Unfortunately, in the craziness of fevers that had hit our home the week prior, I had neglected to work with the children to put together a gift to offer Father at his farewell collation.
Fortunately, I have creative children who understand what a gift prayer itself is! So, before Mass last Sunday, my children put together a simple gift for Father: a spiritual bouquet.
What is a Spiritual Bouquet?
If you've never heard of a spiritual bouquet, please let me quickly introduce you to what it is: a spiritual bouquet is simply a group of prayers gathered for a specific intention and typically gifted to someone through a notation on a card or other small item.
The idea of a spiritual bouquet is that each individual prayer, once prayed, becomes like a flower. Then, the group of prayers or devotional acts together, form a bouquet mystically offered as a gift to God for a particular intention.
How to Make a Simple Spiritual Bouquet
Of course, a spiritual bouquet can be given as a simple notation on a card. However, when involving children in offering spiritual bouquets, I find it fun to have them create "the bouquet" with self-selected prayers and devotional acts noted on it.
Last Sunday for our spiritual bouquet for Father, Nina folded an origami cup out of scrapbook paper to act as vase.
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Then, each of the children created bright flowers on cardstock using our Kwik Stix (a super handy, no-mess art tool that we were introduced to through a review opportunity.)
We cut he painted flowers out and glued them to craft sticks that we had painted green with the Kwik Stix, too.
On the "stem" fronts, we noted what prayers or devotional acts we would offer for Father, and on the backs, we signed our names.
We popped all of these into the paper vase, and - viola - we had a simple, small, portable, yet meaningful gift to offer Father: a spiritual bouquet!
Gift Someone with a Spiritual Bouquet
Of course, spiritual bouquets make meaningful gifts for priests and other religious. However, they also make ideal presents for loved ones living in nursing homes, staying in hospitals, headed out for travels, or simply needing prayers for a special intention.
If you'd like to gift someone a spiritual bouquet, you can make a simple like we did last Sunday.
You can also offer a spiritual bouquet by attaching small tags or ribbons with prayers or devotional acts written on them to the stems of real flowers.
Or, you can put together pots like we did for some local priests on St. Anthony's feast day.
Spiritual bouquet card kits can also be purchased from religious stores and, even, Amazon.
Spiritual Bouquet Holy cards are a lovely option, too.
Fellow Catholic Bloggers offer other ideas, too:
- Life, Love, & Sacred Art has a printable spiritual bouquet for All Souls.
- Call Her Happy has a How to Make a Spiritual Bouquet post.
There are so many ways to wrap the power of prayer in the gift of a spiritual bouquet for another.
Who in your life might appreciate a spiritual bouquet this week?
