New Year: Wreath V

 Little Flowers started off the new school year with a registration table at back to school night and serving donuts after Masses the weekend before school began. Then we had our first petal meeting for Wreath V, learning about St Hildegard of Bingen and the virtue of studiousness. Hildegard knew all about herbs to treat illnesses so we studied and planted Rosemary, Lavender, and Basil. 

Verse: “A wise man is more powerful than the strong; and the learned than the mighty.” -Proverbs 24:5

St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) lived in Germany as a Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, mystic, pharmacist, preacher, poet, and visionary.  Some of the music she wrote is still used in churches today. She had mystical visions her whole life and wrote them down. She was also interested in science and medicine and knew a lot about herbs and nature. She thought of humans as “living sparks” of God’s love. She influenced popes, emperors, kings, and other saints and became a Doctor of the Church. 

She is a patron saint of ecology as well as writers and musicians. Her feast day is September 17. The virtue of studiousness is giving our attention to the good and true things God wants for us to learn and avoiding giving our attention to the things that take us away from God. Studiousness is a temperance for the mind, moderating our natural desire for knowledge. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us grow in studiousness as we learn and develop in our faith and knowledge. 

We also had a picnic in the garden and discussed plans for the year. 

St Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us and help us to grow in the virtue of studiousness this new school year!

If you haven't already, be sure to get a registration form and payment of $25 per family to Neil or Jenny. Looking forward to a fun year of Little Flowers adventures! 

September Donut Sunday, Zeal Petal Meeting, and Green Tree

 We practiced our virtue of cheerfulness and served donuts after Masses. The donuts were a gift to our community, but many gave donations to support our troop. We even had leftovers which we took to the fire station.  We kicked off our new service opportunity of helping ushers greet and hand out bulletins at any Mass a Little Flower attends. Just wear your sash/vest and find an usher for instructions. 

We had our first petal meeting of the year. The girls earned their service flower beads to pin onto their sashes/vests. So far, they have earned beads for Clean Stream, Iris work, and donut serving. We'll be learning about Saints all over the world, so we made passports to stamp as we go. We earned our Australia stamp through St Mary MacKillop, the only canonized saint from that country so far. 

The virtue was zeal. We discussed the difference in having zeal for things that fade and having zeal for things that last, like God! With zeal, we played paper caterpillar racing games and Dingoes and Kangaroos. Our year long badge project is the St Gianna Molla Pro-life badge. At every meeting, we will pray a decade of the rosary for the babies we have spiritually adopted. We will have more opportunities to support human life in all its stages throughout the year. 

We planted and labeled our Iris rhizomes in our new Little Flowers garden. We hope to have blooms to present at the Iris show in May. 

Praying a decade at the memorial for the unborn 

The Little Flowers had an opportunity to earn service beads and a free Iris rhizome by working at the Iris Society booth at the Green Tree Festival. They learned so much about Irises. We were lucky to have a rebloomer open up just in time to be displayed. Hidden Sky is a Tall Bearded that can bloom in May and September. 

Birthday Girl!

We ran into our friends, The Carmelites of St Agnes Home. We also spied some Little Flowers marching with the school float. 

The petals we earn at each meeting are used to make a flower on the sash. There is another petal that is given at the start of each new year. This year we are working on the virtues for Wreath 4. It is rare for a Little Flower to attend all the meetings and earn all the petals, so we build flower wreaths until full, then move onto a new flower. Happy sewing!