Prayer in Times of Epidemics
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| Prayer in Times of Epidemics that we prayed after Mass 🙏🏻 At the end of the prayer Father blessed everyone with a relic of the True Cross ❤️ |
V. Deal not with us, Lord, according to our sins.
R. And take not vengeance on us because of our misdeeds.
V. Help us, O God, our Deliverer.
R. And for thy name’s sake, O Lord, free us.
V. Remember not, O Lord, our sins of old.
R. Hasten to us with thy compassion, for we are become exceeding poor.
V. St. Sebastian, pray for us.
R. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Vouchsafe to hear us, O God, our only salvation! And through the intercession of the glorious and blessed Mary, Mother of God, and ever Virgin, of thy blessed martyr, Sebastian, and of all the saints, deliver thy people from the terrors of thy wrath, and restore their confidence by the outpouring of thy compassion.
Be moved to pity, O Lord, at our earnest entreaties, and heal the illnesses of body and soul; so that experiencing thy forgiveness we may ever rejoice in thy blessing.
We beseech thee, O Lord, grant us a hearing as we devoutly raise our petitions to thee, and graciously turn away this epidemic of plague which afflicts us; so that mortal hearts may recognize that these scourges proceed from thine indignation and cease only when thou art moved to mercy. Through our Lord…
R. Amen.
The priest then blessed the people with a relic of the True Cross, saying:
And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain forever.
R. Amen.
“Veronica has gone to God.”
These were the heartbreaking words that began the text I received yesterday afternoon, February 28, 2020, on the first Friday of Lent, from Veronica’s younger sister Victoria. She went on to tell me that Veronica’s death was beautiful. We were about to start praying the Stations of the Cross and followed it with another rosary for Veronica’s sweet soul and for her suffering family. Veronica was such an incredible inspiration to me and we will all miss her dearly.
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| Visiting Veronica in the hospital to sing carols just before Christmas |
I just got off the phone Dan Cools, Veronica’s father, and he asked me to pass along the news of her death to you all and thank you again for your prayers and support.
Here is the update Dan shared over on their GoFundMe page:
Dear family, friends, benefactors and followers,
Our dear Veronica passed away this Friday in her home with her family around her. When I last updated you we had begun weekly treatments in Bellevue. For two months (according to the lab test) it appeared we were making headway. Then the numbers began to change again. The cancer had begun to grow and paralyzed her from the waist down. After a hospital stay we took her home and did home hospice care. She was charitable as always, caring and sweet to the end. In the 18 months of her illness she never complained. She embraced the Catholic faith. Never doubting the value of suffering when offered to our Lord for the good of others and his church. She prayed for healing but always left it up to God’s will as Christ did on the cross. She received the sacraments regularly. She was given the apostolic blessing last Saturday. She was able to recieve the Eucharist daily for the last couple weeks including her last day. Her faith was tremendous. Her resignation to God’s will completely trusting and complete. Her faithfulness will surely be rewarded with an eternity in our Heavenly Father’s presence. We sincerely want to thank all of you for the gifts and prayers of support. Veronica often said the prayers are what carried her through. She offered her suffering for her benefactors. We ask you for your continued prayers while we go through our grieving at loosing her. She was a treasure God had given to us and has called back home. Yet we also rejoice as her race was run well and she fought the good fight. As our Lord has promised those are faithful to him and follow his way will have eternal life.
They have not asked specifically online for help with the funeral expenses, but they would be very grateful if anyone would like to make a donation this Lent. You can still do so through GoFundMe or I can provide you with a mailing address if you’d like to send a check directly to the Cools. Together we can at least help lighten the financial burden on their family as they grieve this tremendous loss.
Please also continue to pray for Dan and Debra Cools, and their family, that God may pour His grace upon them in this time of sorrow. May God reward you abundantly!
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| Our girls with Victoria and Veronica Cools last summer |
Leap Day Time Capsule {free printable}
Back on Leap Day 2012 and then again on Leap Day 2016 the kids each made a Leap Day Time Capsule!
Apparently I was so much more organized back in 2016… I was just searching through my computer files for the 2016 Leap Day Time Capsules documents I had created for my children four years ago, and surprisingly I had actually created the images and documents for 2020 back then too. Yay!
The real challenge is going to be trying to figure out where those 2016 Time Capsule booklets ended up following our big move… I have an idea or two (please St. Anthony, help me find them!) and I am going to go look in a few minutes. First I wanted to pop online and share my documents with you all in case any of you would like to make 2020 Leap Day Time Capsules with your children too.
I’m excited to share this free printable and just uploaded the pdfs to Dropbox! Click the links below to access the download and enjoy. Feel free to spread the word and share this resource with others. Here are the links:
Pro-Life Valentines
I love the new Teaching the Culture of Life with the Lives of the Saints series from Culture of Life Studies!
This month I printed out the Pro-Life Valentine’s Download to use with my children which includes:
- 4-page instant download.
- A mini lesson on St. Valentine which shows students how to use Valentine’s Day to spread the pro-life message that everyone matters. Everyone is valuable. And everyone is loved!
- Two sets of Valentines templates which you can print out on cardstock, decorate, and make others feel special on Valentine’s Day!
This was such a great follow up to having just recently watched the EWTN coverage of the March for Life in Washington D.C. as we continue to work towards fostering an attitude of respect for all human beings in our children.
Cocoa Pebbles Grotto
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| Saint Bernadette and the Miracle of Lourdes • Cocoa Pebbles Grotto Our grotto was made by Chiquita this year and (quite appropriately) turned out hard as rock. I just helped break it apart and pile it up! |
Whatever God Wants
The Great O Antiphons, The Golden Nights
Ever since our oldest children were very little, we have been implementing an old monastic custom in our home by providing special treats, representing each of the “O Antiphons” on the days leading up to Christmas. The O Antiphon prayers begin on December 17th and end on the 23rd, which is the last Vespers of Advent, since the evening prayer on the 24th is the Vigil of Christmas.
The Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.
Each night, following our family rosary, we pray the O Antiphon for the day, sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which was inspired by this ancient tradition, and then give the children a special treat.
The “treats” have varied from year to year. Some years it has been little gifts or activities for the family, some years it is all food related, and some years it is a mix of both, depending on our schedule and budget. It doesn’t need to cost much or even anything at all! Be creative!
Sometimes the treats are a bit of a stretch, but my goal is try and find gifts that will either help increase our faith (Catechism books, holy family, saints, prayer, etc) or encourage family time (games, puzzles, going to look at Christmas lights, etc). You can find some of our past O Antiphon treats by scrolling through the archives and visiting Catholic Cuisine.
Our family loves this tradition. It is such a fun way to teach the children about these beautiful prayers of the church and also increase their excitement as Christmas gets closer.
In case you are looking for some inspiration, I’ve listed some of the treats I’ve given my family over the years… Special food ideas, activities and gifts (or you can simply decorate chocolate coins!) for each of the O Antiphons can be found below. I’m still trying to decide what I’ll be doing this year.
Once again I am hosting an O ANTIPHON GIVEAWAY! One lucky visitor here at Shower of Roses will receive a gift package including seven Cookie Stamps, one to represent each of the seven O Antiphons! I also have a sweet hand-painted nativity set to give away as well. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the details and to enter.
- Bible Cookies or Bible Candies
- Brain Food (Dark Chocolate, Deviled Eggs, etc – I’m hoping to tuck some of the Theo Christmas Bars into stockings this Christmas.)
- Play a Trivia Game (Christmas Trivia, Catholic Trivia, Cranium)
- Play Memory with Catholic Words Memory Match, Saint Memory, or Catholic Quiz games (Scattergories-Catholic Edition is fun with the older kids too!)
- Bookmarks or Holy Cards
- Family Prayer Book, Catechism, or other Book (The Christmas Book, The Catechism in Pictures with review here, Jesus Make Me Worthy, My Catholic Faith, A Catholic Child’s Picture Dictionary, Around the Year: Once Upon a Time Saints, etc… The possibilities are endless.)
- Books including An Alphabet of the Altar, The Wonder Story and The Wonder Days from St. Augustine Academy Press.
A Few Ideas:
- Ten Commandment Cookies
- Cookies made with this Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter or this cute 3-D Mini Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter made by Sweet Creations, emphasizing the word “house”
- Pull out the Smore’s Maker or light a bonfire and Roast Marshmallows, in reference to “Moses in the burning bush”
- Decorate Gingerbread Houses (my girls surprised me with this pan one year)
- Notre Dame 3-D Church Puzzle, Forest Nativity Shaped Puzzle (shaped like house), or this Stained Glass Holy Night
- Father Leopold Lego Set or Architecture Blocks would also tie in nicely
- Discuss the various names for Our Lady, including House of Gold! The Virgin Mary Around the World or any of the Marian dolls (Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of China, Our Lady of Vailankanni, etc) would be perfect.
- Root Beer Floats or Carrot Cake
- Roasted Root Vegetable, Hearty Healing Beef Stew or Hamburger Stew (pictured)… Yum!
- Purchase a Christmas Poinsettia (In the past we have also incorporated other Poinsettias: 12 Red Glitter Poinsettia Ornaments, Miracle of the Poinsettia, The Miracle of the First Poinsettia and Poinsettia Cupcakes)
- Play some sort of Gardening or Nature Game as a Family (perhaps Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game, Gathering a Garden, or The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game!)
- A new “Family” Ornament
- Old Fashioned Root Beer Drops
- Bonus: You could even have a Jesse Tea! From Jesse, the shepherd, to Jesus, the Good Shepherd… Shepherds tie in nicely!
- Shepherd and Angel playlet from Shining Light Dolls
- Shepherd Puzzle Set made by Naturally Catholic
- Key Lime Pie
- Special drink (Sparkling cider!) with dinner or for a family game night. Since this is initially a monastic tradition, and on this night, the monk in charge of the wine cellar would provide a special bottle of wine.
- Surprise the family with tickets (“key”) to something local – Christmas play, the Nutcracker, etc. One year I took our older children to see A Christmas Carol at the theatre.
- Key Puzzle/Brainteaser
- Tiny Saints Key Hooks (One year I purchased a couple key hook rails to use to hang our Rosaries. You can see them in our old home in this post.)
- Advent At Ephesus, Caroling at Ephesus, or this Music of Midnight Mass!
- Incorporate Music “keys” with Catholic Songs for Children CD, Sheet Music Book and St. Cecelia Doll
- O Dayspring Ice Cream
- Non-Alcoholic Mimosas or Texas Sunrise with Breakfast
- Decorate a Christmas Candle (We use a tiny wax baby Jesus I purchased years ago along with Stockmar Gold Decorating Beeswax.)
- Our favorite tradition for this O Antiphon is to pile in the car after dinner with hot cocoa and drive around to look at all the Christmas lights. We have also added these to our tree: Kurt Adler 10-Light Candle with Gold Dish Light Set
- Candles from The Cloister Shoppe
- Our Lady of Fatima: The Graphic Novel and Coloring Book (miracle of the sun)
- Grimm’s CASA SOLE Stacking Blocks (The set we have isn’t currently available. Other options can be found online and over at Etsy including: Sun Block Wood Toy Stacker and these)
- Last year I gave the children their new Christmas pajamas for this O Antiphon.
- Crown Cake, Cupcakes or Cookies
- Bake Cookies using the Wise Men Cookie Stamp from Rycraft, Inc
- Assemble a Three Kings Puzzle and this beautiful Stained Glass Nativity Puzzle
- Listen to King of the Golden City CD
- One year I picked out one of the beautiful sets of Three Kings Gifts – we pull it out every Christmas!
- Rex Gentium Nail Polish
- Twas the Evening of Christmas Picture Book – Our daughter received this one year on the feast of St. Nicholas. It’s such a lovely book!
- Three Kings Playset from Shining Light Dolls
- Make a Chocolate Nativity Scene for Christmas
- Decorate Nativity Cookies to give as gifts or Cookie Cutters Tell the Christmas Story
- 500-Piece Stained Glass Jigsaw Puzzle or Holy Family Puzzle
- Decorate Chocolate Christmas Coins using this FREE Printable
- Children’s Nativity Set – you can find some of our favorites in this post and more of our collection here (scroll down a bit)
- Christmas picture books, coloring books including the beautiful Eucharistic Adoration: With Saints And Symbols Of The Eucharist coloring book, or the Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring: Christmas with The Dominican Sisters of Mary.
- Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story Board Book
- Midnight Mass Puzzle
- The Holy Family Nativity Playset from Shining Light Dolls
Prize #1
Here are the cookie stamps I picked out to go along with each of the O Antiphons.
The winner will recieve one of each!
Wisdom: #460 – Triune God
House: #214 – Home Sweet Home
Root of Jesse: #520 – Willow Tree
Key of David: #543 – Key to My Heart
Dayspring: #291 – Moravian Star
King: #448 – Norwegian Wedding Crown
Emmanuel: #368 – Nativity
*Original winner never responded to emails, so runner up…
Congratulations Jennifer Miller!
“These cookie cutters are a great match! I would love to get these! I love their St Nicholas one.”
Prize #2
The winner will receive this hand-painted Holy Family Set
Sponsored by Real. True. Beautiful
(Holy Family Set – $35.00 value)
Congratulations Kimberly!
“This is our second year doing the O Antiphons. I just love them.”
Santa Lucia Day in the Evening
Santa Lucia Day in the Morning
Santa Lucia Day in the Morning
Yesterday I had a really hard day, filled with multiple doctor and dental appointments, and I had no energy left to pull together anything special for Santa Lucia Day in the Morning… but one of the girls stayed up late prepping for her middle-nameday and we all woke up to sweet songs and delicious treats! 🎶🕯
🎶Maiden so sweet and fair,
Bright candles in your hair,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!🎶
Lussekatter recipe from Lucia Morning in Sweden
She’s loving her first Advent and all the special feast days leading up to Christmas! ❤️
#fourmonthsold #10lbs10oz #suchajoy
We have such a fun collection of books, dolls and decorations for Santa Lucia Day!
This year I fell in love with the adorable dolls from Marzipantz! ❤️
Scroll through all our past St. Lucy posts here.
Santa Lucia, ora pro nobis!
St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins
A few weeks ago I spent a little time creating new versions of my St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins and they turned out so pretty. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to share them with you all!
Here is the link to my updated St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins…
…and here is the link to the original St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins!
(You can find another option, an adaptation this idea of mine, over at St. Nicholas Center.)
Scroll through all pasts posts for the feast of St. Nicholas here.
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