Thursday, June 29, 2006
Feasting Throughout the Year
A lot of people worry about "how to keep their kids Catholic" (there are even books on the matter) and I understand that it is a very real concern in such a secular, faithless society. One thing that I think is the most basic and important way to keep your kids interested in the Faith is not only to educate them on the Truths of our religion, but to live out the joys and beauties it has to offer. There are many ways to do this and I hope to someday address those all in depth.
Right now I wanted to discuss saintly feastdays. What a great way to help your children feel connected to the spiritual world by celebrating the days of their patron saints. You can make a special dinner, grant some special priviliges, read stories about that saint, design some activities related to his/her life, etc. Domestic-Church.com has some neat ideas for certain days.
Another idea that I was recently introduced to thanks to this book by Maria Von Trapp is to celebrate baptism days each year. How brilliant! We celebrate our children's birth into this world, but rarely remember the day they were consecrated into God's loving family! Giving a little religious gift on this day would be a wonderful idea and even asking friends and family to come over and have supper or share dessert in celebration. Also, a great way to keep godparents involved it their spiritual childrens' lives would be to ask them over that day... or if that's not possible, to ask them to write a letter or card to the child as a way of remembering their special day.
Incorporating joy and excitement into the religious upbringing of your child is probably the MOST effective thing you can do to combat the negative influences of the world... so best wishes. And a very happy day and special prayers to all the Peters and Pauls out there today!
-Ellie
Labels: Books Music Culture, feastdays
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