Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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Subject Topic: "Must Have" Feast Days? Post ReplyPost New Topic
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cathochick
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Posted: July 11 2007 at 10:00pm | IP Logged Quote cathochick

What feast days are "musts" for your family/homeschool?

I'm looking over the calendar and thinking of what feast days I'd like to incorporate into our family and homeschool and it's tough to narrow it down. Which ones do you celebrate and why?

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At_His_Feet
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Posted: July 12 2007 at 12:44am | IP Logged Quote At_His_Feet

Hi Jessica,

As yet we haven't started celebrating feast days, but we plan to. I went through my calendar and noted a few days per month that I wanted to focus on. eg. for Aug. I choose The Transfiguration, Blessed Mary McKillop - we are Australain! and the Assumption. As yet I have no idea how we will celebrate them, but I'll worry about that later! I figured it would be better to start small so there's less chance of failure.

I've also just started buying a few books for Catholic Mosaic which will make it easy and fun.

I'm sure the more experienced mambers of the forum will have a few more clues for you. I'm just a newbie.

Tricia

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momwise
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Posted: July 12 2007 at 9:15am | IP Logged Quote momwise

Hi Jessica!

Basically in addition to those below, the more important dates are the children's name saints, the feasts of the Apostles and Solemnities like the Birth of St. John the Baptist. That's how I prioritize them.


Nevertheless, when each season rolls around again there seem to be the same dates that I put a high priority on;
to at least attend Mass and/or recite the collect.

Beginning with the school year in Sept. it's the Virgin Mary's birthday, followed by the Archangels' feast because we have a Michael and the Guardian Angels because they are our school patrons. Oct. 1 is our dd's birthday, so we honor St. Therese.

All Souls (obviously All Saints being a Holy day that is on the list as all Holy days are) day is a must because we have the annual Catholic Cemetery field trip (which you can come to!! ).

Dec. and Jan. are chock full of opportunities. We have a big celebration for O.L.of Guadalupe (not to mention Sts. Nicholas and Lucy). St. Joseph in March is probably the best observed feast outside of the Holy days around here , to emphasize his importance to the Church and family. Lent and Easter sort of take over in the Spring and the feast of the Ugandan Martyrs on 6/3 is a big one for us because they are modern day martyrs and examples of purity, and many of them were so young.



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JennGM
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Posted: July 12 2007 at 9:46am | IP Logged Quote JennGM

I think it's a personal choice. I use General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar to shape my choices. There are different rankings of feast days: Sundays and Solemnities, Feasts, Memorials, and Optional Memorials.

The life of Christ and his Paschal mysteries also take precedence over saints days.

In our house "celebrating" a day takes on a variety of ways. Priority is to go to Mass that day, but then we add on according to time and materials -- reading materials, special prayers, pictures to display, coloring pages, special foods (or eating out), art projects, or just a special family day or treat in honor of the feast. Minimally we mention the saint or feast at dinner or bedtime.

Solemnities are always celebrated here, of which there seems to be 15 for the whole year. There are only 25 feasts through the year, so we do celebrate many of these, too. Then I pick and choose according to personal interest, nameday or patron saints, favorite devotions to Our Lady, etc.

This list is a good reference to see all the choices and rankings.


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cathochick
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Posted: July 12 2007 at 2:08pm | IP Logged Quote cathochick

Thank you! This is great!

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Jessica

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Caroline
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Posted: July 12 2007 at 3:23pm | IP Logged Quote Caroline

Jenn, you and your links are just amazing!

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