26 October
Calendar Overview
Calendar: Ordinary Time
Liturgical Color: Green (Life, hope, anticipation)
Month: The Most Holy Rosary
Season: After Pentecost (Roman Rite)
High Feast: The Feast of All Saints
Order donuts (Soul Cakes) for All Hallows Eve
Children prepare costumes to dress up as their favorite Saints
Daily Preparations
Remove all items from the home oratory except the crucifix
Begin purchasing thirty-one (31) long-burning candles (vigil and pillar)
Prepare an art bin supplied with crayons, colored pencils, or markers
Arrange candles on the home oratory
Begin lighting candles every night for evening prayer
Find or Print St. Pope John Paul II 9-Day Novena
Rituals
Little Flower Bowl
Find or purchase a large bowl or 5-quart glass jar (this will be your Little Flower Bowl)
Find or purchase many fabric flowers or create your own origami flowers
Create a list of little acts of love that you can do individually and as a family. This list will help guide your family in what they can do for one another or for your community to show and share God’s love.
At the end of the day, during supper or evening time, you will review the little acts of love you have done as a family and place your “little flowers” in your Little Flower Bowl.
Gallery of the Saints
Every evening, for evening Rosary, pull out the Saint coloring sheets and color a picture of a Saint as you pray.
Tape up the pictures of the Saints around your home as if you were hanging family pictures, create a gallery of the saints, or post the pictures any and everywhere!
Novena
Pray the St. Pope John Paul II Novena
Family Liturgy
Family Prayer
Prayer for the Intercession of Pope John Paul II
O Holy Trinity,
We thank you for having given to the Church Pope John Paul II, and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness, the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love He, trusting completely in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd and has pointed out to us holiness as the path to reach eternal communion with You.Grant us, through his intercession, according to your will, the grace that we implore, in the hope that he will soon be numbered among your saints.
+ Amen.
Family Supper
Place your Little Flower Bowl on the table
Talk about the little acts of love you did that day as you place your “little flowers” for God into the Little Flower Bowl
Read a very short section from The Imitation of Christ
Set intentions for your family Novenas and Rosary
Pray the scheduled Novena
Novena
Opening Prayer: Healing Novena for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
Merciful God, I pray with thanks and gratitude for the great spiritual gift of Saint John Paul II’s apostolic life and mission. Through his heavenly intercession, please grant the following petition(s) . . .
[State your request(s) Here].
Grant also that I may grow in love for You and proclaim boldly the love of Jesus Christ to all people, through Christ, Our Lord.
+Amen.
Family Formation
For older youths and adults
For children
Family Oratory
Just before the evening Rosary, place twenty-six (26) candles on the home oratory
Set an intention for a lost, struggling, or hurting soul
Light the candles
Pray the Rosary
Family Prayer
Rosary
Parents lead the family Rosary (or stream a Rosary from YouTube or the Hallow Prayer app)
As the family prays the Rosary, pass out the coloring sheets
Pass out the crayons, coloring pencils, or markers
When finished praying, hang up pictures of the Saints around your home
Novena Continued: Healing Novena for the Intercession of St. John Paul II - (DAY 5)
Dear Saint John Paul,
You preached: “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.” Help me to be joyful in this wonderful adventure of life. Help me always to have true Christian joy in my heart, mind and spirit. Help me always to be faithful to the Will of God in my life.
Through God’s loving grace and kindness, we have been blessed with the great kindness shown by the people who take care of us, like our family, friends, relatives, caregivers, physicians, rehabilitation specialists, nutritionists and spiritual advisers. Prayers from Saint John Paul II 19 Saint John Paul II manifested incredible love, kindness and forgiveness to the man who tried to assassinate him. We believe that we will be healed if we forgive those who have wronged us, and if we extend a helping hand to our least sisters and brothers living in distress, poverty and need.
+Amen.
Conclude with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be prayers.