C's First Holy Communion

T used his Mass Kit and pretended to celebrate Mass on Saturday, so that C could practice for her First Holy Communion on Sunday. Grammy and Paw-Paw also attended and joined in singing and role playing. I think it helped C to better prepare for the big day.

C and the two boys who also received their First Holy Communion. Don't they look so cute and excited. This was right before Mass began.

Just after Mass, C poses with Jesus in the tabernacle and in her heart. She was so happy! My mom captured a rare picture of all of us after Mass, and surprisingly, everyone is looking at the camera.

This is the cake on which I used fondant and gum paste to create stalks of wheat and three-dimensional grapes. I was very blessed to have found a chalice cake topper that fit very well and was inexpensive. It made the cake look so much better.

This is the chocolate cake that C helped to decorate with real roses she cut from our rose bush. This chocolate cake was the first to go. It was made with the King Aurthur Flour chocolate cake mix a friend gave me. It was, by far, the best cake I've ever made. I was told this my nearly everyone in attendance who devoured it. I also made some cupcakes for the little kids to enjoy. I found the "host" idea on http://www.catholicicing.blogspot.com/; it uses the end of a large marshmallow. Her blog has the directions, though she used the idea on cookies.

We were so blessed to have family and "church family" celebrate with us on this special day. Some of our special guests included two of the priests we see most often, Fr. M and Fr. J. C was so happy they both were able to stop by and visit for awhile. It made the day even more special. Fr. M was even able to bless many of C's First Holy Communion gifts after playing a friendly game or two of euchre.

First Communion

The blessed day of T's First Holy Communion was April 25th at the 10:30 am Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It was lovely. Father gave an inspiring homily about Maria Goretti. The liturgy was orthodox. The music was excellent. But best of all, we were surrounded by our Church Family and friends who all were there to bare witness to T receiving Jesus for the first time in the Holy Eucharist. T was beaming with joy. After kneeling down and praying a short while, he began to cry. He was so happy. You can tell in some of the pictures that he had been crying. It was so moving to see that all our preparations and study about Jesus in the Eucharist had made such a difference. The reality of God becoming man, dying on the cross for our sins, and being willing to feed our very souls, hit T's heart like a ton of bricks.

The next day, on Monday, T and I went alone to Mass while my mom and sister watched the other kids. It was just the two of us. I did this with M, too. It is sort of a tradition in our family. My mother did it for me and my sister. To this day, my sister remembers that "alone" time with Jesus and Mom at Mass. I could tell T felt the same way. The rest of the week we attended either Mass or a communion service with the rest of the kids. When I told him on Saturday that we couldn't go to Mass, T was heart broken. I told him he'd have to wait until Sunday morning. I thought he was going to cry. It is really moving to see how much he appreciates receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Who knows, maybe God is calling him to be a priest. Only time will tell if that dream he had was more than just a dream, but rather a calling.