Part 4 of the Mass: He Who Sings Prays Twice!

Do you like to sing Cloë? Because I sure do. In fact, I think that is one of my favourite things about going to Mass.

I agree with you Tallulah, I really enjoy the music too. And this brings us to the next part of the Mass.

After everyone has arrived at the church, has blessed themselves with the Holy Water, has said hello to Jesus by genuflecting and then had a little chat with God, it's finally time to start the Mass! Mass always starts with the Entrance Antiphon or with a song.

The Entrance what?!

The Entrance Antiphon! It is the very first thing that is said as Mass begins. They are often a line taken from the Bible that gives you a bit of an idea about the readings for the day. It can also be a short line about the Saint of the day.

On Sundays the Entrance Antiphon is often replaced by a song.

Just like a concert!

Actually Tallulah, this is not a concert, at least not for the people in the church. But I guess you could say it's like a concert for God.

So that means everybody should be singing right Cloë, even if you don't have the best singing voice.

Exactly Tallulah! In fact it is often said that "he who sings prays twice". Remember most churches have a hymnal, a book that has all the songs in it, in case you don't know the words. Here is a song from the folks at CatChat that you can practice singing along to!

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

So make sure to sing your heart out at Mass on Sunday and if you hear something that sounds like howling it's the two of us joining in with the singing.

That last thing we want to mention today is about our friend Alex. Alex is having some tough times these days because the medicine he has to take is making him feel quite sick.

So we want to keep sending him lots of positive good thoughts and prayers.

Also we want to make sure he knows about St. Peregrine. Peregrine had a terrible time with cancer and the doctors thought he would not get better. But he prayed to Jesus and he also asked Mary to pray for him and he got better. So he has become known as the saint for those who have cancer. So Alex you've got someone up there in Heaven!

This nice picture of St. Peregine was painted by Sallie Thayer. You can see more saints on her blog.

And the rest of us can also pray to St. Peregrine to ask him to help Alex (and anyone else who has cancer).

St Peregrine -- Prayer for A Cancer Patient

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty", "The Wonder Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you obtained from God for those who have turned to you in their need. For so many years, you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fibre of our being. You turned to God when the power of human beings could do no more, and you were favoured with the vision of Jesus coming down from His cross to heal your affliction. I now ask God to heal this sick person whom I entrust to you. (NAME) Aided by your powerful intercession, I shall sing with Mary a hymn of gratitude to God for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.

Bye for now! Woof

Cloë and Tallulah

Part 3 of the Mass: Talking to God

So we've talked about why we go to Mass and we've talked about what we do when we actually arrive in the church. Today we want to talk about what you do once you are in the pew.

Pew, I can't get over what a funny word that is, ha!ha!ha!

Ok Tallulah can we be serious?!

Sure Cloë, but you gotta admit it's funny. So what do the humans do next?

Well, Tallulah I'll help you tell them by asking you a question. When we go to Grandma's after we say hi what do we do?

Beg for a treat of course.

Well I guess you are right about that, even I love those treats. But what then?

Well we talk to Grandma and ask her how she has been and what she has been up to and we tell her about what we have been doing.

 

 

Exactly! And God loves when the people chat with him. He wants to know what has been happening in their lives. That is why the people kneel before Mass, they are chatting with God.

I always wondered about that, now I know! Do we have anything to help people with this whole prayer thing?

Mais oui! The first thing we have is a list of the 6 prayers every Catholic kid should know. They are:

The Sign of the Cross
Our Father
Hail Mary
The Glory Be
Grace Before Meals
Guardian Angel Prayer

(Hint: The prayers are at the bottom of this blog!)

 

Parents here is a link to know more information about how to teach these prayers.

 

Lacy over at Catholic Icing has all kinds of neat ideas for keeping track of your prayers as well as who you are praying for. Here are just a few.

 

 

 

And here is a fun game to help you learn the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

 

 

Remember you would never go and visit a friend or your family and not talk to them and God is definitely your friend and your family! And don't forget to listen sometimes, because God also has lots He wants to share with you.

 

Woof!

 

Tallulah and Cloë

 

(youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6bL83U_AZc)

 

So much happening today!

Wow Cloë I can't believe how much we learned today at Mass!

You've got that right Tallulah.

Feast Day
First off was the feast day of St. Pius X. Pius X was the Pope from 1903 to 1914. So that's more than a 100 years ago, but certainly not as long ago as St. Bernard, whose feast day was yesterday.

Pius was born in Italy to a poor family. He had 9 brothers and sisters. He was the second oldest. His name was actually Giuseppe Sarto. Pius was the name he chose when he became pope.

He became a priest when he was 23 and pope when he was 68.

I read Cloë that he was best known for encouraging people, especially children, to receive Holy Communion as regularly as possible.

To read more about St. Pius X, click here.

Did you know Tallulah that we have a church in our diocese named after St. Pius X. It's in Long Sault. Here are a few photos.

The Gospel
Another thing we learned today at Mass was just how generous God is, right Tallulah!

Well Cloë I did not think it was very fair that everyone got paid the same even though some did not work as long.

Tallulah you must not have listened to the whole parable.

What is a parable anyway?

A parable is a story with a lesson. Jesus often taught his apostles and the people using parables. It helped them understand the lesson he wanted them (and us) to learn.

Today's parable is called the Workers in the Vineyard. The gist of the story is that the owner of the vineyard came out three times during the day to get workers. This meant that some worked for 8 hours, some for 4 and some for just 1 hour, but they were all paid the same amount of money! Click here to read the full story and to find out why everyone got paid the same.

I'm still having some trouble with this Cloë, but I guess it's pretty cool that God never gives up on anyone and that He is always ready and waiting with His love for everyone, no matter how long it takes.

Now you've got the idea Tallulah!

Our Friend Alex
Finally, the third thing that we found out was about our friend Alex. Remember we told you that he was very sick. Well he is doing better and the two big tumors are gone. But Alex starts new treatments this week and they are going to be very tough.

So please remember to keep Alex in your prayers. We miss seeing him after Mass on Sundays.

Well that's lots for today - Woof!

Hey Cloë, since Jesus said in today's Gospel that the last shall be first, I think my name should go first for a change, especially since you always get to go first.

Ok Tallulah!

Tallulah and Cloë

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Hi Everybody!
 
Today is the feast day of one of the Church's great saints: St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

St. Bernard was born almost a 1,000 years ago in France to a rich family. When he was 22, he, 4 of his brothers and 25 friends joined an abbey that was started by the Cistertians.

What's an abbey Cloë? and what about the word Cistertian?

An abbey is a place where monks live. Monks are religious men. And the Cisterians are an order of monks that began almost a 1000 years ago!!

Eventually St. Bernard founded his own monastery in Clairvaux, France where 700 monks lived with him! Unfortunately the building is long gone. But the Cisterians are still going strong in 2013. They have 169 abbeys/monasteries all over the world.

 

Cistercians at work in a detail from the Life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 

 

Did you know Tallulah that we have a church in Finch named after St. Bernard of Clairvaux?! Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

We thought we'd finish off today with a joke. Tallualah, have you got one?

 

Yup!

Why was 6 afraid of 7?

 

 

Because: 7 8 9 - ha!ha!ha!

 

 

That's sad Tallulah!

 

Woof!

 

Cloë and Tallulah



Vacation Bible School!

Hi Everybody,

We just came from the last day of the Festival of Faith Vacation Bible School. It was so much fun! We have pictures but they aren't ready yet. We'll post them next week after we post our vacation pictures! While you wait, here are a couple of videos of the songs we learned at VBS.

The first is The 10 Commandment Boogie (http://youtu.be/5Kp8yXDpNaQ)

The other is I've Got the Joy.

These are two catchy tunes with great actions. Even we were up dancing!

Next week things should be back to normal and we'll start blogging more regularly again.

Hey Cloë I wanted to show them a picture of me with Super Duck! My friend Bonesy let me borrow it.

Sure Tallulah, go ahead.

This is me and Super Duck!!

Have a great weekend - Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

We are back!!

Hi Everybody!

We are finally back from vacation. We thought we'd have time to blog while we were away but our master kept us too busy! We have some neat pictures that we will post over the next few days (our master has to find her camera first.)

Yesterday (August 11th) was the feast day of St. Clare. (Click here to read more about St. Clare.) She was a great friend of St. Francis of Assissi.

Hey Cloë isn't St. Francis the one who loves animals?!

He sure is.

Well any friend of his is definitely a friend of mine.

So in her honour here is another video of those crazy guinea pigs: Carmie and Clare.

 

(link for this video: http://saintfactory.com/to-the-guineacycle/)

Stay tuned for our vacations pics.

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

Thank Your Priest Today!

Today (August 4th) is the feast day of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests.
 

 
What's a patron saint Cloë?
 
Well Tallulah, a patron saint is a saint to whom God has been given a special group of people to help. So priests have St. John Vianney as their special saint in Heaven who really understands what they are going through, good and bad, and will talk to God for them. Click here to discover your own patron saint.
 
So getting back to St. John Vianney, he was born and raised in France. He really wanted to be a priest but he was not the best in school. He was eventually ordained because of his goodness. As a priest he spent a lot of time hearing peoples' confessions.
 

 
Go to catholic.org for more Saints Fun Facts!
 
I have a good idea Cloë, maybe people could send their priest a card this week telling him how much they appreciate what he does. Click here for some ideas.

 

And here is a neat craft from Catholic Icing, click here for directions

 
 

Finally, we found a special prayer you can say for your priest.

Lord Jesus,

we often ask your priests to pray for us:

our intentions, our needs, our problems.

This time, I want to reverse the order and pray for your priests, your servants,

and in particular I wish to pray for Father (your priest's name):

give him your Spirit's blessing,

let him radiate in our milieu,

may he be a spiritual guide for us,

support him in his ministry,

nourish his spiritual life.

Thank you for giving him to us as a priest.

I pray you, risen Lord,

you who are our Eternal High Priest

and sit at the right hand of the Father.

Amen.

We've met lots of priests Cloë so it might take some time to get them all into this prayer. But we especially want to pray for our "uncle" who is a priest: Father Timothy Walsh, LC.

Guess what Tallulah, he is coming to visit us today and we'll get to spend the whole week with him!!

Yeah Cloë, I especially love his black suit it looks so nice when it is full of dog hair- hee!hee!hee!

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

P.S. Parents if you want to teach your kids more about St. John Vianney you can click here for some great info and activities.

Greed: Another of the 7 Deadly Sins

Do you remember a few weeks ago when Tallulah was a little piggy and had too many hot dogs?! (June 27, 2013) 

I sure do - burp! I think they are still with me. 

We took the opportunity to tell you about the 7 Deadly Sins. Click here for a recap of the 7 and what each means.
 

 
Today at Mass, the readings talk about the sin of Greed! Greed is probably one of the sins that so many of us have trouble with!
 

Greed-Mr. Krabs

Obviously Mr. Krabs is greedy and desires money. How could Greed not be Krabs? He actually sang about the power of greed in “Selling Out”.

 

 

 
What do you know about greed Tallulah?

Well I don't think I'm greedy Cloë, I just like to make sure I get all the food and treats and all the hugs. Oh yeah and I also like to make sure I get all the sticks and toys that our master throws for you, I mean us.
 
Well Tallulah, that is actually greed. Greed means that you have to have more than you need and more than anyone else has. Do you know the opposite of greed?
 
I'm not sure Cloë, could it be sharing?! Ok, maybe I'm not so good at sharing.
 
I used to be pretty greedy when I lived with my friend Milo. But when you came along I learned how to share. Here is a video that might help you Tallulah.
 

 
(youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnD1t2O8vAE)

And here is the video of the parable that Jesus told to the people.
 

(youtube link: http://youtu.be/yS0pS0kV6uQ) 
 
Gee Cloë that guy is not very nice. I don't want to be like him. From now on I'm going to try harder to share.

Well that's it for today. Don't forget to share! Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

P.S. Parents here is another version of today's Gospel.

 
(youtube link: http://youtu.be/z3yBvFuISVY)

Hanging out with Jesus

One of the best ways to talk to God is in Adoration. When you go to Adoration you get to be in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist!

As you know, Jesus comes to us in the bread when we go to Communion. We don't eat the bread at Adoration, instead we sit before the bread/Jesus and talk to Jesus. We also sit with Jesus and adore God the Father with Him.

 

Hey Cloë don't we have an Adoration Chapel here in Cornwall? Our master takes us sometimes when she goes on Saturday mornings.

That's right Tallulah, though we wait outside for her.

The Diocese's Adoration Chapel is located behind St. Peter's Church at the corner of Second St. E and Campbell (in Cornwall). It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and everyone is welcome to come.

 

 Does that mean someone could go at 3:00 a.m.?!?

Yup!

So the reason we are talking about Adoration today, is because it is the feast day of St. Peter Julian Eymard, who our chapel is named after.

One of St. Julian's greatest loves was Eucharistic Adoration. He loved it so much that he spent much of his life as a priest promoting Eucharistic Adoration.

Adoration is for everyone, including little kids! Here are two websites about Adoration especially for children.

 

Children Eucharistic Adoration

 

 

Children of Hope

 

 

Here is a picture of St. Julian that you can download and colour!

 

Does anyone know what you call the "holder" that contains Jesus in the bread? St. Julian is holding one? Let us know in the comments section.

 

I do Cloë! but I'm not going to say.

 

Well that's it for today. Woof!

 

Cloë and Tallulah

 

P.S. Most of our parishes have Eucharistic Adoration once a month. Many parishes choose the first Friday of the month. Ask your priest when your parish has Eucharistic Adoration, he would be very happy to see you there.