Sheltering in Place with Kindred Spirits!

Saint Martha's Guild has assembled a delightful collection of projects to keep your family focused on growing in holiness while introducing a variety of Catholic traditions and resources. 

Looking for directions to make your own scapular?  A pocket shrine?
A set of 40 eggs to tell the Resurrection story from Ash Wednesday on?

The narration is amusing and the variety of projects is impressive!  You'll be buying craft supplies before you know it.

Making a Paschal Candle

Go here or here to see how your parish version is made.

Or make your own for your family's prayer center using these simple directions:

1. Cut a piece of white tissue paper, approximately 8 x 10.5 and carefully tape it onto a piece of copier paper.  It will work best if it is all very flat.
2. Copy this image onto the tissue side.  (NB - there are enough images on this page for 3 candles (or one if you happen to make a mistake or two)
3. Cut the page in thirds along the width and, centering the image on your candle, hold the blank ends behind the candle, shielding your fingers from the heat during the next step.
4. Using a hair dryer on high heat simply melt the cross image onto the front of the candle.  Once it's tacked in place by the heat you can trim the tissue paper ends and continue to melt down the paper edges.
5. I use gold map pins for my "grains of incense."

Easter

Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." (Jn 20, 17)

Franciabigio, Noli mi Tangere, 1520-25

PSA: Save those onion skins!

So, in my post on making stock from vegetable scraps, I said that the only part of the onion I don't save are the very dried, papery layers of skin. Well, it turns out that, this time of year, there's a good reason to save those, too.

It's a Greek tradition to dye Easter eggs blood-red, to represent the Blood of Christ, and believe it or not, this color can be acheived with just the skins of a dozen or so yellow onions and a bit of vinegar. Sounds like a good excuse for French Onion Soup to me.

Get the details here.

Take a break and do something artistic

Our friends at Illuminated Ink have provided the means.  If you're feeling competitive or just want to make a pretty picture, click on the link to print your coloring sheet and see the contest directions.  While you're there, be sure to check out their other wonderful products!

Slab piecing + Easter cards

 

 

I recently came across the book Sunday Morning Quilts at my public library and can't recommend it enough.  It is chockful of ideas about how to make the most of fabric scraps - from organizing them to incorporating them into new projects.  Although I'm not a quilter, the parish thrift store has baskets of tempting fabric scraps available for a pittance (the fabric for the apron pictured above ran me 25 cents).  Many of the book's projects are built on the technique of slab piecing - putting together scraps or strips to form a "fabric."  Think Log Cabin, but with the strips all different widths to make the most of leftover fabric or crazy quilting on a larger scale. 

 

My forays into slab piecing left me with some small irregular pieces.  I'm the first to admit you will not find me making a postage stamp quilt.  A particularly bold paisley reminded me of Rechenka's Eggs, and I made these Easter cards from fabric scraps and basic office supplies:

 

Supplies
5x8 unlined index cards
(Optional - printer with black ink)
2-3 brown paper grocery bags
(Optional - Brown marker, crayon, or stamp plus ink)
Colored fabric scraps
Scotch tape
Glue stick

Directions
Print or hand write text on to the cards. 

Cut the wide front and back panels off the bags.  Remove handles or areas of double thickness. Fold each panel into a square twice - now you have a square 1/4 of the size of the original paper.  Fold it into a triangle from the center to the outside edge and cut basket (split in half vertically across the diagonal fold) like you would a snowflake - 4 baskets.  If desired, use markers or stamps to add some texture to the baskets).  I found it easiest to cut proportional eggs if I held the fabric in small half square triangles, but there is a lot of wiggle room, as a large portion of the eggs are covered by the basket.  Use tape to position eggs on the wrong side of the basket and then glue in place.

 

An Eastertide Picnic

My family decided to belatedly engage in the European tradition of an Easter Monday walk and picnic (in keeping with the day's Gospel reading of the encounter on the road to Emmaus). Trouble was, all my plastic food containers had been pressed into service following my son Tommy's birthday party yesterday, and I needed something that would sit vertically in my suitcase-style picnic hamper.

Canning jars came to the rescue. From 2 quart to 4 ounces, each served a purpose from entree to relish. Pictured from left to right: roasted chickpeas, strawberries, ham and cheese gougeres, tomatos and herbed cheese, olives and cornichons.

"The work of the bees, and of your servants' hands"

It's no secret that the Church Ladies are big fans of the revised translation of the Roman Missal, and those of us attending an Ordinary Form Mass for Easter Vigil are more than a little excited to hear the revisions on the Exultet (Easter Proclamation)! This ancient hymn of praise is typically sung by a deacon (but can also be sung by a priest or cantor). The poetry and drama of the Exultet calls the whole Church – in heaven and on earth – and the whole world, including all of creation, to rejoice in the Resurrection of the Lord!

We're printing the text here for you to enjoy ahead of time, but if possible, hear it sung at Mass tonight. It's an annual liturgical goosebump moment that's not to be missed!

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,

exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,

let the trumpet of salvation

sound aloud our might King's triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,

ablaze with light from her eternal King,

let all corners of the earth be glad,

knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,

arrayed with the lightning of his glory,

let this holy building shake with joy,

filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

(Therefore, dearest friends,

standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,

invoke with me, I ask you,

the mercy of God almighty,

that he, who has been pleased to number me,

though unworthy, among the Levites,

may pour into me his light unshadowed,

that I may sing this candle's perfect praises.)

(V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.)

V. Lift up your hearts. R. We lift them up to the Lord.

V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. R. It is right and just.

It is truly right and just,

with ardent love of mind and heart

and with devoted service of our voice,

to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,

and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,

and, pouring out his own dear Blood,

wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These then are the feasts of Passover,

In which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,

whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,

when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,

from slavery in Egypt

and made them pass dryshod through the Red Sea.

This is the night

that with a pillar of fire

banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night

that even now, throughout the world,

sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices

and the gloom of sin,

leading them to grace

and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night,

when Christ broke the prison-bars of death

and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,

had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!

O love, O charity beyond all telling,

to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,

destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault

that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,

worthy alone to know the time and hour

when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night

of which it is written:

The night shall be as bright as day,

dazzling is the night for me,

and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night

dispels wickedness, washes faults away,

restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to the mourners,

drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,

accept this candle, a solemn offering,

the work of bees and of your servants' hands,

an evening sacrifice of praise,

this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,

which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,

to fire into many flames divided,

yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,

for it is fed by melting wax,

drawn out by mother bees

to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night,

when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,

and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,

we pray you that this candle,

hallowed to the honor of your name,

may persevere undimmed,

to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,

and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star:

the one Morning Star who never sets,

Christ your Son,

who, coming back from death's domain,

has shed his peaceful light on humanity,

and lives and reign for ever and ever.

Amen.