Begin a Rosary Cenacle

"What a cenacle?" a relative asked when we mentioned that we had plans to go to one this weekend.

"It's when we get together with other families, pray the Rosary, have a teaching, go to Confession if we wish, eat, play, hang out with the friars...like a potluck, but with a focus on faith and community," was my honest reply.

Later, it occurred to me that I did not actually know what the word cenacle meant. Throughout the past several years, I had been taking my family to small- and larger- group Rosary Cenacles with the wonderful Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, but had somehow missed whatever the formal definition for a cenacle is.

So, I did some research and discovered that the Cenacle is the room where Jesus and the 12 Disciples met for the Last Supper and from it has sprung the idea of modern Cenacles where Catholics come together to pray to Jesus through Mary. So, I guess I was not far off in the explanation I gave my relative, and, most certainly, I am blessed to be able to be a part of beautiful local cenacles where we pray the Rosary, have catechism, enjoy games and family activities, eat together, etc.

Perhaps you and yours could start or begin a cenacle near you, too.

Undoubtedly, it would please Our Lady, who, at Fatima in 1917, enjoined:

I am the Lady of the Rosary, I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask for pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it every day.

It would also follow suit with Saint Padre Pio's wonderful recommendation:

Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.

And, of course, it would prepare you and yours in a very important way!

At a church, in your home, in a community center, wherever, you could gather with others - and with a priest if possible - consider beginning a cenacle with purpose.

For more information and ideas:

• Keep family/children's cenacles simple, yet rich.

• Follow this format for formal cenacles.

• Read more about the cenacle concept and see a suggested format for one.
  

• Learn about Divine Mercy cenacles.

Enjoy Simple Eats as Your Recall the Miracle of the Sun

Looking for easy eats for celebrating in your domestic church this week?

I've got you covered!

October 13 marks the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun - a day that is super simple to celebrate with you family! 

Just whip up a "sun" with anything that you have in your fridge and cupboards, have a chat about the Miracle of the Sun, pray the Rosary together, and, if you wish, add in some themed reading, listening, watching, or copywork. (I shared a free copywork set here before.)

If you do not know much about the Miracle of the Sun, or if you just want a succinct reminder about the day to share with your children, Catholic365 offers one here:

And, if you'd like some ideas for simple, quick "sun" dishes, you might be inspired by out simple eats from last year.

{Disclosure: Some links which follow may be affiliate ones.}

After Mass, we toasted a quick-n-easy, casein-free nacho "sun" using Chi- Chi's tortilla chips and Daiya cheese, which we served with a side of salsa.

This "sun" may have been a bit overcooked, but it was festive when placed on an outside table covered in a blue - for Mary - tablecloth and set with Marian Apparitions peg dolls, candles, and a few of our Our Lady of Fatima resources.  

In fact, once we had prayed grace, my children happily devoured our nacho "sun" while chatting about Our Lady of Fatima and retelling the story of the Miracle of the Sun.

They also enjoyed a "dancing sun" which was quickly put together with apple slices, nectarine slices, and clementine segments.

Plus, our "sun juice" - Ceres 100% juice - went down easy, too.

Satisfied by our simple eats and fortified by faith-centered chatting, the children progressed with the day, which later included the blessing of participating in a Coast-to-Coast Rosary event.

While at the event, a rainbow randomly appeared.

Wow! Magnificent! God is so good and creates such glorious beauty for us.

I pray that your Miracle of the Sun day this year has delightful moments like ours did last year.

With simple eats and praying together as a family or with others, your domestic church, no doubt, will enjoy and be blessed.

If you'd like other ideas for celebrating this feast day and learning about Our Lady of Fatima, be sure to check out past Our Lady of Fatima posts.  

You might also enjoy some of the resources we've used for prior reading, listening, and watching elated to Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun:

Source: Amazon

The Children Of Fatima: And Our Lady's Message to the World.

Source: Amazon

 Our Lady Came to Fatima

Source: Holy Heroes

Secrets from Heaven: The Story of the Children of Fatima, which is also available as a digital download/MP3.)

Source: Amazon

 the Story of Fatima in our copy of Jesus and Mary

Source: Amazon

 The Day the Sun Danced: The True Story of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

7 Ways to Celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary with Kids

As I looked ahead at the week's calendar, I realized that the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary is tomorrow. Thus, I am planning a menu of activities to honor the day, pending how it unfolds, and thought I would share my ideas in case they spark fruitful faith-based fun and learning for you and yours, too.

(1) Surprise the Kids with a Treat Rosary

It's been a while since my children have enjoyed a treat rosary, so I was thinking of making a Cookie Rosary for them again this year, until I remembered that I stocked up on Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Churro Smashmallows when I saw them at a local store recently for 50% off .

Now, I am having visions of an edible rosary made from blueberries for Hail Mary beads, Cookie Dough Smashmallows for the Our Father beads, and Cinnamon Churro Smashmallows for the cross.

I plan to make some hot vanilla and chocolate Almond Breeze to serve alongside our edible rosary so the kids can pop the Smashmallows in it after praying if they wish.

(2) Pray along with Holy Heroes

Image Credit: Holy Heroes

 Holy Heroes: Glorious Mysteries

If I can find our Holy Heroes Glorious Mysteries CD, which also contains audio about the Miracle of Lepanto, we'll pray the Glorious Mysteries along with it. If not, we will pray on our own, with a Youtube video, or with our Illuminated Rosary Book.

(3) Recall the Miracle of Lepanto

We'll recall when the Rosary saved Christendom, perhaps while coloring pages from Holy Heroes free pdf.  Then, pending how attention spans are, we may read more about the Miraculous Power of the Rosary on ChurchPop or even watch a documentary on Youtube about it.

I have bookmarked these two, but, admit, I have not prewatched them, so I am not sure about their bias or content yet.

(4) Listen to Lepanto by G.K. Chesteron

My children have ever yet to read or listen to "Lepanto" by G.K.Chesterton, so I plan to listen to it with them using Youtube.

(5) Make Ships with Brain Blox to Keep Hands Busy while Heads and Hearts Are (Hopefully) Moved

While listening to the poem (and perhaps the Lepanto stories and documentaries), I plan to keep my children's hands engaged with a challenge to build ships with our Brain Blox. If they get stuck for ideas, I may show them a free printable PDF page with boat and ship designs and, if they are really into it, may also click Youtube over to this short design video:

If you don't have Brain Blox, almost any open-ended building toy could sub for them in keeping hands busy while children listen: Legos, Picasso Tiles, K'nex, craft sticks, etc.

(6) Enjoy a Picture Study of the Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto

I found an interesting image of the Battle of Lepanto from 1571 on Wikipedia by Paolo Veronese.

A little further research told me that the painting was originally located at the Church of St. Peter the Martyr on Murano and was probably ex-Voto (a religious offering given to fulfill a vow) by order of Pietro Guistiniana who took part in the Battle in Lepanto.

I find the depiction interesting with how saints Peter, Roch, Justin, and Mark are praying to the Virgin Mary for the victory of the Christian fleet in the upper portion of the painting, while an angel throws burning arrows into Turkish ships down in the scene of the battle in the lower portion.

If the children get into the picture study, I might browse with them through the 57 Paintings of Lepanto that I found collected on Art Collector.

I would love to hear about how you celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary and would welcome links and ideas for future years.  Please share yours here in a comment or on the Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.

7. Spread Word about the Coast-to-Coast Rosary

I also plan to let my children know that we'll be joining in praying with others next Sunday as a part of the Coast-to-Coast Rosary and encourage them to ask others to join us.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Enjoy An Illustrated Rosary Book for Kids and Their Families {A Review, Giveaway and Coupon Code!!}

Don't you just love when you find a wonderful faith-based resource and have the opportunity to give one away for someone else to enjoy?

{Some links which follow are affiliate links.}

With thanks to a friend who works for Gracewatch Media, that's exactly what I am getting to do.  At the end of this post, you can enter a giveaway for an individual softcover Joyful Mysteries, Luminous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries, or Glorious Mysteries Illuminated Rosary book.

First, though, I would like to share with you why I appreciate the Illuminated Rosary books so much.

A Simply Beautiful Tool for Praying the Rosary (and Doing Picture Study!) with Children

It's no secret that praying the Rosary with children can be challenging.  Attention wanes.  Strings of rosary beads morph into fidget toys instead of prayer aids. Antsiness happens.  So it is helpful to have resources that draw your children into praying the Rosary and keep them focused on each mystery prayed.

In the past, I've used everything from cookies and cupcakes, to 3-part cards, to celebrations with friends to entice my children into joining in full Rosaries with prayerful attention. Eventually, such efforts helped us get used to praying the Rosary, and we developed habits of praying one decade or a full Rosary as a car rosary, on a rosary walk, as part of the Children's Rosary prayer group movement, or as a bedtime rosary daily.

Now, you'd think that with such habits in place, praying the Rosary with my children would typically be a peaceful and reflective experience. However, I have to be honest: it can still be challenging, especially when we pray the Rosary before bedtime. There is just something about that time that makes my children lose focus and act out.

Until recently, then, our best strategy for praying the Rosary at bedtime has been to use Youtube videos with beautiful artwork in them, which kept my children's attention focused.

Unfortunately, I don't relish screen time just before bedtime - even if it is prayerful screentime, so I've been looking for another engaging strategy.

Enter The Complete Illuminated Rosary: An Illustrated Rosary Book for Kids and Their Families by Jerry Windley-Daoust at Gracewatch Media.  As soon as I saw digital samples of it, I thought, I know just what I am getting with my birthday money this year!

I was excited to order a hardcover edition of the The Complete Illuminated Rosary at a discount pre-publishing rate and have been happy to use the prayer aid with my children. 

This Rosary resource is perfect for our family at bedtime: It is large enough for each child to see when we cuddle together and allows us to pray while perusing artworks which help us with meditation and attention.

Okay, admittedly, the first time we prayed each decade of the Rosary using The Complete Illuminated Rosary, the artwork almost drew too much of my children's attention, and I found that they kept interrupting our prayers to comment on the images - what they liked, what surprised them, and more. 

Now, though, my children simply examine the artworks while remaining engaged in prayer.  Thus, The Complete Illuminated Rosary has been serving us as an effective alternative of sorts to typical rosary beads, helping my children pray bedtime Rosaries with peace.

Using the book is so simple. 

We just open to the appropriate set of mysteries for the day, then read the prayers, which are printed in an easy-on-the-eyes font while meditating with the large reprints of artworks that accompany each prayer.

These reprints vary in style,

...time period,

...and cultural lens,

...with some classic...

...and some modern...

All artworks, however, are carefully selected to be child-friendly and engaging.

There are also "prayer beads" of a sort include on the bottom of each page.

For each set of mysteries, a large circular detail of an artwork follows the Canticle of Mary, another follows the Creed and Our Father, and three small detail circles accompany the "Hail Mary"s for Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Then, each mystery begins with a brief paraphrased text from the Bible for meditation as well as a prompt to remember your intentions just above another large circular detail.

Then, the "Our Father" page, too, includes a large circular detail of an artwork, acting as a large Rosary bead.

After that, on each "Hail Mary" page, strings of roses act as beads, allowing children to count to keep track of the number of prayers prayed should they wish to do so.

The Complete Illuminated Rosary also contains pages listing art credits and ideas for how to pray the Rosary using the book.

It is truly a well-designed and lovely prayer aid that, in my children and my opinion is only missing one thing: a list of which day to pray which mystery of the Rosary.  (Sure, we should have this memorized, but do not, so we're sliding a bookmark with this information into our book.)

Same Wonderful Rosary Resource, Several Formats

The Illuminated Rosary comes in  a number of formats:

• single volume softcover

• single volume hard cover

• individual volume softcovers for each of the mysteries.

Each of these formats measure 8 1/2  x 11", and The Complete Illuminated Rosary, which I purchased in hardcover, has 368 pages.

So, if you like a lighter resource, the softcover individual format might be for you.  We like the all-in-one hardcover ourselves.

Purchase Your Own Illuminated Rosary at a Discount

If you'd like to purchase an Illuminated Rosary book, but are not sure which you would prefer, the following videos might help you decide.

You can purchase  a hardcover copy of  The Complete Illuminated Rosary on Amazon (which, at the time of this writing is 26% off with free shipping!) You can also get the Joyful Mysteries, Luminous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries, or Glorious Mysteries Illuminated Rosary books and other books by author Jerry Windley-Daoust on Amazon.

Alternately, purchase an Illuminated Rosary book direct from Gracewatch Media between now and December 12 using the coupon code ROSES 25 for a 25% off discount!

Or, while supplies lasts, get an imperfect copy for 50% using the code dents&dings, for as Allison Gingras from Reconciled to You posted on Facebook earlier this month:

We all acquire a few dents and dings along the journey of life, right? Well, so did a shipment of our new Illuminated Rosary books. Grrr.
On the bright side, while these books aren’t perfect enough to sell new, they’re still in “good” condition, with minor flaws or damage: banged-up corners, dented page edges, ink smudges on the last (blank)page, imperfections in the glossy coating on the spine, etc. You can give these less-than-perfect illustrated rosary books for kids a home for 50% off the sale price using coupon code dents&dings at checkout. Quantities are limited and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

BUY YOUR COPY HERE: http://bit.ly/2F9N7kY

We’re so confident that you’ll be satisfied with these books, we’ll honor our usual no-hassle return policy…we’ll send you return postage and a full refund if you don’t like them.

You can also always check the deals page at Gracewatch Media for other deals and discount codes on wonderful faith-related publications. There product line is truly fabulous for families of faith!

Enter the Giveaway!

I am excited to be able to offer one reader a softcover copy of an individual mystery in the Illuminated Rosary series using this giveaway Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Introducing Our Mysteries of the Rosary Peg Dolls and our November Liturgical Shelf

October whizzed by before I made time for my children and myself to swap out our September liturgical shelf with an October one.

Thus, my daughter and I found ourselves combining inspiration from October's devotion to the Holy Rosary and November's devotion to the Holy Souls when making our November display.

For the display, we chose a white cloth to remind us of the purification souls must go through before enjoying the bliss of being in union with God in the glory of heaven.

Marian Devotions


On one side of the display, we kept the paschal candle our friends made for us this year and placed an Our Lady of the Rosary peg doll which we received in a Marian swap and had meant to put up in October. 

On the other side, we kept a blessed white candle another friend gave us for Candlemas place and put a vignette of our Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and St. Catherine Laboure in front of it, since Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal will be celebrated on the 27th of this month.

Betwixt these two Marian ends, we set up our main display to remind us to pray Rosaries and special prayers for the dearly departed throughout November. 

Introducing Our Mysteries of the Rosary Peg Dolls


Our Rosary reminders includes, of course, rosary beads. They also include peg dolls that we received in a swap a while back which represent each mystery of the Holy Rosary.

The Joyful Mysteries dolls include:

• a Mary doll with an angel modge podged to it

• a St. Anne doll with John leaping in her womb

• a small-sized Jesus doll with a line sketch of the Nativity painted on it

• a doll with Mary painted on one side, Jesus in the middle, and Joseph with doves on the other side

• a Mama Mary and Child Jesus doll set

The Glorious Mysteries dolls include:

• a John the Baptist doll

• a Jesus with wine doll

• a apostle with the Word doll

• a golden (transfiguration) Jesus doll

• a Jesus doll with bread and wine, plus a modge podged image of the Last Supper

The Sorrowful Mysteries dolls include:

• a beautiful Agony in the Garden set with a kneeling Jesus sweating blood, a small rock and an angel

• a bound and scourged Jesus (the red scourging is on his back)

• a Jesus crowned with thorns (which has gone missing so is not pictured)

• a Jesus carrying a cross

• a Jesus on a cross

The Luminous Mysteries ones include:

• a risen Jesus

• an ascending Jesus

• an apostle receiving the Holy Spirit

• a Mary with clouds and stars (for the Assumption)

• a crowned Mary

Holy Souls Calendar Pages

Behind these dolls, we placed the All Souls calendar pages that we made in our AMP club last month. 

On three of these calendars, we have pre-written names of our own dearly departed as well as names of the beloved deceased of friends, relatives, and blog followers who have asked us to pray so that we can remember to specifically pray for these souls this month. 

The fourth calendar page remains mostly blank, because one child of mine asked to write names after praying and not as a reminder to pray.

Still to Come

Later this week, since some of us have forgotten the words to the St. Gertrude Prayer for Holy Souls, we plans to redo our copywork of this prayer and to slip it between the wall and our Our Lady of the Rosary pegdoll for easy reading access. 


(In the past, we have also done copywork of The Eternal Rest prayer, but do not need to redo this since we have all long since memorized this prayer and pray it faithfully upon passing cemeteries when we are driving around as well as when we hear of people passing.)

It's Working

We have just put our November liturgical shelf display together display, and it is already actively focusing us on both last month's devotion to the Holy Rosary and this month's devotion to praying for Holy Souls.  

In fact, just before leaving for a walking Rosary to a local cemetery this afternoon, we checked our calendars for the names of the deceased we would pray for along the way.

Then, as is our custom from the 1st through 8th of November when we got to the cemetery, we prayed for special indulgences for Holy Souls in Purgatory before selecting random souls to pray for. his tradition has become a meaningful and beautiful one for us, and I encourage you to consider making it customary for your family, too!

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.