July’s plans and festivities

I wrote that I am slowly working on creating a “book”, so to speak; with all the feasts and occasions important to our family written down and ideas on how to celebrate each event recorded. I’m not sure what to call it, other than I’ve been loosely calling it “feast day feasts” when I talk to Greg about it. Our goal is make the Liturgy understandable to the kids, make it more real for them as opposed to just a day where things are different at Mass.

I sat down and thought about what and who is important to us for the month of July. I then hit Catholic Culture and Catholic Cuisine to get some ideas on festivities for each feast day. Right now it’s mainly written for Greg and I, but as the kids get older I can add in crafts and activities as needed.

Here is what I have for the month of July – the month devoted to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ:

4 – Independence Day: I found a nice prayer for the Fourth of July that we can pray. We also plan on having BBQ with Greg’s folks and celebrating with some fireworks.

11 - St. Benedict: Even though his feast day is on a Sunday (so the Sunday supersedes it); we’re totally celebrating it. I found a beautiful prayer by St. Benedict that I should be praying more often, not just on his feast day. Dinner will consist of Eggs Benedict (with cheese and green chilis in place of Hollandaise sauce), honey on a variety of objects (as he is the patron of beekeepers), and some chocolate cake made to look like his Holy Rule. It’s also our Benedict’s name day but I think he’s a little young to celebrate.

16 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel: Greg’s aunt is a Carmelite nun and he has been a devotee to Our Lady’s brown scapular. I found the perfect cake for this in a little German store in our town – mix for caramel Lava cakes. The packaging makes the cakes look like little mountains. The mix is pricey but I think absolutely worth it.

19 – This was the due date of our Honeymoon Baby. We plan on remembering by lighting the candle we have specifically for the occasion and finding some prayers to pray. I’m not sure which though; although I know I will find something.

25 – St. James: We don’t have any major devotion to St. James but we both think he’s a cool guy. This may kickstart a devotion to him. We plan on having St. James Ice Cream Cups, as well as praying a prayer in his honor.

31 - St. Ignatius of Loyola: I really like his works, and his advice has been helpful time and time again. This prayer and nachos (why?) will round out our celebration of his feast day.

I really want to get on board with celebrating the monthly devotions, so I plan on doing the following for the Month of the Precious Blood:

• Changing the cloths on our prayer area to red to symbolize the blood.
• Find the holy cards I have of the July saints we are going to celebrate.
• Learn some prayers of the Precious Blood.

We’ll see how things go for us and what changes need to be made.