Planning...

Despite the lack of activity here, I have been planning. Really. It's just that the weather has been so beautiful and things have been hectic and ....well, you get the picture. But still, I have been mulling things over and have some idea of what I want to do next year. Mostly, I want to instill a Catholic conscience in my boys and in myself. It has been an awakening to discover that Catholics have a viewpoint very much at odds with the World's. I know this should be obvious but it wasn't. The more I read of Chesterton the more amazed I am by his Catholic conscienceness. As a convert he didn't develop this as a child in the usual way,through careful training in the Faith, like St. Therese of Lisieux for example. But this way of seeing things as they are in relation to Christ as opposed to man is truly his great gift. So I am trying to be very careful about the books I am choosing. Not totally Catholic but sharing that viewpoint. For instance, Parables from Nature by Mrs. Alfred Gatty (already not pc as she identifies herself as her husband's wife). Is this book too protestant? Too babyish perhaps for the hobbits? No and no as it turns out. I've read a couple stories and while they have a fairy tale quality they also are full of thoughtful insight on nature. And they are free of the personification of critters so prevalent in the Christian Liberty nature readers. Not that I disapprove of the personification of critters, I love Beatrix Potter after all but I find it annoying in a story about the life cycle of crabs or spiders. Also, I was impressed by Mrs. Gatty's use of Dante quotes as chapter headers. She mostly uses Bible verses but Dante is there too. I read in the brief bio of her that she was home-educated by her father (a chaplain on the Victory with Nelson) and had translated Dante at the age of 17. What better way to form a Catholic conscience? So Parables from Nature is a keeper.

These are the thoughts that have been occupying me lately. And I do have a tentative schedule worked up. Now, if I can resist the temptation to keep adding just one more wonderful ....book...subject...what if they never learn that... (never mind that I never knew that--what ever that is--)....

Feast of Saint Anthony

I'd like to write about all the wonderful activities, crafts, special meals, not to mention masses we have planned to celebrate this feast day but I can't. We read the entry for Saint Anthony from 50 Saints for Boys by Joan Windham and I am making a dessert.(Abbot's Trifle from the Redwall Cookbook) But today is the second game in double elimination play-offs and is a must win for the Fire-Foxes! Baseball fever is running high and the field must be groomed and the equipment sorted and....what if we get those thunderstorms that are predicted???? So for today, sports rule. Go Fire-Fox!!!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Nine

Saint Anthony, servant of Mary, glory of the Church, pray for our Holy Father, our bishops, our priests, our Religious Orders, that, through their pious and apostolic labors, all may be united in faith and give greater glory to God. St. Anthony, helper of all who invoke you, pray for me and intercede for me before the throne of Almighty God that I be granted the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena (state your intention).

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

May the divine assistance remain always with us. Amen

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

O God, may the votive commemoration of blessed Anthony, your confessor, be a source of joy to Your Church, that she may always be fortified with spiritual assistance, and deserve to enjoy eternal rewards. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Eight

O holy St. Anthony, you have shown yourself so powerful in your intercession, so tender and so compassionate towards those who honor you and invoke you in suffering and distress. I beseech you most humbly and earnestly to take me under your protection in my present necessities and to obtain for me the favor I desire (state your intention). Recommend my request to the merciful Queen of Heaven, that she may plead my cause with you before the throne of her Divine Son.

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of St. Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Seven

O renowned champion of the faith of Christ, most holy St. Anthony, glorious for your many miracles, obtain for me from the bounty of my Lord and God the grace which I ardently seek in this novena (state your intention). O holy St. Anthony, ever attentive to those who invoke you, grant me that aid of your powerful intercession.

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Six

O glorious St. Anthony, chosen by God to preach His Word, you received from Him the gift of tongues and the power of working the most extraordinary miracles. O good St. Anthony, pray that I may fulfill the will of God in all things so that I may love Him, with you, for all eternity. O kind St. Anthony, I beseech you, obtain for me the grace that I desire, the favor I seek in this novena (state your intention).

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Five

I salute you, St. Anthony, lily of purity, ornament and glory of Christianity. I salute you, great Saint, cherub of wisdom and seraph of divine love. I rejoice at the favors our Lord has so liberally bestowed upon you. In humility and confidence I entreat you to help me, for I know that God has given you charity and pity, as well as power. I ask you by the love you did feel toward the Infant Jesus as you held him in your arms to tell Him now of the favor I seek through your intercession in this novena (state your intention).

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Four

I salute and honor you, O powerful helper, St. Anthony. The Christian world confidently turns to you and experiences your tender compassion and powerful assistance in so many necessities and sufferings that I am encouraged in my need to seek your help in obtaining a favorable answer to my request for the favor I seek in this novena (state your intention). O holy St. Anthony, I beseech you, obtain for me the grace that I desire.

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Anthony Day Three

O purest St. Anthony, who through your angelic virtue was made worthy to be caressed by the Divine Child Jesus, to hold him in your arms and press him to your heart. I entreat you to cast a benevolent glance upon me. O glorious St. Anthony, born under the protection of Mary Immaculate, on the Feast of her Assumption into Heaven, and consecrated to her and now so powerful an intercessor in Heaven, I beseech you to obtain for me the favor I ask in this novena (state your intention). O great wonder-worker, intercede for me that God may grant my request.

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to St. Anthony Day Two

O miracle-working St. Anthony, remember that it never has been heard that you left without help or relief anyone who in his need had recourse to you. Animated now with the most lively confidence, even with full conviction of not being refused, I fly for refuge to thee, O most favored friend of the Infant Jesus. O eloquent preacher of the divine mercy, despise not my supplications but , bringing them before the throne of God, strengthen them by your intercession and obtain for me the favor I seek in this novena (state your intention).

One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of St. Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

Novena to St. Anthony Day One

It seems fitting to start this new plan with a novena....
ht:ewtn/devotions

O wonderful St. Anthony, glorious on account of the fame of your miracles, and through the condescension of Jesus in coming in the form of a little child to rest in your arms, obtain for me of His bounty the grace which I ardently desire from the depths of my heart. (State your intention---mine is guidance in raising and educating my boys) You who were so compassionate toward miserable sinners, regard not the unworthiness of those who pray to you, but the glory of God that it may once again be magnified by the granting of the particular request (state your intention) which I now ask for with persevering earnestness. Amen.

Pray one Our Father,
one Hail Mary, and
Glory Be to the Father, in honor of St. Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

DAY ONE

O holy St. Anthony, gentlest of saints, your love for God and charity for his creatures made you worthy while on earth to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me the favor I seek in this novena (state your intention). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle; even so, you are the saint of miracles. O gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will always be yours.

One Our Father, one Hail Mary and Glory Be to the Father, in honor of Saint Anthony.

Saint Anthony, pray for us!

What I'm reading...

I've been reading alot of articles from the ChesterBelloc Mandate blog to help me form my own Catholic conscience which is sadly warped by a life lived in modern day USA and not say....Merry Olde England of Chaucer's day. I admit I'm fussed with things at my local "faith community". We use to have a parish but no more. Our priest announced at mass that we had set the record in the diocese and possibly the whole Unites States for the most mass schedule changes in two years. Wow, I'm so proud. He would also like to start a liturgical dance troupe. Can you imagine St. Thomas Becket asking King Henry II if his daughters would like to join the new liturgical dance troupe at Canterbury Cathedral?? Me neither.
Here are some of the articles I've been reading How to Form a Catholic Mind
The Home as Spiritual Defense
Seven Keys to a Christian Home
Chesterton, Belloc and the Academy

WWCT?

What would Chesterton think? Of the times? Of today's Church? I only wish he were here to say. But I'll assume he would tell me now to read Belloc for history and economics and himself for entertainment. I will read Belloc but I'll read GK for guidance as well and first up is The Napoleon of Notting Hill. I read this book on a camping trip recently and was delighted with it. I think it perfectly sums up the two side of GKC-- the slightly cynical, mostly jovial King and the idealistic, myopic young "Napoleon" who wants to re-instate the Middle ages. I would like to, also. I believe civilization peaked in the 13th century give or take a few decades. I can't replicate a scholastic education, I haven't the know-how for one thing and these times call for something different. What that something is for my family I am trying to develop. That it will center around Latin, the liturgical year and Medieval history is my beginning premise. I've run these ideas past my son, Sam, who just finished his first year of college. I wanted his input on whether this was just hiding our collective heads in the sand and I would be making my boys incapable of moving on to the "real" world. He said he didn't think so. "Keep them innocent as long as you can, Mom." I want them to know that once the world had morals even if it always had sinners, to have an idea of what we lost so that we at least know how disordered things are now and aren't like the frog on the stove becoming inured to hot water and slowly boiling to death.

It's June...

so it must be time to start planning for next school year! I've started this blog to organize my thoughts and keep a journal of our homeschooling. I've been reading a lot of Chesterton lately and I want my boys to have, not an education like Chesterton's exactly, but an education where they are prepared to read Chesterton and be able to assimilate his insights, commonsense, and absolute love for the Catholic faith. I don't know what kind of education Chesterton would have wanted for his children if he had had any but I assume his wife, Francis, would have had something very Charlotte Mason-y in mind. My own school is going to center around Latin studies because looking back over the past year Latin is the subject that really stands out as a success and in ways I never anticipated. I started it because my oldest daughter told me that Latin and unit multipliers were the only two things she learned in school that were useful in college (she's a nurse) and I had the DVDs for Latina Christiana and thought I might as well use them. But the discipline that a serious study of Latin required carried over into all the other subjects and even into the running of our home which was becoming overrun with boy clutter and dust. It's still cluttered and dusty just not soooo very bad as before! Anyway, this is going to be my musing space and this post from the Bookworm is going to be my guide.