Prudence Petal Meeting & Ice Skating

 The Little Flowers learned about St Angela Merici and the virtue of Prudence. The virtue of prudence is about acting on the virtue of wisdom, to not only know the good, but to do the good. Prudence helps us make good decisions. We should not make decisions when angry. We must rightly form our conscience in order to grow in prudence. A rightly formed conscience will never go against God’s commands. 

Verse: A quick tempered man makes a fool of himself, but the prudent man is at peace. -Proverbs 14:17

St Angela Merici (1474-1540) was an Italian religious educator of young women who founded the Ursulines. She was known as a prophet. She suffered much grief at a young age and dedicated her life to God. She became blind for a time on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land but carried on and was miraculously cured in the same spot beneath a crucifix that she had first lost her sight. She saw the holy places with the eyes of her soul instead. Her feast day is January 27. She is the patron saint of the disabled and orphans. Her image is usually shown with a ladder to represent her climb to heaven and intercessory role. Like Angela Merici we practice seeing with the eyes of our soul every time we receive the Eucharist or visit Jesus in adoration. 

The flower for prudence is the African Violet. They symbolize delicacy and simplicity. They are sometimes called, “Our Lady of Modesty” for Mary’s humility. There is a legend that violets first bloomed at the Annunciation. Violets have medicinal properties. 

We practiced making prudential decisions in made up scenarios and made book marks to help us remember this lesson. We earned our Prudence petals. 

Then we asked for the intercession of St. Lidwina as we laced up our skates and took to the ice rink. 

Congratulations to Jessa for completing the Jesse Tree Badge this year. This is the tree she made. If anyone else who did not earn the badge last year completed this prayerful activity, please let us know. 

Please be sure to sign up for some service at the parish fish fries. Sign up genius went out via e-mail. We will wear our Little Flower aprons when we work. 

Ice Skating Adventure 1/31/21

Brrr! We had such a fun time enjoying the winter on ice skates at the outdoor rink in Forest Park. It even snowed a bit. Did you know there is a patron saint for ice skating? St Lidwina, of the Netherlands had a terrible skating accident when she was 15. She ended up spending the rest of her life in bed. She dedicated her suffering to God and became a very holy woman. 

We will soon be entering the Liturgical season of Lent. We can deepen our faith life by observing extra practices of prayer, penance, and sacrifice during these upcoming 40 days. By keeping a calendar of kept promises, we can earn our Holy Lent challenge patch. The girls were given calendars to begin on Ash Wednesday, February 17th. They are inside the manilla envelope of card supplies (some still to be delivered).

Begin praying about what to do to observe Lent this year.

Some suggestions for daily Lenten promises:

Read about a different Saint each day.

Pray a Hail Mary for the residents of St Agnes Home.

Pray a rosary or maybe a decade.

Read from the Bible or spiritual book. 

Give up a favored video game.

Drink only water.

1 minute of silence.

Compliment someone or write a nice note.

Accept a new chore.

Give up the snooze on the alarm clock.

Keep a prayer journal.

Write down five things you’re grateful for. 

Find one item every day to give away or share. 

Please be sure to make lovely cards to brighten the day of the residents of St. Agnes Home. Pray for the residents while you make the cards. Bring them to the petal meeting on February 21st or deposit on our porch before then.