I held my first Little Flowers meeting for the 2010-2011 year on Saturday, Sept, 11.  My parish’s Little Flowers groups has doubled.  I now have 27 girls, 23 of which were present.

I have decided to complete Wreath I this year.  Our first meeting was on St. Catherine of Siena & Faith.  As always, we attended mass prior to our meeting.

 This is a virtue memory page.  My inspiration was taken from Jessica.

The meeting started with some social time and snack.  They ate their sunflower seeds as we discussed the significance of the sunflower.

“Our faith may be compared to this flower, since its gaze is ever fixed above, and turned towards the glorious sun of divine truth.” ~ Fr. Lasance – Catholic Girl’s Guide

St. Catherine of Siena was then introduced.  She was the last one standing.  That is , she had the most siblings out of all the Little Flowers present, 24.  CP was a close second with 11 siblings.  The girls were amazed with this little fact about St. Catherine of Siena.

Saint Catherine of Sienna Exchanging Her Heart with Christ ” by Giovanni di Paolo, part of a three part altar panel, hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

We covered; St. Catherine of Siena’s early call to serve God at age 6;  her joyful demeanor and willingness to please; her nick name – Joy; her parents’ wish for her to marry; her hair cutting episode in response to her parents constant desire for her to marry*; St. Catherine’s private visions; the ring that was placed on her hand by Mary and Jesus which was invisible to all; her call to inform the Pope to move back to Rome; and the stigmata that did not become visible until the time of her death at age 33.

Father L visited the girls.  He spoke of the LF’s patron saint, St. Therese and St. Catherine of Siena.  He clarified a concern that one of the Little Flowers had regarding St. Catherine cutting her hair to show her parents that she was not going to marry.  The Little Flower questioned if this act was disobedient.*  Father explained that we are all to follow God’s call and that parents are supposed to lead us to God’s will.  Parents are not supposed to force their children into a vocation.  He of course, put it much more eloquently.

Father gave the girls a special blessing (that extends to their family) before departing.  We are blessed to have devoted shepherds.  Please continue to keep Father L and all the FSSP priests in your prayers.

Before moving on to our craft we played a a nice game of musical chairs.  We used the Little Flowers Memory Verse CD as music.  MB, AA, Sweetie and EH were the winners (displaced from their chairs first).  They were awarded the privilege of taking the craft supplies to their table.

I chose a simple craft to start with, Key Tag Necklace.  The girls did a great job assembling their necklaces and were pleased with their creations.

Each new member received their Little Flowers binder.  This binder is to be used for their entire stay as a LF.   All members were given the handouts for Faith.  They are to work on the activity sheet as mom sees fit.  If participating, each girl will report back to me once their mom/father deems them worthy of having earned the badge for the virtue of Faith.

The binder is an Avery Durable 1.5 inch binder.  I purchase the binders at Wal-Mart once the school items go on clearance.  I do not pay more than $2.50 per binder.  I’m able to find them there every year in a variety of colors.

The meeting was wrapped up with a treat, sunflower cupcakes.  They speak for themselves…..YUMMY!  (Just ask EH!  She loved them so much that she wanted to eat the paper.)

The meeting was a success!

I give all thanks and praise to GOD.

 

Handouts (in order)

• St. Therese Prayer
• Divider Page
• Virtue Activity Sheet
• Memory Verse
• Act of Faith
• Coloring Page

 

Bio

 

• EWTN
• Catholic Culture
• Holy Spirit Interactive For Kids
• New Advent
• St. Catherine of Siena’s life in pictures

MISC.

• Other St. Catherine of Sienna items (books, medals, etc…)

 

Additional Sunflower Activities:

• sunflower book and crafts
• sunflower grotto
• Giant Sunflower Craft
• Recycled Giant Sunflower
• sunflower handpritns
• Edible Play Dough – made with sunbutter
• Paper Sunflower
• Van Gogh Sunflower Art Lesson in Oil Pastel
• Misc. Sunflower Ideas

~~~

Patron: Against fire; bodily ills; Europe; fire prevention; firefighters; illness; Italy; miscarriages; nurses; nursing services; people ridiculed for their piety; sick people; sickness; Siena, Italy; temptations.

Symbols: Cross; heart; lily; ring; stigmata.

St. Catherine of Siena, Ora pro nobis.