Our lady Of Altagracia

Last year as we were celebrating this feast I was hoping little Arwen would be born on this day. Needless to say she was born two days later.
This year we will celebrate very simply.

We will read about this lovely feast day and talk about the attitude of thankfulness and what we have to be thankful for.
As we talk we will locate the Dominican republic on our large wall map in the kitchen
We will colour the beautiful image below and make our traditional book marks/ place cards from the image above. Perhaps we will even copy the map and past it in our Liturgical Notebooks along with a hand drawn image to be coloured or painted in watercolours (for the older ones) and a glued in image for the little ones.
We will bake some orange flavoured rolls and read A Gift of Gracias.

If we were more organised this year we would have this lovely tea that Alice has prepared for us to use. We love using Alice's tea ideas as they make the day so much more meaningful.

I would love to have the children make some paper star cut outs and then fill in the middle with blue transparent paper and then hang them on the windows like stained glass windows. We will see how we go.

As it is Summer holiday's here we won't get much more done. Especially with last minute 1st birthday preparations going on. No feast day would be complete with out a special time spent in prayer so this is the one we will be praying together tonight before the smaller ones tit-trot off to bed.

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia~

Preparatory Prayer:
O Dear Mother, Most Sweet Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness! Look at us here, prostrated in your presence wishing to offer you this novena in testimony of our love, and in thanksgiving for the innumerable favors we have received from your hands. You are our Advocate and, like beggars, we come to present our needs to you. You are our Teacher, and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all the love of our hearts. Receive Dearest Mother, our praise and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

Supplications ~
1.- O Sweetest Mother of Altagracia, pure and immaculate since your conception! We beg you to bless our children, preserving their innocence and increasing their love for purity.

(Hail Mary…)

2.- O Sweetest Mother of Altagracia, Admirable Mother, who in your little house of Nazareth, served as a model for Christian mothers and wives. We ask you to bless our homes so that the sanctity and holiness of marriage will flourish in them.

(Hail Mary…)
3. O Sweetest Mother of Altagracia, you who had the joy of receiving in your arms the body of your Most Holy Son who died on the cross for us, we beg you to come to our aid at the our of our death, so that by dying with the name of Jesus on our lips and hearts, we can fly to the glory of your maternal arms.

Final Prayer:
Most Holy Virgin of Altagracia, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for the continuous blessings you pour down on us. From your hands and from your maternal heart we receive, each day, the sustenance given to us by our Heavenly Father. You are our defender when we are in danger, our aid when we are in need and our hope in the sacrifices proper of our Christian life. Through your Immaculate Heart we want to sing a song of thanksgiving to God for all the blessings he has given us. We promise you, O Mother, gratitude and fidelity. You will reign forever in our homes and our town where we will venerate you as our Lady and Mother by growing in all your virtues. Make us worthy of being called your daughters so that serving God and you on this world, we will obtain the highest grace you bring to us: a holy death that will open to us the gates of heaven. Amen.


Our Lady of Altagracia ~ Pray for us!

Blessings,