Enjoy Simple Eats on the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

Apples, bananas, cookies, mini-donuts and... saints? 

Sure! 

Why not?

When life is busy, and yet you seek to slip in a pleasant pause for celebrating the liturgical year, you see what you've got stocked in the house and get creative!

At least that's what sometimes happens here.

Case in point: our simple eats for the Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael last year...

Apple slice angel "wings" and (failed, yet tasty) oatmeal-applesauce donut "halos" represented Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on one plate.

Cookies and banana slice "wings" did so on another.

These simple eats - along with more fruit and the rest of the failed donuts batter made into pancakes - acted as an invitation for my children to pause to pray, chat and eat with me.

Together, we prayed the St. Michael prayer and grace.

Then, we chatted about how angels do not really have human bodies and wings, but are spiritual, non-corporeal beings and messengers of God.

We recalled a few details about each archangel:

• Michael (Who is like God?) fighting against Satan and all his evil angels

• Gabriel (Strength of God) announcing the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist to Zachariah and the birth of Jesus to Mary

• Raphael  (Medicine of God) taking care of Tobias on his journey

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We also read from Once Upon a Time Saints Around the Year, and, of course, polished off our snacks.

Spontaneous, simple, do-able, and delightful!

We enjoyed our celebration of the Feast of the Archangels and hope sharing about it inspires you to get creative with whatever you have in the house in order to pause for prayer and celebration this week.

 St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who roam about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

O God, who dispose in marvelous order ministries both angelic and human, graciously grant that our life on earth may be defended by those who watch over us as they minister perpetually to you in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~ The Collect 

Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, pray for us.

Get Your FREE Printable Prayer to St. Michael Copywork in Printing and Cursive!

Happy Feast of the Archangels. 

I was hoping to find time earlier today to share the FREE printable Prayer to St. Michael Copywork Set I created for my children this morning so you could use it with yours today, too, but life did not work that way.  Still, I thought I would share the printable in case you would like to use it on the Feast of the Guardian Angels coming up on October 2 or, really, at any time you like.

In the printable set, I have included:

a printed example of the prayer,

 a cursive one,

two lined sheets with St. Michael's image on them,

 and two blank lined sheets.

That way, your children can choose to practice printing, cursive, or both, plus have room for overflow copywork in case they write with especially large or spaced out words.

Hope your children benefit from this copywork as mine have, writing the words of the prayer in their hearts as they copy.

More Ideas and Printables

You might also like some of the previous St. Michael and Angel printables and ideas I have shared:

• St. Michael’s Symbols 3-Part Cards Free Printable 

• An Easy, Active Game for St. Michael's Day (with a Free Printable)

• Enjoy Celebrating an Angels Feast Day with Faith through Food and Fun

• Planning St. Michael’s Feast Day Tea: A Resource Round-Up

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, pray for us!

Enjoy Celebrating an Angels Feast Day with Faith through Food and Fun

I just realized that I never shared here about all the fun we had last year celebrating the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the Archangels and the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels.  So, I thought I would do so now in case anyone could use a little inspiration for living the liturgical year this coming week.

{Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.  If you click through them and make any purchase, we may receive small income at no extra cost to you. Anything we make goes straight back into training happy hearts and sharing about it here with you.}
Prayer, Chat and Storytime

We opened our gathering with a Prayer to St. Michael and the Guardian Angel prayer.  Then, we chatted about what the children already knew about angels and what questions they might have. 

We also read excerpts from the Catholic Children's Treasure Box (a favorite series of books which includes sweet readings about angels, including the kids' favorite - Wupsy, a guardian angel), the Story Library of Saints (which is an out-of-print collection of saint stories that includes one on St. Michael) and the Picture Book of Saints (a classic which sells used for only a penny.)

(Because I was so busy leading this period of our gathering and the other moms were setting up elsewhere, I have no pictures of this portion of our festivities.)

Feast Time

After our introductory prayer, chat and storytime, we gathered at a feast table, which was set simply with statues of angels, a guardian angel candle, some white candles, a yellow candle (since orange and gold are traditional colors associated with St. Michael), and, of course - treats!

Among the treats were:

• popcorn (because we were going to watch a movie, but also because the white reminds us of the heavens)
• angel-shaped cookies
• hot apple sauce in a crock pot (because Michaelmas falls around apple picking time and so apples became traditional at this time of year)
• apple juice ( because cider is also traditional to this feast day in some areas)

Movie Time

After a prayer of thanksgiving for our food and our gathering, the children dug into the treats and we headed outside for a large-screen viewing of My Secret Friend: A Guardian Angel Story, a sweet little movie that elicited quite a few giggles from the kids.

Craft Time

When the movie ended, we went back inside and enjoyed craft time.

First, we made two-sided beaded bookmarks.

To make them, the children selected pictures of St. Michael and other angels that I had printed out along with the text boxes of the St. Michael Prayer and the Guardian Angel prayer printed in different fonts.  They cut these out and affixed them to both sides of a bookmark sized piece of cardstock, which they, then, decorated with markers.

Once the children were happy with their decorated bookmarks, we laminated them and, then punched holes at the top. 

Using ribbon and seven pony beads, we then strung beads "sacrifice bead style" so the children could pull a bead each day of the week they remembered to pray their angel prayers.

The children so enjoyed making these bookmarks, and, our family was happy to use them to pray and to decorate our St. Michael Name Day breakfast table.

Some of the children and moms made angel art, too.

For this art, we used mini canvases, wooden angel cut outs, glitter, paint, markers, coloring pencils, glue, etc.

The artwork came out beautifully!

In fact, the entire gathering was beautiful.  With faith, food, fun, and friends, we so enjoyed celebrating the angels.

More Ideas

Our Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the Archangels and the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels celebration was such a fun, faith-filled time that I had hoped to make it an annual event.  But, alas, this year, it just cannot happen.  We have such a full family schedule this week, that we'll be celebrating the feast days in simpler quieter ways this year likely using ideas I gathered and shared for our Planning St. Michael’s Feast Day Tea: A Resource Round-Up, enjoying playing games with our St. Michael's Symbols 3-Part Cards (which you can grab for free!), and tossing the evil our of the heavens like St. Michael, as has become a tradition for our family.



Other Liturgical Year Fun This Week

If you'd like ideas for some of the other feast days coming up this week, please enjoy flashing back to these posts:
St. Jerome's Feast Day on September 30

• St. Jerome Resource Round Up
• Story Baskets for Faith Formation: St. Jerome and the Lion
• Prayer Pegs: Tea Time and St. Jerome

St Theresa's Feast Day on October 1

• All Saints Day Game
• St. Theresa's Roses

One day, I will get around to sharing more about the fabulous St. Theresa day celebrations we enjoyed with friends for two years running, but now now.  It's back to weekly planning for me.

May you enjoy each of the special feast days and memorials that are coming up. 

I'd also love to hear how you celebrate.

Saints Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Jerome, and Theresa, pray for us.