Palm Sunday preparation and the making of a tomb

 We Toby put up our Palm Sunday display on the altar this year.

You've surely got to pity the poor donkey with our wooden figure to carry but we couldn't find a larger one.








Then both boys worked to make our Easter tomb. To make it you need a clay flower pot which you lay on its side inside a larger clay dish. Then you surround the pot with gravel and stones and make 3 small crosses. We tacked the crosses on with blue tac until we had made our earth. This involves a large supply of dirt and a bucket of water. Gradually" introduce" the water to the dirt until you have a nice thick porridge mixture.

 Then throw put the mixture all over your brother the flowerpot and shape it to resemble a hill. Finally sprinkle wheat all over your hill. Give it a good spray with water and that's it. All the fun is done and now we wait patiently for the transformation to begin. This is oldish wheat so we are unsure how well it will sprout. Ah well there might be a lesson in that too.

Good Friday

Holy Thursday

Here are thought pictures of how we spent Holy Thursday

These last two show our special meal  we have to remember that  first Holy Thursday. It is a family celebration that looks towards what we will celebrate in a few days time.

Making a tomb and waving palms!

 We started making our tomb today. We used an empty pottery pot and pebbles and rocks.


The boys made 3 crosses.

We had some potting mix already opened so we used that to cover the pot tomb.

It was messy work!

here it is before we sowed the seeds

You really had to press the wheat seeds into the earth mud to make them stay.

And with newly cleaned hands we put up our display on our family altar for Palm Sunday.

Our Lenten countdown

What does a fuzzy picture of chenille stick caterpillars on leaves have to do with Lent?

When their part of a "count-down" to Easter calender of course!
Thanks go to a Lenten sharing post on a blog.

I really admire people who spend time making permanent liturgical calenders out of felt and other materials but I have come to terms with the fact that I can't justify the time or the expenditure in our family at present! Plus the boys had a lot of fun making this calender and the memory of us working together is more the kind of thing I want to emphasize in their lives just now.


And a thank you to the person who posted on their blog about using votive candles for the stations. I made these with black and white pictures because they seemed more Lenten somehow!

These Forty Days

I found this amusing video on a very informative post on lent

Wishing you all a very happy Lent!

0 Deus, ego amo te

0 GOD, I love thee, I love thee-
Not out of hope of heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
In the everlasting burning.
Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach thine arms out dying,
For my sake sufferedst nails, and lance,
Mocked and marred countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat and care and cumber,
Yea and death, and this for me,
And thou couldst see me sinning:
Then I, why should not I love thee,
Jesu, so much in love with me?
Not for heaven's sake;
not to be out of hell by loving thee;
Not for any gains I see;
But just the way that thou didst me
I do love and I will love thee:
What must I love thee, Lord, for then?
For being my king and God. Amen.

Prayer of St Francis Xavier, early Jesuit missionary
translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

“I See His Blood Upon the Rose” Joseph Plunkett

I see his blood upon the rose

And in the stars the glory of his eyes,

His body gleams amid eternal snows,

His tears fall from the skies.

 

I see his face in every flower;

The thunder and the singing of the birds

Are but his voice—and carven by his power

Rocks are his written words.

 

All pathways by his feet are worn,

His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,

His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,

                                    His cross is every tree.

Good Friday

There He hangs—pale figure

pinned against the wood.

God grant that I could love Him

as I really know I should.

 

I draw a little closer

to share that Love divine

and almost hear Him whisper

“Ah, foolish child of Mine!

 

If I should now embrace you,

My hands would stain you red.

And if I leaned to whisper,

the Thorns would pierce your head."

 

Then I knew in silence

that love demands a price

‘Twas then I learned that suffering

is but the Kiss of Christ.

(“Poem to Christ Crucified” by Caryll Houselander)

More on a donkey

These images come from the book"Easter" by Brian Wildsmith. I think they make a great meditation for this time of Lent. How the seemingly insignificant things we do,that nobody else notices can be of great import.

our Lenten Journey Day Thirty-Four

Did you know that a donkey was once awarded a medal of honor for bravery in Australia? Read about (duffy) Murphy the Australian Army donkey who served courageously in the Battle of Gallipoli who tirelessly carried wounded soldiers from battlefront to the beach hospital. What other donkeys have courageously carried and served. Meditate on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Focus on the simplicity and courageous faithfulness of this little animal.

our Lenten Journey Day Thirty-Three

 Try not to complain if you get hurt, feel sick are tormented or if you feel like sulking. Remember we are called to live the whole life of Christ, not just his birth and resurrection but also His cross. Today take up that cross of Jesus and offer up each small suffering for the souls in purgatory.

our Lenten Journey Day Thirty-Two

St Athanasius painted a cross on his door in an effort to give courage to others especially Christians who were hesitant to proclaim their faith. Pray the prayer of St Michael the Archangel. It is a good prayer to pray in times of temptation or fear.

our Lenten Journey Day Thirty-One

What is fortitude? To find out think about the Blessed Virgin Mary as she stood at the foot of the cross. She witnessed the crucifixion of her Beloved Son. This terrible ordeal would not have been possible were it not for her faith and fortitude. Listen to the “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”(At the Cross her station keeping”)

our Lenten Journey Day Thirty

St Peter struggled with courage when Jesus was arrested. But through Jesus loving gaze and the grace of God that he could do anything in God’s name he overcame his human failings. Take courage and with the example of St Peter say ”I was not born to be a failure, I am gaining experience all the time, Jesus is always there to pick me up when I stumble or fall, I just need to call on His Holy name and on I go”

 Today we will make a cross using different materials. You might like to use some of the bark we collected down by the river; you might like to use some twigs and bind them with twine, or you could use some of our collage material. Put this cross above your bed…and each night before you sleep thank Jesus for His cross. Remember without the cross there is no resurrection!

our Lenten Journey Day Twenty-Nine

Do you have the courage to follow in Jesus footsteps? Do you have the courage to follow his words: “Love one another as I have loved you?” Look at the above painting ”Crucifixion” by Renaissance artist, Pietro Perugino for a closer look at Jesus tremendous courage, while Mary and several others stood beneath the cross unable to help Him.

Our Lenten Journey Day Twenty-Eight

Forgiveness! Now that is often the hardest work to do.

Malcolm Muggeridge was a journalist. He didn’t think much of Christianity until he met Mother Theresa at which point he said ”ah so that is what Christ is all about”

At his baptism he talked about Good Friday and the crowds and the Roman’s centurion’s comment when the earth opened, the temple curtain was rent and the dead walked the streets of Jerusalem. “Truly this man was the Son of God”.

 If he had been there he said it would not have been any of this that brought him to conversion but instead those powerful words Jesus prayed on the cross: “ Father forgive them; they know not what they are doing”

To forgive those who have wronged us, who have hurt us very badly; that is what we are called to practice. And in forgiving to pray for these same people that God will bless them abundantly through His love.

For how can God forgive us if we are still loath to forgive others? Today meditate on how you can begin to practice this work of faith…remember only through God’s grace (power),ask for that power today.

Our Lenten Journey Day Twenty-Seven

Are you an excuse-maker? Do you ever blame others when you make a mistake when you’re working? Watch "the Swiss Family Robinson" for an example of people hard at work under difficult conditions.

Our Lenten Journey Day Twenty-Six

Don't forget that there are other things besides active work in the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, "Do not give yourself entirely to activity and do not engage in active works all the time. Keep something of your heart and your time for meditation".

Sometimes it takes effort to find time and enthusiasm to pray. Make time today remembering these words of St. Bernard.