Dark blue with stars to recall Our Lady's Mantle, roses for St. Juan Diego, and black velvet ribbon make up this simple wreath. We read recently that Aztec women wore black ribbons around their waists to show they were expecting, hence the black ribbon around Our Lady's waist in the image on the tilma.
Last year, we began a new tradition in our home--putting up a gingerbread house on the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto, a date so closely associated with Our Lady's prayerful and holy home.
Hoping to continue the tradition simply and manageably this year, I purchased a Wilton Cottage Cake Pan a few weeks ago. It reminded me of the Holy House of Loreto as depicted on holy cards and in this coat of arms:
[Loreto Coat of Arms courtesy of International Civic Arms.]
We began with plain yellow cake mix, ready-made frosting, pink and purple sugars, gumdrops, gummi bears, mini-marshmallows, and colored wafers:
Once the cake was baked, it was a snap to frost in white. Theresa gave the cake a crumb coat, and Margaret and Marie to applied the candy embellishments. This they managed skillfully [I was making dinner and let them at it on their own] in spite of the help offered by Patrick, Maureen, and Eileen.
Margaret was particularly proud of her own innovation--a chimney made of mini marshmallows:
Here is the work in progress--Marie's snowman stands to the left:
It was my bright idea to put the cake on a pedestal cake pan to keep out of the way during dinner. We left it in the dining room on the piano out of reach of the little ones.
Midway through dinner, disaster struck!
We heard a sickening thud and raced in to find our candy cottage face up on the floor:
Margaret's chimney was no more:
And look at our poor piano! [This photo was taken after we cleaned the keys.]
Disappointed, but undaunted, Margaret set about a reconstruction. The fact that we already had a picture of the cake in its original glory was a comfort to her. We talked about the Holy House in Loreto and how angels carried it from the Holy Land to Italy to prevent its desecration. Our Candy House had moved unexpectedly too! We like to think the angels helped it land face up, even though it fell face forward. : )
Every year, I save particularly beautiful Christmas cards, knowing we may eventually find a good use for them, and this image of the Blessed Mother in red was just the thing for our pretty house. I left a bit of the card edge at the bottom to stick into the icing, creating a vibrant "Loreto" cake topper:
A group of cherubs hold up the base, reminding us of the many holy card images we have seen of Our Lady of Loreto:
At the end of the day, the children gathered round, of all things, the laptop computer. We made the Consecration to Our Lady of Loreto from the wonderful Minnesota Mom. Having just prepared for the Total Consecration on December 8th, this was especially meaningful.
Before bed, I blessed the children with Loreto Oil from the Holy House, sent by my dear friend Anne for my mother. What a blessing it is to have such good and thoughtful friends!
Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us! Bless our homes and our families, and make us more like you!
Last week, we made miniature Wayside Shrines similar to the ones I loved in Ireland as a little girl. After our summer in San Francisco, there is no doubt the California Missions made a similar impression on my children. We were blessed to visit four of them during our stay--Mission San Rafael, Mission Dolores (San Francisco de Assis), Mission San Luis Obispo, and Mission Carmel, the burial place of Blessed Junipero Serra.
With the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe right around the corner, this seemed a good time to create our own miniature mission shrine, using elements inspired by the four beautiful missions we remember so well. We began with a double sided wooden frame from the craft store. The tiled roof made us think of the missions:
The photo of Mission Carmel below gives a glimpse of the terracotta tiles so common in mission churches:
Eight-year-old Marie enjoyed painting the tiles of our "mission":
Mission San Rafael is creamy beige with crosses on top and two topiaries gracing the front:
The first side of our shrine, representing the outside of the missions, has a similar look:
Monuments to Father Junipero Serra, here shown in the garden at Carmel, may be found all over California:
If you look closely at the side of the church in Carmel, you will notice graves adorned with sea shells:
A holy card image of Blessed Serra, along with a small seashell, complete the first side:
For the interior, we drew inspiration from the freestyle flower borders of Mission San Luis Obispo:
We all loved the way this simple border echoed the ones we remember:
This wall of statues from Mission Dolores in San Francisco is typical of the missions--there are always many statues and images to inspire:
We adorned our mission "interior" using saints' images from a broken bracelet and a holy card of Our Lady of Guadalupe:
After the summer we had, it seems appropriate to have this reminder of the California Missions displayed prominently on our Advent table. It will also make a double-sided centerpiece for our Guadalupe Tea next week.
Blessed Junipero Serra, pray for us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
And oh, when the heart faints with longing,
He is there, though our eyes cannot see;
The Compassionate One, bending o'er us,
Stoops to hear the heart's sigh, "Pray for me!"
--from The Wayside Shrine by Martha Elvira Pettus
When I was a small child, I fell in love with the roadside shrines of Ireland. It makes me smile to think back upon one afternoon in particular: As my father cast a hopeful line over the River Blackwater in County Cork, I piled wildflowers at the foot of a shrine to Our Lady.
In hopes of recreating this sweet and simple memory, we spent the weekend fashioning miniature wayside shrines small enough to grace a pot of pansies, but so lovely they just might remain in my children's hearts forever.
Several months ago, I purchased these church-shaped wooden garden stakes at the craft store for fifty cents each:
We began by painting a base coat in acrylics:
We added moss, silk flowers, small statues and crucifixes, and other embellishments.
Here are a few of the shrines we made so far:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel (spring theme):
Roadside Crucifix (winter theme, complete with a touch of artificial snow):
St. Anthony (summer theme):
Agnes' St. Jude (Agnes is taking "Judith" for Confirmation this year):
Marie's St. Joseph (a gift for Grandma):
Margaret's Advent-themed Shrine (front):
Margaret's Shrine (back view, with Divine Mercy image taken from a broken bracelet):
Margaret's adaptation--Holy Water Font:
Holy Water Font (rear view, with Infant of Prague):
Theresa's Our Lady of Grace shrine:
Marie's Crucifix in the Rhododendrons:
Three-year-old Maureen's pink Sacred Heart shrine:
Here's a pretty mess--I couldn't resist this shot of some of the production crew hard at work behind the scenes. (Also, it occurs to me for the first time that the walls inside just about match the carpet of golden maple leaves outside.)
A small silk butterfly alights atop the spring-themed shrine to Our Lady of Mount Carmel:
Materials and Ways to Improvise
I found the wooden church stakes in A.C. Moore craft store. They were made by Nicole Crafts, reference number WOD 1204. It is often difficult to find specific craft items online, and your local store may not stock these. Any paintable wooden garden stake might be used or adapted (we used flat heart-shaped stakes to make an entire set of the Stations of the Cross years ago--we also made Sacred and Immaculate Heart shrines from heart-shaped stakes a while back). If you are unable to find stakes, small wooden churches or birdhouses would work quite well, as you can see from the rear view of last year's St. Francis birdhouse craft. I often challenge the children to figure out ways to bring ideas to life from natural materials found outside. These shrines would be beautiful created from pieces of wood, bark, moss, acorns and stones gathered in the backyard--or perhaps items you might otherwise discard, like clementine crates. Can you imagine a little shrine tucked away in the knot of a tree?
The possibilities for embellishment are endless, and religious images may be taken from paper holy cards, catalogues, broken bracelets, pins, or rosaries. DiscountCatholicStore.com sells mini-pocket saint statues (3/4 inch) for $1.55.
May the saints bless you on your way, now and always!
Earlier today,Lissa told me she is planning on preparing for a Monfortian Consecration to Jesus through Mary. Checking the calendar at the back of her copy of True Devotion to Mary, she was delighted to find the next preparation period begins tomorrow (November 5th) and continues until the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Needless to say, I hopped on board with her, realizing this is the perfect lead in to Advent.
According to St. Louis de Montfort, the first twelve days "should be employed in casting off the spirit of the world, which is contrary to that of Jesus Christ."
I hope some of you will join us in prayer this month, asking God's blessings upon our homes and country and taking Mary into our hearts. Here are the exceptionally beautiful prayers to be said daily:
November 5th to 16th: Twelve Preliminary Days
November 17th to 23rd: First Week
November 24th to 30th: Second Week
December 1st to 7th: Third Week
December 8th: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Interestingly, I saw a box of 45 beautiful little Hanukah candles in the supermarket the other day. The white and blue tints and traditional Jewish pattern reminded me of the Blessed Mother, so I popped them into my cart, hoping to find some use for them in the weeks ahead. Now I am thinking about lighting one each night, illuminating the house more and more as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception approaches. After using 33 candles, there will be just enough left over for the 12 days of Christmas!
Online reading materials to assist with the preparation:
Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Montfort
[September 21st, outside Our Lady of the Angelus Church, Rego Park, NY]
No doubt some of you remember the ill fate met by our beloved statue of Our Lady of Fatima back in December. We were blessed to find another image almost exactly like it, although our new statue is a bit smaller and not so heavy as the original.
For years now, I'd been meaning to offer our statue as a pilgrim image to the families in our homeschooling group. A week or so ago, I wrote a message to the group asking if anyone was interested in keeping her for a two week Summer visit. In a twinkling, ten families had signed up--Our Lady's dance card is filled until at least October, the month of the Holy Rosary.
Several days ago, I made plans to bring our statue with us to science class at a local museum this afternoon. The first family to volunteer to take the statue would be there, making it the perfect day for a transfer. Imagine my joy and amazement when I discovered (only after the plans were in place) that Thursday (today) is The Feast of the Visitation! When I realized this and told the older girls, four jaws dropped in unison!
Our Lady speaks clearly, doesn't she?
Behold: The perfect doll-sized tea set for the merry month of May! My daughters--and Raggedy Ann--were very pleased with this find!
December 7, 2007. Updated: Please see the comments--Martha discovered this set now comes with a frightening warning label.
Our parish May Crowning will take place on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th. In the meantime, we held our annual Immaculate Heart of Mary Homeschooling Group May Crowning in our home yesterday. Thanks to Marie's recent First Holy Communion party, we had the luxury of a tent this year--a very good thing with skies threatening to rain all morning. Our Lady came through for us with a golden, clear afternoon, the perfect day to "Bring Flow'rs of the Fairest."
Blue was the color of the day.
As always, our lovely First Communicants crowned Our Lady, bearing her golden crown on a flower-sprigged pillow. The rest of the children processed in with flowers, placing them on the May altar before saying the Rosary, all the while singing traditional hymns in Latin and English, led by my friend, Lynn Wilson. We prayed for all of you, stopping to mention the many prayer requests made in our local group and online. We said prayers of thanksgiving for blessings received and remembered Heather who is having surgery as I type this.
Marie was thrilled to receive a pair of pink Rosaries, handmade by her sweet friend, Mary.
I hesitated before posting these pictures of not one, but three, First Communicants flying on the scooters (you aren't sick of scooters, are you?), but who can resist this? These three girls were inseparable all day and as ubiquitous as snowflakes in a storm. (That's the lovely Erin from the Bonny Blue House on the right, a vision in her shamrock-studded gown.) Sometime toward the end of the afternoon, Agnes made the observation, "You know, the First Communicants are really dispelling the myth that you can't be active in long skirts!"
I found them "hanging around" together on the tree and sprinted across the yard to catch the moment forever.
Three-year-old Maureen held court, as usual.
And made a beautiful new friend.
Fair maidens to honor the "Fairest of Queens, in the fairest of seasons, Sweet May"! [Please be sure to click on this image to enlarge. It may be my favorite photo ever, tied with the darling one directly above it!]
Name Dropping (in addition to all the wonderful IHM moms, many familiar friends were on hand):
MacBeth
Helen
Mary Ellen
Heather
Lissa (by phone!)
