Our school year is done here and I've been busy working on next year's lesson plans. We studied bible history this year as our history course for 2nd grade. In doing such I found that just reading the stories and answering the questions didn't go over so well with my students. As I tend to find out, at least with my children, hands on activities seem to help them learn better and so I usually make things to go with our books to accommodate their learning style.

Sometimes I find this out half way through the year then struggle to find things to do with our lessons. This year I'm hoping to get ahead or at least on track and make the hands on items BEFORE school starts. This project is one of those items. We are doing bible history again for our 3rd grade history course but this year we are switching to a different book, Bible Stories for Children. Such a beautiful old book that is now back in print. It has short 2-3 page stories for all the main parts of the Bible, Old and New Testament. Its written by a Catholic Teacher and worded just right for this age group. It also connects the old testament stories to parts of the Catholic faith making it ideal for the young Catholic learning the Bible.

Combined with the Bible Stories for Children book is the Anecdotes and Examples for the Catholic Catechism, one of my absolute favorite books! They are short simple stories that explain some part of the Catholic Catechism in an easy way to understand and the short story is easy for short attention spans or a quick read. Sometimes the stories are even funny which makes the learning fun. I also wanted my children to learn the vocabulary words in the Catechism lesson they are doing on Sunday with their father and so those are integrated into this unit study as well. With worksheets for helping them to understand how the word is spelled, used and what the object or word looks like.

While this is written for early elementary students many students would enjoy these books and the lesson plans can easily be adjusted and added to according to age/learning level.

Every lesson contains several hands on activities and many of them have worksheet and/or templates to go with them. Any crafts done contain simple household items or things that most of us have as well as coloring pages around the house. A few lessons even have snack and recipe ideas to help tie in the chapter of the book with something yummy!

There are 52 Chapters in this book and 52 Units to download. This is my summer project so as I get them done they will be loaded on the Bible Stories for Children Unit Study Page located on the Sanctus Simplicitus site under the download page> educational downloads. Directions for using this unit study may be found on that page as well with all the details to get one started. 

Many of you have asked for a Lenten study and about the Jesse Tree study. This lovely book will cover both those topics! The Old Testament happens to be 25 lessons, which will work for the Jesse Tree using each lesson for each day of December up to Christmas showing the genealogy of Christ. And then the New Testament starts with the birth of Our Lord and ends with His Resurrection, perfect for a Lenten study and both of these will take you all the way through the school year! I hope that this project will be enjoyed by many and hopefully save all the other busy mothers some time, as we all seem to enjoy help in that area. May you all have a blessed Pentecost Sunday!

A few coloring pages that fit this Holy season of Easter, from our Life of the Soul and Life of Our Lord collections.

A blessed 2nd Sunday of Easter to you all and a blessed God Shepherd Sunday as well!

Crusaders-For-Christ has a wonderful children's sermon on their site (complete with a Good Shepherd Coloring Page) for today as well as a sermon for adults on the 2nd Sunday of Easter.

For those of you who own the Liturgical Year set by Dom Gueranger, today's explanation of the Mass was very excellent and I would highly recommend reading it. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

A blessed second week of Easter to you all! Last year we hosted a special 50 days of Easter series that we hope you will still enjoy reading from our blog post archives. Today's post continues one with our Easter theme.

Anecdotes and Examples 
By: Rev. Francis Spirago            Imprimatur 1908

Q. On what day did Christ rise from the dead?
A. Christ rose from the dead, glorious and immortal on Easter Sunday, the third day after His death.


THE PASCHAL CONTROVERSY
The first Easter Sunday fell on the 26th of March, the year 782 A.U.C. or 29 A.D. The early Christian Church was much disturbed by the controversy as to what day was the proper one on which to celebrate the Easter festival. The dispute was waged between the JEwish converts who constituted the church in Asia Minor, on the one hand, and the rest of the Christian world, on the other. The former celebrated the crucifixion on the 14th of the month Nisan, and the resurrection on the third day following. The consequence was that Easter was oftenest celebrated on a week day. In the rest of Christendom the custom was to celebrate the resurrection always on Sunday, and the death of Our Lord on the preceding Friday. The controversy lasted centuries, and though attempts to settle it were made by Popes Anicetus (157-168) and Victor (191-201) it was not until the Council of Nicaea (325) that the western custom was adopted by all.

Q. How long did Christ stay on earth after His resurrection?
A. Christ stayed on earth forty days after His resurrection, to show that He was truly risen from the dead, and to instruct His apostles.


THE FORTY MARTYRS
The number forty has been rendered sacred in various ways. The chosen people wandered forty years in the desert; Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai; Elias traced forty days to Mount Horeb, and Our Lord fasted forty days in the wilderness. In one of the Roman legions were forty young Christian soldiers remarkable for their piety and courage. One day when the legion was being hard pressed by the enemy and was half dead from heat and thirst, these young men prayed God for aid, and immediately a thunder-storm broke out of a clear sky, the rain refreshing their fellow-sodiers, and the thunder and lightning putting the enemy to flight. Soon afterward the "Thundering Legion" was ordered on duty at a pagan religious service, and the forty Christians, for refusing to attend, were stripped and bound and laid side by side on a frozen lake. Night and day they prayed that all might persevere and preserve their number forty intact, but in the middle of the night the soldier on guard saw an angel come down with thirty-nine crowns, and at the same moment one of the suffers rolled himself over and into a hot bath which their torturers had kept handy for any who should yield. Immediately the pagan guard threw down his arms, stripped off his clothes, and announcing himself a  Christian, lay down and perished with the others. Thus was their prayer answered, for the fortieth crown too had a claimant.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 40 MARTYRS FROM DOM GUERANGER'S LITURGICAL YEAR.

A blessed and most holy Easter to you all! We pray that your Easter Sunday was as beautiful as ours was warm and bright. God graced us with the most beautiful sunshine on the day dedicated to His Son! Typically in Oregon it rains EVERY year, but not this year, God is good! 

We also pray that your Holy Week devotions are starting to show their fruits and that Easter JOY is upon you all. Last year on our blog we hosted a series of Easter posts, we would like to encourage you to read those again this year over at our 50 Days of Easter. A Resurrection Coloring page may also be printed for our littlest readers, and Easter Holy Cards here to be printed and laminated. We pray your Easter week is a blessed one!

From Catholic Life - Imprimatur 1908
This is the Christian Pasch, or Passover. The Jewish Passover commemorated their passage out of Egypt, and their deliverance from its slavery, of Egypt, and their deliverance from its slavery, and so was a type. Jesus Christ at His Resurrection passed from death to life, and by this passage triumphed over the powers of hell, rescued us from their tyranny and from eternal death, and opened a passage for us to eternal life. At that time "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome brought sweet spices, that coming, they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher, and sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed with a white robe; and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here, behold the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him, as He told you.'*

To celebrate this festival with due dispositions, we ought with joy and gratitude to adore Jesus Christ in His immortal state, and to rise with Him, by entering as He did upon a new life, so as never more to die by relapsing into sin, and to persevere in the practice of virtue and good works. We may know if we have entered on this new life- if we are at peace with God; if we love whatever leads to Him, such as prayer, reading good books, hearing the word of God, and assisting devoutly at Mass and other devotions. As we hope, too, that the Last Day our bodies will rise and partake of the privileges of our Lord's glorious body, so we should respect our bodies, resist evil passions, and not use the members of our body for sinful purposes, but for the practice of good works.

"We, Lord, with faithful heart and cheerful voice, On this Thy glorious rising day rejoice: O Thou! Whose conq'ring power o'er came the grave, By thy victorious grace us, sinners, save."

* Mark xvi. 1-7

Example.- Lamoricieré.

Lamoriciére's name stands prominently in the military history of France in the nineteenth century. His early intercourse with certain students of the Polytechnic School, and his almost constant engagement in warfare, dimmed for a time the lustre of the lofty Catholic principles instilled into him by a pious father. It is true he never lost his faith, but the smoke of the battle-field sometimes concealed it from his view. A period of forced rest, in which he could count no longer on outward victories, turned his thoughts to interior conquest, and thus he left an example of spiritual bravery which, while it excites our admiration, stimulates us to imitation. One day an old colleague and friend visited him and found him bent over maps, in which he was noting with anxiety the movements of the armies to the Crimea. To keep down the curled corners of the map he had employed the books which were the usual companions of his leisure hours - a Catechism, his Prayer Book, the "Imitation," and some other pious book. The visitor could not conceal his surprise at the sight of the four silent witnesses of the General's occupation.

"Well, yes," said Lamoriceiére, "that is my occupation. I do not wish to remain like you between day and night. I like to know where I go and by what I hold; and I make no secret of it."

At an age when few seek to modify their long formed character and habits, he laboured diligently to soften and tone the asperities of his impetuous nature. Every day he became more patient, more indulgent to adversaries, and calmer under the many little annoyances with which this life is strewn. For instance, he was told that one of his best horses had broken its knees: some years before, the same matter had been made the signal for a storm, and coachman trembled to think of what was coming; but to his astonishment the General was not even impatient. In his camp-life he had learned a somewhat free and dictatorial mode of speaking, and was much addicted to swearing; but these faults entirely disappeared.

When his son died he felt it very much, and what added to his grief was the fact that he could not be present. "My God!" he exclaimed, "You send us bitter trials in this world; I beseech You to be merciful to us in the next."

Although not unexpected, Lamoriciére's death was rather sudden. He died on his knees with the crucifix pressed to his breast, and received absolution while still conscious. It would be well for the world to have many more such lives to record.

A blessed Holy Monday to you all, this will be our last post until after Lent is over and the blessed Resurrection of our Lord is upon us. We pray that you have a most holy and fruitful Holy Week and ask your prayers for our own same intentions.

Catholic Life
Imprimatur 1908

The Office of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings in Holy Week is called Tenebraæ which signifies darkness), because in ancient times it was performed at midnight. In the sanctuary we notice a large triangular candlestick. The highest candle represents Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself, "I am the Light of the World," and the rest represent the Apostles and disciples, to whom He was pleased to communicate His own prerogative of being the Light of the world (Matt. v. 14). These candles are successively extinguished during the Office to represent how the Apostles fled and disappeared at the time of our Saviour's Passion. Near the end the candle representing our Lord is not extinguished, but hidden behind or under the altar to represent His death. Immediately there is profound silence to signify the horror of the Redeemer's death, followed by noise representing the earthquake and the confusion the world was in at that time.

The candlestick itself represents the Blessed Trinity, and the triangular arrangement of the candles gives us to understand that the light of truth which shone to the world from the life and doctrine of Christ and His disciples was derived from the same Blessed Trinity, and was intended to proclaim God's glory.

"The earth is darkened - rent the Temple's veil Now do the hearts of men with terror quail:
Rend Thou my heart, O God, in this dread hour; Break it with sweet contrition's holy power."

Example. - Count Elzear

The devout Count Elzear, despite the purity of his life, was blamed, calumniated, and otherwise badly treated even by his own subjects. Being asked one day by his wife Delphina how he would bear with indifference so many insults, he replied: "Whenever I receive an injury from anyone, I immediately turn away my heart to consider the great affronts that were put upon the Son of God by His own creatures, and I say to myself: Even if they were to pluck thee by the beard, or to buffet thee, what would that be in comparison with what they Divine Lord endured with so much patience? Know, moreover, that sometimes in these cases I feel great movements of anger, but then I fix my mind directly upon some corresponding injury that Jesus Christ once endured; nor do I let it wander from this consideration until I find that the inclination to anger has entirely passed away."

Meditations for Lent
By: Thomas Aquinas
Imprimatur 1937

Fourth Monday - CHRIST BY His PASSION MERITED TO BE EXALTED

He became obedient unto death even to the death of the cross : for which cause  God hath exalted him. Phil. ii. 8.

Merit is a thing which implies a certain equality of justice.  Thus St. Paul says, To him that worketh the reward is reckoned according to debt (Rom. iv. 4). Now since a man who commits an injustice takes for himself  more than is due to himself, it is just that he suffer loss even in  what is actually due to him. If a man steals one sheep, he shall give back four as it says in  Holy Scripture (Exod. xxii. i). And this is said to be merited inasmuch as in this way the man s evil will is punished. In the same way the man who acts with such justice that he take less than  what is due to him, merits that  more shall be generously superadded to  what he has, as a kind of reward for his just will. So, for instance, the gospel tells us, He that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke xiv. 1 1). Now in His Passion Christ  humbled himself below His dignity in four respects : (i) In respect of His Passion and His death, things which He did not owe to undergo. (ii) In respect to places, for His  body was placed in a grave and his soul in hell. (iii) In respect to the confusion and  shame that He endured. (iv) In respect to His being delivered over to human authority, as He said Himself to Pilate, Thou shouldst not have any power against me, unless it were given thee from above (John xix. n).

Therefore,  on account of His Passion, He merited a fourfold exaltation. (i) A glorious resurrection. It is said in the Psalm (Ps. cxxxviii. i), Thou hast known my sitting down, that is, the humiliation of my Passion, and my rising up. (ii) An ascension into heaven. Whence it is said, He descended first into the lower parts of the earth : He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens (Eph. iv. 9, 10). (iii) To be seated at the right hand of the Father, with His divinity made manifest. Isaias says, He shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high. As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and St. Paul says, He became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause  God hath exalted him and hath given him a name which is above all names (Phil. ii. 8, 9), that is to say, He shall be named God by all, and all shall pay Him reverence as  God. And this is why St. Paul adds, That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (ibid. x). (iv) A  power of judgment. For it is said, Thy cause hath been judged as that of the wicked. Cause and judgment thou shalt recover (Job xxxvi. 17). (3. 49. 6.)

Our friends over at Crusader's for Christ have added some new Saint's outfits for dolls to their site. Their daughter, a fellow Catholic homeschooler, is making these at home as a little business. We just had to share her beautiful work with you! They just put up their St. Elizabeth of Hungary doll outfit today and last week the St. Rose of Lima. At the end of last year we shared with you the St. Lucia outfit. These would make such cute gifts for Easter baskets, birthdays and Christmas. Hop on over to Bella's Boutique and take a closer look.

Praying that you all are having a blessed and fruitful Lenten season, God bless!

Our "little" project is growing! We continue to add to our Life of our Savior and Life of the Soul pages weekly. There are many, many coloring pages with many more to come. Next week we should have several coloring pages on Our Lord's passion and death with some on Easter to follow. We also added a coloring page for Ash Wednesday on our Lent page. Make sure to check them all out and keep coming back to see what is new. 

March and April's children's planner pages are also up, including some exciting news to go with them! Starting in May we will be offering a printed planner for sale for both the Maiden's for Mary and Crusader's for Christ planners. That is in addition to the Holy Simplicity planner in which we will start taking pre-orders for PRINTED VERSIONS! Those pre-orders are expected to start late April or early May. If you have suggestions for any of these planners, things you like, would like to see changed etc. Please leave us a comment at the bottom of this blog post. We are more than happy to accommodate where we can and make these planners easier to use and the most productive for students and teachers.

We pray that you are having a wonderful week and contemplating plans for the Lenten season.

For those of you with children, looking for a way to teach about the life of Our Lord , Holy Communion, First Confession and/or studies for lower elementary on the upcoming Lenten season...