Marcus receives First Holy Communion

We honestly couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day than what we had on 

Sunday, May 26, 2013.

The sun was shining, it was warm, there was a slight breeze. It was the last Sunday of the month which is the Tridentine Mass offered by Father E. B. Connolly at St. Joseph Parish in Girardville PA.  It was also the Mass in which Marcus was to receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion for the first time. 

There was prep work involved for such a holy and joyous occasion.  First we (Brian and I) had to agree on a suit, originally I wanted black, but with the help of Father Connolly, I "gave in" and got a white one for our dear boy, It was certainly the right choice! After having the pants altered at Keller's, the suit was perfect!

Brian said keep the guest list small, not many will want to attend...when I showed him the list, he had his doubts, I told him, those that are to be there will be, sure enough, the RSVP's started coming in, turned out all but 4 of the invitees showed up. It was beautiful to see so many people that care about our child and our family attend an important event.

Even though I've been teaching Marcus his religion, in his school lessons at home, I wanted him to have more preparation for what was about to happen....Father Connolly and Miss King had a 

Holy Communion Class at 

St. Vincent in Girardville, it was about 2 weeks long, and two nights a week, which worked out well. Marcus did very well in the class, which helped put this momma's mind at ease that he was indeed prepared for his special day.

 I wanted to have some sort of small token of our appreciation for those that did come to support Marcus, so I made bookmarks, thank you Beth Ann Whitenight for the use of your machine to cut out the rosaries and cups!  There were several trips to Michael's until I had it together, but it came together well.

 

 

 The cake as you should know is where I had a lot of concern.  

I wanted it to be perfect....First Holy Communion only happens for a child once.  I shopped around and not being pleased with what I saw in the bakeries, I decided to do a bit of research and found a few things that I liked and the cake designing began. The end result was host and chalice with writing done in white, baby blue and gold.  In my eyes, it was perfect for our needs.  

 

And of course there is the "reception" after Mass...

We kept the menu simple, hot dogs, chips, potato salad, lemonade, iced tea, coffee, water, my mother-in-law was kind and bought a meat and cheese tray, the Potteigers brought fruit salad,  the Miller's brought ambrosia, and Father Connolly bought pizza and had it delivered to help feed the crew! 

The Mass was absolutely beautiful, everything went smoothly, and according to plan.  Mr. Feeney played the organ beautifully, we had 2 altar servers. 

Marcus was "introduced" to the people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

answering Father Connolly

Marcus answers Father Connolly's question: "What is the Holy Eucharist?" response: "The Holy Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ hidden under the appearances of bread and wine."  Marcus spoke those words with such confidence, he made me so proud.

 

preparing for Holy Eucharist

 

 

 

The reverence Father shows here touches my heart, he is truly a man of God, and I am thankful that he has baptized 3 of our 6 children, and pray that he will baptize our next blessing in October, in the Traditional Rite.

 

preparing for Holy Eucharist

 This was the first time Father Connolly gave First Holy Communion in the Tridentine Rite, his homily was on the Blessed Trinity, and was very insiteful.

Jesus enters Marcus for the first time

 After Mass, Mrs. Thye took this family portrait, it is the first one we had done in four years, so this is special to me.

All of the beautiful pictures on here with the exception of the cake and bookmark are courtsey of Mrs. Thye.
She did a beautiful job capturing this special day, there are many more pictures but I chose the ones I felt made the biggest statement for me.

As you can see, our family has been blessed by God in more ways than one, a wonderful family, a wonderful preist, wonderful friends, good food. 

my sweet family.

I pray that this day will always be in Marcus' heart, and that God will always be with him when making any kind of decisions.  May God bless you not only today, but always...

Love you always little man!

We have so much to be thankful and grateful for, and words can't express our gratitude enough.