7 Quick Takes {Take 42} Aging librarians, summertime reading, and prayers for Pentecost! edition

-1- "Why do they make the print SO SMALL?!"

Happy Friday everybody! I just assisted a patron over the phone, and so I'm feeling very librarian-like right now. I also have my glasses on, which I do about 90% of the time I'm at work now. It's a humbling reality, to be sure, especially when I have to take them off to then look at anything farther than my computer screen away from my face, only to pop them back on my nose when I need to read again. Why do I do that, you reasonably ask?

Because I need bifocals.

*glares*

I hate it, but most likely with my next eye exam early next year I will go this route, because I hate the on and off thing. That makes me feel *older* than just having glasses I can wear. I like my glasses, in fact. And so does Mike, he says it adds to some kind of "librarian allure" that he finds appealing. :0 I suppose this is a comfort in my aging process, since he's going to be seeing a whole lot more of my glasses in the coming years.

-2- My little girl is getting so big. *second sniffle in 20 second time period*

I had Anne at the pediatrician on Wednesday for her 3 year well visit. In the past year, she has grown 4.25 inches. :0 I mean, holy growth spurt! And she's in the 79% for height on the growth chart. Mike and I just produce these giant children. She was very cute, climbing all over the exam room in her underwear while we waited for the doctor to arrive.

"Mommy, a spider."

*time stands still* Because Anne is afraid of/in love with spiders.

"It's ok, Honey, just leave him alone."

"Can't you get him, Mommy?!"

"No, we're just going to let him crawl around. Maybe he's trying to find his web."

"His web?"

Now she's *really* interested in what he is doing. Spider Web Spotting is one of Anne's very favorite activities.

"He's crawling behind the table, Mommy!! Is that his web?!"

"I'm not sure, Honey, it's kind of hard to see back there."

"I'M GOING TO WATCH HIM, MOMMY."

Super Secret Spy Anne, saving humanity from the antics of household spiders...

-3- Prayer request!

But on a serious note, while Anne got an excellent bill of health at the pediatrician, the doctor did note that she hears a small heart murmur. Now, I have a heart murmur, as does my mom, and as did my grandfather. In my case (and similar to my my my mom and grandfather), it is a mitral valve prolapse, a minor defect in one of my heart valves. It does not interfere in my daily life in any way, and carries no negative long term prognosis. It seems reasonable to assume that if Anne has a discernible heart murmur, she likely has the same thing. However, we need to be sure of exactly what is going on, so we were referred to a pediatric cardiologist for an echocardiogram. Her appointment is a week from today, and I would so appreciate it if you would keep her in your prayers while we await the results. It's most likely something extremely minor, but I can't help, I feel freaked out. #mybaby

-4- Pentecost Novena! 

Speaking of prayer, today is day 1 of the Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit, run by Pray More Novenas.  You can sign up to receive the prayers in your email each day, so that you don't forget. I'm definitely going to be praying this one, so join in! Hard to believe that it'll be Pentecost so soon! Then back to Ordinary Time for us. :)

-5- My reading queue is looking all tidy. *adjusts bun*

I had gotten rather obsessed with an Amish fiction series I was reading and was neglecting my spiritual reading, so I have gotten back on course. The official May post for the Catholic Book Club went up this past Wednesday with my review of Vocation in Black and White. I also finished a book that I am slated to review for Image Books, Girl at the End of the World: My Escape From Fundamentalism in Search of Faith with a Future, by Elizabeth Esther:

I need to post a review on the blog, so I'll do that probably Wednesday. Wednesdays just strike me as a good day to talk about books. :) Look for that review then, and I'll provide a teaser: this was a *very* interesting memoir, an insight into a cult. I am *fascinated* with cults. :0 Happily, I don't want to join one, but the reading is always so interesting. Stay tuned for Wednesday!

-6- Happy summer spiritual memoirs!

I adore spiritual memoirs, and I chose this summer as a time to just indulge and read several as part of the Catholic Book Club. I have started Jennifer Fulwiler's Something Other Than God, for our June selection:

I know there are some of you out there who have already read this ;) so bring your typing fingers to my combox come June 25th. In July, we have Pope Awesome and Other Stories: How I Found God, Had Kids, and Lived to Tell the Tale, by Cari Donaldson:

I love humor in writing, and so I have a feeling that I'm going to really love this memoir. AND, I may have an interview with Cari lined up. :0 I am *super* excited about this, so stay tuned for details! And read the book, I want to hear your thoughts! (psst! $4.99 Kindle download at Amazon right now! Snap that baby up!) August's selection will be announced shortly. :)

-7- Weekend plans? And being Multi-Craftual (aka Likes to Spend Money on String and Beads)

We've got another busy one this weekend. I have dance rehearsal. Henry has a birthday part to attend and a soccer game. We're making plans for the rest of the summer. No major travel plans, but some local stuff and a short jaunt to Pittsburgh to visit family in late June.

I'm also planning to work on my crafts a lot, which have been bringing me much joy of late. I'm busily crocheting a hip scarf as a gift for one of my troupemates. And I've also taken up beading. :0 Like I needed another craft, right? I already lacked focus between the mountain of yarn in my storage bins for knitting and crocheting, but hey, that's never stopped me before. I'm multi-craftual, apparently (new phrase: officially coined). I've been making jewelry and actually experimenting with rosaries, which is like a dream come true (AN OFFICIAL FIX FOR MY ROSARY HABIT!!). I'll post more pictures next week, but here are my first two pairs of earrings:

Maple Sugar earrings

Orange Spice earrings. You know how I am about orange...

What are your weekend plans?

Ok everyone, that's all for now! I'll be with you again on Monday. Talk to you then!

Check our more 7 Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!

The Lord Rising in Our Lives: Feast of the Ascension 2014

Good morning all! Happy feast of the Ascension to you. I live in a province in which this holy day of obligation is *not* transferred to the following Sunday, and I didn't realize that this was somewhat of a controversial issue. :0 Via the wonders of social media ;) I am now informed. There are only a handful of provinces (New York, Boston, Hartford, Newark, Philadelphia, and Nebraska) that retain this holy day of obligation on its Thursday placement, 40 days after Easter. I know many Catholics who feel slighted because they would like to attend Mass for the holy day on its traditional date. If you live outside of one of the aforementioned provinces, the readings at Mass today would be for Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter.

#Catholicproblems

At any rate, it was in fact an obligation for me to attend Mass today in my diocese, but I see holy days of obligation in such a positive light. I love the opportunity to prioritize morning Mass during the week, I miss attending daily Mass so much. When I was younger, I often attended Mass at noon during the week. I rarely do this anymore, and its because I'm just at a different state in life now. Previously, I was a student in school, or was single and working, and it was easy to carve out time to walk to lunchtime Mass, and there were churches very close to me. Now, to attend Mass at lunch, I have to walk out to my car, which is parked about a 5 minute walk away from the library, that's just the way the parking situation is here on this campus, and then drive to Mass, and the entire shebang is just highly time consuming and inconvenient. Instead, I LOVE morning Mass now, it's such a wonderful way to start the day. That isn't always easy, given that my parish's Mass is at 8 am and if I have something going on at work right at 9 am, I won't make it. But I do what I can.

This morning, I was scheduled to lead a meeting at 9 am, so I was in a bit of a bind. However, I scouted out churches (I take this task very seriously, and am proud of my abilities in this regard :0) and found a parish on my drive into work that had an 8 am Mass. It's close enough to campus that I thought I could make it to the library in time for my meeting if I didn't stop at my office beforehand. I had to leave home about 15 minutes earlier than usual, but obviously, very worth it.

And so it was. Mass was absolutely lovely. During the homily, the priest described the feast of the Ascension as being a time of Christ rising in each of our lives in small ways. We all woke up earlier and carved out time to attend Mass, an evidence of Christ working in our life this very morning. We can do small things like add in even a few additional minutes of prayer to allow the Lord to rise in our life on other days as well. I just loved how he framed this.

After Mass I hurried out to my car, but I needn't have worried. It was 8:45, and I had plenty of time to drive the few minutes to campus and get into the library to open the meeting room. It worked out perfect. Although barely anyone attended the meeting, and I have to be honest and admit that I felt a bit annoyed. I am anal - I sent out a reminder. :0

But anyway, it was a lovely start to the morning. I was thinking as I was sitting in my pew how I felt connected to other Catholics around the world attending Mass for this feast day. And isn't that a beautiful thing?

Ok, so let's chat: is the Ascension a holy day of obligation in your diocese? If it isn't, would you rather it be so? Leave me a comment!

Catholic Book Club: Vocation in Black and White

Good afternoon all! Today I am happy to be reviewing Vocation in Black and White: Dominican Contemplative Nuns Tell How God Called Them for our May Catholic Book Club selection. I have a huge soft spot for vocations stories, having contemplated a calling to the religious life myself, and I love reading books in this genre. In March, I reviewed Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns for this same reason. I absolutely love reading about people who chose a religious vocation, men and women alike. But I do particularly enjoy reading about women called to a cloistered vocation. I can't completely explain why, because even when I considered the religious life I didn't feel 100% pulled in that direction. I did consider it, but I also considered an active vocation. There is something though, about cloistered nuns that compels all of us, no? It's such a drastic thing, to remove oneself from the world, that we all want to know what drew them to this decision. Fascinating material, to be sure.

And so, going into Vocation in Black and White, I brought my own excitement and fervor for the religious life. I am a person drawn to silence, and a group of women living in prayer, work, and silence is something pleasant to contemplate. And I love personal stories. You all know my penchant for spiritual memoirs. Thus, I started this book very enthusiastic. The book did not, however, grab me quite the way that I had hoped.

It's not that I didn't like this book, because the material was interesting and certainly touching. I very much enjoyed reading the stories therein. It's just that this book is a quick read. It's only 131 pages, yet includes 23 stories, plus Introduction and Glossary, so there isn't a lot of room there. Each of the stories was quite short. The featured women are from several different cloistered Dominican monasteries, which lent some nice variety. Most of the nuns entered back in the 1950's and 60's, and spoke briefly of their family life, their call to religious life, and their decision to answer. All very lovely. It's just that I wanted so much more. :) Detail ladies, give me details!!! Let's explore what you *thought* you wanted for your life, and how God called you and changed everything. What exactly was going through your mind as you discerned, what were the considerations? How did your family react? How did you feel after you arrived at the monastery? Did you ever doubt your decision? What is your day-to-day life like there? How are the Dominican charisms fitting into your vocation? I WANT ALL OF THAT INFORMATION. :0

What we get here are very brief overviews of the foundation of their calling, a nutshell version really. There were a few that started out a bit more detailed and I got all excited. Then WHAM! It ended. :) The author would wrap up unnaturally quickly. It had to be the editing process, I suspect. I didn't really like that, but truly, this is a case of unrealistic expectations on my part. This is a short book, and priced at $3.99 for Kindle download. It gives exactly as advertised: short personal stories written by contemplative Dominican nuns about their calling. I prefer longer, more detailed accounts, and that is simply not what this book aimed to do.

So I would say this: if you enjoy vocations stories, and don't mind shorter ones, you will like this book, and the price is certainly right. I had a lovely glow about me after I finished reading the book, it is always meaningful to read such things. If you are looking for longer, more detailed stories about religious life, you will want to look elsewhere.

Did anybody else read this book? Leave me a comment. :)

Next month, my friends, we are in for a treat, I suspect. Jennifer Fulwiler's Something Other Than God is our June selection, and I am poised to savor. I haven't started the book yet, but I *adore* Jennifer's writing on her blog, and am super excited to read this. Join in, please!

Car rosaries, and reflecting on my happy Catholic community...

Hello all! Very happy to be back with you. I had an absolutely smashing Memorial Day weekend, and as ever, despite my love of routine, it was difficult to come back to work today. But we persevere, no?

As I spent time with Mike and the kids this weekend, I got to thinking other happy thoughts. This is always dangerous, when I think too much. ;-) But I was thinking about how much it means to me that I have not only my parish community, but my Catholic online community whose support is so, so valuable to my day-to-day spiritual life. I have written about this before, shortly after I returned from the 2013 Catholic New Media Conference, wherein I met people whom I had only ever heard on a podcast or "seen" on Twitter. Knowing that all of these people are out there with whom I share such a pivotal common interest, that we can encourage each other via our blogs, Tweets or Facebook posts...this just truly picks me up when I am down. To know that all of these friends are out there, who care about what is going on in my life and I in theirs, who pray for me and make jokes on Twitter to make me laugh...it just means the world to me.

My new car rosary in action...

And so, this is where my new car rosary comes into the story, pictured above. Allison, of Rosaries by Allison fame :) made it for me, as she had many other rosaries that I own or have gifted to others. The car rosary that had been currently residing in my car was looking old in the tooth, and to be frank, was a giant pain in the backside. It never sat right, and anytime I had to add a new parking tag or something to my review mirror the rosary got ticked off and hung all disjointed. Trying to adjust it was a nightmare since the fastener was up at the top, and there is no room up there to either manuever or see what I was doing. So I asked Allison to come to my rescue. Could she make me a new car rosary?

She did, exactly to my specifications. Pink and green please, and long enough so that I can actually see it when my parking tag is hanging up as well. I got to pick the centerpiece, and I chose a Guardian Angel. :)

*heart*

Allison used milky pink pressed glass beads, and a light green pearl for the Our Father. The fastener is down near the centerpiece, so I can ACTUALLY ADJUST THE ROSARY WITHOUT SWEARING. I would say this is a very good quality in a car rosary. :0.

I LOVE it, and every time I look at it, I think about Allison, and wing up a prayer for her. I have never met Allison in real life, but I feel like I know her very well on Twitter and Facebook. And thinking about Allison makes me think about all of the other Catholics that I know on Twitter and Facebook, most of whom I've never met in real life, and who all know each other on there as well (a very happy Catholic circle :)). I hope to meet more of them in coming years at conferences and such, but regardless, even if I never meet them in person, I have a relationship with them that is *meaningful*. They lift me up, and hopefully I do the same for them. I love thinking about that every time I get into my car now. I am part of a much larger community, one that I value immensely and the people therein see little old me as a meaningful contributor. And for that I am so grateful.

If you don't already follow me on Twitter, I'm @CatholicTiffany, and I'd love to meet you on there. :) It's my favorite of the social media sites. I check it every day and interact as much as I am able.

Anybody else find other Catholics on social media? Leave me a comment! And come back tomorrow for the Catholic Book Club. I'll be reviewing Vocation in Black and White: Dominican Contemplative Nuns Tell How God Called Them. See you then!

The Church Triumphant: Spotlight on St. Michael

I'm very excited to start a monthly saints spotlight called "The Church Triumphant," and I couldn't be more pleased about this project. :) As ever, these posts will feature information from our faith, but also from my personal life story.

I'd thought I'd start with a fiercely protective saint, St. Michael, and he has a lot of significance in my family, as I'll explain below. St. Michael is an archangel, and was the leader in the heavenly battle between the good angels and Satan. He is mentioned in Scripture as being one of the "chief princes," and his name means "He who is like God." For centuries, he has been known as the defender and protector of the Church, and his feast is celebrated on September 29th.

Ok, so how does St. Michael fit into my life? Well, "Michael" has always been a significant name in my life. I actually dated two other Mikes before I found my husband (*gentle snort* third one is a charm!) and my Mike has an interesting relationship with his own name. His dad's middle name is Michael, but yet everyone calls *him* "Mike." Strange, kinda? So people often think that my Mike is a "Jr" which he is not. But anyway, aside from that one snafu, Mike likes his name, and in fact chose. St. Michael as his confirmation saint. Since he does not consider himself an active Catholic as an adult, I have always looked to St. Michael as being on my side to lassoing him back. ;-) Thus, I include St. Michael in my list of intercessors frequently.

Henry too, is fascinated by St. Michael. I mean, look at the picture from the perspective of a young boy. Cool, right?! He HAS A SWORD and is SLAYING AN EVIL CREATURE. This gives him a very high cool quotient. Henry has a small statue of St. Michael in his room that he picked out at a Catholic gift shop, and often picks out St. Michael holy cards to bring home to Mike. Cute!

I absolutely love the St. Michael prayer, and pray it often when I'm feeling in need of special protection:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly, pray. And do thou, oh Prince  of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the other evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."

I also pray that prayer at the end of every rosary that I recite. It's powerful, no?

Does anyone have a devotion to St. Michael? Or another saint you'd like to mention? Leave us a comment!

Just a quick housekeeping announcement: I'm taking a few days off to spend a long weekend with Mike and the kids, so no 7 Quick Takes tomorrow, nor a post on Memorial Day. I will return to you next Tuesday with tales of my weekend antics. :) Have a wonderful start of the summer weekend, everyone!

*Photo from Catholic Online.

Morning conversations with a 3 year old...

I'm eating my breakfast. Anne innocently walks past me in the dining room, lugging one of her small child sized chairs behind her.

"Anne, what are you doing?"

"Nothing!"

Isn't that always the answer?

"But you're still walking, Honey. Why are you taking the chair into the kitchen?"

"Nothing!"

There is only one reason Anne takes a chair anywhere, and it's not to sit on. It's to climb on top of.

She thinks she's being sly, but out of the corner of my eye, I can see her carefully place the chair next to the counter, and then climb up onto it. She paws around on the counter.

Suddenly, she is at my side.

"Mommy, what's this?"

"That's my new phone Honey, and you may not play with it."

"But I want to hold it!!"

See? That's always what children say. They just want to *hold* it. #snort

"No you may not hold it, Sweetie."

*angry noise!*

"Sorry, Honey."

*Anne stalks back into kitchen*

We never had this much drama in the house when Henry was younger...

My baby's 3rd birthday...

My precious little gal turned 3 years old yesterday:

She's kind of tall, isn't she? Mike and I seem to produce these gigantic children. :0 She has on her birthday necklace in this photo, which is an 'A' charm, her birthstone (emerald), and a St. Therese medal (her middle name!).

Anne was SO excited for her party, and awoke from her nap to greet all of her guests at the door. She ran around happily with birthday balloons, and we were able to Skype with my twin nephews, which she LOVED. Then we ate, and busted out the cake:

Anne loved her cake, and is rather a fan of all cake, just like her mother:

She was thrilled to tear into her gifts, which included lots of Dora gear:

This is a Dora guitar. If you guessed that such a noisy gift *wasn't* from her parents, you would be correct :0

...some new jammies, a sit 'n spin, and some Melissa & Doug wooden "paper" dolls:

Soon, the birthday girl was winding down:

But hard to believe, that exactly 3 years prior, our precious little one looked like this:

And now we have this:

I handled it pretty well, I didn't cry once, which I think is pretty darn impressive. Over the weekend, we enjoyed the kids a lot and took them miniature golfing. And that is a nice thing about Anne being a bit older, she can participate more in activities like that. See? I'm trying to focus on the positive.

#hormonal

Happy birthday Anne!!!!!!

7 Quick Takes {Take 41} Somber edition...

-1-

This is a much more somber edition of 7 Quick Takes for me, and the reason is the little boy I posted about on Wednesday. He died this week. It feels ridiculous to say that I'm taking it very hard, because anything I am feeling pales in comparison to what his parents must be feeling. But there it is. I'm taking it very hard, and I don't even know the family. I think we all grieve when a child dies.

I had heard about his death the night before, but I read the article about it in our local newspaper yesterday morning. That, coupled with two other nearby depressing news stories has me in a bit of a state this week. I feel all emotionally fragile, but sometimes life is just like that, you know? :(

-2-

Everything that has happened has made me appreciate my own little family even more than I already did. I go home and squeeze Anne the instant she comes to greet me:

*30 seconds elapse*

"Mommy, can I get down now?!"

And Henry keeps looking at me strangely as I keep asking him if he's ok:

"Yeah. Sure. Why?!"

I'm making my children paranoid is what I'm doing. They come by it honestly.

-3-

I've been putting some of my melancholy energy to use in worrying about Henry. Worrying is a cardiovascular activity worthy of calorie burn for anxiety-ridden people such as myself. He's growing up, and since he's our first kid, he's the guinea pig. As each new change and age comes around, we don't know what the hell we're doing anew. All of a sudden, he's starting to get all awkward and needs to wear deodorant, and I wonder where the time went when all I had to worry about was whether or not he was going to sleep through the night. He's starting to play soccer now, and I'm all worried that his shyness and not wanting to be at the center of the action is going to translate to him getting teased. I don't ever want my baby to get his feelings hurt, you know? It's so tough with kids. I feel like I've already made so many mistakes, why can't the lessons I've learned also benefit them? But they don't listen. They have to learn those lessons on their own, via making the same mistakes. And it's difficult to watch. This is yet another reason why all new babies should come with an instruction manual:

"Everything You Need to Know About Raising Henry from Newborn Until He Graduates From College," by God.

I really wish He would oblige us on this one.

-4-

Speaking of my young, some sassy toddler is about to turn 3 on Sunday. :0 Yes, that's right, our precious Anne has a birthday this weekend, and I can hardly believe it's been three years since she came into our lives. Dwelling on this is doing nothing for my weepy emotional state, let me tell you.

Her first Christmas *sobs!*

I'm going to be a basket case by the end of the weekend, just in time to blog all about her party on Monday. You've been warned.

-5-

I've been trying to keep up with my reading, and in fact have finished Vocation in Black and White, the selection for this month's Catholic Book Club! I'm excited to be reviewing it for you May 28th, just after Memorial Day. If you're interested in religious vocation stories, check out the book and/or the review. The book is only $3.99 to download for Kindle!

-6-

I've also been doing my usual fiction reading, and am currently reading Breath of Spring, the final book in the Amish series I've spoken about before:

New additions to my Kindle include some more inspirational fiction put out under the Love Inspired Suspense imprint, which I'm always a huge fan of. I just pre-ordered a book called  by Dana Mentink, who has this whole "Stormswept" series that I'm now intrigued by. I read her "Treasure Seekers" series previously and loved it. This is the book I just pre-ordered:

It comes out July 1st, very excited!

I also downloaded a Love Inspired Suspense with an intriguing plot involving stolen art aboard an Alaskan cruise ship. It is Perilous Waters, by Sandra Orchard:

Can't wait to read it! How I *heart* inspirational romantic suspense.

-7-

Nothing to do with anything else, but my posts are often like that. :0 You may remember that I talked about my real food eating plan change over Lent. My goals were to lose about 6 pounds that I've carried since I weaned Anne, plus improve my cholesterol, which previously had bordered on high for my age and height/weight range. Well, I have an update. :)

I have lost 7 pounds since February, and my most recent blood work results caused my doctor to remove "borderline high cholesterol" from my chart. :0 I'm quite thrilled. My "good" cholesterol went up significantly, bringing my cholesterol ratio down from a 4 (5 and up is considered high) to a 2.5. This real food thing is for real, y'all. :) I'm very, very happy.

Ok everyone, have a wonderful weekend! Check back on Monday for details of my Anne's big birthday bash. And head over to Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes!

Of prayer during tragedy...

Morning all. My heart has been heavy this spring with a local tragedy that I now bring to your attention as well. Little Ben Sauer is a 5 year old twin boy who has terminal brain cancer. The story is absolutely heartbreaking and the past day has been particularly grim. Every time I think about it, I feel like I'm barely holding it together and I don't even know this family! It's just that every parent fears this exact scenario. Your own death? Not pleasant, but we all have to come to terms with it. The death of a close family member or friend, parent or spouse?  Very, very difficult. But the death of a child? Unspeakable. Unthinkable. Unbearable.

It has caused me to think about my relationship with my own kids. Do they drive me absolutely crazy sometimes? Yes, yes they do. :) I'm not really what I would call a *natural* with children. I love children, always have, and I absolutely love and treasure my own. But playing with children and dealing with all of their quirks and needs does not come as second nature to me. I work very hard at it, and oftentimes I fail. But always, always I want to provide for my children emotionally, spiritually, physically and financially. I love them and want to do right by them, have them feel nurtured and loved, and raise them to be good, moral and compassionate people.

I'm not always as patient with them as I could be. But I resolve to do better and soldier on. And lately, all I want to do is go home and hold them tight. Let them know how loved they are. Hearing about a tragedy like this has that effect on a lot of people, I suspect.

Would you all please pray for Ben and his family? His mom, Mindy, and his dad, Andy? His twin brother Jack, and their sister Megan? There is also another little sister on the way, due in mid- September.

The Our Lady Undoer of Knots novena with Pray More Novenas starts tomorrow, that's one tool out there for our prayer life. :) Any and all prayers are absolutely coveted and appreciated by this family.

Thank you to everyone. *heart*

The Catholic Nook: May Crowning

Afternoon all! And a lovely day it is. I attended the May Crowning ceremony at Henry's school parish yesterday morning, and a few of my non-Catholic friends have asked me what this is. May is a time of rich sacramental and other liturgical celebrations in the Church, and so I thought the crowning was a lovely addition to our Catholic Nook.

May is traditionally (at least in modern times) a month in honor of Mary for Catholics. We celebrate her role as the mother of Jesus and as our spiritual mother. What Catholic parishes will do as a demonstration of that place of honor is a May Crowning. A statue of Mary is set up in front of the church, or outside. Usually children who recently received their First Holy Communion will process in and present flowers to Mary. One of the children will place a wreath of roses atop her head, and the statue will remain with the flowers for the duration of the month as a reminder of what we are remembering. We consider Mary Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, I attended the May Crowning at the parish affiliated with Henry's school. This was the first May Crowning that I have seen as an adult. I seem to remember my sister Shauna'h participating in a May Crowning as a child, and having the coveted role of placing the flowers atop Mary's head (cute!), but I don't recall whether my class ever did this as part of religious education. At any rate, this is how it went down:

The First Communicants (third graders, in our diocese) processed into the church wearing their First Communion finery. One little girl in Henry's class isn't Catholic and thus did not receive the sacrament, but she had a role in this ceremony just like her classmates, which I thought was wonderful. She led the line of little girls down the aisle bearing small bouquets of flowers, looking very pretty in a cream colored dress that coordinated well with the First Communion dresses. As each twosome got up to the altar, one boy and one girl, they bowed to the Tabernacle and placed their bouquet of flowers near the statue. At the end of the line came a little boy carrying the wreath of roses on a pillow and a little girl who would crown Mary with them. When they reached the altar, the final little girl crowned Mary, and everyone had a seat.

The children from the third grade class each had a role to play aside from the initial procession. Three girls read a poem to Mary, and a handful of children (including Henry! #precious) read the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There was a Gospel reading and a short homily. Then some of the children read prayers asking for Mary's intercession, and the entire class sang "Lady of the Roses." Henry does not enjoy singing, and usually complains at home when the class is tasked with a song for some sort of event. But this time we hadn't heard a peep of protest out of him, and I asked him about it later.

"Oh yeah Mommy, I love 'Lady of the Roses.' Did you like the poem too?"

So.Precious. He *liked* the Mary song, and hence sang it with gusto. I was so, so pleased.

I absolutely loved the ceremony, and I love that Henry is participating in these types of rituals as part of his religious education. Has anyone else attended a May Crowning this year? Leave me a comment!

*Image from www.catholicculture.org