Enjoy a Nutritious Salad for St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's Feast Day!

It's no secret that I like to focus on faith, family, outdoor time, and Saint Day celebration here. In case you do, too, I'd like to share a simple, nutritious idea for a  St. José Luis Sánchez del Río feast day picnic and walk with you!

Whether it is bright and sunny, as it was on an All Saints Day when my son dressed as Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río...

... or a bit brisk, as it was on St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's feast day here a couple of years ago...

...you can enjoy a simple salad paired with a nature walk as part of your St. José Luis Sánchez del Río feast day celebrations on January 10.

The Mexican-inspired salad is easy to make and has symbolism, too, since the colors of the salad reflect the colors or the Mexican flag and since the red stripe made from tomatoes (which could be subbed with chopped red peppers) can remind us of  St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's martyrdom.

To make the salad, simply start with a bed of greens.

Top those with rows of black beans, corn, chopped onion, and chopped tomatoes or red peppers. (Or put the salad greens in one serving dish and the stripes in another if you have picky kids like I do.)

Then, blend an avocado with the juice of a lime, a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast, some cilantro, a garlic clove or two, and some water to make a dressing.

Serve all this with a side of tortilla chips (if your kids, like mine, love them) as well as some Mexican Hot Chocolate (or Mexican-esque Hot Chocolate made from nut milk or coconut milk if you are casein-free, sweetened with date syrup if you are sugar free), and you've got a relatively nutritious and easy picnic as Simple Eats with the Saints.

Before eating, pray one of these prayers found at Synod.Va, where you can also find a brief biography about St. José Luis Sánchez del Río.

Dear Lord, 

Help me to be courageous and steadfast in my devotion to you. Help me to identify causes and injustices in my day that are worth defending and standing up for. Give me perseverance and a desire to help others at any cost. Help me to revere Christ as the king of my life. Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. Amen.

Dear Lord, 

Help me to be brave and strong. Help me to pray for those who hurt me and those who hurt others. You are the king of my life. Help me to listen to you and to tell others about you. 

Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. Amen. 

Credit: Holy Heroes

You may also want to listen to The Story of Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río: Glory Stories CD, Volume 9 before or after your picnic to learn more about Saint José Sánchez del Rio in a child-friendly way.

Walk, Talk and Enjoy

I also suggest going for a nature walk before or after you eat to ensure plenty of time to pause to pray... to amble along chatting about St. José Luis Sánchez del Río... to give thanks for the faithful saints that inspire and intercede for us... and to enjoy time together as laugh, discover, and connect.

Some of my children and I surely did some of this when we went on our St. José Luis Sánchez del Río picnic and nature walk a couple years ago, and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

Here are some snapshots of our walk to inspire you - and us - to get outside for a picnic and walk this St. José Luis Sánchez del Río day!

We pray that your feast day is a fruitful, faith-filled one.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

St. José Luis Sánchez del Río, pray for us.

It's Time to Begin the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph

Here we are, seven Sundays prior to St. Joseph's feast day.

It's a prime day to begin the Seven Sundays Devotion - a long-standing tradition of the Church in preparation for the feast of St. Joseph on March 19.

The devotion honors the seven joys and seven sorrows that St. Joseph experienced as husband of the Mother of God, faithful guardian of Christ, and head of the holy family.

To pray the devotion, attend Mass and receive Holy Communion in a state of grace and pray the prayers in honor of the seven joys and seven sorrows of St. Joseph.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Read This Pro-Life Poem

The other night, a child came out to me and asked if I would like to hear a poem. Then, the child began to read the newly penned A Baby's Prayer, A Little Dear.

As the child read delivered the poem - simply and powerfully - tears formed in my eyes.

I asked the child if I could share it and was told, "yes", so am doing do here.

Perhaps the poem will speak to someone's heart.

A Baby's Prayer, A Little Dear

 

A baby's cry, a cry for life in the darkness, begging for life, for rights, begging for love, for care, begging, BEGGING for Mommy to hear.

 

A hardened heart, an unwilling ear, trying, TRYING not to hear, trying, trying not to care.

I don't have the money. I don't have the time.

A hurried decision. A lie for a life. A life for a lie.

 

Please, please, don't make me die.

I'm a child, sweet at heart. I'll love you and care. I won't tear YOU apart.

I know labor's hard, but I beg you from my little heart, from my little hands clasped imploring, from my little brain trying in vain to see how your big brain can think it right to make my world an eternal night...

 

But I know from my little heart with its little beat, you'll do what is right, you'll let me seek that glorious light of life and love. You'll let me share my little joys. You'll help me with my little toys. And you'll let me bring YOU my joy, MY light. I pray as though you might.

 

Hear me, Mommy, hear my prayer.

Don't destroy. Let us share our love - our joy.

It is evident that God has spoken to my child's heart about the beauty and joy of life.

Please join us in praying for the legal protection of the preborn.

Did You Miss Any of our Top 10 Faith Post in 2020?

Happy 2021!  I hope your year has started with many blessings.

Ours sure has. Some challenges, too, of course. But, many blessings as well.

One such blessing is the promise of the year ahead and all the opportunities there may be to live, learn, and celebrate our faith - and to share some of what we do here in case it helps you.

The other day, as I was looking back in order to plan forward for upcoming liturgical living, I realized I had never checked in to see what my most popular sharings of 2020 were.

Upon doing so, I quickly saw that among our most-visited posts were a combination of faith-related and review /giveaway ones. That made total sense, since, again in 2020, that is mostly what I found time to share.

In case you missed any of the Top 10 Faith Posts from 2020 - or just want to revisit a favorite post for inspiration or its free printable, I collected a linked list here for you.

I pray that as you scroll through our Top 10 Faith Posts, you will find inspiration to continue to live and grow in faith with your family in 2021. 

Top 10 Faith Posts of 2020

~10~

Perhaps the Lenten art, music, and poetry ideas that I prepared and shared for our AMP club last year can help you as you plan forward for this year's Lent.

~9~

We enjoyed celebrating St. Angela of Merici on Jnuary 27 with easy eats and conversation. 

Now is a good time to put simple eats on your grocery list in preparation for celebrating St. Angela of Merici this year!

~8~

Free printable copywork and journaling sets are helpful on saint days and any day.

If you missed our one for St. Bonaventure, get it here.

~7~

Celebrating Mama Mary and gardening are both worthwhile endeavors. Combining the two can be a fruitful delight. Perhaps, you might consider making an edible Mini-Mary Garden this year.

~6~

Pizza toasts are popular eats in my home. Retelling the story of the Passion as we make them makes them into liturgical living eats. Perhaps you'd like to do the same this Lent.

~5~

I got a message requesting the creating of an Act of Faith Copywork set and was happy to create and share one. 

Now, this year, my kids will be using this free handwriting printable to help prepare for their confirmation. Maybe yours can, too.

~4~

Saint Valentine's day will be here before we know it. Perhaps you' enjoy going on the same Nature Scavenger Hunt we did. Get a free printable hunt sheet.

~3~

Our Lady never lets us down. 

Help your children learn the short Memorare prayer so they can fly to her whenever there's a need!

~2~

It surprised me to discover that my request to join me in praying for wayward children became such a popular post. 

It broke my parenting heart to be in a position to make such a request, and I continue to appreciate and offer prayers to St. Augustine, St. Monica, and St. Ambrose on behalf of my child, myself and you and yours, if you need them, too.

I am confident our prayers are heard and, in the end, all will be well!

~1~

Prayer is such a vital part of life - formulaic and spontaneous.

It appears many appreciated the free Apostles Creed prayer copywork set I made. I pray that using it helped your children grow in handwriting skills and succinct, solid understanding of our faith!

If there are other Catholic prayers, quotes, or material you'd like me to create and share as free printable copywork and journaling sets, just ask. I am always happy to help as I can!

In fact, please never be shy about making any requests for content you'd like to see here! Like many folks who share online, I have more ideas in my head than focus and time to share about them all. So, I like to tailor what we share about here to what you'd most like to see. I can only do that if you let us know.

Please leave a comment here, let me know via social media, or just tell me next time you see me (since some followers here actually know me in real life, too!)  We love feedback! 

Oh, and if you'd like to browse past Top 10 collections, find them here.

May God bless you a yours 2021 unfolds.

Wonderful Reads to Start the New Year With

What better way is there to start the New Year than with some quality books? 

I'd love to hear what you and yours are reading.

This post does contain affiliate links, I will receive a commission for products you buy through my referral link at no extra cost to you.

Here, among the books we've been curling up with are:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This classic has taken a place in our nightly read together pile and is perfect for it! Chapters are relatively short, yet meaty, and give us plenty to think about. 

If you've never read this book with your tweens and teens, I highly recommend it, and, if you'd like ideas for discussion points, be sure to pop over to the C.S. Lewis Institute to find free PDF reading guide for the book.

My eldest - who sadly is eschewing most things Catholic/faith-related right now unless "forced" into participation, received the book The Eighth Arrow by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B. for Christmas.

I have not had a chance to browse the books since he has it squirreled away in his room where he stays up until the wee hours each night reading.

Score! He likes the book! 

And I like that it is by a priest - J. Augustine Wetta O.S.B - who wrote another good book that we read as a nightly read together some months ago upon a recommendation and loan from a friend.

My eldest son did not take to Humility Rules as well as he is taking to The Eighth Arrow since Humility Rules is more overtly faith-related. Still, on the whole, Humility Rules was a fruitful read for my children and me.

Plus, my children all enjoyed the humorous illustrations in the book. Thus, I don't hesitate to recommend the book as a solo read or group one to you and yours.

Finally, in my personal reading pile is a book recommended to me by a wise and holy local priest: The Temperament God Gave You. I have only just begun the book, but am already appreciating it. 

I would love to hear what you and your have been reading!

Woah! ONE Resource for the Entire Family with Every Subject for Every Grade {A SchoolhouseTeachers.com Review}

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This post contains affiliate links, I will receive a commission for products you buy through my referral link at no extra cost to you.

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The cartoon we watched was fun, too. A man taught a town about Baby Jesus.

The cartoon had a nice meaning.

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Get a FREE No-Rehearsals-Needed Christmas and Epiphany Play Script

Oh what blessings and fun we had celebrating the Epiphany.

Mass. A reception. Picking saints for the year. Carols. A blessing of chalk and water so we can continue the Epiphany tradition of chalking our doors... And a partially narrated-partially improvised play.

The play was especially fun this year.

Some local priests asked me if I would lead a play, but, given everyone's Christmastime commitments and other hurdles, doing a traditional pageant with rehearsals was not going to work. Plus, we wanted to include anyone who showed up for the reception and wanted to participate.

So, I wrote a a no-rehearsals-needed script which took the form of a narration that could be used as a base for improvised scenes. Then, I simply laid out costume pieces and simple props in a "backstage" area, invited anyone who wanted to participate to come close to the stage area, and began.

Children and adults alike joined in on stage with quick readings from cue cards and improvised pantomime and dialogue.

The entire audience joined in at times with background pantomime and dialogue as well as song.

And the play was a wonderful success with everyone's good-natured participation.

In case you ever have a need for such a play for your family, classroom, or community, I am sharing a free copy of the narration I wrote for it here. I pray this Christmas and Epiphany Narrated and Improvised Play script can bring you delight.

Have a wonderfully blessed Epiphany!