Palm Sunday at Home

This Palm Sunday is different from any we have ever had. We have no choice but to stay at home. Many of us feel lost, and Palm Sunday doesn't feel as special as it usually is, since we aren't going to Mass. But even though we're not in the church building, we can still celebrate this feast. Here are some ideas, but feel free to make up your own!

1. Family rosary walk - taking a family rosary walk is a good way to set the day apart from other days.
2. Dressing up - if you've been watching Mass in your pajamas for the past few weeks, try wearing whatever you would normally wear to Mass, to remind yourself that this day is different!
3. Print out images of palms - many churches aren't giving out palms this year, so to remind yourself what day it is, print out pictures of palms or palm crosses and cut them out. 
4. Continue to watch Mass - make sure to watch Mass! Even though you can't physically be there, you can spiritually be there. Remember to make a Spiritual Act of Communion!
5. Fast - if you feel compelled to do something bigger, then you can always fast to remind yourself that this is a Sunday set apart from the rest. 
6. Make sacrifices - make sacrifices to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.

If you have any other ideas, please email them to me, and I will put them up! God bless you!

Young Saints to Remember

Sometimes, we may feel like we don't have much influence in our world. But these eleven young saints shook their world with their incredible witness to Christ.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

1. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati - From a very early age, he had a strong faith in God. He was always helping the needy and trying to share his faith. He loved the poor and spent time with them, helping them. He loved art and music, and he enjoyed climbing mountains. When he was 24 years old, he contracted polio and died. 
2. Blessed Chiara Badano - Chiara was the long-awaited daughter of Ruggero and Teresa

   

   Blessed Chiara Badano

   Badano. She was always thinking of others from a very early age. She liked to listen to music, sing, dance, hike, swim, and was very devoted to tennis. When she was 17, she got cancer, and she had to go to the hospital. Her treatments were very painful, but she offered everything to Jesus. She spent her time in the hospital cheering up the other patients until her death in 1990, at the age of 18. 



Saint Stanislaus Kostka

3. Saint Stanislaus Kostka - Stanislaus' family was very well off, but Stanislaus left all the riches he could have had to serve Jesus. His older brother Paul was not kind to him, and he wanted him to enjoy worldly things more than his faith. One day, Stanislaus got very sick and thought he was going to die, but Mary came to him and told him to become a Jesuit, and so he did. Nine months into being a Jesuit, Stanislaus fell ill with malaria and died at the age of 17. 



Saint Clelia Barbieri

4. Saint Clelia Barbieri - Clelia was always focused on God, as her family taught her. She was very pious and holy. Her father died when she was eight, so Clelia had to do many things to help her mother in their home. She founded a new religious order in her early twenties - The Little Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows. They taught the Catholic faith, helped the sick and the poor, and sewed. When she was twenty, she fell critically ill with tuberculosis. She recovered long enough to actually set her order up and get it running. When she was 23, she died of tuberculosis. Saint Clelia lives on miraculously to this day - religious communities, specifically the first one she started, can hear her singing along with them in their prayers from heaven. 



Saint Dominic Savio

5. Saint Dominic Savio - Dominic was born in Italy and always had a close relationship with Jesus. He was a very peaceful person, and he was always the peacemaker at school. He also knew another saint - John Bosco - very well. Saint John Bosco was amazed at Dominic's piety. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 14. 



Saint Philomena

6. Saint Philomena -  Not much is known about Philomena, but she is a saint anyway. Everything we know about this courageous young saint comes from visions Philomena granted to Sister Maria Luisa de Gesu. Philomena was the daughter of a Greek king who converted to Christianity with his daughter. When she was 13, Philomena promised herself to Jesus, and decided never to get married. Because she was so beautiful, the infamous Emperor Diocletian fell in love with her. When Philomena refused him and was tortured. She was whipped, drowned, and shot with arrows, but each time she was tortured, the angels came to her rescue and healed her. The emperor had her decapitated when she was still only 13. 



Saint Dymphna

7. Saint Dymphna - Dymphna was born to a pagan father and a Christian mother. When she was 14, her mother died, and her father wanted to remarry. However, he wanted his new wife to look exactly like his past wife. His advisors told him to marry his daughter, because no woman as beautiful as his wife could be found. When Dymphna heard of this, she and her priest fled to what is now Belgium. Her father followed her and, when he saw he couldn't persuade his daughter to marry him, cut off her head. Dymphna was only 14. 



Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio

8. Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio - Jose was a very joyful young man who loved Jesus very much. He asked Jesus to allow him to become a martyr. He joined the Cristeros, a group of people working to defend freedom of religion. Jose was captured. They tried to convince him to give up his faith, but he said no. Jose was martyred at the age of 14. 



Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto

9. Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto - Francisco and Jacinta Marto lived in Portugal. Their job was to herd their family's sheep. They often played with their cousin Lucia while she herded her sheep too. One day, Mary came to visit the three children. They were told to pray the rosary every day, and to pray also for the conversion of Russia, which was facing communism. They returned to the place where Mary had come every thirteenth day from May 13th to October 13th, and every time more people showed up. In the final apparition, Mary made the sun "dance" in the sky. Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza at the age of 10. Jacinta died one year later of influenza when she was 9. Their cousin Lucia became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005. She is not yet a saint, but she is a blessed.



Saint Agnes of Rome

10. Saint Agnes of Rome - Agnes was a very beautiful girl, and from a very young age, all the boys in her town wanted to marry her. Agnes refused all of them, because she had made a promise to God that she would never get married, she would only love Jesus. When the governor's son was refused by Agnes, he went and told his father that she was a Christian. She was brought before the governor, and he tried to promise her wonderful things, but Agnes refused. He put her in chains and sentenced her to death. She was beheaded in 304, when she was only 12 or 13 years old. Because the story of Saint Agnes was so long ago, there are many different versions. But a few things always stay the same: she is always remembered in the stories for her purity, youth, and joy. 



Saint Pedro Calungsod

11. Saint Pedro Calungsod - Pedro was a young catechist who assisted missionaries. He was especially close to Padre Diego. He went from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands in the Western Pacific, teaching the natives about Jesus. The missionaries became popular on the islands. One native got angry at the popularity of the missionaries, and he spread some rumors. Some people began to believe him because of random coincidences. Pedro and Padre Diego gathered some children and adults to teach them the truths of the Catholic faith. Pedro and the Padre Diego decided to baptize a baby with the mother's consent. When the father found out, he began throwing spears at them. Pedro could have easily left, but he wanted to stay with the Padre Diego. A spear was caught in his heart. Padre Diego gave him final absolution before he died. 

These eleven saints can inspire us to be sacrificial, joyful, pure, and holy in our everyday lives. God bless you!

Gaudete Sunday

Yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, and it is a special day. You will notice some changes in the church building. For one thing, the pink candle is lit. Also, banners and the altar cloth, as well as the priests' vestments are pink (the liturgical term for this pink color is rose). And there's this special word - Gaudete. What does it all mean?

To start off, Gaudete is Latin for "rejoice". Advent is typically a time of hope and preparation, but it is nice to have a celebration of joy in between all the hoping and waiting. 

Gaudete Sunday is not just for Sunday. It is for the whole week - Sunday through Saturday. 

Your challenge for this week is to exercise the virtue of joy. Smile at as many people as you can. Be joyful! Also, continue practicing the virtues of hope and patience, because although it is a special week, it is still Advent, so we should still be practicing these virtues. 

God Bless!

Advent 2019

Happy New Year!

Wait, what? New Years isn't for another month! If that's what you're thinking, then you are wrong. As Catholics, we celebrate a different new year - the liturgical New Year! Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and we celebrate our New Year. And it's not a cause for solemness and quietness, it is a time of celebration! You can even take some of the New Year traditions in your family and apply them to this New Year!

• Take out the Advent Wreath! Remember, the wreath with the four colored candles? You should bless them for this season and then light the first candle!
• Write New Year's Resolutions: Just like the upcoming New Year, you can write resolutions. Write down all the sins you can remember and resolve to try not to commit them again. You can also go to the sacrament of Penance!
• Pray the rosary: Start off your Advent Season well by praying this prayer. It doesn't take as long as you might think, and Our Lady promises special graces to those who pray it.

Feel free to come up with your own ideas as well. I pray that you find a way to celebrate your New Year the best you can. God bless! 

All Saints

On Friday, the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of All Saints. This is a good time to talk about patron saints and what they help you with.

A patron saint is a saint that shares your name. For example, if your name is Patrick, your patron saint is Saint Patrick. I have always thought that if you have a patron saint, then they're a saint you should look up to and try to follow. Trying to act like them and have the same virtues will get you closer to Jesus. So, this week, your goal is to find out who your patron saint is. Then, read a little bit about them and try to act like them. Hopefully, you will even ask for their intercession!

Remember, all names do not have saints associated with them, so sometimes you have to get creative. For example, if your name is Rosalyn, you might have to go with Saint Rose of Lima instead.

Below is a short list of saints and virtues they led, for your use when trying to find who your patron saint is.

Saint Maria Goretti (Maria, Mary, Marie, Marilyn) - Purity
Saint Monica (Monica) - Patience
Saint George (George) - Bravery
Saint Joan of Arc (Joan, Joanne, Joanna) - Courage
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (Elizabeth) - Generosity
Saint Therese (Therese, Theresa, Teresa) - Love
Saint Anthony of Padua (Anthony, Antonio, Antonia) - Prayerfulness
Blessed Chiara Badano (Chiara, Clare) - Joy
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (George) - Happiness
Mary (Mary, Maria, Marie, Mara) - Obedience
Saint Maximilian Kolbe (Maximillian, Max) - Sacrifice
Saint Thomas (Thomas, Tom) - Belief, Trust
Pope Saint John Paul II (John, Paul, John Paul, Johnny) - Love
Saint Lawrence (Lawrence) - Perseverance
Saint Rose of Lima (Rose, Rosie, Rosalyn) - Piety

God Bless You!

Starting Back Up

School is starting again for most of us, including me. We have to get used to new environments and new teachers and maybe even a new school. You may feel disoriented, tired, etc. The important thing when starting something new is to stay confident. If you approach everything with confidence, you will feel better.

Most of the saints had to be confident at least once in their lives, including Saint Joan of Arc. Just like you, Joan of Arc had to be brave. When she left her family's farm in the tiny village of Domremy, she was making adjustments, just like someone starting school. Even if you don't feel like starting a new grade or going to a new school are brave things to do, they are! When starting a new school, be like Joan of Arc and ride into the battlefield with your head raised high!

God Bless You!

Summer With Jesus!

Monday, August 12, 2019

Amen

Amen. We say this at the end of every prayer that we’ve ever prayed. After the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, etc. Have you ever wondered what the word actually means? I have. So I recently researched the word, and found out some very interesting things. Amen means “so be it”. It comes from the word aman, which means faithful, or trustworthy. So when you say the Our Father, and you say “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen”, you will understand what you are saying. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

The Good Shepherd

In the gospel for today, Jesus tells the story of the shepherd that went after one sheep. He had 99 others, but he went after that last sheep. That gospel reminded me of a Saint Augustine quote: “God loves each of us as if there was only one of us.” It’s easy to think that we’re trash, that God doesn’t want us, etc., but that’s not the truth. We are all like that sheep that went astray, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will always go after us. If you were the last person on earth and Jesus had to be crucified again to save us, then He would, because He cares for us. He would die for you no matter how bad you behaved. Today, your challenge is to remember that you’re worth saving. 

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Acting Like Maximilian Kolbe

Today is the feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. He lived in Europe during World War II and spoke out against the Nazis. He was captured by the Nazis and put in a concentration camp. He eventually gave his life to save another prisoner. You can make sacrifices, just like Maximilian Kolbe. Not all of us are called to give our lives to save others (“There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” -John 15:13), but we can small sacrifices (a good example of making small sacrifices would be the life of Saint Therese of Lisieux). So today, your challenge is to make one or two small sacrifices for someone in your life. “For Jesus I am prepared to suffer still more.” -Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Thursday, August 15, 2019

What is a Holy Day of Obligation?

A Holy Day of Obligation is a day in the year that all Catholics are required to go to Mass. It celebrates an important event in Jesus’ or Mary’s life. Today is the Feast of the Assumption. The Assumption commemorates the day that Mary went to heaven, body and soul. Today, your challenge is to get your parents to take you to Mass. If going to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation are already important in your household, then your challenge is to act like Mary today. 

Friday, August 16, 2019

“His Mercy Endures Forever”

Today’s psalm is in Psalm 136. It talks about praising God. It also talks about God’s mercy and thankfulness towards God. Today, your challenge is to “create your own psalm”. Your “psalm” should be a poem or prayer. It should talk about God’s mercy, your thankfulness, and praise of God. If you would like, you can send it into katherine.orloski@gmail.com, and I will post them on Catholic Thoughts 4 Kids. 

Every day, we should be praising and thanking God. Every morning and night, you should be talking to God and thanking and praising Him, because He is an amazing God. He is merciful, loving, all-powerful, and praise-worthy. 

Saturday, August 17, 2019

“Let the little children come to Me.”

This biblical phrase is one of Jesus’ most popular quotes. The passage goes on to say that “the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these”. Jesus doesn’t mean that only children can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It means that in order to enter God’s Kingdom, we must become humble. How do we become humble? We accept that we make mistakes. A good example of this is Saint Therese of Lisieux. Saint Therese took the blame for things she didn't do. She made small sacrifices, and she also befriended a nun who made fun of her and frustrated her. Saint Therese lived with a smile on her face. Today, your challenge is to humble yourself. Be like Saint Therese. Let yourself go to Jesus.