Blessed Easter!

 

The Lord is Risen! Blessed Easter to everyone! I attended the Easter Vigil in our parish and although it was shorter than what I had been accustomed to (in the country I came from, the vigil is celebrated in its entirety - all readings and lasts until midnight then before dawn the next day, the meeting of Mama Mary and the Risen Lord is reenacted by a procession), I am still very thankful to be able to take part in the celebration that sums up our faith. Here is an actual Easter Vigil celebration. The Easter Vigil is the Mother of all Holy Vigils and the Great Service of Light - as St. Cyril of Jerusalem said, “The Easter vigil, although celebrated at night, is always as bright as day, symbolic of the Risen Christ” and I encourage everyone to take part in this celebration. The celebration does not start until sunset to signify the beginning of a new day. It starts with the Service of Light (preparation and lighting of the Paschal candle which symbolizes Jesus, the Light and His presence in the world, up to the sharing of the light to everyone present). The next part is the Liturgy of the Word where the history of salvation is recounted from the beginning of time (Genesis) to the Gospel and the Homily (nine readings, seven Old Testament and two New Testament, are provided but not all are required to be read due to time constraints - at least three Old Testament readings must be read, including Exodus 14). The readings are 1) the story of creation, Gen 1:1-2; 2; 2) Abraham and Isaac, Gen 22:1-18; 3) Crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 14:15–15:1; 4) Isaiah 54:5-14; 5) Isaiah 55:1-11; 6) Baruch 3:9-15.32–4:4; 7) Ezekiel 36:16-17.18-28; 8) Romans 6:3-11; and 9) Gospel reading Matthew 28:1-10. The Gloria is sung before the reading of the Epistle of the Romans, and the Alleluia is sung before the Gospel. The Liturgy of Baptism is the time when the Easter water is blessed, new members are brought into the Church through baptism, and we, the faithful, are blessed with water and renew our baptismal promises by renouncing evil and professing our faith. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the most anticipated part (specially for the neophytes) and the center of our Christian life and the culmination of the celebration - after we were fed by the Word, given new life in the waters of Baptism, we now receive the Body and Blood of Christ and ready to celebrate Easter.

Divine Mercy Sunday

This Sunday, May 1st, is Divine Mercy Sunday.  As written by St. Faustina in her diary, anyone who participates in the Mass and receives the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of their sins. In addition, there is a plenary indulgence that can be gained on this day. It is granted (under the usual conditions of sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Pope) to the faithful who, on Divine Mercy Sunday, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"). To read the full decree and learn of other ways to gain the indulgence (specially for those who cannot or have no way of participating, click on the link above - plenary indulgence).

To learn how to prepare for this Feast, and how to make a good confession, click here and here.

How merciful the Lord is! If only all parishes celebrate this Feast. If your parish does not celebrate this, please remind them of their duty to spread the devotion so that more souls can avail of God's mercy and refer the pastor to the full decree.

Jesus, King of Mercy, I trust in You!

More on DS1

I turned five last month and I am excited because I will be in Kindergarten next school year!

I have some pictures to share of my art works at school:

 

 We made this before Thanksgiving.

We made this before Christmas break.

This was for Halloween.

This was for Spring.

This is a picture of me playing the piano:

I started Suzuki piano lessons this semester and I love it!  I am excited to play for my Grandma and family during the recital next month.


These are some things I did when I was four years old:

This is the front.

This is the back.

What I have been learning - DS1

"February 24, 2011 - Today I learned about the punctuation mark apostrophe. This is what it looks like - ' -  it can shorten a word like cannot to can't.

I also learned about a kind of poem called limerick. It has 5 lines, is funny, tells a story, the rhyming pattern is this: aabba (lines 1, 2 & 5 rhymes, with 3 “feet” of 3 syllables each and lines 3 & 4 rhymes differently and is shorter with only 2 feet of 3 syllables)."

From wikipedia:

The following example of a limerick is of unknown origin.

The limerick* packs laughs anatomical                  

In space that is quite economical,

    But the good ones I've seen

    So seldom are clean,

And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

*(pronounced "lim'rick" to preserve meter)

 

These are my art works:

 I used a sponge to spell "blue" on my poster paper.
 

 I cut geometric shapes and glued these to the paper to make a bedroom.
 

I was sad because I thought Grandma was not coming to visit.

 

Grandma gave me some colored glass pebbles and these are what I made:

 

 These are my counting pebbles.

 This is a Christmas tree with a star at the top and stars in the sky.

 This is a diamond.

 Mama and little brother made this.

 

I also made a book (from a blank book I received as a Christmas gift from my Aunt) for my little brother who loves Thomas and friends: