St. Rose of Lima lived in the 16th century in Peru. She was known to be beautiful and peaceful and as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, she cared for the elderly and ill and did gardening and needlework to help support her family. She is the patron saint of gardeners, florists and embroiderers and is the first saint born in the Americas. St. Rose, pray for us!

In honor of St. Rose, teach your kids how to arrange flowers brought in from the garden or the farmer's market.

Here's how:

Gather a vase or a mason jar, a small funnel, and scissors.

Give your kids a pitcher of water and invite them to fill the vase using the funnel. The vase should be about 3/4 of the way full.

Next, ask your child to look at the gathered flowers and choose on to hold up to the side of the vase. Talk about whether the flower is too tall or too short for the vase. Cut as needed and always make at least a small diagonal cut at the bottom of each flower. Next, remove any leaves that would be inside the water so that they don't cause decay. Let your child use his or her own artistic eye to arrange the flowers to their liking by placing them in the water one by one. Talk about what flowers look good next to each other and invite them to vary flower heights!

This summer, share a bit of Bible study with your family. Each week, we'll provide you with a small bit of Bible literacy, a scripture passage to share with your kids, and an activity. This can be a way to wind down at the end of a day with your family, or can even be used as summer learning to keep their brains engaged a bit while away from daily schoolwork. You can fill a backpack with a simple Children's Bible, some Bible storybooks and the handouts we provide! Let's get started, backpacking through the Bible!

The main purpose of the Bible is to teach us about God's love for us and His plan for our Salvation. When you look at the Bible as a whole, you can see how everything is connected. Click on the linked PDF below to learn more about the periods of Salvation History in the Bible's timeline!

Discuss together:

• One passage says: "Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize." When we talk about following Jesus, what is the "prize?"
• Paul, the author, talks about having discipline. When we learn a sport, it takes a lot of practice to be good at it. Being a Christian, and a disciple, takes practice too. What are some ways we can practice every day to win God's "prize?"
• The words DISCIPLE and DISCIPLINE come from the same Latin base. That is no coincidence. It takes discipline to be a disciple. If we are disciplined, what are some things we need to steer clear of?
• How does this connect to understanding Salvation History?

Challenge your family by creating a map that looks like a race course. Give everyone a color with marker or crayons and start them at the beginning. When you catch someone showing the discipline of a disciple by making good choices, move that family member color along the course a bit. A new race course map could be put on the refrigerator every month to keep encouraging the discipline of the disciple who wants to make it to the ultimate finish line!

Story Time Suggestions:

A little engine is filled with goodness to take to the boys and girls but can't get the power to make it further and needs some help. The Engine asks for help and is denied by a fancy new engine that is too busy. The big strong engine that comes by also denies helping the little engine because it is too prideful. An old engine comes along and says it is too tired to help. Finally, a very little engine comes along and though she is afraid, kindness rules, and she helps. There are so many talking points about being a disciple in this story and about chugging along the path to GOODNESS! (It's also very similar to the Good Samaritan story!)

As the prayer Jesus himself taught us, there isn't a better choice to teach your children to memorize and understand!

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, and we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Ask your kids if they can paraphrase any of the prayer. Do they know the meaning of the words they are saying? Help them to understand using this easy discussion formula from Crosswalk.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Shrine of Guadalupe sits atop Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City and honors the legendary 16th-century appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, a local peasant. Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the names for the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the patron saint of Mexico! View the video below to go on a virtual pilgrimage to the site, and learn more about why this shrine is the most visited in the world!

"Race" each other with this fun pool noodle activity you can make with some easy supplies; see whose water gets through the noodle first! Then, look up the many other ways you can create games with pool noodles this summer!

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Editor: Leslie Barkin leslie.barkin@dor.org

Email: oec@dor.org
Website: oec.dor.org
Location: Diocese of Rochester, Buffalo Road, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: 585-328-3210

See them all here!