Celebrate the Memorial of the Exltation of the Cross with Food, Reading, and More!

On September 14, we celebrate the Memorial of the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross.  Last year, my family did this largely through prayer, conversation, reading, and food.  This year, we intend to add some further lessons.  So, today, I thought I would share a look back and a look ahead, plus share the story of the history of the day (towards the bottom of this post).

A Celebratory Breakfast

 

 
Last year, my children woke to a morning note which let them know we'd be enjoying a special breakfast together for the Memorial of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Before the rose, I set up our simple meal as a breakfast picnic.  I decorated our breakfast blanket simply, inspired by an excerpt at Catholic Culture which explains that:

The cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with the cross on top, symbolic of the triumph of our Savior over the sin of the world, and world conquest of His Gospel through the means of a grace (cross and orb).

I used a small globe and a crucifix raised up on an upturned cup.

I also set out our laptop, so we could read about the day on Catholic Culture, the Story Library of Saints so we could read about St. Helen, who found the True Cross, and Pray Always, opened to a picture of Jesus on the cross.

Our meal was a simple "apple pizza" made with a GFCF pizza crust, apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

After grace, while focused on our cross above the world, we prayed a quick prayer also found on Catholic Culture:

O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

Then, inspired by the following passage at "The Triumph of the Cross" at Catholic Culture, during our meal we chatted about crosses in our own lives:

"... the Finding of the Cross... is connected with the old tradition that the Empress Helena discovered the True Cross of Christ in the fourth century and built a church on that place. What the Church wants to bring home to us is this: that we must take the word of Our Lord seriously: 'Whosoever wants to become my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me.'
When we celebrate this feast of the Cross in September in our family, this leads to talk about the different crosses in our life, small ones, big ones."

We also read "St. Helen" in the Story Library of Saints and located relevant locations on our mini-globe.

A Quick and Easy Addition to Lunch

Tradition says that sweet basil grew all over the hillside where Saint Helena discovered the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  Thus, as a part of our lunch, I made a small "hill" of hummus and laid a GFCF pretzel cross in it, surrounded by fresh basil leaves.   

While enjoying our lunch, we narrated to one another a bit about what we recalled from St. Helen's story.

A Symbolic Dinner

Keeping up with symbolic eats, I decided to continue the basil theme into dinner by serving a GFCF penne pasta with "love" (or "blood of Christ" tomatoes in it.

I also fashioned some bread into a quick cross.

Unfortunately, just went we sat down for our meal, ominous storm clouds rolled in. 

Fortunately, the storm held off long enough for us to pray quickly and dive into the meal with joy and gusto.

Further Lesson and Discussion Ideas

This year, I will be curious to see what my children recall about the Exaltation of the Cross and St. Helen, so I plan to serve up symbolic meals again, to take out some St. Helen readings, and to see what the children recall.  I also hope to include further lessons, chats, and resources in our week's plans, to include:
Copywork

One of our learning goals this year is to build our copywork muscle.  Thus, this week, we'll be using the lovely Sign of the Cross print and handwriting pages that Crusaders for Christ freely shares.  (To find the download link for these pages, just scroll down to the section of the page entitled "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass".)  When giving these pages to my children, I plan to chat with them about some of the times and reasons we use the Sign of the Cross, such as:

• to profess the deepest mysteries of our: the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and the saving work of Christ on the Cross
• before prayer to help fix our hearts and minds to God
• after prayer to keep close to God
• during challenging times as a sign of protection
• as a seal at Baptism to signify the fullness of redemption belonging to Christ
• at any point when we seek to give our entire self to God -- mind, body, soul, will, and heart.

Digging Deeper into Prayer

 Depending on the way our day is going, we might also read "Significance of the Sign of the Cross" at EWTN, which details how the sign came about, what six meanings it has, and why making it reverently can enhance one's life in Christ.

Old and New Testament

After reading the daily readings, we will also likely chat about how when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it foreshadowed our salvation through Jesus when Jesus was lifted up on the Cross. 

Nature Study

If we have time, the children an I might also play a nature version of the cookie hide-n-seek I read about at Catholic Cuisine.  Basically, my thought is that each of us could fashion a cross out of found materials in nature and, on one of these, we'll put some red.  Then, one of us will hide the crosses and the rest will seek them.  Whoever finds the one with the red will get to lead us all in a prayer and, then, hide the crosses for another round.

Stations of the Cross 

We will likely pray the Station of the Cross at home or at church, too, especially focusing on the prayer:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

If we do so at home, we may use our D.I.Y Stations of the Cross Prayer and Sequencing Sticks.

Folktales
We may re-read The Tale of the Three Trees...

... or watch The Legend of the Three Trees on video.

A Basic History of the Triumph of the Cross

On September 14th, we celebrate the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  During Jesus' time, the cross was used as an instrument of public torture, punishment, and shame for criminals that broke Roman law.  Our Lord used the cross for a different reason, however.  He took on the suffering of the cross as an sacrifice for the sins of everyone else in the world, and died in public view, so people could see how much He loves us.

from Wikipedia - True Cross by Agnolo Gaddi

In the 300's AD, a Christian queen named St. Helen went to Jerusalem to search for Christ's cross.  She found three crosses here and decided to test them to see which was the one Jesus died on.  A very sick woman touched each cross and, when she touched the third one she was instantly healed.  Through this miracle, St. Helen determined which cross was the true cross of Christ.

from Wikipedia - Illumination from Tres Rich Heures, Duc du Berry by Jean Colombe

 

St. Helen's son Constantine was not yet a Christian, but when he was about to go to war, he had a vision of the Cross and heard the words, "In this Sign, you will conquer."  He had crosses drawn on flags and shields, won the battle, and became a Christian.  Then, on September 14, 335, he had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher dedicated on the site where Christ died and rose again.

from Wikipedia - Treasure Room, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem with True Cross

In 614, Persians invaded Jerusalem and stole the True Cross.

In 629, the True Cross was recovered and brought back to Jerusalem on September 14.  Thus, on this day, we celebrate the discovery and recovery of the True Cross and that, through uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross, we can enter into eternal life. While doing so, we think about our love and gratitude for Jesus and respect for the cross.

For more thoughts about the feast day, listen to Bishop Barron's podcast at Word on Fire. 

Also This Week...

This is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is on the 15th.  If you didn't catch them last year, you might like to browse my Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea planning post:

You might also enjoy our post-tea post filled with pictures and descriptions of how our Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea and Art time actually went.

As always, we'd love to hear your favorite prayers, ideas, resources, and practices for living the liturgical year.  Do share!

God our Father, in obedience to you, your only Son accepted death on the cross for the salvation of mankind. We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth. May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~Collect Prayer for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Celebrate Saint Teresa of Calcutta's with Food and Faith Learning

Saint Teresa of Calcutta's feast day is this week on September 5th.  If, like me, you are planning your meals and lessons for the week and would like some ideas for celebrating and learning about Mother Teresa, you may wish to take a peek at the bevy of ideas I shared last year.

Indeed, I am doing just that myself, smiling as I recall how unprepared for the canonization of Saint Teresa of Calcutta I was last year after having been mostly quarantined with my family the week prior, yet how beautifully the day turned out. 

Right before the canonization, I threw myself into collating wonderful idea after wonderful idea for celebrating the day and, then, extending our learning throughout the days that followed.  Doing so paid off with a fruitful, if simple, canonization breakfast using what we already had on hand, a second meal focusing more on geography, and chatting about missions, and further learning activities throughout the week.

Our Saint Teresa of Calcutta Breakfast

Since Mother Teresa wore a blue and white sari, we decorated our table with a white lace tablecloth and white candles with blue duct tape stripes.  These decorations became a teaching moment, too, because, when the children noticed the stripes on the candles, I shared excerpts of The Significance of Mother Teresa's Three Striped Sari with my children as we chatted about their symbolism.

I also printed out Jessica's canonization cupcake toppers, free at Shower of Roses, to put into our Canonization Waffles.  The quotes on these became copywork later in the week.

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On the canonization day, we had Van's Gluten-Free Waffles, So Delicious Coco Whip, and Chocolate Silk in the house as well as some fresh blueberries, defrosted strawberries and raspberries, maple syrup, and Earth Balance "Butter".  Thus, we opted to turn our typical "Assumption Day Waffles" of into  Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta fare.

Included in the symbolism we chatted about were the following ideas:

• The brown of our Chocolate Silk reminded us of our earthly humanity.

• The blue and white of berries and Coco Whip remind us of multiple things - the heavens, the colors of Mother Teresa's sari, and Mother Mary's colors (which are the colors Mother Teresa purposefully chose for her sari). 
  
  

  

• The red of berries called to mind hearts, and, in turn, the daily love and compassion Mother Teresa lived with, hearts for the poor (including the poor in spirit), hearts for Jesus, etc.
  
  

  

  
  
• The syrup reminded us of our Lord's sweet love poured out on the world, often through the "yes" of people who do small things with great love.
  
  

  

• The roundness of our waffles may reminded us of the earth, and how we are called to live our lives here with love for one another.  It also brought to mind the eternal joy of being in Heaven with Jesus. (For a circle has no end.

Our prayers and reading included:

   

the Mother Teresa excerpt from our copy of Loyola Kids Book of Heroes, which my oldest read to us.

and revisiting the Living Faith Kids: Meet Mother Teresa, which we had picked up at church the week prior. 

We will also prayed the Mother Teresa's Nazareth Prayer for the Family

A Taste of India

Later during the day, I ran our for some easy-Indian food and was thrilled that our local store carried Amy's Indian food, so we could enjoy some geography and culture in our day of celebration, by taste-testing different dishes without me having to do much more prep than cooking up extra rice and putting frozen dinners in the oven.
  

At this meal, we revisited more of Living Faith Kids: Meet Mother Teresa, found India on a small globe, chatted about how Mother Teresa's missionaries spread their work throughout the world, and chatted more about how we could be missionaries in our everyday lives.

We also, of course, enjoyed taste testing different Indian fare and each picked out favorites among the dishes we tried.

It was a yummy, educational, and faith-filled meal!

And More

We also, of course, watched parts of the canonization online.  Then, later in the week, we did more reading in library books, and spiced up our regular S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E. + lessons with Saint Teresa of Calcutta-inspired activities.

St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.

Other Ideas!

Since then, we've enjoyed the following activities and ideas.  Click on through to learn more.

Click through for an idea for Serving with the Saints.

Click through for ideas for a Potluck-n-Play feast day celebration!

The children and I enjoy living the liturgical year with symbolic eats, prayers, readings, and resources. So, if you have recommendations for ones relating to Saint Teresa of Calcutta's feast day (or any liturgical feast), please do take a moment to share with me.  Thanks!

Learn and Pray on the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist

August 29 is the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist - a rather gruesome Biblical story to relate to sensitive children, but one that can be shared with a focus on John's virtues, rather than the details of his death.  Holy Spirit Interactive does this succinctly, reminding us that:

"(John the Baptist) would not remain silent while sin and injustice were happening. He asked people to be sorry for their sins, obey God and be His friend as true happiness comes only from God."

The Newman Connection also does a good job at offering a succinct explanation of the day, with a well written practical take away:

St. John the Baptist spoke the truth with great courage in calling others to a true change of heart, and to embrace the ways of God.  He did this not only by preaching, but also by example.  He fasted in the desert, and prepared the way for Jesus.  He had such a great courage, that he wasn’t fearful of speaking out about the immoral activities of his day.  This was the reasoning that led to his death, but he continued.  We can learn a lot from his life.  We too, can embrace the ways of God and speak out of the immorality of our day, and with the help of St. John the Baptist, we can prepare the way for Jesus to those around us. 

On this day, we will be bringing out our St. John the Baptist peg doll, which was painted by my youngest about a year ago for a peg doll swap we did with siblings and friends.

I love that he chose St. John the Baptist to paint for the swap, because St. John the Baptist is indirectly his name saint.  (My son is named after great-grampy, who went by Jack, but was named John Baptista after John the Baptist.) So, I thought it was great how my son wanted to paint his name saint...

...in multiple...

... and learn more about St. John the Baptist and his symbols...

...so he could share St. John the Baptist's story with friends.

 

Of course, the peg swap was not the first time we shared about S. John the Baptist with friends before.  A couple years ago, we celebrated John the Baptist's feast day through stories, food, water balloon games, and a baptism tray. If you're looking for lighter activities and ideas, go take a peak at what we did:

Any which way, you decide to honor the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist, it is worth thinking about the spiritual applications of St. John the Baptist's story as shared by Fr. Michael Van Sloun at Catholic Hotdish.com:

"The Baptist had a number of outstanding spiritual qualities.   He was a fierce advocate for truth and justice, fought hard for what is right, demonstrated his faith in a very public manner, walked in straight paths and urged others to do likewise, directed attention away from himself to Jesus, had a humble estimation of himself, and endured the suffering that came his way.  These admirable traits serve as inspiration and guidance for our spiritual lives."

The article there is not long as is quite worth a read to get an overview on the historical event of St. John the Baptist's death, its Gospel context, and its spiritual significance.

For more in depth details about St. John the Baptist, including links to many beautiful artworks, head on over to CatholicTradition.org's John the Baptist page.

Also, consider sharing this prayer with your family:

O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death, grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach. 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.

~Collect Prayer, as shared on Catholic Culture, where you can find more details about the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist

May we all speak truth with courage, as St. John the Baptist did, calling others to true changes of heart, and speaking out against immorality.

St. John the Baptist, pray for us.