This week has several feast days to celebrate, and as I am planning our week's activities it seemed right to look ahead together.
Monday (1/28) is St. Thomas Aquinas. Dumb Ox Day.
Patron of students and teachers. That's us! He is also the patron of booksellers and pencil-makers. Let's not forget those; where would any of us be without booksellers and pencil-makers?! Symbols: dove, chalice, ox.
We love GK Chesterton's biography, The Dumb Ox, almost as much as his hagiography of St. Francis. When we study the Middle Ages, we read this in January, but right now we are neck-deep in Ancient Greece, so this year we'll have to simply read this brief article on Light from Aquinas and discuss. There are so many books to choose from, I'll leave that to the many book-listing bloggers out there!
As for us, we will content ourselves with a little reading, a discussion of why he is called the Dumb Ox, and what that might tell us about how we judge other people. God has something specific in mind for each of us, no matter what others think.
We will also pray to him for our own little learning endeavors. And for booksellers and pencil-makers.
Thursday (1/31) is St. John Bosco.
He is also a patron of students (especially BOYS) and also of laborers. It's a good week for student patrons, it seems. A good week to think about our heavenly helpers in this schooling adventure.
We will watch the movie, A Mission to Love, which will be a good break for us. We will also read this article on Seeker of Souls. We like these short articles from Catholic Culture - they teach a great deal but take little time.
Maybe the boys will want to work on their juggling when they are reminded that St. John Bosco learned a lot of interesting tricks to get the attention of the young boys so that he could reach out to them and teach them how to be men.
I would like the littles - who are very much into puppets and claymation - to plan a puppet show or an animated short that teaches some kind of lesson or virtue. This would mirror St. John Bosco's way of using what is easy, at hand, and gets the attention of others to teach something meaningful.
I will be praying to him for my own boys to become real men of God.
Friday (2/1) is First Friday. It is also the Memorial of St. Brigid of Ireland.
Of course, we will read Brigid's Cloak, and weave St Brigid's crosses.
We will have Colcannon for dinner (my Nana's recipe) and listen to Celtic music. Not because it has anything to do with St. Brigid herself, but because we love it and we turn it on for every Irish saint! Any excuse to pretend that we know how to Irish dance!
We are also looking forward to Candlemas, but that's another post :)
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