18 November 2024 · 2024-11 newsletter
Everything came together for a lovely afternoon of Faith and Fun on 4th November 2024 at Mount Richon. 10 families registered their attendance and our theme for the day was ‘All Saints and All Souls”.
The afternoon began with an introduction followed by an icebreaker game. Two teams had to work out the pathway to the other side of the stepping stones by helping their teammates work out the pattern (also known as the pathway of life game). After the game we practiced a song called “To Be a Saint” with hand actions to be sung in the Shrine later. The games, including ‘pin the halo on the saint’ and song were a lot of fun for all the families who participated.
The parents then went up to the top meeting room to listen to some readings from Pope Francis and Fr Kentenich, followed by a ‘Couples Listening and Discernment Session’, looking at the question, “How can I and my family become holy in everyday life?” Each couple needed to come up with two concrete steps to take going forward. One of the suggestions, which came from ‘Pope Francis on Discernment and Prayer of the Hello’ (General Audience 28 September 2022), was just to say ‘hello’ to Jesus at various times during the day and know that He is here with us all the time.
The children remained in the meeting room at Emilie House and did lots of fun activities including making a halo for their heads with saints on; doing a Know the Saints Quiz, as well as various crossword and word search sheets about Saints.
The toddlers were ably looked after in the side room with toys to play with. Both groups of children were well looked after by some young adults and older children, along with Sr M Luka.
All the families came together again. We had another practice of the song “To Be A Saint” and everyone was given a paper heart to write down the names of loved ones who had passed away. Then, to conclude the day, we all walked up to the Shrine where we sang some songs, placed the hearts with the names of our deceased loved ones in the jar in the Shrine, and prayed for all saints and all souls together. Afterwards we all enjoyed afternoon tea back down at Emilie House. It was a blessed and enjoyable afternoon for the families.
Philomena Theseira
Schoenstatt WA
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