After quite the busy year with two daughters getting married, I have found myself in a new season of life: together with my Dad and brother and my husband, I am caring for my beloved Mom, as she nears the end of her life in palliative care.
ALL NEW! Fast, Give, PRAY the WAY of the CROSS Craft Kit
March 7, 2025 by Leave a Comment
This has been a labor of love! No really!
I have just released the NEW Fast, Give, PRAY the WAY of the CROSS Craft Kit for a brand NEW Lenten Devotion based on The Way of the Cross.
Fast, Give, PRAY the WAY of the CROSS PDF
The Fast, Give, PRAY the WAY of the CROSS PDF includes 14 full-page illustrated Way of the Cross Stations with Fasting, Almsgiving and Prayer Challenges, to cycle through the hours of Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, OR to cycle through each day of Lent.
Lenten Challenge Calendar for year after year!
February 19, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Instant PRINT and PRAY Lent Calendar available for DOWNLOAD!
This Catholic Craft Kit offers black and white templates to help you GIVE, PRAY and LOVE through the days of Lent (year after year!), with:
-one double-sided letter-sized (8.5″x11″) calendar of Lenten Practices
Gospel Graces for every day of LENT
February 19, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Gospel Graces
This craft kit makes a good review ANY time of year of Jesus’ Public Ministry. It includes full Lenten Calendars (for all three Liturgical Cycles) AND postcard Prayer Prompts of all the key events with Gospel Reading references, illustrations and Prayer Prompts!
Use year after year during LENT…and ALL through the Year for Prompts to Pray through Jesus’ Public Ministry!
NEW! Sacred Supper: A Christian Guide to the Jewish Seder Supper
February 18, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Sacred Supper: A Christian Guide to the Jewish Seder Supper is a 24-page illustrated booklet presenting the significance of this Jewish Tradition while drawing connections and insights from a Christian perspective.
Craft Kits for SACRAMENTS, Saints, Seasons, Catechism and Prayer!
February 3, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Checkout our Cathletics Craft Kits, packed with Sacraments, Saints, Liturgical Seasons, Catechism and Prayer! Click on a Craft Kit to read more about it in its Featured Post!
SACRAMENTS & MASS Craft Kits
A fresh way to prepare for the Sacraments! Scrapbook your way with our Kelly Saints and custom Catholic clipart, Catechism and Reflective prompts!
Family Plan for Consistent Prayer: 2025
January 8, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Something that has become more and more apparent as my kids one-by-one enter adulthood, is that while my vocation as Mom never ends, it does change! I remember those days of mothering with littles running around the house. They needed me for the physical things; food, drink, shelter, safety, comfort, and clothing, and they were learning so much in terms of basic skills and interests, subjects at school, and picking up prayers, Bible stories and beliefs of our Catholic Faith.
St. Benedict, Teach Us to Pray
August 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment
St. Benedict (480-547) rejected wealth and worldliness and became a hermit. He then founded 12 monasteries and wrote The Rule of St. Benedict requiring prayer, spiritual reading, manual labor, obedience and the development of hospitality, medical, educational and agricultural skills.
Saints Prayer Master Class:
St. Benedict taught about Prayer in The Rule. He recommended specific times throughout the day and night for study and prayer, often as a community: reading, teaching, memorizing and singing passages of Scripture. Other times of private, personal prayer were certainly also recommended for a deep and intimate prayer life and relationship with God.
St. Benedict recommended a balanced lifestyle of work and prayer, and living simply. He insisted that we should pray as we begin to work and as we work, with humility and reverence.
From various writings of St. Benedict on prayer, I think the most unique and specific approach to prayer was his recommended practice of prayer and work simultaneously. St. Benedict steered away from compartmentalizing these two fundamental aspects and practices so that one did not interrupt the other, and by consistently praying during work, study, rest, and while serving others, one could truly pray unceasingly.
Summary Sticky-Note
To make it easier to understand and keep it straight from the teaching on Prayer of other Saints and Theologians I have been studying, I put together a little Summary Sticky-Note and compiled my notes on St. Benedict’s Writings on Prayer including ‘prayer-requisites’ and Prompts to Pray, based primarily on The Rule of St. Benedict and his other writings summarized in this book: Augustine on Prayer by Fr. Thomas Hand
St. Benedict also spoke about the necessity of humility, reverence, silence, Scripture, perseverance, and continuity in this prayer from the heart.
- HUMILITY
- REVERENCE
- HEARTFELT
- SCRIPTURE
- PERSEVERANCE
- CONTINUOUS
Prompt Me to Pray!
And St. Benedict even had a specific Prompt to Pray as he lived at the Monastery of Monte Cassino!
More info in the St. Benedict PDF Note Bundle.
I will be adding over 30 PDF Note Bundles gradually to this NEW
Saints’ MasterClass on Prayer Series over at Arma Dei!
Saints Prayer Master Class:
St. Augustine PDF Note Bundle
Following a brief introduction of St. Benedict and his teaching on Prayer, I present Prayer-Requisites: important virtues, dispositions, and practices for personal prayer, based on the Key Writings of St. Benedict.
Each PDF Note Bundle includes a Summary Sticky-Note, along with insights into prayer and how St. Benedict might prompt us to pray.
St. Benedict might prompt us to pray:
Prompt me to pray without ceasing, St. Benedict.
St Augustine, Teach Us to Pray
August 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment
St. Augustine (354AD-430AD) was the son of St. Monica.
He spent many years living an immoral life, and renouncing Christianity. By the prayers of his mother and through the influence of St. Ambrose, he converted and became a theologian, philosopher, and the Bishop of Hippo, Roman North Africa.
While St Augustine’s teaching on prayer is found across his many writings, sermons and letters, we find prayer to be the primary focus of his letter to a Christian Roman noblewoman named Anicia Faltonia Proba.
St Augustine wrote the letter in response to Lady Proba’s questions to him on how she could pray better and pray as God would want her to pray. He assured her that she must already have a profound trust in God, as she was being prompted by the Holy Spirit with this desire to pursue better prayer.
I’ve been studying St. Augustine’s Teaching on Prayer, primarily from his letter to Lady Proba and through this awesome book Augustine on Prayer
Summary Sticky-Note
To make it easier to understand and keep it straight from the teaching on Prayer of other Saints and Theologians I have been studying, I put together a little Summary Sticky-Note and compiled my notes on St. Augustine’s Writings on Prayer including ‘prayer-requisites’ and Prompts to Pray!
I will be adding over 30 PDF Note Bundles gradually to this NEW
Saints’ MasterClass on Prayer Series over at Arma Dei!
Saints Prayer Master Class:
St. Augustine PDF Note Bundle
Following a brief introduction of St. Augustine and his teaching on Prayer, I present Prayer-Requisites: important virtues, dispositions, and practices for personal prayer, based on the Key Writings of St. Augustine.
Each PDF Note Bundle includes a Summary Sticky-Note, along with insights into prayer and how St. Augustine might prompt us to pray.
St. Augustine might prompt us to pray:
Desert Fathers, Teach Us to Pray!
July 31, 2024 by Leave a Comment
The Tradition of reciting The Jesus Prayer is referenced as early as 270 AD, in monastic communities, and was first introduced and practiced by the Desert Fathers.
The Jesus Prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me”
This simple prayer combines adoration of the Glory of God with humble recognition of our sin.
The Jesus Prayer is a form of meditation, without relying on mental images or intellectual understanding but focusing on being attentive; recognizing the continual Presence of God, listening intently for His Response, and recognizing His Action in our lives. The intention of this prayer is to pursue holiness (through humility and purification) and union with God, rather than attaining insights into theological Truths.
The Jesus Prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me” is a statement of Faith, confession of sin, and a plea for God’s Mercy, all at the same time. Through simple and constant repetition of this prayer, we try to maintain awareness that we are in God’s Presence. We are to prioritize attention with the heart over the mind. We are encouraged to recite the prayer thoughtfully and intentionally, without bringing to mind a visual image, and believing that the Lord sees us and listens to us at all times.
I’ve been studying The Desert Fathers’ teaching on Prayer, primarily through this awesome book
The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology*
