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Today is October 22, Saint John Paul II's FIRST feast day celebration!  We are going to look at the Canonization Lapbooks we made back in the Spring when both Saint John Paul II and Saint John Paul XXIII were canonized on April 27, 2014.   

Our family also loves watching this humorous YouTube video of Saint John Paul II "singing":




And thanks to a friend for telling me about this YouTube video of Karol Wojtyla (now Saint JPII) singing "Ave Maria" in 1976.  It's so beautiful it gave me chills! Enjoy!



There are so many other great ways to celebrate this day!

Kendra over at Catholic All Year has made some great printables with wonderful quotes from Saint JPII.

How about this yummy Polish dinner from Catholic Cuisine?

And for dessert?  a Pope Cake from Melody at Melodies Harmonies

And while you are eating the yummy cake you can listen to Glory Stories CD Vol 11: Pope Saint John Paul II.  Hmmm...I don't think we even have this CD yet, but I'll have to put it on my wish list!  

Or you can read some of these great children's books about Saint John Paul II.  Click link below for a great list of books...

Saint John Paul II Children's Books 

We especially love this book about this great Pope and Saint:


And I have to show you 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!

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Today is one of those days that our home, our domestic church, and our universal Church will remember like the day that Pope Francis was chosen.

This day is historic in so many faith-filled ways and I wanted our family to celebrate it and remember it. 

Today is an historic day of 4 Popes. As stated in the link, "Never before have a reigning pope and a retired pope celebrated Mass together in public."

Today we celebrate the canonization of two Popes.  Jessica over at Shower of Roses has a great list of 7 ways to commemorate this joyous day with children.

HERE is a link to miraculous stories by two women who were healed through the intercession of these two popes.   Fascinating for sure!

Today is also Divine Mercy Sunday.  Find out more about Divine Mercy devotion HERE.  In this list of 21 Awesome Fact You Didn't Know about JP2, on fact #7 it tells the connection between JP2 and Sister Faustina and the devotion to the Divine Mercy image.
We also had some fruit from our "Divine Mercy fruit platter" filled with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

And for dessert we colored Divine Mercy images that I printed out on card stock and put on top of our Divine Mercy "Sundaes".  Thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing for this fun and festive idea!


After our dessert, my husband led our family in The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy.

It has been a blessed day filled with a deeper love and understanding of Christ's universal Church and Jesus' infinite love and mercy!

On Sunday, July 4, 2010, we first went to Mass as a family in our patriotic attire. This picture was taken outside our church in the garden. While I was reading our church bulletin, I saw this beautiful quote inside:

I think Pope John Paul II is a wise and holy man indeed. Speaking of Pope John Paul II, I would like you to see this pencil sketch drawing of this great Pope titled, "Portrait of a Saint" drawn by Cameron Smith, a local and very talented artist. No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. This portrait may look like a black and white photo, but it is in fact a sketch done by the hands of Cameron Smith. Be sure to check out the rest of his artwork and be blessed!