We had a memorable First Holy Communion/Pentecost/Mother's Day, didn't you?!
Let's cover Mother's Day first. No breakfast in bed or roses this year. We had a cake to decorate, food to put in the crock-pot, fruit to cut and a girl to dress up. Good thing Mass was at 1pm! I did receive a stack of cards, a coupon for a massage from my wonderful hubby and this frame from Dancer. She made it herself.
I actually did get roses - from myself the kids. A rosebush, to be exact. I found an "Oklahoma" variety at Wal-Mart for $3.96 and couldn't pass it up.
We finished the Garden of the Good Shepherd Easter calendar. Yeah!
I spent most of the morning with a pastry bag in my hands. Warning: If you ever take a cake decorating class at Michael's and buy $$$ worth of equipment you may never splurge for a $25 bakery cake again. No matter how rusty your skills become in between your children's birthdays. My roses had ragged petals, so please don't look at those! Look at the photo of the girl and her grandmother and I'll tell you a story.
This photo was taken thirty years ago. This is me on my First Holy Communion with my "Grandmama". She was a saintly woman, from what I can remember. I think of her particularly on All Saints Day as one who must surely be an uncanonized saint in heaven. She rose early every morning to bake and pray. She attended daily Mass and was a Third Order Benedictine. She prayed the rosary each afternoon before nodding off in her armchair. She was loving, welcoming and always glad to see you. And she smelled wonderful. I wish I could smell her again.
The dress I am wearing in this photograph was handmade by my grandmother. My mother and her three sisters wore this dress, my sister and I wore it, my two nieces wore it and so I was naturally thrilled when my mother passed it along to us for our girls! Our daughter is the ninth First Communicant to wear this vintage treasure!
Not that the dress is the focus - like Red Cardigan recently reminded us, the focus of a Sacrament should be on -- the Sacrament! Not the dress, not the cake, not the food, etc. All of these things are important aspects of our celebrations, but should not be the main event. So please forgive me for going on and on about the dress and the cake.
What is more important is all the preparation of the heart and soul in the years leading up to a child's first communion and even before that. Generations before. My grandmother was strong in her Catholic faith and she passed that faith to my mother who passed it to me and my husband and I are doing our best to pass it along to our children. We can't see this baton of faith being passed, but it is indeed a strong chain, keenly felt, that unites the generations together. This dress, to me, represents this connection and I am forever grateful to my grandmother for the gift of my faith and for this dress that reminds me of my Catholic heritage.
My daughter's First Holy Communion day brought all of this full circle for me. She not only is named for my grandmother, but the two were were also born 100 years
apart - my grandmother was born in 1900 and my daughter in 2000. And she got to wear the dress her great-grandmother made by hand nearly eighty years ago. My daughter will never see her great-grandmother on earth, but with the grace of God they will meet someday in heaven!
Ok, ok, on to the pictures!
By the forsythia. Burr it was chilly and windy - wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, right?
At the church. When we arrived at the church and I was pinning on her veil the priest spoke to her, "Remember, it's your mom's job to worry about how you look and you just remember to prepare your heart for Jesus."
The Big Moment
Afterwards at home we served up the IKEA meatball family pack (easy in the crock pot) and Twelve Fruit Salad - for the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit! Cake and ice cream, lots of lovely gifts, friends and family and even our wonderful Catholic babysitter stopped by!
There are two things my daughter said that I want to remember forever.
The first, "I know I will have a birthday every year, but I will only have one First Communion."
The second was when she was telling me that Grandma D. (my MIL) told her that on her First Communion Day Jesus would grant her any wish she wanted. Well, I went from half-listening to attentively thinking, "Uh-oh, what did she wish for and will she be disappointed?"
I asked, "And what did you wish for?" not really looking at her.
"I wished that I would grow in grace of God every day," she replied. I really looked at her then and saw that she was glowing and smiling and crying all at the same time. Her heart was indeed prepared for Jesus.
Grandmother S., pray for us! Come Holy Spirit with the grace of God and help us on our way to heaven!
