Saints!? Somehow I missed these wonderful people while growing up in the Catholic Church (obviously I was not a very attentive child!) Now I love the saints!! Saints are the best examples to share with children on how to live our faith . Their struggle was human and often heroic and can inspire our children if we make the saints real to them. It took me a long time to be able to talk naturally with my kids about the saints- it felt forced or awkward at first. Keep at it- you'll find yourself having fun and making friends with the saints!
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 explains that the saints are God's friends. Just like us they knew joy, sorrow, and suffering, yet they did not forget God. They loved Him and always worked to do His will. While they struggled, just as we do, they knew the road to heaven and stayed on it.
I love to have pictures (just little prayer cards) and statues (we don't have many, but I would like to) to help remind us of the saints. Saints become much more present to our kids when they "see" them- just like keeping pictures of far away friends and relatives around make them more present to our children.
We have been learning about a few favorite saints this month. I asked my little group today what we learned from Saint Therese and got the answer --- "little things matter"! Good job Christian!
We have discussing St. Therese's big mission to save souls by doing little things. That she did not have to go out and do great big heroic things to change the world (although I would certainly consider her heroic). She did things right where she was- sacrificing the little every day inconveniences and hardships.
Whether she was praying for her "first soul" or for priests, she did it in her little way - by offering to God only "very little things".
What a great saint for our kids!!
http://www.littleflower.org/learn/about/life.asp
It took just a minute to catch on to making St. Therese sacrifice beads. They are actually pretty simple.
http://thelittleways.com/how-to-make-sacrifice-beads/
I did not know if the boys would want to make beads with a St. Therese medal- somehow I thought that they might get hung up on her being a girl, so I bought a few Sacred Heart of Jesus medals just in case- they all decided for St. Therese and are very happy with their beads.
They turned out super cute!! Julia and Paul even made some for Paul's godmommy, Shauna (who is also Julia's cousin). Mark made some for Shauna's husband, Peter. Mark was worried that Peter would feel left out.
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 explains that the saints are God's friends. Just like us they knew joy, sorrow, and suffering, yet they did not forget God. They loved Him and always worked to do His will. While they struggled, just as we do, they knew the road to heaven and stayed on it.
I love to have pictures (just little prayer cards) and statues (we don't have many, but I would like to) to help remind us of the saints. Saints become much more present to our kids when they "see" them- just like keeping pictures of far away friends and relatives around make them more present to our children.
We have been learning about a few favorite saints this month. I asked my little group today what we learned from Saint Therese and got the answer --- "little things matter"! Good job Christian!
We have discussing St. Therese's big mission to save souls by doing little things. That she did not have to go out and do great big heroic things to change the world (although I would certainly consider her heroic). She did things right where she was- sacrificing the little every day inconveniences and hardships.
Whether she was praying for her "first soul" or for priests, she did it in her little way - by offering to God only "very little things".
What a great saint for our kids!!
http://www.littleflower.org/learn/about/life.asp
http://thelittleways.com/how-to-make-sacrifice-beads/
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