Back to School!

Cloë I cannot believe that the summer holiday is almost over! And that next week when we walk to Mass we'll see all the kids again.

I agree Tallulah. Did you know that the French kids are back to school today.

To mark the start of a new school year we thought we'd share a few links to tools you might find helpful at school this year.

Jennifer at Catholic Inspired has created some helpful and fun worksheets.

 

Click here to learn more about these pages and to download them.

Click here to learn more about these pages and to download them.

 

 

 

And if you are learning your ABCs then Lacey at Catholic Icing has some great ideas.

 

And here is a link for you, parents!

 

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

 

Mary the Queen of Heaven

Tallulah do you remember what solemnity of Mary's we celebrated 8 days ago?!

I sure do Cloë, it was the day she went to Heaven. (Click here if you missed this blog entry.)

 
Very good Tallulah, I'm impressed.

Thank you!

Well today we celebrate what we call the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Wow, I didn't know that Mary was a queen.

She is Tallulah. Remember when the Angel Gabriel came to tell Mary that she would be a mother. In fact he told her that her Son would be King over the house of Jacob forever. (Luke 1:26-38)
 

(Click here to download this colouring page.)

So that means if Jesus was the King that Mary would be the Queen - right Cloë?!

You got it Tallulah.

One of our best prayers is the Hail Mary. Can you fill in the missing words from the list below?

Hail Mary, full of _ _ _ _ _!

The _ _ _ _ is with thee;

blessed art thou among _ _ _ _ _,

and blessed is the _ _ _ _ _ of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy _ _ _ _, Mother of God,

pray for us _ _ _ _ _ _ _,

now and at the _ _ _ _ of our death. Amen.
Mary   sinners    women   grace     Lord     hour    fruit

Always remember that Mary is the mother and queen of all of us and that she loves all of us! Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

P.S. Parents for more ideas of how to celebrate this day with your children click here!

Saints Movie Week

If you live near Cornwall and you are kid, why not come and see some great Saint movies!

The movie on Thursday is Saint Bernadette.

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

The movie on Friday is Saint Patrick.

 

(youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_Xh62WX2U)

After the 30 minute animated story there are games, crafts, music and snacks to help you remember the particular saint. It's just $5 a day and takes place at the Agora Catholic Centre at 301 McConnell Ave in Cornwall from 1:30 p.m. t 4:30 p.m.

I love movies Cloë, well I actually I love the popcorn.

Here is a picture of some of the kids in their tilmas - just like Saint Juan Diego's.

 

Hope to see you there! Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

Mary Goes to Heaven

Today, August 15th, we remember the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

What does Assumption mean Cloë?

It means that Mary was taken up to Heaven soul AND body!

One tradition is that she went to sleep and next thing Jesus was taking her up to Heaven. Here is a statue of Mary at the Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem. Our master took it when she was there in March.

 

Click here to download this picture of Jesus bringing Mary to Heaven.

I love games, so here is my contribution. Click here for directions to make a game to help you get to know Mary better. Be sure to scroll way down!

Please pray for Us Mary! Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

The Ultimate Gift

Hi Everybody!

We have quite the story for you today. It's about a man named Maximilian Kolbe.

Art from 'Happy Saints eBook 2', available here:

http://www.happysaints.com/2012/12/happy-saints-ebook-2-previews-samples.html

I agree with you Tallulah, he was very special. Maximilian was from the country of Poland. (Poland is the dark blue country smack in the middle.) 

He became a Franciscan priest. He had a special love for Mary and wanted everyone to know about her, so he started a magazine called "The Knight of the Immaculata".

Before the Second World War started the Nazis took over Poland.

The Nazis were very mean. They hated the Jews and were not that fond of Catholic priests. In 1941, the Nazis arrested Father Maximilian and sent him to Auschwitz prison.

That is terrible Cloë. Did he ever get out of jail?

Well that is where the story gets interesting. A prisoner escaped and the Nazis were so mad that they decided to kill 10 of the prisoners.

That's not very nice, I don't think I like this story.

Well it's not a nice story, that's for sure. One of the 10, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was a father with young children. Father Maximilian offered to take his place and on this day (August 14, 1941) Father Maximilian was killed. 

Wow, he died so that man could live. That is amazing. What happened to that man?

It certainly is Tallulah. Well Cloë, Franciszek lived to see the end of the war and in fact he lived to be 93 years old! He was at St. Peter's when then Pope John Paul II declared Maximilian to be a saint.

God is not asking most of us to die for someone, but He definitely wants us to help others in our own little way.

Today, thousands of Christians and others are being persecuted and killed in various countries. One small way we can help is to pray for these people. Another is to thank God that we can go to church anytime we want and we are not in danger of being arrested or killed.

 

That's right Cloë, no one has ever said anything bad to us when we go to church or when we are waiting outside the church. We are definitely lucky!

 

Woof!

 

Cloë and Tallulah

 

P.S. To learn more about how to help the Christians in the Middle East, click here.

Keep Your Eye On Jesus!

Hi Everybody!

Today we wanted to recap this past Sunday's Gospel. As you may recall, two Sunday's ago Jesus performed one of his great miracles by taking 2 fish and 5 loaves

and feeding more than 5000 people!

I love fish and bread Cloé!

You and your stomach Tallulah! Anyway, getting back to the story. After he finished working that miracle, he was tired and needed a break. He sent the apostles out on their fishing boat and he went off by himself. (This is a picture of a typical fishing boat from Jesus' time. Our master got to go on one when she was in Israel. And this is the Sea of Galilee.)

Later that night, Jesus decided to join the apostles by walking across the water!!!

Wow Cloë! That sounds like another miracle. It doesn't seem to matter how often I go into the lake, I am never on top of it.

At first the apostles thought they were seeing a ghost. But then they realized it was Jesus. Peter called out and told Jesus to ask him to meet him on the water if it was really him. Let's watch.

(youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2t3-S6eSUU)

So because Peter stopped believing that Jesus was there for him he started to sink - right Cloë?!

Exactly Tallulah. No matter how bad things get never take your eye off Jesus.

It's sort of like if you want the dog treat you should never take your eye off it in case one of the other dogs gets it first - hee! hee!

Well I guess you do have the focus part down Tallulah!

Here is a great craft we found to illustrate this story.

And the best part is it involves food - yeah!

Click here for the instructions.

Woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

Let's Go Shopping!

Hi Everybody!

Our master gets lots of interesting emails that include great ideas to help grow your faith. Today we thought we would share a few of these with you!

This is not our master, but we like the picture!

Our friend Vic over at Happy Saints has come up with a very cool way of learning the alphabet! Check it out.

And while you are there check out his very neat prayer book.

And how about these nifty collector dolls of Mary. What a great way to learn more about all the different times Mary has come back to earth. Click here for more info.

 

With simplicity and holy wisdom, authors David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler show you how to bring peace to your home by integrating your family into the calm, truly joyful way of Mother Church by building your own Oratory! Click here for more.

 

And for more books and DVDs and awesome things for kids check out Pauline Media.

I think I'm going shopping Cloë!

And of course on August 6th we remember the Transfiguration of Jesus.

I remember that we talked about that a few months ago Cloë.

That's right Tallulah. Click here to read the full story.

Well that's it for today - woof!

Cloë and Tallulah