Tag Archives: Mary

Prayer Bead Workshops

Holy Rosary Workshop

For Grade 2 First Communion

The cost is $11 per kit.

The Rosary is a beautiful, prayerful exercise that encourages you to be still and mindful. It is a prayer that can be done privately or communally and offers the Catholic faithful something that we all share in common. It helps us all to better our relationship with Our Lord as well as Our Blessed Mother Mary. The way to Jesus is through His mother.

The Holy Rosary workshop is a great introduction to the rosary for a First Communion class or to those looking to familiarize themselves with this prayer. This is a fun and hands-on approach for Grade 2 students to get to know the rosary and Mary, Our Blessed Mother, as well as an understanding of how to pray the rosary.

Students make their own rosary using natural coloured wooden beads and a blue woolen cross. Students can personalize their rosary by choosing between two different shades of blue, both symbolizing Our Blessed Mother. The wooden beads represent the wood of the cross and the woolen cross represents the Wool of the Lamb. As we string the beads together, these young students practice sorting, counting and patterning while using fine motor skills and listening to instruction.

I often split the Holy Rosary workshop into two parts. As a class, it takes about one and a half hours to make the rosary due to the age of the students. There are a lot of beads to string for little fingers. I also recommend that the Grade 2 students be assisted by older students, such as Grades 7 or 8, or by parent volunteers. We take a break before learning to pray the rosary or, in some cases, I return another day to pray the rosary with the Grade 2 students.

At the end of the Holy Rosary workshop, students have a completed rosary and an understanding of how it is prayed. This workshop helps them practice  popular Catholic prayers, such as Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. It is a great  introduction to meditation, reflection and being still and invokes a relationship with God and His Mother Mary. Communal prayer also encourages children to share their Catholic faith with their peer community.

In this workshop, following my instructions, each participant will make their own Rosary, which consists of 5 sets of 10 Hail Mary beads (oval wooden beads), marked with 5 our father beads (round wooden beads), one centre bead (large oval wooden bead), ending with a woolen cross. Each chaplet kit comes with a prayer page and plastic storage bag. After the chaplet is strung together, we pray the chaplet as a group.

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.

 

Prayer Bead Workshops

Chaplet of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary Workshop

For Teenagers and Adults

The cost is $8 per chaplet kit.

“Holy Virgin, from now on I will show you my loving devotion by imitating your virtues. There is no greater homage, no greater proof of love, that I can give.” (“Imitation of Mary” by Alexander De Rouville. 1985-1977 Catholic Publishing Corp., N.Y., pg. 17)

The church urges us as Catholic faithful to look to Jesus’ Mother, Mary, as a role model during our earthly lives and to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin as best we can. The Ten Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary are: Pure, Prudent, Humble, Faithful, Devout, Obedient, Poor, Patient, Merciful, Sorrowful/Compassionate.

Give Mary your solitude by being alone with her while praying this chaplet. By giving Her your time and attention, you will realize something within you that calms your sorrows and alleviates your fears. Before you know it, you will begin to hear God speak to you because you know His mother. It is in this solitude where you can learn to trust God and honour His Blessed Mother. Bring all your dangers, doubts and anxieties to Mary. Believe she can help you and have faith.

The Chaplet of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary is ideal for those who want to deepen their relationship with Our Blessed Mother. It is great for high school students who have stepped away from their faith and are searching for something a little different.  It is also great for retreats for teachers, educators and groups who desire faith development. This chaplet can help you get to know Mary better and thus bring you closer to Her Son, Jesus.

“The Blessed Virgin’s life contains lessons for everyone. If we study it, we learn how to live in prosperity and adversity, prayer and work, honors and humiliations.” (Imitation of Mary by Alexander De Rouville. 1985-1977 Catholic Publishing Corp., N.Y., pg. 15)

The Chaplet of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a straightforward prayer strand and features the most popular Catholic prayers; Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. I came across this prayer bead strand in my research, but felt that something was needed to reflect upon while praying it, so I paired each virtue with a meditation from St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary”, a church classic.

In this workshop, following my instructions, each participant will make their own Chaplet of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which begins with a felted woolen cross or ten pointed star, continues with 10 colourful glass beads (each representing a specific virtue) and finishes with a glass end bead. Each chaplet kit comes with a prayer page and plastic storage bag. After the chaplet is strung together, we pray the chaplet as a group.

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.

Prayer Bead Workshops

Hail Mary Decade Chaplet Workshop

For Children and Adults

The cost is $8 per kit.

As the Hail Mary Decade Chaplet is just one decade of the Rosary, it is significantly smaller than a full Rosary, but is nonetheless just as beautiful. It remains a prayerful exercise that encourages you to be still and mindful and can be done privately or communally by offering the Catholic faithful a shared commonality. It helps us all to better our relationship with Our Blessed Mother Mary as well as Her Son. The way to Jesus is through His mother.

Some find the Rosary overwhelming with its mysteries, prayers and meditations and regrettably avoid the Rosary altogether. Or some may feel that the prayers take too long. This Hail Mary Decade Chaplet may appeal to you and to those who are interested in praying the Rosary but are looking for a simpler option. A decade chaplet is great way to either begin praying the rosary or to bring it back into your life. You can focus and meditate on just one mystery while reciting one Our Father and 10 Hail Mary prayers. Before you know it you will be praying the whole rosary on just one decade strand.

The Hail Mary Decade Chaplet is a wonderful way to begin a relationship with Our Blessed Mother Mary. She watches over those who honour her and answers those who ask for her intercession.

In this workshop, following my instructions, each participant will make their own Hail Mary Decade Chaplet, which begins with a woolen cross, continues with 10 “Hail Mary” beads and finishes with a coordinating glass end bead. Each chaplet kit comes with a prayer page and plastic storage bag. After the chaplet is strung together, we pray the chaplet as a group.

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.

Catholic Prayers

Flowers For The Altar Of Mary

Featured Image Photo Credit: Kristin McCarthy, 2016, Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette, Lac Bouchette, Quebec, Canada

“Flowers for the Altar of Mary”, Copyright 1886 by J. Schaefer, Publisher, 60 Barclay Street, N.Y.

This is a charming prayer book I happened upon, perfect for The Blessed Virgin Mary during the month of May.

A copy of this book is digitized and can be found at archive.org

 

Flowers for the Altar of Mary

THERE are ways, Our Lady knows them,
And her children all should know
How to find a flower for Mary,
Underneath the deepest snow.

How to weave a lovely garland,
Winter though it be, and cold,
How to buy the rarest offering.
Costing something,- but not gold.

How to buy, and buy them dearly,
Gifts that she will love to take.
Nor to grudge the cost, but give it
Cheerfully for Mary’s sake.

Does this seem so strange an offering?
Nay indeed, ’tis nothing new.
All can give her noble presents,
Shall I tell you of a few ?

What were those the Magi offered?
Gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
They, you say, were saints and monarchs,
That makes quite a difference.

Well! ’tis sometimes hard to listen
To a word unkind or cold,
And to smile a loving answer;-
Do it, and you give her gold.

Thoughts of her in work or study,
Like small grains of incense rare,
Cast upon a burning censer,
Rise in perfumed clouds of prayer.

There are sometimes bitter fancies,
Little murmurs that will stir
Even a loving heart, but crush them.
And you give Our Lady myrrh.

Give your little crosses to her,
Which each day, each hour befall.
They remind her of her Jesus,
So she loves them best of all.

Some seem very poor and worthless.
Yet, however small and slight,
Given to her, by one who loves her,
They are precious in her sight.

One may be so hard to carry,
That your hands will bleed and smart.
Go and take it to her altar.
Go and place it in her heart,

Check your tears and try to love it,
Love it as His Sacred Will,
Thus you set your crown with jewels,
Make your gift more precious still.

There are souls, alas! too many.
Who forget that Jesus died.
Who forget that sin forever
Is the lance to pierce His side.

Hearts that turn away from Jesus,
Sins that scourge Him, and betray
Cold and cruel souls, that even
Crucify Him day by day.

Ah! poor sinners! Mary loves them.
And she knows no royal gem.
Half so noble or so precious.
As the prayer you say for them.

Then, resign some little pleasure.
Give it to her instead, to win
Help for some poor heart in peril,
Grace for some poor soul in sin,

Mercy for poor sinners, pleading
For their souls as for your own;
Thus you weave a lovely garland.
Fit to lay before her throne.

Flowers! why I should never finish,
If I tried to count them too,
If I told you how
In what garden plot they grew.

Yet, I think that each one guesses,
They are emblems, and we trace
In the rarest, and the loveliest,
Acts of love, and gifts of grace,

Modest violets, meek snowdrops,
Holy lilies, white and pure,
Faithful tendrils, herbs for healing,
If they only would endure.

And they will, such flowers fade not,
They are not of mortal birth,
And such garlands given to Mary,
Die not like the gifts of earth.

Surely now you cannot tell me.
That you have no gift to lay.
At the feet of our dear Mother,
Any hour, -any day.

Give her now, to day, forever.
One great gift, the first and best,
Give your heart to her, and ask her
How to give her all the rest.

Prayer Bead Workshops

Chaplet of the Eight Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary Workshop

For Children —Grades 4-8

The cost is $6 per chaplet kit.

I created the Chaplet of the Eight Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary for children, inspired from the Chaplet of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary prayed by adults.

Look to Our Mother Mary as a model of how we should all live. Mary teaches us how to love with care and tenderness, how to be patient and tolerant and how to be a humble, devout and faithful soul. Let her be your spiritual mother. The best way to know her son Jesus is to know His Blessed Mother. Take her hand and let her show you the way. Trust her to guide you and always be accepting of her loving comfort—even when you sin. Trust her throughout your lifetime. Always and Forever.

The Chaplet of the Eight Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary workshop encourages students to pray and be prayerful, gain a better personal relationship with God through prayer and share their Catholic faith with their peer community.

Get closer to Our Mother, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary by praying this chaplet and asking for her intercession.

In this workshop, following my instructions, each participant will make their own Chaplet of the Eight Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which begins with a woolen cross or an eight-pointed, woolen star (an ancient symbol of Mary that also symbolizes each virtue), continues with 8 “Hail Mary” beads and finishes with an end bead. Each chaplet kit comes with a prayer page and plastic storage bag. After the chaplet is strung together, we pray the chaplet as a group.

 

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.