This one wasn’t on my original plan for the month, but I’m swapping this out for St. Rose of Lima. We can do St. Rose next year. 🙂

Just a week ago we celebrated the Assumption of Mary, the day Mary was taken to the heavenly kingdom. Now we celebrate the Queen Mother’s coronation! Imagine the banquet in heaven on the day of her crowning. It seems fitting to celebrate in our own ways at home with a little coronation party.

 

Story and Scripture

Here’s a little picture book style story (without the pictures…artist I am not!) I came up with for today. Enjoy!

Jewels For Her Crown

The angels bustled here and there, humming with excitement as they made the final preparations for the coronation. Preparations had been underway for ages, all of heaven had been waiting for the earthly day when Mary, the Mother of God, was to come at last to her heavenly home. And now that she was there the King wanted to honor her with a banquet.

One angel in particular had a very big job. His job was to prepare the crown, to guard it and make it ready for the big day. He worked to form the crown of the most beautiful metals, skillfully crafting each crest and point into intricate designs. When he thought he was finished, he stepped back to admire his work. It truly was a fine crown, but something was missing. He couldn’t think of what it was.

Finally it dawned on him! Jewels! That was it! The crown for the Queen of Heaven should have the most precious stones adorning it. But where would he find such jewels?

He searched and searched through the treasure troves of the heavenly treasury. The grandest chests and boxes were filled with enormous jewels of every shape and color imaginable. They were all so grand, each too big to fit the side of the crown. What could he do? The crown needed to be finished soon, and he couldn’t find just the right jewels.

Just as he was beginning to lose hope he noticed a small rough treasure box in the corner of the treasury.  On the top of the box it read “From the Children”. He unlatched the box and peeked inside. There, tucked in the box, were the perfect jewels. They were radiant, pure colored, shining like the stars of heaven. They were just the jewels for the crown of the Queen of Heaven. He took the jewels out and carefully brought them back to his workshop.

The Crown Angel worked to carefully fix each jewel in place. When he had used all he brought it seemed he needed one more still. But the box had been empty when he left, and there were no other jewels that would fit.

The angel went back to the treasury to see if he might have forgotten one. There has to be one, there has to!

The angel in charge of the treasury was there, polishing the precious stones. When the Crown Angel arrived the Treasury Angel asked, “What is it you’re looking for my friend?”

The crown angel replied, “I’m searching for the last jewel for the crown for the Queen. I took all the ones I could find in the chest, but it was empty when I left.”

The treasury angel smiled. “Was it from the small box? The one in the corner?”

“Yes.” Replied the crown angel, looking dismayed.

“Go and see.”

The crown angel moved over to the small box marked “From the Children”. He opened it slowly, expecting to see the bottom of the empty box. Instead, there it was filled to the brim with more of the glittering jewels.

“This treasure box fills with another jewel every time the children of earth do something beautiful for someone else.” Said the treasury angel. “Their small acts of love, offered to heaven, turn into these precious jewels.”

The Crown Angel picked up the perfect last jewel. He thanked the Treasury Angel and went right back to work.

The day of the coronation arrived. All of heaven was alight with the sound of the choirs of angels, of trumpets and harps, with cries of joy and gladness. The King took the crown from the Crown Angel and placed it on the head of the Queen. As soon as He did, the crown beamed with light. Each of the jewels danced and sparkled with heavenly radiance. Their beauty made from the small acts of love from children like you.

Prayer Time

Here are some options…

-“Come, let us worship Christ, who crowned his mother as Queen of heaven and earth.” (Antiphon from Invitatory for this day, Liturgy of the Hours)

Followed by….

-Hail Holy Queen

-Hail Mary

-The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary

Concluding with…

-O God, who made the Mother of your Son
to be our Mother and our Queen,
graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession,
we may attain in the heavenly Kingdom
the glory promised to your children.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. (From the Liturgy of the Hours)

Coloring Page

From AZ Coloring Pages

Activity

Jewels for the crown

This craft is more of an activity, and is one that can be practiced over time. That time frame is up to you, but it’s a good way to encourage kindness and generosity in our children!

Materials Needed:

• paper crown template, cut out and pasted or taped together
• craft jewels or colored paper cut into jewel shapes or hole punched
• glue stick
• a joyful heart!

The How-To:

Set the blank crown somewhere central in your home. Think home altar, kitchen table, dining table. This is your crown for The Queen!

If you’re making your own jewels have the children help cut them out. You can also hole punch colorful paper and use the dots as the jewels! Put the jewels in a bowl next to the crown along with a glue stick.

Tell the children that each time they do something kind for someone else it’s like they’re offering a gift of a jewel to our Lady’s crown. So, every time they share, say something kind, do a job, or say a joyful “YES!” they can put another jewel on the crown.

Hopefully by the end of the day, or week, or month it will be filled with jewels!

The Treat!

For this days treat I had two ideas.

The first was Crown Cookies. (Like these from Catholic Playground) I’d make a batch of my favorite sugar cookie dough and have the children help cut out and decorate them after they baked. I don’t yet own a crown shaped cookie cutter and after two failed attempts to purchase one I switched the idea to…

Crown Cake

This is a bundt cake made in one of those pretty bundt pans that when looked at through the lenses of imagination appears crownlike!

Turns out I could have just printed the template from Catholic Playground and cut out the cookies that way. But now I’ve made up my mind.

So, I’ll be making Ina Garten’s Lemon cake adapted at Smitten Kitchen in bundt cake form for our celebration tomorrow. I think with the glaze it looks heavenly and golden and all kinds of delicious!

The other nice thing about the bundt cake option…they’re sold in the grocery store! You can just run out and pick one up for your at home celebration. Maybe stud it with berries for jewels. And enjoy!

If you celebrate tomorrow be sure to comment and share your experiences! #hdahqueenship