Four Family Advent Ideas

Wondering how you can celebrate Advent in your home? Here are four ideas for your family to use this Advent.

Use an Advent Calendar

A custom, non-chocolate Advent calendar

Advent is a season of waiting in joyful, expectant hope.  An Advent calendar helps pass on this idea by creating a time of day everyone looks forward to because something that's hidden becomes seen.  Many calendars in department stores feature chocolate treats (and everyone looks forward to chocolate treats).  There are even wacky, specialized Advent calendars you can buy, like the Lego calendar, for those with a particular interest.

Another approach is to create your own calendar as a family.  Buy a reusable Advent calendar online or create one yourself using 24 small containers (one for each day from December 2 to Christmas).  Inside the containers, write and place one small activity for your family to do together

Simple Creche

Set Up a Creche
At the manger scene, you can gather each night for prayer. An old, but good, custom is to invite your children to place one piece of straw in the cradle for good deeds they or the family did that day. The more good deeds, the softer the cradle becomes for Jesus. My family has a tradition of placing baby Jesus in the cradle when we come back from Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve.  Do that, or create your own tradition.

Pray with an Advent Wreath

Advent wreath

Light candles corresponding to the candles lit at Mass on Sundays and pray around the wreath each Sunday (here's a guide for praying with the Advent wreath on Sundays) and/or each day during your normal family prayer time.  After you assemble your Advent wreath, say a few words of blessing as a family.  Use the family Advent wreath blessing from Loyola Press or this blessing from our own US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Make a Jesse Tree

Jesse tree in progress

What is a Jesse tree?  The Diocese of Eerie explains:

In the month before Christmas, the church anticipates the coming of Jesus through readings that span from the Old Testament creation story through Jesus’ birth. Jesse, for whom the tree is named, is the first person in the genealogy of Jesus. At the top of this family tree are Mary and Jesus. Depicted in church windows and artwork for hundreds of years, this visual tree of life may even have been a forerunner of today’s Christmas tree.

Simply put, the Jesse tree is sort of like an Advent calendar, except biblical.  It's a way to pray through the stories from the Old Testament to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Jesus.
To create a Jesse tree, you can follow the instructions on the Diocese of Eerie webpage, or from a blog called Catholic Style.  Those links also have instructions for praying with the Jesse tree.

image credits: Patrick Q on flickr; Jose M. Vazquez; usedcarspecialist on flickr; Silly Eagle Books on flickr

The Year of Faith

To enter the door of faith is to begin a journey that lasts a lifetime -- Pope Benedict XVI

Today, October 11, 2012, marks the opening of the Year of Faith, a 13-month long opportunity to deepen our faith in Jesus.  To help us all enter the Year of Faith, the Arlington Diocese has created a website designed to inspire and invite us to grow in faith.

At the national level, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also has a website designed to help us take a deeper look at our faith.  There's a collection of videos from the website, including an introduction to the Year of Faith, a saint for each of the 13 months, and a Q&A about the Year of Faith.  The Bishops also offer a simple family prayer to pray this year.

Globally, the Vatican's English Year of Faith website provides us with a wider view of our faith, more focused on what the Pope and other Church officials offer us during this year.  For example, below is the video produced with Pope Benedict announcing the Year of Faith:

With the proliferation of these Year of Faith websites, the Church recognizes the need to be present where people work and live part of their lives: the digital realm.  Throughout the year, you can join us here at the blog as we highlight the best of what the Diocese, USCCB, and Vatican have to offer us during this Year of Faith.

8 Ways to Celebrate Sacred Time as a Family

Family fun

Meaningful moments are lurking around every corner!  Each day presents us with a new opportunity to encounter God as a family.  An article on Loyola Press' website lists eight different ways to harness ordinary daily and yearly moments to bring us closer to God and one another.  Some you can try today, some may require some waiting.

Pay close attention to number five, "make more of your time in the car together."  This summer, as we travel from place to place for camps, hangouts and roadtrips, try to harness that time together in the car.  Besides the recommendation they give, you can try these four other ways of having car conversations.

Check out the rest of the article for other suggestions.

How do you mark sacred moments as a family?  What special things do you do together?

Image Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography on Flickr

40 Hour Devotion: A Time For Prayer

Please join St. Mark on our annual 40 Hour Devotion leading up to this weekend's Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The remaining times are:

• Thursday until 10pm
• Friday after 6:15am Mass to 10pm
• Saturday from 8:00am to Benediction at 3:30pm.

What is Adoration?

Confused about what Adoration is and why we do it?  Read this quote below, which is taken from a small book produced by Ligouri Press called In the Presence, by Sr. Joan Ridley, OSB (PDF).

When we sit in silence in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, we are being gazed upon by the Lord. Actually this is true every moment of our lives, but in church or chapel, we have intentionality in gazing at the Lord. That is why we are there. It is an experience of adoration. We do not have to be rationally aware of this reality. It does not depend on our mind so much as our heart... Adoration is our fundamental stance before God, the essential act of relating ourselves to the Absolute. It involves worship. We worship and adore God alone.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." -- Jesus, Matthew 11:28

Simply put, Adoration is a time for us to pray, to listen, and to be in the presence of Jesus.  Give it a try.  Bring your family.  Time with God is never wasted.

Image Credit: ElectricDisk on flickr

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

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

Holy Week Basket

Fill your basket

With Holy Week around the corner, here's an idea for your family that will help make Holy Week a special week: Holy Week baskets!  Bust out the fake green grass a little early and scrounge up your Spring-colored plastic Easter eggs: we're repurposing them in a non-candy way.

Put the green plasticy grass in the basket, and place the basket in a prominent place in your house.  Inside the eggs, place slips of paper with different actions or ideas for keeping Holy Week.  For ideas, check out the description of a classroom version of this activity.  Here are some that are St. Mark specific:

• Attend the Palm Sunday parish penance service (at 7:00PM on Palm Sunday)
• Donate a household item for those who cannot afford it (see bulletin for details)
• Attend a Holy Week service at St. Mark

What other ideas could you include in your Holy Week basket?

Image credit: tracitodd on flickr

Raising Children of God

A February 27th article in the American Magazine pointed to four tested ways to raise your children Catholic.  Written by a mother of four, these ways resonate with my (Isaac's) upbringing.

Below are two of the the four ways (another post later in the week will cover the other two).  The entire article can be read here, but only if you have a subscription to the American Magazine.

Involvement
Consider your own participation in the life of the community.  Your children will mirror your modeling of the faith, for better or for worse.  Try to involve them in however you volunteer at the parish.  Are you a catechist? Ask them for help on a lesson plan.  Are you a Eucharistic Minister?  Pray with your family before Mass for you to be the EM God wants you to be.  Are you a lector?  Practice reading with your child.  When they get old enough (5th grade for St. Mark) they can become an altar server.  And when they get even older (middle school) they can become a lector.  Eventually, they'll see the good that you do and want to follow in your footsteps.  My mom played flute in the choir, and now I share my musical gifts with our community.

Intellectual Engagement
Do you have an 8th grade understanding of literature?  Or math?  Or science?  Our religious education shouldn't end with 8th grade either.  As an adult, continue your own intellectual development of our faith.  Visiting the RE blog or other faith-filled websites is a start.  So is reading a good book or two about our faith.  Encourage your children to think about our faith off the St. Mark property.    Prepare for Mass before going to Mass.  Talk about Mass afterward, asking if anything stood out, a particular prayer or phrase.  Quiz them on the Gospel.  Ask them good question after their RE classes.  Read the Bible together once a week or more.  Whatever works for your family, do it.

Check back later this week for the other two ways.

What do you do to engage our faith intellectually?  How are you involved?  Or how would you like to be involved?

2 Family Lenten Events at St. Mark

How is your family’s Lent this year? Okay? Good? Not so good?

There are two opportunities (both at St. Mark) in the next week for your family: (1) (Youth Mass +) Parish Lenten Mission and (2) Pizza + Children’s Stations of the Cross.

(Youth Mass +) Parish Lenten Mission
On Sunday evening, we have our monthly youth Mass at 6PM followed by a family dinner at 7PM in the Activities Center. After dinner, children (grades preschool through 8th) are invited to join in a Lenten Workshop. Parents are encouraged to attend the Parish Mission at 7:30PM being held in the church at the same time (starting at 7:30PM). (We would ask one parent to remain in the activity center if your children are in 2nd grade or below.) The title of the Mission is Lent: Our Journey into the Mystery of God.

On Monday and Tuesday Evenings, you’re invited to the other two nights of the Mission, also beginning at 7:30PM. Check out our awesome flyer (PDF) for more info.

Pizza + Children’s Stations of the Cross
Join us next Friday, March 9 for Pizza + Children’s Stations of the Cross. Pizza will be served at 7PM in the Activities Center and Stations will begin at 7:30PM in the Church. This particular Stations of the Cross caters to children in the primary grades, but is suitable for all ages. Donations will be accepted to help offset the cost of the pizza.

Please RSVP to Isaac by noon on Thursday, March 8 so we can order enough pizza.

Car Conversation: On Your Way to Mass

Kids in the car!

It can be a struggle to get in the car, but once you're there you have a great opportunity to engage your children in preparing for Mass.  Here are a few ideas:

• If possible, you can have someone in your car read through the Gospel.  Talk about the Gospel for the few minutes you have.  Your kids will be more focused during the Gospel after having talked it through.
• Only one driving?  When we're at Mass, we have a chance to bring in all that happened during the week and pray through the events and circumstances of our lives.  Have everyone answer and share one of each the following:
• What are you thankful for this week?
• What do you need need forgiveness for this week?
• What sacrifices have you made this week?
• What do you need to pray for for this upcoming week?
• Need some quiet time?  Ask everyone to spend a few moments conversing with God (AKA praying).  Sometimes when we're running close to the start of Mass, this quiet time is important to help us transition  into Mass.

What sorts of conversations do you have in the car with your children before Mass?  Is it pure chaos?  Leave a comment below and share.

Image Credit: Thomas Widmann on flickr

Back to Counting Time

Time keeps on slippin'....into the future

With the celebration of Jesus' Baptism on Monday, the Church closed out her Christmas season with a bang (really, with a trickle of water).  Gone from St. Mark are the Christmas decorations.  No more creche, no more star behind the altar, no more wreaths, and no more "Merry Christmas."  Our liturgical celebrate of Christmas is over until December 2012, so now what?

Not Plain...
Now we return to what is called "ordinary time."  That phrase sounds very plain and, well, ordinary.  Our liturgical time is "ordinary" right now because we're neither feasting (Christmas and Easter) nor fasting (Lent); we're neither celebrating (solemnities and feast days) nor preparing (Advent).  Our time is "ordinary" because the Church counts all the days between these special moments and numbers them, places them in a certain order with readings that thematic but not necessarily tied down to a certain celebration or moment.  And just like life, we spend most of the liturgical year neither feasting nor fasting; neither celebrating nor preparing.

...But Still Kept
So what can we do to make ordinary time special?  How can we mark this ordered time?  Our Sunday Visitor gives us six ways to living in ordinary time.  You could try one of those six, or you can come up with your own way to focus your spiritual energy during this liturgical season.

What's your favorite way to mark ordinary time?  Or have you never thought about it?  How can your family grow in faith from here until Lent begins on February 22?


Image: Leo Reynolds (flickr)

Website Wednesday: CatholicMom.com

This is how it looks using Google Chrome

Reviving a Wednesday theme, let's take a look at a great Catholic website for all parents that will help you include faith in your life.  CatholicMom.com is for more than just moms.  Click around the menu long enough and you'll soon realize there's something for everyone: Mom, Dad, teachers, catechists, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

One of the strengths of the website is that it's updated with regularity.  If there's something going on in the Catholic Church, odds are there's an article, activity, or idea to incorporate it into your family.  You can see from the screen shot that there's a section on Advent.  And for the Immaculate Conception, they have a short article explaining history and some of our beliefs about the day.

Digging a little deeper, here are a few of the sections I'd like to highlight that are useful.

Sunday Gospel Activities
Encourage your children to learn about the Good News at home by utilizing one of the activities present in CatholicMom's incredible collection.  Organized by month and then by Sunday, the Sunday Gospel Activities provide something for many ages.  Your child is in the coloring phase?  There's a weekly coloring page (PDF). Kids love word searches?  They've got the word search (PDF) market covered.  Simple crossword?  You bet (PDF).  There are even what they call "mass worksheets" for children ages 7-10 (PDF) and 11-14 (PDF) to help them get more from that weekend's liturgy.  I wouldn't recommend coming to mass to fill these out, but still these can be great for getting ready for mass or processing afterward.

Movie Reviews
Multimedia play a big role in the life of children in the 21st century.  But as with anything we're exposed to, we need to be aware of what that media does to us and to our children.  CatholicMom's provides a tiny section on movie reviews that will review newly released DVDs as well as films still in the theaters.  Past reviews include the re-release of Dumbo, Super 8, and The Help.  While not updated with every movie that comes out, movie reviews do come in from time to time and appear on the front page of the main website.

(If you're very interested in other good film review sites, Catholic News Services reviews films as does a Christian website called Decent Films.)

Blog
Probably the greatest strong of the website is the blog that's updated every day.  It also happens to be the front page of the website.  A variety of articles will educate and entertain you, providing you helpful articles for parents and some opportunities to grow in your own faith.  Since that's along the same lines with what I hope to provide here on the blog, you should definitely check them out!

A hub for all things Catholic, CatholicMom is a solid resource for you and your family.

If you have a website you recommend, leave a comment or send Isaac an email:

Five Family Advent Ideas

Yesterday we learned about Advent in two minutes.  So how do we practice preparation in our family?  Here are five ways your family can prepare for Christmas this Advent.

Decorate

My wife and I started a tradition last year of decorating our house on the third Sunday of Advent.  Why the third Sunday?  Because it's Gaudete Sunday!  It's a Sunday of Joy and we mark that time as a Church by using rose (pink) colored vestments at mass and light the rose (pink) colored candle.  Decorate with various greens, religious icons or drawings or pictures, lights, a creche (see below) and of course all the usual Christmas decorations.

Use an Advent Calendar

There are many Advent calendars to choose from online.  Here's one for a family (PDF) and one for children (PDF).  For you parents, here's one you can do online, which I do every year.  It includes a short quote or video clip and an action to do each day. On the First Sunday of Advent, it featured an excellent video clip from Lord of the Rings -- so you know it must be good.

Or, make your own calendar.  On the days from today to Christmas, write a different action you or your family can do in preparation for the coming of Christ. For example, write a Christmas card to a relatives, clean the house for guests, or make Christmas presents instead of buying them.

Make a Creche
At the manger scene, you can gather each night for prayer. Tell your kids to place one piece of straw in the cradle for good deeds they or their family did that day. The more good deeds, the softer the cradle becomes for Jesus. My family has a tradition of placing baby Jesus in the cradle when we come back from Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve.  Use that or create your own tradition.

Use an Advent Wreath
Light candles corresponding to the candles lit at Mass on Sundays and pray around the wreath every day.  Need your wreath blessed?  Try this family Advent wreath blessing from Loyola Press or this blessing from our own US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Donate
Gather some clothes, toys, and other items to donate to a local charity. Try donating a favorite toy or favorite article of clothing. It may be difficult, but giving up our favorite items can foster a deeper love for others and remind us that others deserve the best we have to offer.

How does your family prepare for Advent?  What's your favorite family tradition?  What do you hope your children pass on to their children?  Share your ideas, leave a comment.

Link: Taking Young Children to Mass

Children and mass

"How do we bring our young children to mass?"  This question is on the minds and lips of many first time and veteran parents who risk stares if their young children make even a peep at mass.

Much ink has been spilled by way of pamphlets and brochures to help parents raise their kids in the faith.  A new article on ForYourMarriage.org distills many suggestions and presents them through the eyes of a couple with two young children.  Among the suggestions I found most interesting:

We physically hold our children in our arms during Mass. In fact, we adopted the position that our children’s feet do not touch the ground during Mass until they are three years old. This helps in many ways. The children get a get a better view; as they grow and mature we can talk them through the stories and the actions; and we have a bit more control over their behavior. If an infant or toddler gets squirmy, often switching who is holding them is enough to calm them down. Otherwise we might play a quiet game of “point to the…candles, priest, altar, cross, etc.”

Read the rest of the article for more tips on bringing children to mass or leave a comment to share your own.

Image Credit: Mandy_Jansen

A Good "No-School" Project: Thanksgiving Clothing Drive

Is this your closet?

"I get to sleep in until noon on Monday AND Tuesday!"
It's every student's favorite time of the school year, a four-day weekend.  As a child, my favorite part about long weekends was the shortened week before or after.  But now as an adult, I enjoy working on projects around the house, reading a few more chapters of my latest novel, and catching up with friends.

Pass on one of these these values to your children by planning a special project that will benefit those in need.  In a couple week's time, the annual St. Mark Thanksgiving Clothing Drive (TCD) will be up and running and will need donations from parishioners and others in the area.  Many families have come to rely on the TCD for warm coats and clothes to get through winter.  Here's how you can help:

• Go through your closet and look for warm items to donate.  Make sure the clothes are not raggedy and worn through.
• All sizes, styles, and types of clothes are accepted (but the largest need is for winter clothes).
• Collection begins in the St. Mark Activity Center on Saturday, November 19 (more details forthcoming).

You Clothed Me
Although giving clothes is a good thing in itself, give this project a faith backbone by reading Matthew 25: 31-46 (which, coincidentally, is the Gospel reading the Sunday before Thanksgiving).  Highlight the "clothing the naked" bit, noting that when we give our clothes, we are helping to clothe Christ who is present in the poor.  Jesus truly is "one of the these least brothers."  (Clothing the naked is one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, acts that are done to alleviate poverty and suffering in the world.)

Encourage your children (and yourself) to donate one item that you would never want to donate.  When we do that, we loosen the grasp our possessions have on us and open our lives more fully to the presence of Christ in the poor.

What will you donate this year?

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All Souls' Day: We Pray for and Remember the Dead

We pray for the dead

Prayers
All Souls' Day reminds us that part of the life of the Christian Catholic is to pray for the dead.  We have a mystical link to them through the Body of Christ and we believe that our prayers, somehow, help those in purgatory be with God in heaven.  (More information on purgatory and praying for the dead found here).

At St. Mark, we have a special Mass today at 7:30PM for all who have passed away, especially those who have died within the past year.  Throughout the month of November, our Book of the Dead will be available in the Narthex for you to inscribe the names of your deceased relatives and friends.  We will remember all these individuals during the masses this month.

Remembering
Aside from prayer, take sometime today to talk with your family about a love one who has passed on.  Growing up, I always loved hearing stories of relatives who passed before my birth, to see how the faces and voices of those sharing memories would brighten.  When we share these memories with each other, especially with children, we pass on our family tradition and heritage, and the childhood of grandparents or uncles seems more real.  Stories of how great grandma immigrated here not knowing the language inspire us to keep going even in the most difficult moments.

Give your children that gift today of coming to know someone you loved.  They'll thank you later.

Image: africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No Family is Perfect

Halloween is a week away.  In Vienna, the annual Halloween parade is right around the corner.  You may feel lots of pressures to live up to how another family celebrates Halloween.  Keep this in mind.

"A family is holy not because it is perfect, but because God's grace is at work in it, helping it to set out anew everyday in the way of love." -- Follow the way of Love

 Simple words from the Bishop Conference echo those of Jesus: "Love one another."

Car Conversation: Reminds You of Jesus

a statue of Jesus

An easy car conversation to hold with your children this week: Who have you seen or encountered this week that has reminded you of Jesus?  In what ways?


Makes sure before you ask the question you have an answer from your own life.  Your kids will probably ask you for an example right away.  The best examples will be someone that they know too, someone in their life.

Don't be intimidated or afraid -- you can do this!

Image: zole4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blessing of Pets

Meet Q the cat

Yesterday was the Feast Day of St. Francis.  Over the years, it's become popular for religious organizations to hold a "blessing of pets" or "blessing of animals" in the days before or after October 4 (see below if you wonder why).  Although we don't offer an opportunity to gather and bless your pets here at St. Mark, you can do a brief, and meaningful, pet blessing ritual at home.

Before the blessing, you'll want to decide whether you want to include singing or not.  Some great songs include Canticle of the Son (aka All Creatures of our God and King) of Prayer of St. Francis (aka Make Me a Channel of your Peace).  Another question: indoor or outdoor?  If you have an indoor only pet, the answer is obvious, but if your pet is both, then outdoor might be the way to go.