Rules:

1. Submit a First Communion story about you or your children by 5/31/09.
2. Story must be true and a GOOD memory.
3. You must own copyright on any photos you use in your story.
4. Voting on stories will run through 6/13/09.
5. Voters may vote for more than one story but please only vote for a story once.
6. The winners will be announced on 6/15/09.
7. The first prize winner will receive a $60 gift card to Aquinas and More Catholic Goods and 3 sheets of laminated custom prayer cards printed with a prayer of his choice.
8. Two runner-up prizes for $25 gift cards to Aquinasandmore.com will be awarded as well.

This week we added several new articles to our Catholic Article Section of the site:

• A detailed description of Magnificat.
• A glossary of jewelry metals.
• A glossary of rosary bead types.
• What’s in a First Communion Gift Set?
• St. Josephine Bakhita
• Tradition and the Meaning of First Communion

And if you haven’t read our Saint making guide, now is the time.

Following the ancient tradition and practice of the Church, the season of the First Sacraments is approaching. It corresponds to the Paschal (Easter) season in the life of the Church although some parishes will continue to celebrate First Sacraments well into the Pentecost season.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us “The sacraments of Christian initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist – lay the foundations of every Christian life. The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity.” Catechism of the Catholic Church #1212.

Read the rest…

“Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.’ The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, ‘Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’; and when he had said this he breathed his last.”

Way of the Cross Prayers and Meditations Only $19.95 Author: Pope Benedict XVI	Step By Step To Calvary: Praying the Stations of the Cross Only $13.95  Author: Angela Burrin
The King, Crucified and Risen: Mediations on the Passion and Glory of Christ Only $8.99 Author: Fr. B. Groeschel	Characters of the Passion Only $9.95 Author: Archbishop Fulton Sheen
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Only $18.00 Author: Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich	On the Passion of Christ Only $12.95 Author: Thomas A’ Kempis
The Passion of the Christ DVD Feature Film Only $21.95	Meditation on the Passion of Christ DVD Feature Documentary Only $24.95
The Life of Christ – In the Mysteries of the Rosary Three DVD Set Only $26.95	The Easter Triduum DVD Presentation Only $24.95

  

“It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal – so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.

Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.”

 - from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1851, 1992

The Passion for Children A Bi-lingual Coloring Book Only $5.00	Stations of the Cross A Coloring Activity Book Only $1.95
Jesus For Kids  A DVD Presentation Only $14.95	The Miracle Maker A DVD Presentation Only $14.95

Are you looking for additional Children’s items?

To browse the complete selection in our Children’s book department please click here.

To browse the complete selection in our Children’s DVD/video department please click here.

First Holy Communion season is right around the corner.

 To browse our complete selection of First Holy Communion resources and gift ideas, visit the Aquinas and More  First Holy Communion Specialty Store.

To browse our complete selection of crucifixes and wall crosses, the constant reminder of the price paid for our salvation, please click here.

Black Wood and Pewter Crucifix

To browse our complete selection of icons, the ancient and beautiful devotional art of the Christian East,

please click here.

The Crucifixion Icon

Psalm 96 exhorts us to “Sing a new song unto the Lord. Sing to the Lord, all the earth!”  To browse our complete selection of music CDs, please click here.

Allegri Miserere CD

This Lenten season, why not deepen your prayer life by praying the Rosary or praying it more often? To browse our complete selection of rosaries and chaplets, please click here.

” This is the season of First Sacraments “

The season for celebrating Confirmation and First Holy Communion, two of the three sacraments of Christian initiation, is approaching. These, and all seven sacraments, are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification. While God can give man grace without external signs, without the use of ceremonies and symbols, it has pleased Him to do so. The necessity of the sacraments is the necessitas convenientiae, or the necessity of convenience. The Sacramental system does not exist because God is bound to it- He is not- but because it is the most appropriate when dealing with humans, who are both spiritual and material. The redemption of man was not invisible; the incarnation took place because God dealt with man in the way most suitable to his nature. And following, the Catholic Church was established by Christ to be a visible institution, therefore it should have external ceremonies and symbols of what is sacred. According to St. Thomas, it is the nature of man to be led by things physical and sense-perceivable to things spiritual and intelligible; that Divine Providence provides for everything in accordance with it’s nature, and therefore it is fitting that Divine Wisdom should provide means of salvation for man in the form of certain corporeal and sensible signs which are called sacraments.

The holy season of Lent is here – are you spiritually prepared?

Selected gifts for those receiving or preparing to receive their First Holy Communion:

Boy’s First Holy Communion Gift Set Only $27.75	Girl’s First Holy Communion Gift Set Only $32.50
Boy’s First Holy Communion Pewter Rosary Only $25.25	Girl’s First Holy Communion Heart Rosary Only $25.25
First Holy Communion Cross for Boys Made in Italy Only $22.95	First Holy Communion Cross for Girls Made in Italy Only $22.95
Little Child of God – Boy’s First Missal Made in Italy Only $10.00	Little Child of God – Girl’s First Missal Made in Italy Only $10.00
Marian Children’s Mass Book – Remembrance of My First Holy Communion Black Pearlized Cover Only $14.75	Marian Children’s Mass Book – Remembrance of My First Holy Communion White Pearlized Cover Only $14.75

Are you looking for a special gift for a First Holy Communion? Do you need some ideas to find the right, unique item?

We carry a wonderful selection of First Holy Communion missals, Bibles, rosaries, crucifixes, gift sets and First Holy Communion dresses.

To browse the complete selection in our First Holy Communion specialty store please click here.

We carry a large and wonderful selection of art, like the painting “After the First Holy Communion” which is shown at the beginning of our newsletter today.To browse our complete selection of beautiful Catholic paintings, prints, Florentine plaques and icons, please click here

  

 - from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1285-1287

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Cross Cherry cross with pewter overlay Only $26.95	RCIA Gift Cross Cherry cross with pewter overlay Only $30.00
The Seven Sacraments - A Young Catholic’s Sacrament Book Only $12.95	The Essential Catholic Handbook - A Summary of Beliefs, Practices and Prayers Only $11.95