HOLY WEEK
What is the focal point in your home? Having a home Altar that changes with the liturgical season will put the focus on the right things.
Home Holy Week Altar
Lent and Jesus in the Desert - The Cactus
Palm Sunday - Palms
Holy Thursday - Chalice
Good Friday - Cross
Easter, the Resurrection! - Jesus
(Monstrance-Jesus is always there)
Do you have a home altar!? It's a great time to start! What is the focus of your life? What is the focal point of your house! Make it Jesus! Choose a table, mantle, or a space to put religious items that fit the liturgical year.
Holy Week
This is the Holiest week of the Christian year. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday through Easter! It is the most sacred, marking Jesus' final days on earth and his ultimate sacrifice for humanity on the cross. We are called to walk this week with him in gratitude, remembrance, in His sorrowful passion and love for Him. From Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, there were many events that are vital to our faith, including the Institution of the Eucharist, the Passion of Jesus, His crucifixion, death and His Resurrection from the dead. Every day of Holy Week is spiritual pilgrimage when we follow along with the readings and themes of the day. Let us begin.
In short:
- Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem with an excited crowd
- Holy Monday, Jesus clears out the temple of merchants and money-changers
- Holy Tuesday, Jesus is anointed with oil at Bethany and preaches on the Mount of Olives
- Holy Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, Jesus is betrayed by Judas
- Holy Thursday, Maundy Thursday, Jesus celebrates the Last Supper, institutes the Eucharist, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is betrayed and arrested
- Good Friday, Solemn day, Jesus is sentenced to death, scourged, beaten, crucified, and dies on the Cross
- Holy Saturday, Jesus is buried in the tomb and descends into hell
- Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead
To honor and commemorate each day, we do the readings each day, and plan some activities out in advance. There are so many details and so much to each story.
Palm Sunday
We go to Mass and do the readings.
On Palm Sunday, Christians remember Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. People praised him with “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!", throwing palm branches and their cloaks in the street before him.
What we do:
I like to decorate with palm branches. We talk about peer pressure. We talk about how all the people that cheered Jesus on, turned on Him, or were silent for Him. We talk about how it takes courage to not go along with the crowd. We wave our palm branches with excitement!
We do palm branch crafts with the little ones!
We Pray:
Lord, help us have the courage to live our faith, even with others around us are not. Let us live our lives full of the same excitement those people in Jerusalem felt every time you enter into our lives. Amen.
Holy Monday
As you continue your pilgrimage through Holy Week, Monday is an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the humanity of Jesus. On this day, Jesus entered the temple, made a whip out of chords, flipped the tables of money changers, and drove them out of the sacred space.
"Your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19
What we do:
Is there anything in which does not glorify God in your soul and in your house? Today is a good day to reflect upon letting Jesus cast it out. "Your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19
What would Jesus want to drive out. Let Him do it. Similarly, what do you need to drive out of your house. This is a good time to do some spring cleaning and to simplify. I have often heard of people getting bigger houses for all of their possessions, rather we should not let our possessions possess us, and we should minimize, declutter and simplify. God wants a spring cleaning of our interior and exterior lives. He wants us to have interior peace as well as exterior peace, and this comes with minimizing the best we can within our vocation.
We discuss how we would and should feel if someone showed irreverence in a church or on the Altar of God in the sacred sanctuary of the church. We are called to defend and live out our faith.
We pray:
Lord, please help drive all away in the temples of our bodies and our surrounding that does not glorify and honor you. When we notice injustice, please give us the courage and boldness to do something about it. Amen
Spy Wednesday
Holy Wednesday is called Spy Wednesday, because this is the day Judas Iscariot spies on Jesus, secretly plotting to have him arrested. Judas goes to the chief priests and asks them how much money they’d be willing to give him if he turned Jesus in, which was 30 pieces of silver.
What we do:
We play a game of hiding coins and finding them, and then we do the opposite of Judas, we will put all the coins in the basket at the offering as a reparation for all those who betray Jesus and pray to strengthen ourselves to not grow weak by temptations of the world.
This is the day to play ispy games with our children to drill in the spy Wednesday. My friend Kortnee Senn, made a Catholic ispy Book called Seek and Find. You can find it at StudioSenn. She has no idea I am putting in a plug for here, but it is so great!
We pray:
Jesus, forgive us for all the times we and others have betrayed you by selling out, and choosing the worldly things instead of you over them. Help us always see what is most important in life and that is living for you. Although we do not ask for any suffering, help us use all of the sufferings in our lives as reparations. Give us strength to live out our faith. Amen.
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday is the first day of the Easter Triduum, the most sacred days of the Catholic faith. It begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, commemorating the Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and his disciples on the Jewish holiday of Passover. Jesus gathered together his closest friends for the Last Supper on His last night as He was, and the gospels all aligned. The most significant thing that happened on Holy Thursday was that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples to show service and humility, and that we are never above anything.
In the words of Saint Luke, “And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise, the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” (Luke 22:14–16; 19-20) Jesus was clear. “This is my Body. Eat it.” And “This is my Blood. Drink it.” “Do this in remembrance of me.” It’s not a symbol or a metaphor. It’s a clear and direct command. Jesus impresses upon his disciples that this is a sacred meal of his Body and Blood and that they should continue this practice after he is gone, and for two thousand years, Catholics have taken Jesus at his word and obeyed the command that He gave on his final night through the sacred ritual of the Mass.
Jesus asks his disciples to pray in the garden with him all night, and they fall asleep.
What we do-
As a family we go to Mass on Holy Thursday, pray in adoration to spend time with Him as He asked. We have a growing family with little ones, and sometimes this is not so easy, however, we can take turns, we can stop in at different churches that offer adoration as well. It would be ideal to spend at least one hour with Him at least, since that is what He asked in Matthew 26:40
“Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
After the Last Supper, Christ and the apostles went to the Mount of Olives. As His disciples, we have started a tradition to go to The Olive Garden Restaurant to spend more time with Him and celebrate the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, before our fasting on Good Friday.
We have chalices, and we drink grape juice or wine out of them and make bread to “break bread together”.
We wash each other’s feet. For bigger families, you can draw names for who will wash who’s feet. We do this to follow in the footsteps of Jesus through service and humility.
We Pray:
We wish to stay close to you Lord as the disciples did. We wish to stay united and always awake with you, and the reality of you in the Eucharist. Help us to grow in love, faith and charity. Through acts of humility like washing of the feet, inspire humility so that we may stay grounded with you as our anchor. We are so grateful that we get to receive you spiritually and physically in the Eucharist every time we receive you, and we are so grateful to spend time with you Adoration. Help us see that you want to feed our deepest needs with the Eucharist. Help us to remain close to you as we prepare for Easter, and bless us in ways always.
Amen.
Good Friday
What we do:
We feel the best way to commemorate this day is to attend stations of the cross service at our church as a community, but if for some reason we cannot, we do stations of the cross at home.
Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.
One powerful way to remember Good Friday with the whole family is by maintaining silence throughout the day as a reminder to meditate on the stations of the passion of Jesus, especially between 12 pm and 3 pm when Jesus was on the Cross.
We do different cross crafts to reflect upon the cross. If time allows, we have the Brother Francis stations of the cross for the little ones that they can watch during Lent, a simplified coloring page I created that they can turn into little flip books to memorize the stations.
When praying-
In going through the motions of the stations of the Cross, we allow ourselves to be moved by a station or a relatability with Jesus, or even the sorrow. It is good to commune with God in the Stations of the cross, and in the silence. Discuss and allow discussion about different stations that move each one of you and why.
We Pray:
Lord, God, we want to love you more, and love more, and be more united with you, as you said, you will be with me in paradise, so too, we hope to be united with you in paradise. Amen.
Holy Saturday
This is a Day of Silence and waiting and preparing. This is not a day to celebrate yet. We prepare for Easter on this day reflecting upon Jesus in the tomb. We talk about the Shroud of Turin this day, so the kids can have a greater understanding of Jesus and the tomb.
We keep It simple today. We get outdoors if possible in the quiet simplicity between the preparations.
The Shroud is a linen cloth showing the front and back of a naked man who was tortured, crucified, and humiliated. The cloth also holds human blood, sweat, bodily fluids, and mucus. Science has proven that this image is not a painting, drawing, or scorch.
EASTER SUNDAY! The resurrection!
Easter, we celebrate! Make sure the kids know what we are celebrating here. It is not the resurrection of the Easter bunny. It is about the Resurrection of Jesus and what that means.
Easter is the most important time in the Christian calendar. Easter is celebrated by Christians as a joyous holiday because it represents the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament and the revelation of God's salvific plan for all of humankind. In commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus, Easter also celebrates the defeat of death and the hope of salvation. It celebrates God raising His Son Jesus from the dead as well as the destruction of the power of sin and death forever. It symbolizes the opening of Heaven with the gift of eternal life to everyone for our Citizenship is in Heaven. Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. God’s plan has been accomplished, after all the years of prophesy and fulfillment, and now it is our job as Christians to fulfill our density of heaven by living lives that are right and proper to get there, living out the greatest commandment which is to love God with all of our hearts souls and mind, and others as we love ourselves, following the commandments, living virtuous lives filled with the fruits of the spirit.
The time of celebration begins on Easter Sunday and goes all the way through to Pentecost, the birthday of the Catholic Church, which was protested about 1500 years later as the protestant reformation.
Find a way to celebrate the joy of the day! Easter is not just a one-day celebration; it's an entire season! God Bless.
DON'T LET THE BUNNY STEAL THE WONDER OR FOCUS OF THE DAY. THE CULTURE AND THE STORES, HAVE MADE THE BUNNY AND THE EGGS THE FOCUS OF THE DAY. DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE AT HOME.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday Home Procession!
Kick off the week with a home procession
Sing “hosanna to God in the highest”
Matthew 21:9 "The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Display your palm leaves proudly for Holy week!
Put them in a vase as a center piece today!
Then you can display them on your home altar.
This is a great alternative to leaving these holy and blessed objects and reminders to get strewed around.
Palm Sunday-Palm Crafts!
Construction Paper Hand Palm!
-Fold Green construction paper in 6 or 4 equal parts depending how small of big the hand is.
-Trace the hand
-Cut the green construction paper traced hand
-Glue middle part
-Glue hands like a palm!
2 year old hand palm leaf!
Handprint Painted Palm!
-Make a central green line to go off of
-Paint green paint on hand with paint brush
-press hand facing up like palm leaf onto paper
-repeat until you make a palm leaf!
Dates grow from palms! A fun sweet treat tradition my husband started years ago for Palm Sunday!
I think this book is great for the little ones to take them through Holy week in a simplistic way with pictures.
Jesus Lives
The Easter Story
By Laura Ring Derico
Holy week craft PDF print out instruction sheet provided below !
Ordinarily, we have designated painting clothes for each child, and we always have a plastic table clothes, and we do a good job of not getting paint everywhere. Today, We decided to use trash bags with holes in them for the head and arms as easy disposable painting aprons! (We absolutely talked about bag safety, and that they should never attempt this without mom) It works in a pinch though to keep clothes from getting paint on them!
Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday)
"He broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." (Matthew 26:26)
On Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday) the Church celebrates the three pillars of the Catholic Church instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper: the priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist.
"He took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26)
Jesus washed the feet of His disciples to show us humility and to show us that we must not only be clean on the outside, but most importantly clean on the inside within our souls, trying to be free of sin only through Him.
if you have any girls, this would be a fun time to groom toes and paint nails, and the act of service with love. For boys, you could groom/clean their toe nails!
Good Friday
Friday before Easter. Without Good Friday Easter loses fullness and completion. We must understand that our Lord died on the cross on Good Friday to appreciate His resurrection from the dead on Easter.
Today, I have the kids dress in all black as a symbol of death and mourning. It is a somber day, and we recognize the day that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins.
Matthew 27:27-31 "Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him."
Remember, every Friday is a mini good Friday, and so we abstain from meat on this Friday and every Friday in honor of the flesh the Lord gave up. Here we are makng cheese pizzas! What a fun family activity!
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Make a habit of doing Stations of the Cross at church or at home together.
Each child can have their own book or print out to follow along to the passion or our Savior.
Good Friday Liturgy
The Good Friday liturgy consists of three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and the Holy Communion.
This is the stations of the cross simplified for children. Print it out, and go over the stations of the cross! Use this worksheet. Have them color it in as use as is, or you can have them color it in and cut them out and have them glue it to stapled paper in creating their own stations of the cross book! 10 pieces cut slightly bigger than each rectangle to accommodate for the staple binding!
Cross Crafts
Focus on Jesus on the Cross Today.
Good Friday is the day that Jesus was arrested and put to death by crucifixion on the wooden cross. Why did Jesus who is God have to suffer and die on the cross for our sins? Sins are all of the bad things we do, not following the 10 commandments, not doing things with love, and not being obedient. On the cross Jesus taught us how to forgive others, and how God forgives us, in saying, “Father, forgive them” referring to the people that hurt him and hung him up on the cross to die. Jesus showed us how to live in this world, so that when we die we can be united with Him in heaven.
Activity:
Stick Cross
1. Collect little sticks
2. Fill a cross with glue
3. Put the little sticks on the cross
On a budget!? You make crosses out of anything! What supplies do you have at home that your children could use to make creative crosses with?
If you want to buy a cross craft, the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby have lots of great cross painting opportunities!
Divine Mercy Novena & Chaplet
We begin our Divine mercy Chaplet on Good Friday until Divine Mercy Sunday
About the Novena
In her Diary, St. Faustina recorded a number of conversations she had with Jesus during which He made promises to those devoted to His Divine Mercy. We selected a few of the most powerful of these promises for this article, with a special focus on praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
Promises for Praying the Chaplet
"Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this Chaplet. Write down these words, my daughter. Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize my unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of my mercy; let them profit from the blood and water which gushed forth for them." (Diary, 848)
Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance”. (Luke 5:32) For the same reason He appeared again on earth to Saint Faustina, to save sinners from eternal damnation. His message of Divine Mercy is a warning to mankind to exercise their conscience, come back to God and live by the Commandments.
Who are the sinners? – sinners are those who offend human nature, God’s creation, and the dignity of man.
The Divine Mercy
To learn more about the Divine Mercy message, Saint Faustina's diary, how to pray the Novena and more you can go to https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet
or click below.
Happy Easter!
Today is a FEAST DAY, it is EASTER! This is the reason and fulfillment of the old testament and of Jesus saving us from our sins in showing us through forgiving on earth and through our heavenly Father. The death and resurrection of Jesus is Easter! Easter celebrates the beginning and foundation of Christianity. Jesus was raised from the dead, and it goes to show that He conquered sin and death. Every Sunday is a Celebration of this! Every Sunday should be a mini Easter from now on. Celebrate the Resurrection and feast! Have a true sabboth and be with your family. We TRY to do all our chores or shopping Saturday, so that we may rest on the 7th day, like our Lord commands us to on the 4th commandment. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” and reserve this day for the Lord, for church, for family, for some down time in the world that insists that we should not and should remain on a mouse wheel.
Before this special day, it is exciting to prepare what you will wear the day before, either by buying new Easter outfits, or picking out and cleaning or ironing what will be worn in celebration of this day! Schedule haircuts and such before so you and your kids can have that feeling of newness and preparation for this special day! To make it known and feel different and exciting!
Decorate for Easter, meaning, for Jesus, for the resurrection, Liturgically, for what the day actually is. Get rid of those pagan bunnies and eggs! Simplify and make the resurrection of Jesus the center of your day and life! No eggs on this wreath!
Have you noticed how the Easter bunny is just a deterrent from kids actually seeing what truly the day is all about?
Easter Bunny's Amazing Day By: Carol Benost Illustrated by: Jonathan Sundy
In my opinion this is the greatest book for the kids in trying to make sense of the pagan Easter bunny and the real day that Easter is, the resurrection of Jesus! (I am not getting paid to say this, just sharing this awesome find with you!) We simply cannot take the pagan Easter bunny out of the world, but we can certainly make sense of it.
I once read, "It is said that the bunny is special, because it was. the first creature to see Jesus resurrected!" Brilliant! This book ties the Easter bunny with Jesus for the children!
It is a daunting task to find something Jesus related for Easter baskets, but well worth the hunt to bring your child's mind back to Jesus in a time when Jesus is being removed from society.
Feast! Not just today, but every Sunday in celebration and remembrance of this amazing day we get to celebrate as Easter and a mini Easter every Sunday!
Saint Catherine of Siena, April 29
Saint Catherine was the 25th child. Saint Catherine said that she saw her father as a representation of Jesus and her mother as Our Lady, and her brothers as the apostles, which helped her to serve them with humility. Despite Catherine's religious nature, she did not choose to enter a convent and instead she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, which allowed her to associate with a religious society while living at home. Her parents wanted her to get married, however she began fasting and cut her hair short to mar her appearance. Today is a good day for a haircut and to talk about vanity, what it is, how the world promotes it and how we should not fall into it. Vanity is excessive pride admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. To think of one’s looks more than God is vanity.
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