Messengers from God

Greetings Everyone!

Sunday was a really busy day so that is why we are a day late with this blog! We were at the cottage this weekend so that we could enjoy the beautiful fall weather. We sure hope all of you had a great weekend.

This is us taking a little dip after going to Mass. Speaking of Mass, Tallulah do you remember the Gospel?

Yes I do Cloë. It was about the poor guy, I think his name was Lazarus, who went to Heaven and the rich guy who went to Hell. In fact here is a video of the parable.

(youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh0231lmhzQ)

Do you remember what the priest said about this parable?

Yes I do Cloë, I was listening very closely. He said that it is not just about sharing money with others but also sharing our talents and our time with others. He said it was important to Jesus that we be aware of those around us and that we acknowledge them.

Very good Tallulah. We would love to hear some of your ideas about how you can share with others. Post your ideas in the comments section.

The other important thing about yesterday is that it was the feast day of St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, 3 of the archangels! All 3 are in the Bible but each has a different mission from God.

Hey Cloë that is just like people. God gives people different talents and jobs doesn't he?!

That's right Tallulah. In this case, Michael protects, Gabriel announces and Raphael guides.

Here is a fun picture to colour from Happy Saints. Click here to download it. Can you figure out why each Archangel is holding the particular objects that they are? Write you answers in the comment box.

To learn more about these three special angles visit the website of Holy Spirit Interactive Kids.

Well I guess that's it for today. Talk to you soon - woof!

Cloë and Tallulah.

A great day with Cat.Chat

Hi Everybody!

What a great day we had yesterday! The Cat.Chat Family was in town and we got to go to not one but two of their concerts!

(RayAnne, Denise Venessa, Moses, Luke, Jerome, Gerald (aka the Cat.Chat Man) & Dominic)

Cloë we did not really get to go to the concerts, we had to stay outside and listen to them.

Well Tallulah we did get to meet them all before the concert.

You are right and we got to finish the concert! It was so awesome seeing and meeting the hundreds of kids that were there.

Here are a few pictures and some concert footage.

 

 
This is Denise, the Cat.Chat mom. She was a little bit afraid of us. Maybe when I jumped up to give her a kiss she thought I was going to eat her, which I would never do!

 

It's not the best picture but here is Moses (Wow was he ever big!) and the littlest one Venessa (she came for a walk with us which was fun) big sister RayAnne (we forgot to ask her how she spells her name) and the drummer Dominic (he was pretty cool).

(Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROEeMnNqAdw)

 

We made the paper Cloë! Check out DIVINE ENTERTAINMENT: Lights, camera and the word of God in the Seaway News!

Did you notice Tallulah that the kids dropped donations off for the St. Vincent de Paul Society on their way into the concert? Well today just happens to be his feast day!

If you click here you can find out all kinds of neat things about the very generous St. Vincent de Paul. Things like:

1. Vincent became a priest in 1600. He was just 19 years old.
2.  He cared for those who were sick.
3. When he found poor children he would give them food, clothing, toys and his love.

And finally we want to congratulate our old friend Archbishop Paul-André who yesterday was elected as the new president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is him with Bishop Crosby (Diocese of Hamilton) who is the new vice-president.

Well that's lots for today! Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

The Canadian Martyrs

Thursday, September 26th is the feast day of the Canadian Martyrs.
 

 
What is a martyr Cloë?
 
A martyr is a person who is killed because someone did not like the fact that they believed in Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. Remember Tallulah that a few days ago the Church celebrated the feast of Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions? They were also martyrs.
 

(Go to the Happy Saints Website to see more Saints.) 

Gee Cloë that is very mean of those people.
 
It certainly is Tallulah. We are lucky that in Canada we can go to church everyday with our master and no one will try and stop us. Unfortunately there are still many places in the world where that is not possible. In fact, this past Sunday in Pakistan there were many people killed as they left church.
 
Wow. We have to pray for these people and their families.
 

 
We do indeed Cloë and we also have to pray for the people who did this terrible thing so that they might one day know God and know that God is love and peace.
 

 
So back to the Canadian Martyrs. They were 8 Jesuit missionaries who had come to North America 400 years ago, before we were called Canada and the United States. They wanted to share their knowledge of God with the First Nations people. Many of them accepted what they had to say and many even became Catholics. But there were others who did not like this and those people eventually killed these 8 missionaries.

• St. Jean de Brébeuf
• St. Noël Chabanel
• St. Antoine Daniel
• St. Charles Garnier
• St. René Goupil
• St. Isaac Jogues
• St. Jean de Lalande
• St. Gabriel Lalemant

Today, you can visit a giant shrine to the Martyrs in Midland, Ontario.

If you go to their website you can learn more about the story of the Canadian Martyrs, you can go on a virtual tour, and you can even see some of the documents that the Jesuits created 400 years ago!

(These are pages from Louis André's dictionary of the Algonquin language.)


So when you go to Mass this Sunday, say a prayer of thanks to the Canadian Martyrs that you are able to do this with no fear.
 
Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

 

 

  

From Black, to Purple, to Red, to White

Watch this cool video that we found on YouTube about the new pope. We bet you there are still a few things you did not know.

 

(youtube link: http://youtu.be/_rHL4P1_GFM)

Padre Pio

Today is the feast day of a very special saint. In fact, he could be the hero in a comic book since God gave him some very special gifts.
 

 
One day, Padre Pio was praying before the Crucifix when he realized he had the stigmata.
 
The stig what?
 
The stigmata is the word used to describe the wounds that Jesus had after he was crucified. See here is a photo of Padre Pio and you can see the sores on his hands.
 

 
That must hurt!
 
I don't know about that Tallulah, but people said that the blood smelled like flowers.
 
Another gift that God gave to Padre Pio was the gift of bilocation.  And before you ask, bilocation means that Padre Pio could be in two places at the same time.
 
Wow that is very cool.
 
Here is one story that we found on EWTN's website.
 
Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was the Padre's appearance in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way Padre Pio kept his promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found to his surprise the little friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni.
 
But perhaps his greatest gift was his ability to bring people closer to God, especially when hearing their confessions.

He died in 1968 long before we and all you kids were born. But I bet your parents and certainly your grandparents were alive and might even remember him.

Did you know Cloë that more than 100,000 people went to his funeral.

Here is a picture of the church dedicated to him. If you click here you can see all kinds of neat photos. You can visit San Giovanni Rotondo virtually!

Why not make a Saint Folder on this special feast day.

Go to the My Little Flower Blog for instructions. Be sure to scroll down to September 23rd.

Let's finish with a prayer. Pope John Paul II recited this prayer on the occasion of the canonization of Padre Pio, June 16, 2002.

Teach us, we pray, humility of heart,
so that we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel
to whom the Father promised to reveal
the mysteries of His Kingdom.
Help us to pray without ceasing,
certain that God knows what we need
even before we ask Him. Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will help us recognize
in the poor and suffering, the very face of Jesus. Sustain us in the hour of trouble and trial and, if we fall,
let us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.
Grant us your tender devotion to Mary,
mother of Jesus and our Mother.
Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage
toward the blessed Homeland,
where we too, hope to arrive to contemplate forever
the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Saint Padre Pio, pray for us.

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

Part 5 of the Mass: Finally Ready to Start

Greetings everyone!

Well it has been 4 weeks since we last talked about the Mass, so we thought we should get back to it. Here is a quick summary of what we have covered so far.

(youtube link: http://youtu.be/aQ52cg_e7Qg)

Remember that in Part 4 (August 30/13), we talked about how everyone stands to sing at the start of Mass. One of the reasons we all sing is to come together as a community, rather than as a bunch of individuals.

Gee Cloë, I thought everybody was singing so that the priest and altar servers had music to accompany them down the aisle on their way to the altar.

No Tallulah, the people are singing to and for God.

Once the music has finished, everyone makes the sign of the cross,
while the priest says: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
And everyone says loudly: Amen! This is called the Introductory Rite.

How come they don't also say awomen?!

No Tallulah - AMEN. It is a Hebrew word (more or less) that means what is being said is true. So when the people say AMEN they are saying we agree and believe what has been said.

Ok, I get it. So the people are saying that they believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Exactly!

Next, the priests officially greats everyone and says: The Lord be with you.

The people then say: And with your spirit.

You know Cloë, sometimes Mass gets kind of boring, especially once the singing is finished.

Mass is not boring Tallulah if you understand what is happening and even more importantly if you participate during Mass. Participating means, saying the prayers and responses, singing and listening.

Seems to me I've tried responding a few times, and all that seems to do is bring our master outside to tell me to be quiet.

I think our master prefers that we participate a bit more quietly, so as not to drown out the people inside the church.

Well that's it for part 5. Next time, we'll talk about the Penitential Act.

Hey Cloë don't forget to tell everyone about our newest business card. Show them, show them.

Ok Tallulah, calm down. Here it is.

 

That's it for today - woof!

Cloë and Tallulah Belle

St. Matthew

Today we remember the Apostle Matthew in a very special way.

When Jesus was alive, the Romans, not the Jewish people, ran Israel. The Romans did a lot of awful things, including making the Jewish people pay them money, which is called a tax. Even though Matthew was a Jew and not a Roman, he helped to collect that money from his fellow Jews. That did not make him very popular! Watch this video to see!

(youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZyMPI9kTfw)

I bet I know where this is going Cloë, we talked about this on Sunday with the story of the Lost Sheep. I bet Jesus was ready to be Matthew's friend.

You are partly right Tallulah. But not only did Jesus want to be Matthew's friend, He wanted him to help spread the Good News by becoming one of his Apostles.

He wrote one of the four Gospels that 2000 years later we are still reading and learning from, right Cloë!

Parents here is a link to Matthew's Gospel especially for kids. You will find stories and activities on this site.

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah