or visit Our Sunday Visitor's website dedicated to the Catholic version of Sky, which we'll be using.

We also need teenage and adult volunteers to help run VBS, so the whole family can attend or help!

Read the Bible
Public schools often have "summer reading lists," with dozens of books teachers recommend (or require) their students to read during the summer.  Why not add the Bible to the list?  Read a Bible story out of a children's Bible before going to bed at night with little kids.  Or if you have older kids, pick and read a Gospel together (maybe Mark's Gospel, since he is our patron saint!).  Any Gospel is a good place to start, as are the Old Testament stories of Abraham (Genesis 11-25), Joseph (Genesis 37-50), and Moses (Exodus 1-15).  Some of the Old Testament stories can be complicated!  Talk to Isaac if you have any questions.

Watch a Movie
A few times this past year, the blog has highlighted teachable faith moments within two popular Disney movies, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  This summer will also feature Friday Family Movie Nights at St. Mark with kid-friendly movies focused on positive values.  Check the bulletin and information desk for more details.

What do you recommend?  How does your family grow in faith during the summer?

Image Credit: Bonnie Woodson on Flickr

Pentecost in Two Minutes

Continuing Busted Halo's "...in Two Minutes" series is our Church's celebration of the coming of Holy Spirit to the Apostles and to the world in Pentecost.  Check it out:

Come Holy Spirit!

Where do you need inspiration in your life?  Where do you need the gifts of Wisdom, Counsel, Knowledge, Understanding, Fortitude, Piety or Wonder/Awe/Fear of the Lord?

Trouble Praying?

Prayer Hands

Pope Benedict XVI gave some advice to those of us who struggle in our prayer life:

We want to pray, but God is far off, we do not have the words, the language, to speak with God, nor even the thought to do so. We can only open ourselves, place our time at God’s disposition, wait for Him to help us to enter into true dialogue. The Apostle says: this very lack of words, this absence of words, yet this desire to enter into contact with God, is prayer that the Holy Spirit not only understands, but brings and interprets before God. This very weakness of ours becomes -- through the Holy Spirit -- true prayer, true contact with God. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the interpreter who makes us, and God, understand what it is we wish to say.

Is this advice helpful?  What do you think?


Image Credit: Connor Tarter on flickr

Power Out at St. Mark

Due to the power outage, all activities the evening of May 16, 2012 have been cancelled. Our email and phone system are also down.

Confirmation is expected to happen as scheduled tomorrow. If you are helping with the reception, expect and email first thing on Thursday.

Where Communion Hosts Come From

Have you ever wondered where Communion hosts are made?  Well now you can find out with a look inside the Cavanagh Company, the good folks who make the bread we use at St. Mark and throughout the United States.  I like to think of this video as a Mr. Rogers-esq trip into a religious bread company.

This video requires Flash.  If you're using an iOS device, sorry!


You can read the entire article here.

Note: There's been a lack of posting and updates on the blog mostly due to the flurry of preparation time that goes into First Eucharist.  After first Eucharist and Confirmation are completed, we'll be back to regularly posting.

First Eucharist at St. Mark: Welcome Guests!

Welcome to any guests who will be joining us May 5-6 or May 12-13 for our parish-wide celebration of First Eucharist!  To help make this day beautiful for everyone, here are some pointers:

• Please be aware that the front parking lot may be full, meaning you may be required to park in the rear parking lot.
• Contact the parents of the First Communicant for information on where your family will be sitting on that day.
• Arrive inside the Sanctuary no later than 5 minutes before the start of Mass if you wish to sit with the family members of the First Communicant in the reserved pew.  Ushers are instructed to fill in any empty seats at this point.
• Mass times are:
• Saturday at 5:30PM
• Sunday at 8:15AM, 10:00AM, and 11:45AM
• No photographs are allowed during Mass, with the exception of when the First Communicants are processing in during the Gathering Song at the beginning of Mass.  After Mass, children will congregate around Fr. Pat for a picture near the altar.
• Please join us with full heart and full voice to help make our worship of God and our celebration of the Mass fuller and more meaningful.
• For more information on what we believe about the Eucharist, watch this short, 5-minute video.

Please pray for all our First Communicants as they begin this new and exciting part of their journey with God!

Photo Credit: m.gifford on flickr

The Eucharist (how we receive)

With First Eucharist coming up the next two weekends at Mass, it's a good time to brush up on what we believe about the Eucharist.  Check out this quick video that explains a little of what we believe and a little on how to receive:

Keep these children in your prayers!