Catholic Icing

St. Joseph Novena with Free Download!

2012-03-13T02:40:30Z

Here’s a novena for St. Joseph that’s fun and interactive to do with kids! The best part is, it’s free to download and print all the pieces you need!

I didn’t grow up praying novenas, and the word “novena” used to scare me- because I didn’t understand the concept, and it felt complicated. Let me let you in on a little secret. It’s not complicated. A novena is simply a prayer that you pray 9 days in a row. There’s really no way to mess that up.

Why do we pray novenas for 9 days? Well, when Jesus ascended into heaven, he asked the apostles to pray. After 9 days of prayer, the Holy Spirit descended upon them (this day is known as Pentecost) and so the novena was born.

In this printable novena to St. Joseph, I used a prayer that is said to be 1900 years old. I paired it with a beautiful painting of St. Joseph by Reni. Just print it out, cut around the outside lines, and fold in the sides. You can set this up in your home on your family altar, mantel, or another table. The prayer you’ll be praying for 9 days is right on the front for you. If you have a special intention, you can add it each day after saying the prayer.

What’s with the lilies? Well, that’s where the counting part comes in. Lilies are a popular symbol of St. Joseph because they stand for purity. He’s often pictured holding lilies. I have a page of printable lily templates included in the download so you get 9 lilies total- one for each day of your St. Joseph novena. After saying your prayer each day, lay one of the lilies in front of St. Joseph. When you have all 9 lilies in front of St. Joseph, your novena is complete!

The lilies say “St. Joseph, pray for us”. I love that!

How to Assemble Your Printable Lily Templates:

Cut them out along the outside lines, and roll them into a lily shape leaving a small hole at the bottom. Attach with glue or tape. Curl the edges of each petal out with your finger or a round pencil.

Take a short piece of yellow pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and curl the edges out slightly. Cut a green pipe cleaner in half, and then fold it in half again.

Hook the yellow and green pieces together, then twist the green stem pieces together all the way down to the end. Put the stem through the top of your paper lily, and pull until the green part sticks out of the bottom, and the yellow part is inside your lily.

Once you’ve assembled all 9 of your lilies, place them in a small vase. (And when I say small, I mean very small. A shot glass will actually work just fine). Keep your vase of lilies near-by so you can place one in front of St. Joseph each day of the novena.

Tada! That’s it! Takes all the guess work out of novenas. If you want to pray a novena to St. Joseph that ends on his feast day, you’ll want to begin your novena on March 11. St. Joseph’s feast day is March 19. This novena could also be used if you’re asking for St. Joseph’s help in selling your house. He’s known for that.

Download Your St. Joseph Novena Printables Here

When you’re finished with your novena, you can use these printables to adorn your St. Joseph’s altar.

We’re in the middle of a novena to St. Joseph for my husband right now. He has a complicated case of the shingles, and we’re praying for an intercession from St. Joseph because that’s Mark’s confirmation saint. I wanted a way to get my kids involved in this (and to keep count of the days and hold myself accountable) and this seemed like a good idea. I’m very intrigued with the idea of interactive novenas for kids. Expect to see more novena ideas for kids in the near future.

Related Posts:

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How to Make an Easy Shamrock from Pipe Cleaners

2012-03-06T14:50:37Z

This is a great tip for making Shamrocks from pipe cleaners!

This picture really says it all:

Just put 3 of your fingers together, and wrap the pipe cleaner around all them, 1 at a time. Pull it off the tops of your fingers, and twist the 2 ends together to hold it.

Trim the stem to your desired length. You’re finished! Even if kids need some help, use their fingers to wrap around and they totally think they made it themselves. Lydia only wanted to make them in pink and purple, which was fine with me.

You can use these however you want. You could probably tweak this technique for making shamrock rosaries, and you could also make a shamrock for your St. Patrick paper bag puppet to hold! Also, you could use these as a prop for singing the St. Patrick’s Day Trinity song!

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Shamrock Shepherd’s Pie for St. Patrick’s Day {and a linky!}

2012-03-02T03:03:30Z

I thought for today’s First Friday link-up, it would be fun to have a St. Patrick’s day theme! Scroll to the bottom of this post to see everyone’s ideas and add your own links.

As many of you already know, I have a St. Patrick’s day article out in Catholic Digest this month. I was really excited about the projects I got to share! There are directions in the article for making a shepherd’s pie with a green pepper shamrock on top, but they didn’t end up using my pictures- they used stock photos. I felt like that project really missed it’s punch without the photos, so I wanted to share them with all of you.

The reason why I made a shepherd’s pie is because St. Patrick worked as a shepherd boy when he was a slave. The shamrock embellishes the top at St. Patrick’s symbol for the Trinity- one clover, 3 leaves!

You have to be choosy when selecting a green pepper for this project! You need a green pepper with only 3 bulbs- not 4! If you get one with 4, when you slice it, it will look like a 4 leaf clover, not a shamrock. A 3 petaled shamrock is a great symbol for the Trinity. A 4 leaf clover is a good luck charm carried by Leprechauns and adorns rainbows and pots of gold.

Ingredients needed:
•   1 pound ground beef
•   Salt and pepper
•   1 cup frozen peas
•   1 cup frozen carrots
•   1 cup beef broth
•   2 ½ cups mashed potatoes
•   1 green pepper (with three lobes)

Brown the ground beef and add the broth, then salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the peas and carrots, and then put the ground beef mixture into a pie or casserole dish. Arrange the mashed potatoes on top however you’d like. Slice the green pepper crossways to get a shamrock shape, and add another sliver to make the stem. You’ll get the best shamrock shape from a slice close to the end of the pepper. Add this “shamrock” on top of the mashed potatoes to garnish the pie. Bake at 350 until the pie is warm throughout, and the mashed potatoes start to brown on the edges.

We got fancy and piped on the mashed potatoes with an icing tip. You could just make the top swirly with a fork if you’re looking to make it easier.

I think this is a really fun dinner to serve up for St. Patrick’s day! What are your plans for celebrating this great feast day? Share your links below!

Read the link-up rules here before adding your link. Feel free to join in the St. Patrick’s day theme, but you are welcome to share other Catholic posts for March as well.

Related Posts:

Craft a St. Brigid’s Cross
Shamrock Lacing Craft
Make a St. Patrick Puppet (This is also last year’s St. Patrick’s day Link-up!)
Shamrock Rosary Craft
Catholic St. Patrick’s Day Ideas
Craft a Shamrock Bowl
Shamrock Trinity Craft
Catholic St. Patrick’s Day Printables
Catholic St. Patrick’s Day Food
Catholic St. Patrick’s Day Crafts
My St. Patrick’s Day Pinboard on Pinterest

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Observe Lent, THEN Celebrate Easter

2012-02-29T14:03:35Z

Lent and Advent are both a time of waiting. Hence the same liturgical color- purple. I’m not going to get into any deep Lenten theology here (because that’s not my ‘thing’) but I am going to plead my case for holding off on Easter celebrations with your family until Lent is totally over.

The season of Lent lasts 40 days. These are the 40 days that Jesus was in the desert. He was hungry, and tempted. As Catholics, this is a time when we pray, fast, and give alms. It is a time to sacrifice, repent, and reflect. It’s not a time to indulge in Cadburry Creme Eggs and fill our homes with colorful bunnies.

Christ in the Wilderness, Ivan Kramskoy

Here’s the thing- even though we wait for a whole 40 days to celebrate Easter, the Easter season lasts for 50 days! That’s right- we get to celebrate for 10 whole more days than we wait! This entire Easter season is the perfect time to throw Easter parties, make Easter crafts with your kids or CCD classes, make yummy Easter treats (even in the shape of empty tombs!), do Easter projects with your kids, bake cookies in the shape of eggs, and on and on! You can seriously do these things all the way up to Pentecost!

Good Friday is a day that should be taken especially solemly. It is our time to remember when Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, and even children can be taught to observe this day with respect. I’m probably preaching to the choir asking Catholic Icing readers not to throw Easter parties on Good Friday (right? RIGHT?!), I’m just surprised how much of this I see!

Christ in Crown of Thorns, Carl Bloch

So I’m going to challenge you this Lent: Hold off on the Easter celebrations until Lent is over! Check out all the Lenten Acticities for Kids I have posted, and keep your family in the true meaning of this season!

I would also like to talk about “cheating” your Lenten sacrifices on Sundays. I know so many people who get upset about this! Here’s the truth: The Sundays during Lent don’t count in the 40 days. Seriously. Check out my Lenten Calendar if you don’t believe me. We, as Catholics, make a sacrifice every Friday of the year (whether we abstain from meat or choose an alternative sacrifice) because Jesus died on a Friday. Likewise, each Sunday to us is like a mini-Easter because Jesus rose on a Sunday! The joy of Jesus rising is so important to us, that on Sundays, we celebrate! You can think of Sundays during Lent as a little oasis in the middle of the desert. So don’t judge if ~~cheating~~ mini-Easters aren’t your think. Judging is just an icky thing to do anyway.

Soon, you’re going to see me start posting about Easter. I do this ahead of time so you can make plans, and do your shopping for craft supplies and food. My family will not be celebrating Easter until the actual Easter season. I’m not going to deny that Easter takes some planning, and this can’t all be completed after the Holy Saturday vigil. Also, we do dye our eggs and make Easter story cookies on Holy Saturday. Every family will find what works for them.

One more thing- when it is time to celebrate Easter, celebrate the true meaning of Easter with your kids! Make Easter about the Lamb, not the Bunny!

The Resurrection of Christ, Carl Bloch

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Almsgiving Activity for Lent- Get Kids Involved!

2012-02-25T15:32:28Z

I’ve seen an idea floating around on various websites about collecting food for the poor during Lent. What you do is, put a box somewhere in your kitchen, and every day during Lent, add an item from your pantry to the box.

Your kids can help with this, and this can help teach kids about both fasting and almsgiving for Lent! At the end of Lent, take the food you’ve collected to a food pantry or soup kitchen. If your parish does food drives, you might just be able to take it to church with you each week and drop it off.

You can start this anytime during Lent, so don’t think it’s too late!

I decided to make a few printables you can choose from to put on your boxes. Just download them free here, print, and tape to a cardboard box. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Then everyone will know what the box is for and won’t take stuff back out of it.

I’ve always loved this quote from Mother Teresa and thought this was the perfect use for it! “Live simply so that others may simply live.” So true! With this activity, you’re literally taking food from your own pantry and giving it to the less fortunate.

This one is a little more generic with the guy carrying food, but really gets the point across.

I designed this one to be a little more “Lenten” with the inclusion of purple and a crucifix. I love this bible verse about giving: “And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’” See? We’re doing it for Jesus!

And here’s another generic one. Straight to the point.

Hope you find these useful!

To find more ideas for getting kids involved in Lent, check out my Lenten Navigation Page!

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