Holy Week is such a beautiful time to draw closer to Jesus in preparation for His death and resurrection. However, it’s sometimes difficult for kids to grasp the concepts of what is happening during the week and when. That’s why I’ve complied a list of Holy Week activities for your Catholic kids, to help them with hands-on understanding!
Here are Holy Week activities to celebrate with the whole family!
On Friday before Palm Sunday: Start the Our Lady of Sorrows Novena with my Meditative Prayer Journal for Holy Week (use code 50off for a 50% off discount and print out a copy for everyone in your family. Walk with Our Lady of Sorrows together this Holy Week!) Spring 2020 deal
Fold your palms branches into the shape of a cross (some churches are still leaving them in the church for you to pick up, even if your city is on lockdown!)
I’d also like to recommend my brand new children’s book: Sam the Guardian Angel. It’s perfect for this time in our life (as an Easter basket gift too)! There’s a two-page spread that talks about what to do if you can’t receive the Eucharist, which is speaking to many of us right now. It talks about how to pray the Spiritual Communion prayer and why. I hope this book blesses many families! You can find it at Tan.
Here’s a collection of some surprising nuns who put the UN in UNordinary! Read on for proof that God calls a wide variety of women to the religious life.
Psst! This list of Catholic women are excellent role models for the kids in your life! Pin / bookmark / share this page to spread the good news!
Here are 11 Surprising things nuns do that you wouldn’t think of!
Beauty Queen
Meet Esmeralda Solís Gonzáles from Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico! In 2016, Esmeralda won the title of Queen in her hometown. Despite the fame and glory that came with the title, she says the ache to discover her vocation remained like a ‘little thorn.’ In March 2017, Esmeralda became a postulate with the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. In an 2017 interview with Catholic News Agency, she says “I was very happy with everything I had, but it does not compare with the happiness that God now places in my heart.”
How about twin sisters who found God was calling them to the same religious community? This past November, Sister Mary Clare and Sister Mary Robert celebrated 70 years as Franciscan Sisters. They entered the convent just one year apart from each other and spent most of their 70 years teaching children. In a joint interview, they said they “would not trade their vocation for anything.”
Florentine nun, Plautilla Nelli, lived during the Renaissance but because she was a woman, her talent was largely unrecognized and her paintings mostly stayed within the convent in which she lived. In the 1990s, a non-profit called Advancing Women Artists Foundation funded the 4 year restoration of a beautiful life size depiction of the Last Supper. The painting is finally on display in the church museum of Santa Maria Novella.
Have you heard of the beautiful prayer The Litany of Trust? Perhaps you have a copy of it printed somewhere in your home. It was composed by Sister Faustina Maria Pia who is part of the Sisters of Life community in New York. In her ministry, she was often approached by strangers who were angry with God or thought God was angry with them. She ached for a way to show them the Love Christ has for them in a tangible way and so she wrote the Litany of Trust and now has prayer cards to hand out to those she encounters on the streets of New York City.
You can read what her big brother has to say about how this prayer came about and the actual prayer and read more about her/ the prayer in her newest co-authored book: Our Friend Faustina.
Do nuns ice skate? Sister Catherine Holum does. Or rather she did: in the Olympics in 1998. After placing 6th and 7th in two speed skating events in the Winter Olympics, she retired from the sport, and after a few twists and turns, found herself at World Youth Day in Toronto. It was there that she remembered a call she had heard in Fatima as a teenager. God wanted her to be a sister. In 2003, she entered the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal community. She shares with others, “Do not be afraid of whatever God has in store for your life. Whatever he has created you to be, he is going to fill you with the most joy and happiness that you’ll ever experience.”
I bet you’ve heard of the actor Bill Murray. Did you know he is one of nine children? And that he was raised Catholic? And that one of his sisters is an Adrian Dominican Sister? She travels with her one woman show all about St. Catherine of Siena.
On June 5th, 2016, Pope Francis canonized Sister Maria Elizabeth. Born in Sweden and raised as a Lutheran, St. Maria Elizabeth became Catholic at the age of 32, largely due her contact with those of the Catholic Faith while serving as a nurse in New York. She went on to found her own religious community in Sweden dedicated to the care of the sick. During WWII, her homes became a safe haven for Jews and others sought by the Nazis. Her dying words were “Go to Heaven with hands full of love and virtues.”
Ursaline nun, Sister Cristina of Sicily was prompted to compete on the popular TV show The Voice by the words of Pope Francis asking priests and nuns to ‘come out’ of their churches and convents and spread the word of God. Surprising everyone, she won the entire competition with 60% of the vote and then closed the finale by leading the audience and judges in the Lord’s Prayer.
Did you catch the episode of Chopped where Sr. Alicia Torres won, taking home 10,000 dollars for Our Lady of the Angels Mission? She is part of a new community called the Franciscans of the Eucharist. Members of the community have dedicated their lives to Eucharistic Adoration and service of the poor in Chicago. Sr. Torres has no formal culinary training but says, “The Lord gave me this talent. I believe the kitchen is my canvas where I get to express myself creatively.”
In 2010, The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist made a memorable appearance on the Oprah show during the final season. Their show proved to be the third most popular of the season and in 2015, when Oprah’s crew returned for an update, five women shared that the 2010 appearance of the Sisters on the Oprah Show had prompted their “Fiat” to God.
Many religious communities strive to be self-sustaining through the sale of products made on site. The Benedictin Nuns of the Abbey of Regina Laudis support themselves through a dairy farm. Mother Noella, who entered the abbey in ‘73 and then went on to earn a Ph.D in microbiology in the late ‘80s, is the head of cheese production. Examining the fungi that help create the various cheeses under a microscope sparks wonder and Mother Noella claims it to be ‘very sacred’ as it “puts you in touch with God’s creation.”
Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble is a former Atheist who came back to the Faith and is now a Daughter of St. Paul. Raised in a very Catholic home, Sister questioned from a young age how a loving God could allow suffering. Her skeptical nature caused her to question everything and as a teenager, she decided God doesn’t exist. She became part of the ‘punk rock scene’ for several years. After a powerful encounter with the Eucharist, she realized that the Church of her childhood was True.
Sister wrote a book on inviting loved ones back to the Church.
Watch her story on the Journey Home:
From cheesemakers to singers, chefs and beauty queens, there is no one type of woman God calls to the religious life. Could Christ be calling you or someone in your family to be His beloved bride?
Let’s thank our educators with gifts during Christmastime and at the end of the year! Find inspiration for the perfect gifts for the Catholic teacher gifts in your life right here!
(A lot of these gifts are also great for non-teachers so think of others on your list too!)
As Christmas draws nearer, you realize that you haven’t properly prepared for the coming of Christ. Maybe you’re been busy with hosting guests or you only focused on the family and your kids’ Jesse Tree… but you don’t feel prepared.
Avoid those feelings by steeping yourself in prayer and reading a Catholic meditative book to prepare yourself throughout Advent for the great Christmas season!
Here are some recommended books to read this Advent:
The Advent of Christ
Reflect on Scripture to prepare your heart for Christmas. Edward Sri brings you back in history to live during the actual time the Messiah is born. Live it as it happens! Find it on Amazon
The Joy of Advent
Prayerful reflections from Pope Francis and scriptural verses will bring you peace and joy as you prepare for Christmas this Advent season. Find it on Amazon
Advent and Christmas with Fulton J. Sheen
Walk through Advent towards Christmas and through Christmas with the words of Blessed Fulton Sheen. Celebrate all of the days of Christmas! See it on Amazon
Celebrating a Merry Catholic Christmas
If you’ve ever wondered why we use an Advent wreath, this book digs into the spiritual significances of the traditions we do and helps to enrich your family’s preparation for Christmas (including ideas for the feast days)! See it on Amazon
A Catholic Family Advent
Devotions and reflections for the Catholic family to prepare for Christmas throughout the Advent season! See it on Amazon
Meditations for Advent
Slow down this Advent with meditations for each day leading up to Christmas, led by Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, one of the greatest homilists in the history of the Church. See it on Amazon
A command center is always a good idea if you like to be organized, have a big family, lots of moving parts, and you want everyone on the same page… or wall. 😉
But when you’re moving full speed ahead, how can you remember to look to Heaven in those moments throughout your week?
Let’s make a Catholic command center! It’s just like your command center, but with bells and whistles that will keep you on track to grow in prayer throughout the month and bring the people closest to you closer to Jesus too!
Not only are these some essential steps to creating a Catholic command center, but these printables are excellent tools for organizing your Catholic prayer life!
And…..Here’s the free printables to make your Command Center Catholic!
This is our family’s command center. I wiped the personal stuff so you can see it really well and not get distracted by our *stuff* going on.
In the center is our main calendar where we note anything the family is doing outside of the house: daily Mass, Bible study, soccer practice, etc. It’s the heart beat of keeping us all organized!
On the top left, you can see the Weekly Organizer where I can track my “to do’s” for the week, who I need to call, etc.
Below it is our Meal Calendar so I can better manage groceries purchases and the kids know what they’re getting (ha!)
I also made this one for those of you who like color and a different layout!
To the right of the calendar is our Saint Study sheet. This really helps me to pick a feast day and saint to focus on every month. Sometimes I get too excited by all the feast days and want to celebrate all of them in every way possible and… well, that’s just not possible!
This Saint Study helps me to focus and dive deeper into one saint. It also helps the kids to remember that saint and what they have in common with him or her later on!
Below that is our Weekly Homeschooling Schedule. It’s the bread and butter of our education and so, so important to making sure we stay on top of everything!
If you don’t homeschool or you prefer to swap out some of my organizing papers with someone more prayer-sustaining, check out these printables!
(Press the right arrow to flip through the pages)
They are excerpts from My Catholic Prayer Journal: Pocket Edition. I created them to help me focus on my prayer life and grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ every month. They really do help!
Below the calendar is our Weekly Cleaning Schedule (sourced from the Printable Crush blog) and two daily cleaning magnet flaps for my big kids.
My kids loooooove these magnet flaps. It turned one of my chore haters into a kid excited about doing the magnet flaps… after getting her chores done. 😉 It took me a bit of DIY time to make it, but it’s worth it for our family! Here are the directions to DIY it.
Above the calendar is the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary… perfect for the Summer and focus on the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but also a special devotion for our family. That’s why they get an important place in our home: right smack in the middle of our busy schedule!
And of course: Christ crucified. Take a moment to contemplate on His Passions and the worries of the day will become so much less.
I swap out the prayer card on the calendar for certain months and feast days. If we’re focusing on St. Therese of Lisieux in October, then I will have her prayer card up on the calendar. Likewise, in April we focused on Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday so we had a prayer card of Jesus’ resurrection and an image of Divine Mercy.
Make it your own, just don’t make it complicated. This is a source to help you find balance in your life, between the busyness of the day, organizing everything, and bringing it back to God to find peace.
Here’s where to get everything you need to copy this Catholic Command Center and organize your life:
Now, having this awesome Catholic command center doesn’t mean I can all of the sudden DO IT ALL! I am not a seven-armed mother who can conquer the world.
But, by organizing, being a good steward of my time and resources, and bringing them to Christ before bringing them to fruition, I allow Christ to work through me… which, in turn, allows me to accomplish more things for His glory. Let your life be prioritized and organized in that fashion.
God bless you; JMJ
P.S. please check out our main page and see what Catholic events are happening in your diocese or add an event from your parish so more Catholics can connect! Thank you! <3
What better way to provide an inspirational message for your child daily than on the walls where he or she plays and sleeps? Here are ideas for decorating your child’s playroom or nursery and where to buy the Catholic products that make up those living spaces.
Decorate with Angels
Let your child remember that their guardian angel is always watching over them with a beautiful portrait on the wall or framed the Guardian Angel prayer for them to read often
Angel of God My guardian dear To Whom His love Commits me here Ever this day Be at my side To light and guard To rule and guide. Amen
Make a prayer space or shrine to Our Mother Mary
Prayer spaces are a great way for children to keep their special religious items like statues, prayer books, Bible, and rosary. You could have a small place for it in a corned of their room with a comfy chair or in a walk-in closet. Just explain that it’s not a place to play, but to pray. This unique, up cycled jewelry box is a good idea too!
Decorate with your child’s favorite saints
What better hero to watch over your child while they play or sleep? The saints of course! I love these paintings from Etsy. Wouldn’t it be cute to gift them with a new saint each Christmas until they have a whole gang of saints to learn about and watch over them at night???
Keep the Bible front and center
Let the Bible and Bible verses be the focus of the room with framed decorative Bible verses or this cute DIY Bible verse idea. This would be a great way to help them memorize verses if they’re able!
Make their favorite characters Christian too!
I’m as much of a fan of Iron Man as anyone else, so why not have him acting Christ-like in your child’s room?
A crucifix is a must!
So many saints have said what a great help meditating on Christ crucified has done for their prayer life so a crucifix in your child’s room would be ideal. It is the image of the epitome of love.
I hope these ideas give you a good starting point for decorating your Catholic child’s room! For more Catholic decorating ideas, check out our Decorating Pinterest board!
This Summer, create special moments to help your kids connect and grow in the faith. Here are some ideas and activities to keep your summer Catholic!
Check out Catholic events and landmarks in your area (or wherever you are traveling to)! You can attend Bible studies, conferences, Bible camps, retreats, and festivals just by searching within the right diocese. For landmarks, I simply type in “Catholic shrine” or “Catholic cathedral/grotto” into Google maps on my phone and it gives me some ideas of places close to me. Just double-check the websites that these are indeed Catholic and and open at the time you want to visit!
Plant a faith-focused garden! Here are some ideas to decorate your garden as a prayer space and flowers the symbolize Our Blessed Mother. You can also get an outdoor statue of Mary and plant flowers around her. Finish it off by saying or singing a prayer and placing a crown made of flowers on her head. What kid wouldn’t enjoy that?
Need an indoor idea? How about some family time putting together a puzzle of the Last Supper or a puzzle featuring Mary and the angels?
Build a time capsule by collecting some prayer cards, write down prayer intentions or letters to Jesus, and small statues or Catholic toys and bury them to open next year. Your kids will love digging a hole and rediscovering their treasures next year!
For the older kids, make a scavenger hunt! Check out these neat ideas and printables to create a Catholic scavenger hunt from Ave Maria Press.
Create something fun in the kitchen using Catholic feast day-inspired recipes. You can see some ideas on Pinterest here and even more on Catholic
Check out these Catholic crafts ideas for when the kids have had just enough sun and need some time to focus on a project (like this St. Francis bird feeder). These are also great ideas for starting a park day together on certain feast days. Bring the supplies, let the kids do a faithful project, and let them run around and be crazy!
I hope these ideas give you a good direction for fun and faithful activities for your Catholic kids to do this Summer. For more ideas, please follow us on Pinterest and follow our Catholic kids Facebook page!
Saint Faustina is known as the saint who introduced Divine Mercy to the world. Through divine revelations, visions, and conversations with Jesus, St. Faustina brought us the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Divine Mercy Novena, and the image of Divine Mercy.
St Faustina picture source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faustyna_Kowalska.png
Below are 7 of the most inspiring quotes from St. Faustina’s Diary… to inspire you to make the steps to become a saint too!
“Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Savior; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.” (Diary 57)
“Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions. And the purer our love becomes, the less there will be within us for the flames of suffering to feed upon, and the suffering will cease to be a suffering for us; it will become a delight! By the grace of God, I have received such a disposition of heart that I am never so happy as when I suffer for Jesus, whom I love with every beat of my heart.” (Diary 303)
“I will not allow myself to be so absorbed in the whirlwind of work as to forget about God. I will spend all my free moments at the feet of the Master hidden in the Blessed Sacrament.” (Diary 82)
My child, know that the greatest obstacles to holiness are discouragement and an exaggerated anxiety. These will deprive you of the ability to practice virtue. All temptations united together ought not disturb your interior peace, not even momentarily. Sensitiveness and discouragement are the fruits of self-love. Have confidence, My child. Do not lose heart in coming for pardon, for I am always ready to forgive you. As often as you beg for it, you glorify My mercy. (Diary, 1488)
“O my Jesus, You have tested me so many times in this short life of mine! I have come to understand so many things, and even such that now amaze me. Oh, how good it is to abandon oneself totally to God and to give Him full freedom to act in one’s soul!” (Diary 134)
“‘I am love and Mercy Itself. There is no misery that could be a match for My mercy, neither will misery exhaust it, because as it is being granted – it increases. The soul that trusts in My mercy is most fortunate, because I Myself take care of it.’” (Diary 1273)
“‘I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was open wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world – mercy triumphed over justice.’” (Diary 1572)
I hope these quotes inspire you! Please take a moment to look at the rest of our website where you can find Catholic events and activities in your home diocese!
JMJ
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
