Truthfulness Petal Meeting 10/11/20

St Bridget of Sweden

We had planned a weekend family camp at Babler State Park which had to be cancelled due to illness. Hopefully we'll be able to reschedule in the Spring.

Instead, we held our first petal meeting on the parish grounds. We learned about the virtue of Truthfulness, Saint Bridget of Sweden, and the Narcissus. We earned the Truthfulness petal for Badge Wreath I. 

We have adopted the American Heritage Girl's Iris Garden. As we gathered together we made thank you notes for the Iris society, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and the Morrises who have so generously donated their time, knowledge, and Iris rhizomes to our troop. 

Next we had a lesson about the virtue of truthfulness and St. Bridget 1303-1373. She is the patron of Sweden and her feast day is July 23. We learned she was married and had 8 children. Her family often went on pilgrimages, including the Camino to the tomb of St. James in Santiago, Spain. The Camino is marked with scallop shell arrows, a symbol of pilgrimage. After her husband died and her children were raised she founded an order later called the Bridgettines in Rome. We learned about the Narcissus and memorized our verse, "Let your 'yes' mean yes, and your 'no' mean no. Anything more is from the evil one."  Matthew 5:37

We decorated scallop shells and used them to guide us on our own camino to seek truth. We prayed a decade of the rosary as we walked. The path wound around the parish campus and ended at the monument of the 10 commandments. We discovered the 8th commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness, teaches us to be truthful. 

While we ate a lunch of Swedish meatballs with Lingonberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans, we listened to the story of  The Empty Pot by Demi. The book taught us it is best to bravely tell the truth. Fr. Jack joined us for lunch as the meeting concluded.

We played an original game invented by one of our Little Flowers called Quarantine. The players rolled their dice in individual cups and were trusted to be honest about what they rolled. The game was a healthy way for the kids to respond to the complex topic of Coronavirus and provided hope and concrete examples of why we must take safety precautions to keep each other well. 

We learned about our flower, the Narcissus, named after the Greek myth of the selfish and vain youth. It is often depicted in scenes of the Annunciation or paradise as a symbol of overcoming sin. We planted Narcissus bulbs around the monument of the 10 commandments beside our Iris garden and were given another bulb to plant at home. Come Spring, we will look for the blooms to remind us of the virtue of truthfulness. We look forward to our next petal meeting this weekend. 

St Bridget of Sweden, Pray for Us!