Today Catholic Cuisine will be hosting its first From Thy Bounty Fair, with the theme of First Holy Communions.
I am so excited to see all the posts, especially since our oldest will be receiving his First Holy Communion on the 31st of this month, at his Godfather’s very First Mass!
We have been busy preparing.
In addition to his learning his catechism, we have been reading various First Communion Reflections of the Saints, as well as many wonderful books to further prepare him for this great Sacrament.
Here are a few of our favorites:
- Children’s Retreats
- My Mass Book
- True Stories For First Communicants
- First Communion Days
- My First Holy Communion
- The Seven Sacraments
- The Ten Commandments
- Little Nellie of Holy God
- The Little Caterpillar That Finds Jesus: A Parable of the Eucharist
- The Caterpillar That Came to Church: A Story of the Eucharis
- The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith
- I Believe – The Creed, Confession & Ten Commandments
- I Believe: The Nicene Creed
Since we have been spending so much time in the car lately, we have been re-listening to a couple of our favorite Audio Stories:
- Let the Children Come To Me – The story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini
- King of the Golden City (You can even download a study guide from CHC!)
We have also been making a First Communion Notebook, using the one Meredith’s son made as a guide. In addition, we have been adding pages from a few great First Communion Coloring Books:
- Eucharistic Adoration: Coloring Book
- First Eucharist Story Coloring Book
- My Creed
- Saints of the Eucharist
- Come to Mass
- The Little Caterpillar that finds Jesus
- Let the Children Come to Me
He still has quite a bit of his First Communion Notebook to finish, so we will continue to work on it throughout the summer. Next time around, I hope to start earlier! 🙂
Now, since we will be traveling for this special day, we will be celebrating Fathers First Mass and Captains First Communion by going out for brunch! I hope to pick up a prepared cake, and add a few special touches.
In A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year
You can also prepare for a first communion or confirmation a large flat white cake (or any kind of cake), with a white icing. It can be decorated in any of the following ways (among others).
- With the words “Happy (or Blessed) First Communion (or Confirmation), ” plus the child’s name.
- With a short quotation from Scripture, such as “Blessed are the pure in heart; they shall see God” or another of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), or from Psalms, perhaps.
- With the image of a dove, often a symbol for the soul.
- With an image of a chalice and a paten (the flat dish holding the sacred Host.)
- With the image of a standing person praying with arms outstretched (from early Christian art).
- With an early Christian image of two angels carrying a “sacred monogram” that is, the letters chi and rho (x and p), which are the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ.
I also ordered a little chalice to add to the cake, in addition to a few other special touches for his big day, including:
First Holy Communion Certificate- First Communion Candle
- Keepsake Personalized Holy Cards
- First Holy Communion Missal
- First Communion Wrapping Paper
- Black Suit and Tie
I am hoping that I might have time to make a few keepsake candles to use as favors, but I am known for trying to accomplish more than is possible! 😉
Oh! One last thing. If you have a First Communicant, a lovely way to wrap up their preparation, would be with a Novena! Margaret posted a beautiful one which Captain will be saying the nine days before his First Communion. UPDATE: Margaret has created a printable you can download here.
Please remember to keep Captain in your prayers, as well as his Godfather who will be ordained a priest the day before, by His Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. In fact, from what I hear, the ordination will be broadcast live on EWTN, Friday, May 30th at 10:00 am!
“Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee, My God, My God,I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”
I ask pardon for those who do not believe,
do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.”
I pray you and your family will have a wonderful celebration. What an exciting time for you.
You have prepared him well.
This is just beautiful Jessica, your little sweeties are so blessed! Praying for your First Communicant, it will be so special!
Wow, you did so much to organize all of this. My son made his First Holy Communion 3 1/2 wks ago, my camera broke that day…so no pictures or anything to add to the already wonderful things on your blog and on Catholic Cuisine!!
I will remember to come here when preparing my daughter in 2 years!
Welcome back, I missed you!!
Thank you so much for contributing your posts to the fair, Jessica. This is agreat resource for anyone preparing a child for First Communion.
This is just so detailed and a wonderful resource. Thank you so much! How funny that we both shared Vitz’s ideas!
Dear friend…you grow in grace and wisdom each day and it radiates. What a mother, friend and just a delight to have in our lives. Your sharing way is inspired. Your children are blest by you….a safe trip and a perfect family time for all, please Lord. Much love and prayers, Joni Baloney
Jessica,
I missed this post somehow? There are so many wonderfui ideas and links here! It will be several years before we have another First Communion, but you have given me so many ideas! I am so happy your kids have you as a Mother! God Bless you and have a great trip.
The King of the Golden City study guide link does not work. Anyone know where I could get it from please? Thanks