Fr Pine...a gentle reminder to children

There are many gentle and small ways for a mother to foster the possibility of a vocation in the home, if it is God's will. Prayer, example and atmosphere. Fr Pine falls under the category of 'atmosphere.'

My little boys already are asking questions about 'Fr Pine' and his vestments. They are eager to help put them on, they are protective of Fr Pine..we have just celebrated the feast of The Queenship of Mary and had this wooden image clothed in the Marian vestments on the table with a statue of Our Lady, a crown and a crown cake! Fr Pine was being zealously guarded from possible accidents!

So what is Fr Pine all about?

My friend Jennifer over at Wildflowers and Marbles kindly shared her Father Oak to place on her Feast Day Table. If you pop on over you can get the templates for Father Oak and the vestments, all the instructions for making it are there.

Fr Oak is a beautiful way to remember in the domestic church what is taking place inside the Church for Mass each day. The children will very quickly become aquainted with the liturgical seasons and feast days of the year and it is a wonderful opportunity to teach the children what each of the liturgical colours represent.

I've taken the explaination of those colours from this site here.

Jennifer had beautifully sewn her chasubles but since I don't sew I used craft glue and braids/laces to glue along the edges to stop them from fraying. Most of the material I bought was a curtain material with a backing that prevented easy fraying.

My Father is Father Pine, from the wood it was made from. I hope to stain it in the days to come.

Here is the blue chasuble.

I have put a symbol from the Miraculous Medal on the front of the chasuble.

Blue is not an approved liturgical colour except for certain Marian Shrines on marian feastdays. I have made this for the home though to highlight to the children very special Marian feastdays.

The Gold chasuble.

"Gold – Can at times replace red, green and white for added solemnity. Gold denotes majesty and splendor."

The Green chasuble.

"Green – The color of nature, denoting the hope of eternal life. Worn from the 14th of January to Septuagesima Sunday and following the first Sunday after Pentecost to the Saturday preceding Advent."

The Violet chasuble.

The material used with the Violet chasuble is very different from the rest, I wanted something that represented simplicity and austerity connected to preparedness, sacrifice and prayer.

"Violet – Symbolizes sorrow and penance. Violet is worn during Lent and Advent, certain Passion Masses, the blessing of ashes, ember days and other penitential occasions."

The Red chasuble.

"Red – Red is symbolic of blood and fire and is worn during feasts of His precious blood. It is also representative of the Holy Spirit hence it is worn during the week of Pentecost. Red is also worn for feasts of Martyrs, Evangelists and Apostles."

The Rose chasuble.

"Rose – Rose indicates joy and is sometimes worn to symbolize respite or to augment the austerity during penitential seasons on the 3rd Sunday of Advent and the 4th Sunday of Lent."

The White chasuble

"White – Sometimes replaced by gold, white symbolizes purity, innocence, rejoicing and light. White is employed during certain periods throughout Christmas and Easter seasons. Also worn on feasts of our Lord, feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, non-Martyred saints, conversion of Paul, Saints John the Apostle and Saint John the Baptist among others. Worn during certain ceremonies such as weddings, baptisms and the burial of children. Also worn during the consecration of churches, altars and bishops."

Below are the chasubles and stoles placed upon Father Pine.

*note, the stole is worn under the chasuble. Having the stole over the top in these photos is for the ladies to see the stole and how it hangs. Each day we would place the stole under the chasuble for the children in the home.

Thank you Jennifer for such a wonderful craft that can be used everyday in the years to come!

"Pray For Priests" a daily reminder for children

I had wanted to do something special on our family altar for the children in the Year of the Priest. A daily visual reminder that we must pray for them. The way I've designed it IS unusual but there is quite a deep meaning to it, one that the children should grasp and understand.

Here is what I bought to build this:

- MDF board {I used a laundry basket to trace a half sun onto it. I made the sun rays from this board as well}

- piece of timber for the base {I just searched around for an old piece as was going to be covered}

- I bought an assortment of colours/patterns of scrapbooking paper {all bought half price on special}

- suitable glue

- MDF Alphabet cutouts

- Rub-On Alaphabet Transfers

- little stick-on ladybirds and bees {could be any symbol of nature and life}

- screws {to screw the sun MDF board to the back of the base timber}

I have always been taken by and pondered upon this incredible quote by Padre Pio:

"It would be easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

I wanted this quote to be the 'theme' of presenting the words, "PRAY FOR PRIESTS" to my children. The Base upon which the words sat, represented the fertile earth that is warmed by the sun. I had scrapbooking paper that made a lovely representation of that.

I then had the words themselves covered in a paper that contained, flowers, plants and birds..God's nature and creation that thrive upon the fertile earth and are warmed daily by the sun. To give an extra 3 dimensional feel to it, I added the cute little ladybirds and bees! {I read somewhere recently that bees are diminishing in numbers on this earth due to chemicals and polution in nature and then in turn if that happens, plants and pollination will be affected.}

We too, are part of this element of creation, we live off the fertile earth, we need the sun to live...in the spiritual realm the priests feed us and sustain us with the sacraments of the Church, with the Body and Blood of Christ.

" Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. " John Chapt 6

Then behind the words we see the sun, that supports the fertile earth and the creation that lives upon it. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is where we receive the Son of God Himself, His Body, Blood, Son and Divinity. The lovely quote of Padre Pio's is written across the Sun and ties the visual presentation together.

Here it is on our family altar, each day the children are reminded that Priests give us the one thing that Padre Pio says we cannot live without, something that is even more essential than the sun!

Children can comprehend that - the sun is essential to our existance, they are aware of that fact.

So it is a powerful quote that allows us to know that we CANNOT live without the Body and Blood of Christ, they were Christ's own words in scripture.

Priests are "Alter Christi's" and in Christ they give us His Body and Blood, how can we ever fully show our gratitude?

We can pray and sacrifice for them daily.