All Saints Day - Pick a Saint, Any Saint

Hello!  It's been a long time but I am excited to be back and writing again. Our oldest daughter (now 17!) suggested I get back to writing and sharing some of my favorite things with the world, or at least our little corner of it.  

All Saints Day
It's one of my favorite things.
All Saints Day is a favorite in our house and has been for a very long time. I am not going to over load you with a long list in this one post, we are going to walk together through the planning and prep for this fabulous feast day and party over several weeks. We Catholics love a good party, especially if you can bring the joy of faith, family, and fun into it. Sometimes though, sometimes, it does take some extra planning.


Pick some Saints
Every year we go over the lists of Saints - those we know and those we find. I have organized a Martyrs walk these past couple of years at our parish in conjunction with the All Saints Day Party so we've had to look for lots of martyred saints.  We learn a lot about our friends the saints just in the planning process!

• You want to put together a list of between 10 - 15 saints for games.  You may not end up using them all but it gives you a good number to choose from. The size of your party place will determine your final number of saint games.  
• A long list of saints is also helpful for future years.  We try to rotate our saints through a 3 - 4 year rotation. 
• Pick a variety of men and women, martyr and non-martyrs, ancient, modern, and in-betweens. 
• Try to pick a few new ones each year as this should not only be fun but also be teaching us about our heavenly friends. 

That's it for now!  Go find those saints!  A list can sometimes be more challenging to make than we'd like to think.

St. Joseph's Feast Day

"St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies;...he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things-it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic."
Pope John Paul II



May St. Joseph obtain for the Church and for the world, as well as for each of us, the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

St. Patrick's Feast Day

May the Strength of God pilot us.

May the Power of God preserve us.

May the Wisdom of God instruct us.

May the Hand of God protect us.

May the Way of God direct us.

May the Shield of God defend us.

May the Host of God guard us.
Against the snares of the evil ones.
Against temptations of the world

May Christ be with us!
                                             May Christ be before us!
                                             May Christ be in us,
                                             Christ be over all!
                                             May Thy Salvation, Lord,
                                             Always be ours,
                                             This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.

Free Holy Heros Coloring Book...and more!

Holy Heroes has a free 17 page St. Joseph Coloring book just for you!

Right on time for St. Joseph's Feast Day (March 19th) you can now get your little ones (and not so little ones) started on the right foot.  Color the pages over the course of a week, or have everyone color one or two different ones.  Either way they not only teach us about St. Joseph but also about the life of Our Lord.

As we prepare for this Feast Day i would also like to mention that Jennifer over at Homespun Love  blogged about A Virtual St. Joseph's Altar a couple of days ago. If you check out their craft pages you'll find a 3D altar your family can make as well as a chocolate crown of thorns. 

In years past we have done the salt dough crown but have never had much success.  This little gem looks more realistic and could have many uses in the weeks to come.