Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints: Looking for a Few Good Blogging Catholic Mamas

Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints: Looking for a Few Good Blogging Catholic Mamas: "We thank the Lord that we are rapidly getting this blog going (with the help of my 'tech guy' AKA my DH). In the meantime, we are in need ..."

This Most Blessed Truth

"If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day." (John 6)

How does anyone not read this and realize the whole of our existence depends on this single pronouncement? It is not bread, it is not wine, it is your Creator, giving Himself to you gratuitously. Does any Christian that believes in Sola Scriptura not see that their belief system contradicts the Bible, and that in this passage God does not speak cavalierly? His allegories are for instruction. This is NOT an allegory. This is a very POINTED, blunt, take it or live it literal commandment. He went out of His way to make this point. If He wishes the redemption of humanity for all the rest of time, this giving of His Body and Blood is not a symbol, and it wasn't just for His time. Those that believe in the Most Blessed Sacrament are the true fundamentalists, and we stake our very souls on this basic belief, that Jesus is Truth Incarnate. He cannot deceive, nor be deceived. He redeems us all, in His Body, and His Blood. In this any Christian lives forever, or dies forever.

One last thought, I found this online on a web page, no author listed but I thought it was so perfectly written:

"Jesus was only nine months in the womb of Mary, three hours on the Cross, three days in the sepulcher, but He is always in the tabernacle. Does our reverence before Him bear witness to this most blessed truth?"

Happy New Year!

It's a new year and time to ask a new saint to select me as my intercessor for the year! This is the first time in the 7 years that I've done this (thanks to my friend Melba) that I get a male saint.

Meet Saint Ferdinand III King of Castile, feast day May 30th (Mother's Day in Nicaragua, where I'm from) and patron of large families, magistrates, tertiaries. Saint Ferdinand III of Castille, pray for me!

If you are interested in finding a saint to help you through your journey in 2011, this is a super cool Saint Name Generator!

If you choose to do this, I'd love to know who you get!

Have a blessed and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas 2010

"Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore." ~ St. Augustine.
Thank you, Mother Mary for your YES!

From our family to yours:
Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

The Nine Days BEFORE Christmas

Today marks Nine Days BEFORE Christmas and this means it's time to start our Christmas Novenas!

A perfect way to continue to prepare for the Birth of our Savior! I found one on the lovely EWTN website that I wanted to share with our readers: Christmas Novena.


To accompany this lovely Novena, on this gloomy and yucky icy day, we will be working on our kid friendly Nativity at our Domestic Church. I got it from the lovely Lacy over at Catholic Icing...I love it when she draws things and shares with us! So here is her DYI Printable Nativity....all you need is TP tubes, her print outs and the basics: glue sticks, scissors, and crayons...and voila! Okay kiddies waiting for me, gotta run!

Here's a peek as to what this lovely printable looks like:

THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY

Our family is so technologically savvy that we just LOVED this video...it's adorable!

Pardon our dust...

Catholics Come Home

Catholics Come Home: "Coming home has never been easier. We are family. Welcome home."

Movies for Catholic Kids

You might have seen my previous post of my quest for great Catholic movies that our family could watch on Family Movie Nights, if you hadn't here it is. There is a fantastic list on there and thanks so much to all the readers who added to it! We have yet to finish watching all of the movies on that wonderful list. Some are hard to find others, just haven't gotten my hands on them yet.

Most recently, I've been looking for great cartoons that the kids could watch. Not sure if I've ever expressed how much I police what my kids watch, and maybe you share this zeal with me? I do this because there is so much junk out there to watch...labeled "for children" and they are just utterly gar-bage (insert the French accent here)!

In my quest for great cartoons, I remembered videos I had seen when working at Church as a teenager and googled, "Catholic Children's cartoons" (or something like that) to see if I could find those very same videos and I did! The company is CCC of America and they have added to their list of movies since I first showed them to my students at Faith Formation (formerly known as CCD). They now have 11 in their Saints & Heroes Series.

I then contacted CCC and ask them if they would like me to review their videos, and they said YES! I'm so excited because my little ones get to watch these GREAT movies about the saints and I get to share with you, my readers, how wonderful these movies are. In addition, the wonderful ladies at CCC of America have also offered some FREE goodies for you all! It's a win-win situation - don't you think? ;)

So in the next couple of weeks, I will be reviewing the three wonderful movies we got in the mail this morning (I was so excited!). The three we are starting off with are Nicholas-the Boy Who Became Santa (it was on EWTN on Monday - did you catch it?), Juan Diego Messenger of Guadalupe, and The Day the Sun Danced the True Story of Fatima. I will be doing three different reviews (and maybe ideas to go along with them since I'll be doing the research already for my little blessings - why not share some more with you all?)....so stay tuned!
















I spoke with the wonderful ladies at CCC today and they have sent us a FREEBIE (I love freebies - thanks!). While you wait for my reviews of these excellent DVDs, you can take advantage of this great offer extended especially to Raising Little Saints readers, place an order for any of the DVDs on their website and get FREE SHIPPING by using this RLS exclusive promo code: CCC121210. This promo code is good from the moment this post goes live until this Sunday, December 12th (the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe)! So don't delay, start ordering these great videos for your little saints today!

The movies can be ordered online at www.cccofamerica.com or by phone Monday - Friday, 9AM to 5PM Central at 800-935-2222. You can also follow them on Facebook by clicking here.

Oh and don't forget to come back to check out my lovely reviews AND we will also be giving away one of the movies! Stay tuned Catholic homeschooling Mamas....

Catholic Mom Book Club Columnist

I'm super excited to share that I was asked by Lisa Hendey (the author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms) to join the Catholic Mom team and become a book club columnist for them! Also, I've also written my first book review and I wanted to share it with you:

Could I Paint the Sky?
By Julie Hoy
Oregon Catholic Press, 2010

Could I Paint the Sky? by Catholic author Julie Hoy is a book about a small child’s inquisitive nature as well as her amazing love for God and her willingness to serve Him!

The main character, Madeline Judith, wants to help God do something really big and asks Him if she could help Him paint the sky? As big a task as it is, she asks and asks again (I love her persistence) but then one day God says “no” and the child is puzzled. Many of us (adults) have experienced when God in His infinite wisdom says “no” to us… in the end there is always a reason and usually a good one at that!

With some parental guidance, Madeline is reminded that we can serve the Lord in the small things we do everyday by picking up after ourselves in our homes to helping our neighbors, the elderly, etc. I love how this small child goes to her mother for help and advice. In addition, this book just overflows with the message of being merciful in a world that contradicts that! What kept coming to mind as I read this book were the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Do small things with BIG love!”

To read the rest of my review, visit CatholicMom.com by just clicking here.