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On October 22, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of Saint John Paul II, who was just canonized as a Saint on April 27, 2014.  We enjoyed celebrating his first feast day on October 22, 2014 with lapbooks and videos of this great successor of St. Peter singing "Ave Maria" in 1976 and "Dynamite"!

Last year I posted about 7 ways to celebrate the feast day of Saint John Paul II.

This year, I set up our dining room table with a tray honoring Saint John Paul II using various resources that I have of him.

I recently bought the book Pope John Paul II: A Tribute from our parish's small Catholic store for a great price.  It is a beautiful book filled with photos of his childhood through adulthood with interesting captions and information about his life.  It was a great way to learn more about this Saint with my children.

 
We also love to display and admire this pencil drawing (Yes! A PENCIL drawing) of Saint JPII that Cameron Smith drew {did I mention drew with a PENCIL!?!}  (no relation to me, but he and his wife are our 5th child's Godparents)  This "Portrait of a Saint", pencil on paper, was completed in 2001 by Cameron Smith.   Be sure to visit Smith Catholic Art!  What talent!


In our home we also have a certificate that we received as a wedding gift on July 12, 1997 that states that "The Holy Father John Paul II paternally imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of divine graces to Tracy and Anthony Smith on the occasion of their wedding" with the location of our wedding and our wedding date.  It is a treasured gift and blessing!   


We can learn so many lessons from Saint John Paul II ! I enjoyed this post 7 Lessons from Pope John Paul II from Saints365.

This is a beautiful short video titled "The Gift of Pope John Paul II" that I found on YouTube from Theology of the Body Institute.

Enjoy this animated GIF from EpicPew: 


via GIPHY