All Hallows Eve to All Saints Day to All Souls Day!

 

 

Wow! What a week! One student said to me-"This is great! I got to come out of uniform two days in a row!
Yes, at our school, since it is named All Saints Catholic School we truly celebrate our feastday and the church's holyday!

We begin by celebrating All Hallows Eve by allowing students to come out of uniform if they wear a Halloween costume to school as long as it is not scary and is appropriate for our school. We had some very creative costumes. Some students I did not recognize until they got up close. Take a look at some of our interesting visitors on the 31st!

Statue of Liberty and her sister-a Geisha Girl

A Kindergarten student was totally unrecognizable

Harry Potter flew in for the day!

 

A Pirate, my secretary as Daffy Duck and me, as Minnie Mouse

Over lunch time I gave the students a chance to feel the insides of a pumpkin and pull out the seeds and "guts" as I call it. Some had never touched the inside of a pumpkin, let alone see it.  They had a wild time with it.  Take a look at the expressions on their faces.



He had never done this yet having transferred from a military school in Germany and he got his hand just inside and quickly said, "No, I can't do this." And he quickly pulled his hand out.

 

 

This year Halloween is on a Thursday and this is the day for 24 adoration at our church-Our Lady of the Mountains- as we have it the Thursday before first Friday. Our students take care of the afternoon hours and each class goes for a half hour. Kinder and 1st were on their way to church in their costumes-Superman, Spiderman, Princesses and our pastor, Fr. Ariel, asked the students where they were going. They replied, "To Adoration!" He asked what they were dressed as and they said again-"Super Heroes"
And our pastor replied,
"Who is the best Super Hero?" and they replied "God". So the little super heroes were on their way to spend time with the number 1 Super Hero. I am sure not too many Halloween costumes appeared in any other Catholic church!

Friday-Our Feastday Arrived-All Saints Day!  All the little saints lined up in the church courtyard before Mass eagerly waiting to parade into church singing-"O When the Saints, Go Marching In!" And here is the parade of saints. How many can you name?

St. Therese the Little Flower, Joan of Arc were up front!

A lot of Franciscan Saints showed up! And there is Joan of Arc-helmet on-ready for battle!

 A little St. Martin de Porres-broom and all! Father Ariel called up all the St. Kateri's which matched the design on his vestment for the day.

St. Therese the Little Flower and St. Francis of Assisi brought up the offertory gifts.

Little St. Joseph was not happy today. His head cloth was too tight!

 

St. Rose of Lima! She was so proud to show me her face. She is in my Religion class and she remembered the story I told about how St. Rose would scrub her face with pepper to make herself look ugly so people would not comment on her beauty. This little St. Rose rubbed her face with rouge to get the effect!

Make your own ice cream sundaes were served at lunch to celebrate our feastday! All smiles today!

 

 

Franciscans having a serious discussion over their ice cream.

 

No time to talk-just enjoy the ice cream!

All Souls Day finishes up the week. Students wrote names of those who died on pieces of paper and parishioners had names of their deceased loved ones in envelopes. All were in front of the altar being remembered in prayer.

 

Our Lady of the Mountains- A Very Active Parish !!

This is Fall Break Week-it officially started on Friday, October 11th at 3:30pm. I traveled to Tucson that night to be with my Sisters at San Xavier Convent. Together we enjoyed the Broadway musical "Sister Act"

They didn't sing any of the original songs from the movie but created new songs as the story was told. We all enjoyed it as much as the two movies. A great way to kick off a much needed Fall Break.

I traveled back to Sierra Vista on Saturday morning to help with the Volunteer Dinner at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish. The Parish and School Staff put the dinner on to thank the many volunteers.

As you notice, I support my Green Bay Packers whenever I can.

At the dinner the Volunteer of the Year is announced.

Spoken like a truly giving volunteer, I heard Dave say as his name was announced and as he put his head into his hands, "There are so many other volunteers that deserve the award more."

Sunday, the 13th most of us were back at the parish again in the afternoon for the annual Our Lady of Fatima Procession. Many of the students at All Saints Catholic School volunteered to take part in this special procession to honor Our Lady.

 

The Children of Fatima

We processed around the church, school and on to Yaqui Street and back around on to our parish grounds.

Parishioners from three parishes took part in the procession.

It was a windy day for the young lady who carried Mary's silver crown.

The Knights of  Columbus are always so willing to lead the way.

 



One of my former students and myself introduced the mysteries of the rosary.

 

One of our students was Francisco and he prayed two of the mysteries.



Fr. Ariel Lustan, our pastor

Fall Break continued with a wide variety of activities from cleaning rugs, shopping at two of our new stores-Jo Ann Fabrics and Hobby Lobby, working in school and taking extra time to sleep, relax and pray.

When we return to All Saints Catholic School we will miss one of our military families who are moving to their new location-always a part of their life.


The father thanked our school for all we have done for their children. They presented the school with The Our Father in Spanish. We all gave them a blessing as they travel on their way.

St. Francis Day - Blessing of Pets

St. Francis of Assisi Day Friday, October 4, 2013   ------- A Beautiful day of Sunshine!

 

At All Saints Catholic School in Sierra Vista, we celebrate St. Francis of Assisi Day by having an outdoor Mass where all pets were welcome to attend too with their owners and that they did. As we waited for Mass to start we heard lots of dogs and cats-the birds did not sing though.

It was the first Friday of the month so we had to wait for Fr. Ariel Lustan, pastor, to have benediction to close the 24 exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This gave time for the pets to get adjusted to being most likely at their first Catholic Mass.

 



Grades 2 and 3 were the lectors at Mass and they read like professionals, for some it was their first time reading at Mass.

 

 

Fr. Ariel gave his homily and he didn't stop once even when some of the dogs in the back got into a very noisy scuffle.

Not sure if she wants a blessing-just like a baby at Baptism.

This beautiful dog was a service dog but after so many years he has to be retired. The neighbors were thrilled to become his new owner.

This little lady never made a sound through the whole Mass. A dogbone for her!

 A lot of holy water was used on this little guy.

A turtle blessing

 Kitty cats were blessed after the dogs were done.

The song birds received a blessing too!

 Our neighbors brought their 6 rescue dogs for a blessing. The big dog is blind and going deaf but dearly loved.

Our neighbors' horses wanted a blessing on St. Francis Day too!

 Making a wish-may I please have a puppy like this.

Students who helped put the chairs away took time to pet the dogs that were just blessed. The dogs loved the extra attention.

 

 

A smooch from my adopted friend.