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SusanJ
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I would totally recommend just starting with a Christ candle this week. If it's a tradition your family takes to and really likes it will be all the more meaningful come Advent to have the new one and I would think you might even add special decorations or the year somehow (I'm really not crafty--ideas?). I guess you might not want to step on a similar Easter Vigil tradition of decorating the candle--or you could choose to make Easter the start of your candle year. I'm excited to incorporate that idea more into our candle tradition.
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SuzanneG
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Here are some things that we've done in the past with Saturday evening meals and traditions:
::Make a little decorated sign with a bible verse or a catechism quote....something about Sundays.....ours was "Let us go to the house of the Lord. " Placed on the front door on Saturday night -- The girls alwasy liked to touch it as they walked out the door, while saying "yes" to the Daddy-Potty-Police's question of "did you go to the bathroom?" 
::Think of our family intention for Sunday's Mass on Saturday night at the table, or maybe at night prayers. Discuss as a family.
::Clean out the van Saturday night so it's not trashed for Mass on Sunday. Rotate kids.
::This is usually the day when I wipe down the chairs and get the dining room cleaned up a bit. Clean off dining room table and set it....get it ready.
::Candles.....we use 2 white tapers. With a white placemat. . Even if there is no tablecloth and we're having a not-so-special-meal, the white placemat is there with the two candles. This makes it easy to "keep" for me....even if we're having hot dogs, the white placemat is easy. It also makes it do-able when dh is out of town and we're eating at the kids table.....white placemat in the middle. I like the idea of using the decorated Christ-Candle from Advent for this!
::The white placemat could be embroidered with something neat.....can't wait for my girls to be able to do this! LOL!
::I've always wanted a special Candle-arbre for this reason, but never got around to finding one.....i'm always on the lookout for something at a thrift store. If using a thicker-Christ-Candle, how about a special Candle plate-holder with your family name on with "Sunday" on it....a phrase, verse, quote, or anything????
::Also....trying to keep this a darker-dinner. In the summer, obviously it's kinda hard, but in the winter, dim the lights and eat by candlelight.
::The key with this is to start things that are easy that I can do even in not-so-great circumstances (ie: survival mode, dh away, quick dinner, sick, partial-meal, etc. )
CrunchyMom wrote:
| The whole vigil meal idea is really inspired! I'll have to run it by dh. It sounds like one of those things he might love in theory but practically, he doesn't like to stop working until late on Saturday nights because he's trying to cram everything in before Sunday. I'm not sure how it would work to try and stop to celebrate Sunday as a vigil only to hop up from the table to put in a couple more hours in the workshop or yard, yk? |
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We look at it as---we have to eat anyway, so just do a couple little things that make that dinner a bit special. I wouldn't exactly call what we do a vigil meal.....just something special/different that set it apart. Then, we do baths, get ready for Mass and prayers. After dc are in bed, dh and I may go back to work for a bit, which is fine and necessary.
This meal renews me and gets me ready for Mass. Even if I'm dealing with toddlers/babies, etc. at Mass and am not exactly paying attention and prayerful. Also, Sundays are NOT good days for me. They are tough. In a way, this halfway-different-version-meal beforehand is my refuge. Not that it's all about me.... but, just throwing that in....it's been a benefit.
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: Sept 29 2009 at 3:45pm | IP Logged
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I just read this quote in Celebrating the Church Year With Young Children by Joan Halmo and thought I'd share it because it echoes so well my own feeling in living the liturgical year:
Quote:
| Sunday is our original feast day, the first Easter celebration, and the heart of the liturgical year. We know that at the very beginning of the Church’s life there was Christianity without the great feasts and seasons we now consider to be major but there has never been a Christianity without the Sunday! |
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It's not about exclusivity, but rather primacy of place. We start with Sunday and build from there. It's not legalistic unless one makes it so --I do not.
But this is what my husband and I feel led to for our family and experience tells me that when dh and I have the same vision, it's a very good thing.
Peace!
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JennGM
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aussieannie wrote:
JennGM wrote:
I have been mulling over one Catholic tradition for years and it wasn't until today that I thought it would be perfect for all year round. It's the Christ Candle -- a white candle that would be in the Advent wreath/christmas wreath symbolizing Christ. But that Christ Candle becomes the paschal candle during Easter.
So why not have a white candle (tall thick taper or pillar) that is designated for Sundays only? It could be decorated like a paschal candle, and I have to think if I would adjust the custom for Lent and then introduce the NEW Paschal candle at Easter. |
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Jenn, usually that candle is quite big, could you use that Christ candle for all the Sundays of the year at home rather than making another one? I'm wondering because isn't the Pascal candle lit every Sunday at church as well? |
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No, the Paschal candle is only lit during the Easter season, and then it is lit for baptisms and funerals.
I haven't worked it out in my mind. The old Advent custom has the white Candle in the middle of the wreath symbolizing Christ the Light of the World, coming into the world of darkness (I love that quote: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.)
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aussieannie
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Thanks for that clarification Jenn, I must be thinking of the Masses during the Easter Season..I'm enjoying all this candle discussion, thankyou!
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JennGM
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SuzanneG wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| But I can see that even if I just adjusted to the Antiphon and Canticle and closing prayer from Evening Prayer I on Saturday and Evening Prayer II on Sunday, it would be a start. |
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I did this about a year ago starting at Advent....and it's really do-able. Then changed the Antiphons for the season, etc. I picked the wording of the Compline that I thought would have the most understanding and meaning to the kids.
I got really specific about who is saying what....ie: "Child #1, #2, Dad, Mom, All, etc. Once you have "readers" in the family....the kids really love it! Maybe I can post it somewhere later. |
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I'd like that, Suzanne, if you could post it. Now that we have one reader, it makes prayers together a little easier.
Last year I tried focusing on the Advent Sundays -- and I dedicated each Sunday to a main figure in the Advent Liturgy -- Isaiah, John the Baptist, Mary, and St. Joseph. I made a posterboard with a quote from one of the readings during Advent that we recited together during our Advent wreath lighting. We would say the wreath prayer for the week, read the quote or antiphon and then sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel. I wrote about it here. I thought this year I might take something from the Sunday liturgy -- one of the antiphons from each week to do the weekly focus. So the Evening Prayer idea works in so nicely with this idea.
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JennGM
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Susan, I buy green candles at Christmastime. And I did see some taper candles at Joann's just last week.
Suzanne, I want to highlight your whole post! I love all those things you have done. I keep thinking of Leonie's peg system -- I tend to peg a lot of my prayer and liturgical year activities around our meals because we are going to eat. That I know is going to happen in our day. And if I can visually see the reminders, it will happen.
Lindsay, I tend to wait to implement new traditions for the year when the new liturgical year happens. That's just me...we're always brimming with excitement and want a new outlook.
MicheleQ wrote:
I just read this quote in Celebrating the Church Year With Young Children by Joan Halmo and thought I'd share it because it echoes so well my own feeling in living the liturgical year:
Quote:
| Sunday is our original feast day, the first Easter celebration, and the heart of the liturgical year. We know that at the very beginning of the Church’s life there was Christianity without the great feasts and seasons we now consider to be major but there has never been a Christianity without the Sunday! |
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Love the quote, and that's one of my favorite liturgical year in the home books. I love her perspective, because she is making the liturgical year activities centered around the Sunday feasts of the seasons.
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: Sept 29 2009 at 7:42pm | IP Logged
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aussieannie wrote:
| I'm enjoying all this candle discussion |
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I actually dreamt about candles last night!
So my plan is a Christ candle with the Chi Ro on it and a strip of ribbon added at the bottom to differentiate the (temporal) seasons.
At Easter we'll have a Paschal candle and light it when we come home from the Easter vigil. Several years ago I asked permission and got it --though never did do it-- to bring home fire from the Easter vigil paschal candle to light our Easter candle. I'm going to check again with Father to see if it's still OK and if so we'll use a tall glass votive that burned down at least halfway for safely transporting the fire home (it's less than a five minute drive from our church to home).
We'll light the candle when we get home, say a few prayers and go to bed. We'll blow it out of course but wouldn't it lovely to keep the votive lit all through Easter if possible? Hmm . . . I'm just thinking out loud here.
Also I have had plans for several years to make liturgical year table cloths. Our table is very large and regular tablecloths don't fit it. I have an embroidery machine now so I am currently thinking of all the liturgical type things I want to make. 
Of course I know full well that my ideas tend to be bigger than my time so a lot of it may just stay in my head anyway but I do love the whole process of throwing ideas around. I hope I don't make everyone crazy with it. 
Edited to Add: Now if I could just find some beeswax candles for 85 cents I'd be really happy!
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Sept 29 2009 at 11:40pm | IP Logged
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I posted our Compline Page in this thread: Family-Friendly Liturgy of the Hours
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organiclilac
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Another possibility for an Easter candle is to see if any of the churches around you have their old ones. When I was trying to get one for an Atrium a couple of years ago, the chapel where dh works had 4 or 5 from previous years, just collecting dust! Since they are blessed, they cannot be thrown away, so if they are not burned all the way during the year, they are often just stored away to be burned "later"! Your priest may be very glad to find someone willing to burn it all the way so that it can be disposed of properly. Anyway, the year would be wrong, of course, but if that doesn't bother you, you can probably have the real thing! Actually, the catechist for our Atrium would even take some colored wax and fix the year, so you could do that, too.
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organiclilac
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Just saw this:
Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for October is: "That Sunday may be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the risen Lord, participating in the Eucharist".
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MicheleQ
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My husband was working on something and just sent me this quote from Redemptionis Sacramentum. It seemed to fit so well with our discussion here that I wanted to post it:
Quote:
| "For encouraging, promoting and nourishing this interior understanding of liturgical participation, the continuous and widespread celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, the use of the sacramentals and exercises of Christian popular piety are extremely helpful. These latter exercises – which 'while not belonging to the Liturgy in the strict sense, possess nonetheless a particular importance and dignity' – are to be regarded as having a certain connection with the liturgical context, especially when they have been lauded and attested by the Magisterium itself, as is the case especially of the Marian Rosary. Furthermore, since these practices of piety lead the Christian people both to the reception of the sacraments – especially the Eucharist – and 'to meditation on the mysteries of our Redemption and the imitation of the excellent heavenly examples of the Saints, they are therefore not without salutary effects for our participation in liturgical worship'." |
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I love how it shows all the connections. Praying the hours, living the liturgical year, all our prayers etc.
Beautiful!
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Michele Quigley
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CrunchyMom
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I came across these candles while looking for drying racks (they have amazing dryer racks!).
There is a large selection of beeswax candles including some colored. Though, not pink. However, the eggplant is a pretty purple, imo, that is much deeper than many I've seen. The red and green are lovely too for those wanting liturgical colors.
We've actually used the same beeswax candles on our wreath for 6+ years (they came with the wreath my husband received as a gift years ago, and I'm not sure how long or to what extent he's used them). They are natural colored and have colored ribbon tied on to mark the colors. But they really do last so much longer than regular candles and every year when we pull them out I wish I had more beeswax.
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BrendaPeter
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MicheleQ wrote:
| Dies Domini as a family right now are inspired by it in so many ways --like this quote, “Even in lay life, when possible, why not make provision for special times of prayer — especially the solemn celebration of Vespers, for example — or moments of catechesis, which on the eve of Sunday or on Sunday afternoon might prepare for or complete the gift of the Eucharist in people's hearts |
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Hi Michelle and everyone,
Do you typically print the papal encyclicals off the computer or do you have a "source" where you purchase them?
Thank you!
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MicheleQ
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BrendaPeter wrote:
Hi Michelle and everyone,
Do you typically print the papal encyclicals off the computer or do you have a "source" where you purchase them?
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I do both. I printed Dies Domini because it's not terribly long but longer ones I buy from Pauline Books and Media.
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Michele Quigley
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ALmom
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Ok, we have tried to make Sundays unique days in our life. I'm rather simple and lots of craft stuff isn't my style. We started with a reflection of what Sunday is meant to be. We read A Land Without Sunday from the Von Trapps which helped. This was before the Dies Domine came out and thanks for this discussion as this may be something we should revisit and refresh now that we are all older at my house and some of our Sunday traditions (acting out the readings) have gone by the wayside. I love the candle idea - but may keep it to something less drippy and messy - like a white candle to go inside one of those small glass holders. We could set it on a small piece of fabric in the liturgical color when we do not have Advent candles or the Easter Candle during the Easter season. White is a sign of the resurrection - and purity - both appropriate for Sunday. We'll reserve the bigger, candles for Pentecost Sunday, Easter Sunday and Christmas - or when we renew baptismal promises on the anniversary of the baptism. I've just got to keep things simple or I don't do them at all.
Mass is always a most important event and we would strive to arrive earlier than usual for better preparation (but not too early for restless toddlers). We began a tradition pretty early on. Since the priests offer their Masses on that day for us and we were trying to pray the rosary as a family, we began to offer our Sunday family rosary for the intentions of the Holy Father. We may be sporadic about a lot of other days - but this helps us focus on Sunday. We also tried to remember and post something from the prayers of the faithful - sick in the parish, etc. to remember during the week.
My husband loves a big breakfast, but we never have time to make one any other day and with heart problems in the family too much isn't a good thing. This, for me combined charity for my family (I really am not a fan of breakfast) and something that everyone looks forward to as a relaxing time together. We all cook it together (even when we only had youngers, they were in charge of stirring the OJ or something simple) and it is the only meal in which we drink something besides water. We have sausage, eggs, bacon every time. Sometimes we have pancakes, waffles (with syrup) or some other treat that we don't often get. If we have tomatoes in the garden, I'll have BLT for me and hot tea. We either try different juices or we have OJ. It is also one of the few days we actually have sweets after dinner - might be as simple as a dish of ice cream. We do go to a really early Mass and have breakfast after Mass so it is very leisurely and works for us - mostly because we all have to be up and about a bit before we are hungry. Any pre-communicants can be tied over with a snack so they don't have crabbies.
We also tend to dawdle some after Mass (not to the point of starvation or anything) but it is one of the times my children see some of their friends and about the only time we get to socialize as a family. We stand and chat outside the church after our thanksgiving. When we were at a different parish with a playground, we would let the kids have fun on the playground unless we had discipline problems in church (in which case, of course they must be too tired so we'd better hurry home and get some of that good rest).
We also made this a day of leisurely enjoyment of God's great outdoors - stuff nearby where we could walk, play in a creek, that kind of thing. We've drifted some from this as some of our teen sons now have strong desires to just be at home. We are kind of looking for good leisurely family bonding things for Sunday - things that the whole family enjoys together. We might have my parents over for dinner or some such, too. We might also have folks over for a relaxed family style meal - not where you feel like you have to decorate or entertain but where someone would appreciate just being invited into our family circle. More likely it would be Father or elderly that is alone - not another family generally as this would tend to have adults in one place and children running off individually with their friends. There is a time and place for this, but we prefer to keep Sunday as a family day.
We strictly avoid any kind of unnecessary work - no yard work, major house work (dinner is crock pot roast every Sunday unless we have something like lasagne already made up to put in the oven - ie for a special Sunday feast like Pentecost). We always do last grocery shopping on Saturday evening after Confession. I don't know if my older children keep this as strictly as we do when they are away from home - but I hope it is something they will come to again if they do not.
We almost never watch movies and have begun to do this on Sunday - but I'm thinking some of these movies are more entertainment (and while they may relax some, they do not refresh the same way as a family trek through the woods did) and I'm in the process of discerning a substitute. I'd also hate to think we would accidently watch something with less than stellar things in it. Does anyone have some really great Saints movies appropriate and good for ages 6 - adult. My 21 year olds are tired of watching the same movies we watched with them when they were 6.
When our children were younger, my dh started a tradition of acting out the gospel after breakfast. We had a lot of fun doing this - and the kids got a hoot out of seeing dad play donkeys and other such things (He always took the unpopular roles). It also encouraged them to pay very close attention to the gospel at least so they could remember all the parts to act. We haven't done this in a while - mostly because it isn't quite what the 12, 15 and 17 year old are likely to respond to. I'd still like to have something that does focus our attention to sharing insights from Mass that spans the ages. We're looking at this right now.
We did a lot of outside play in the backyard and just being together.
The other thing we did was refuse to participate in things that required us to be somewhere on Sunday. We managed to stick with this all the way through about 13 - then we had some do sports and music and had to re-examine somewhat. I'm not sure what the perfect answer is, but our experience was that if the activity bound the family together and was something that everyone could participate in doing then it fit Sunday OK. If we were frantically having to fly from place to place and dividing up kiddos in different locations, it had to go. Some of that depends on the character and interests of the individual family - so while we've seen families really enjoy just hanging out at the ball park together even if it meant official team events, we found that being in an organized team kept us frantic in at least 2 - 3 locations and Sundays were not respected. The teams my children were on intentionally scheduled practices on Sunday to get the field and a leg up on the competition. We refused to practice on Sunday when it was a regularly scheduled event taking 2 - 3 hours - and different teams for different kids were scheduling things where we were either having to divide up or rush around. For many reasons - but this included, we chose not to continue to participate with that organized sport. It may be something we have to reconsider as we have boys growing and needing more of this kind of thing. Still, I cannot have our Sunday destroyed. It might be something we put on an application up front so that folks know - It just couldn't make it work for us without turning Sundays into a chaos so we chose to let it go and keep Sunday. We don't at all mind going to the park and playing a family game of kick ball or something and we don't mind trying to find a way to accomodate a team and Keep Sunday, but if we cannot find a creative way to do both, then the activity has to go. Theater scheduled something for Easter Sunday evening. We haven't been back since that year but it might have worked if it was something we were all doing together and had fun doing and just avoided the particular season where this might happen. (Some of this all depends on the level of passion of the child, how many are involved and the understanding from those with whom you are working). Our dd orchestra was easier as she never practiced on a Sunday - that was when they did all the concerts (and sometimes it was even sacred music). The concerts were free so we could all go as a family and enjoy these as a Sunday afternoon family outing. If we'd had to pay for concerts it might have become too difficult if it was unaffordable since we wouldn't all have been able to enjoy things together. We would generally stop and feed the ducks after the concert for more wiggly time for the younger boys so everyone came home with a refreshed spirit.
When we had younger children who needed rest - but hated to stop, a Sunday drive was relaxing. (Now, we live near the country so a Sunday drive did not involve traffic - might not be so refreshing for someone in DC) and dc snoozed in the car peacefully and dh and I had some talk time. This no longer fits the bill as some of the teens find being in the car a very unrefreshing thing to do. They like to spend Sunday afternoons at home reading their books.
I think the most significant thing for us is that the pace of Sundays is clearly very relaxed and refreshing. We purposely do a lot of the busy preparation, house cleaning, decluttering, grocery shopping and such on the evening before. We also do baths on Saturday night and any hair cutting needed. We iron clothes, lay out clothes, find shoes, etc. The one thing I think we could and should add to the Saturday is some sort of preview of the next days readings or the evening prayer of the church which begins to anticipate Sunday. It is also our standard confession day and we do try to go weekly if possible. (When we try to go weekly, we always end up at least going monthly and most often every other week). It also means that none of us have to make the embarrassing request of "I really HAVE to go to confession this week. This is one habit that I am pretty sure even those away from home maintain. I figure it is one of those things we won't survive without and cannot really be ready for Sunday Mass without some regular reception of Confession.
I look more for ways to refresh our spirits, be attentive to the things of the soul and to charity than the particular crafts or outer things (mostly because that is my choleric personality and not because the other things are not important too. I actually like hearing from some of the more visual folks because I have visual children and dh and it helps me to get a better clue about what may help them refresh their spirits that I would never ever think of or even notice if it was or was not there ...). All this discussion about candles helps me understand why my dh always wants to light a candle when we pray the rosary - something that seems like such a bother and extra time to me (in our house pulling it down, and deciding who lights it and who snuffs it out takes another 30 minutes before we even begin the rosary). I want the rosary book to read the reflections and could care less whether there is a candle of not - wouldn't even notice. So I guess I'm trying to keep my families temperment and styles in mind as we plan our routines.
Janet
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ekbell
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When I was a teen I would get up early (for me) on Sunday and make muffins for the family. It was fun and a bit special for Sunday.
Now-a-days my eleven year old daughter has been getting up and making muffins for Sunday morning. It feels positively luxurious to wake up to the smell of baking.
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc wrote:
Honestly, I'm so detail impaired that I wasn't able to easily read through more than a few posts of this topic before I simply added it to my "Favorites" to read in the future when I have some peace and quiet! ...Plus, I'm grateful to those who have really considered the practical "how to" options of this matter. I really depend on others who I trust to sort through such details for me.
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I've finally had some time to ponder this topic...Thanks for the inspiration, all! Here are some of the ways we've worked to keep Sunday a priority.
We moved our big meal, complete with fancy table, to Saturday night - fabulous! During Saturday we prepare the meal, to include last minute shopping if necessary. I *love* having Saturday end at sunset...Saturdays can be so full of work that we've been known to work til the wee hours, only to be exhausted for Sunday . It was nice to have a last minute guest for Saturday night, knowing that we had a good meal planned. On Sunday morning I had a self-serve brunch ready to go plus nice sandwiches ready for later in the evening. These simple meals are made special by presenting the nicely and serving items we don't normally eat/drink such as chips, soda, and fancy convenient food (I'm still searching for pomegranate soda!) Sunset on Sunday brings an evening to prepare for the week - great!
We've assigned tasks, too. I'm in charge of food. My dh is in charge of attidude and supervision . My dd is in charge of atmosphere (tablecloth, music, candle, dim lights, etc.) My dss are in charge of Sunday activity planning. What a relief to delegate!!!!
I have a few questions:
Where do you purchase your incense? I found this home kit.
About the candle...I have a pretty white pillar candle that sits atop of a glass vase that can be filled with decorative items. Any ideas of what to put in the vase? Also...how do you decorate a candle? I know, I know...I'm hopeless .
I have a question about praying the Evening Prayer...I'll ask that on Suzanne's topic.
I also want to brainstorm meal ideas, so I'll bring that to Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry.
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
About Me
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MicheleQ
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Joined: Feb 23 2005
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| Posted: Oct 20 2009 at 12:09am | IP Logged
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Angie Mc wrote:
| Where do you purchase your incense? I found this home kit. |
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Our Father's House --we use the miniature thruible (censor). The incense and charcoal are $2.00
Angie Mc wrote:
| About the candle...I have a pretty white pillar candle that sits atop of a glass vase that can be filled with decorative items. Any ideas of what to put in the vase? Also...how do you decorate a candle? |
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I would probably put something seasonal and/or liturgically color related in the vase.
Typically a Christ Candle is decorated with the Chi Ro but there's lots of beautiful ideas here too!
__________________
Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Oct 20 2009 at 12:41pm | IP Logged
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Janet - I loved your post! I found myself saying Amen to a lot of it - right down to the candle lighting and snuffing wars!!!
__________________
Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Keeping Sundays a Priority
