Blessed Miguel Pro: Celebrating This Playful, Prayerful Christian Martyr

photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Blessed Miguel Pro (1891-1927) was a priest during the brutal reign of the ferociously anti-Catholic President Plutarco Elías Calles.

Amid this religious persecution, Blessed Miguel Pro constantly outsmarted and outmaneuvered officials for a long time. He was brave, witty, playful, and intensely committed to fulfilling his priestly obligation, no matter what.

He traveled throughout the city to celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and care for the poor. Despite physical suffering, he did good work and always did so with a light heart and smile on his face.

Eventually, he was caught on trumped-up charges and sentenced to death. Even as Bl. Miguel Pro stood before the firing squad for a crime he did not commit, he acted with grace and faith.

He died after praying and forgiving those who were to kill him and shouted, "Viva Cristo Rey!" then outstretched his hands and was martyred.

If you do not know about this marvelous Mexican priest and martyr, I encourage you to read about him and get to learn more about him. A good starting point for almost all things Miguel is the Blessed Miguel site once maintained by Ann Ball (may she rest in peace) and now under the direction of Lawrence LeLeux and Father Ray Bucko.

I also recommend Ann Ball's historical fiction book about Bl. Miguel Pro called "Jose Finds the King." It is an engaging, inspiring book about this merry saint.

You can also find out more about him in this superbrief video:


To celebrate this day, feel free to print out these "Secret Agent of God" cards:

You can also print out these circles and use them to either make a garland or laminate them and use them as buttons to wear today:

 If you have enough time (and markers and crayons!), you can make this Blessed Miguel Pro triptych.

 

Viva Cristo Rey!

xo

Vee

Advent Coloring and Activity Book 2016 [Printable]

Advent begins on Nov. 27 this year, and my heart has already begun the journey of expectation and hope. As I illustrated and created my new Advent coloring book, I found my mind reflecting on the beauty of the upcoming liturgical season.

In drawing wise men, I was reminded of how they sought him, how they saw the brilliant heavenly sign beaming from on high, and how they left all that they knew to go and encounter Christ.

A photo posted by Vee (@paper_dali) on Nov 14, 2016 at 1:44pm PST

In drawing St. Nicholas, I thought of how closely he followed Christ and sought to live a holy life, despite persecution. He thought of others, risked so much for the lives of people he didn't even know because his life was a testimony to Christ.

A photo posted by Vee (@paper_dali) on Nov 5, 2016 at 8:16am PDT

And as always, in drawing Mama Mary, I asked her to pray for all of us. She loves us so much, and she wants us to know how much the Lord loves us. Like a good mother, she prays for us and checks in on us. So, I thoroughly enjoyed drawing a brand-new Our Lady of Guadalupe for my coloring book.

A photo posted by Vee (@paper_dali) on Nov 11, 2016 at 7:02am PST

All those Instagram pictures are a behind-the-scenes look at my creating the Advent Coloring and Activity Book 2016.

The 31-page PDF features all new illustrations and almost all-new activities. You can find out more about it by visiting my Etsy shop.

May this upcoming liturgical season fill you with hope, peace, love, and joy.

xo
Vee

Saint Therese of Lisieux Coloring Page [Free Printable]

Click image to download free coloring page PDF.

St. Therese of Lisieux (also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and the Little Flower) is one of the most loved saints of the Catholic Church.

A discalced Carmelite nun, she developed (and lived by) the idea of living a sacrificial, prayer-filled life full of small acts of great love.

Her devotion to this "little way" of following Christ closely and spreading His love in small acts transformed her life... and the lives of all those who love her and long to grow closer to Jesus Christ.

Oct. 1 is her feast day. For her celebration, I've drawn a picture for you to download for free and color up.

You can also pick up some lovely Saint Therese's feast day ideas from:

• Catholic Icing
• Shower of Roses 
• Catholic Cuisine 

Free Saint Pope John Paul II Printable Triptych

Excited about tomorrow's feast day of Saint Pope John Paul II? (Say YES!)

To celebrate this hugely popular pope-now-saint, I created a Saint Pope John Paul II tripych (a fancy word for three-panel painting) craft activity.

Want to put yours together for the Saint JP2 feast day? It's easy-peasy.

You'll need my favorite tools for a crafting project:

• Markers and colored pencils
• Childproof scissors (because I'm a scissors amateur)
• A glue stick
• Manila folder (because card stock is spendy)

1. Download and print the free Saint Pope John Paul II triptych printable

Super-important: Make sure your printer settings are "landscape mode" and "fit to printable area." If you don't, you end up with a mini triptych.

2. Cut out the printable along the dark outer line

3. Color with your favorite markers, colored pencils, drawing pens, etc.

4. Add doodles, squiggles, and whatever you'd like to make it extra-special

5. Glue to the manila folder (or card stock)

6. Cut out the tripytch again and the fold the outside panels towards the middle like so:

7. Decorate the outside panels, then place your beautiful work of art in a thoughtful spot

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Oct 21, 2015 at 4:15pm PDT

* * *

Hope you had fun making your own Saint John Paul II triptych! If you do use it, feel free to share pics of your work. If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #paperdali or tag me (I'm @paper_dali), so I can see your triptych.

xo
Vee

New Catholic Saints Coloring Book Featuring Saints Peter, Joan of Arc, and Anthony of Padua

I'm happy to announce that St. Peter and some well-known, beloved saints have finally made it to The Paper Dali Shop.

The saints are...
1. Saint Simon Peter
2. Saint Veronica
3. Saint Genevieve
4. Saint Joan of Arc
5. Saint Anthony of Padua
6. Saint Monica

The downloadable PDF coloring book is only $4, less than a cuppa joe---and families can make as many copies of the drawings as they like for their immediate family.

You can peek into the coloring book and get more details at the shop.

Free Sacred Heart of Jesus Coloring Page and Craft [Printable]

Download the free Sacred Heart of Jesus coloring page!

Happy feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

To celebrate this day, here's a Sacred Heart of Jesus coloring page that can be used as a craft activity, too.

On the right side of the coloring page is the cross, heart, and rays to create the sacred heart and add it to the chest of Jesus.

You can use the little images by:

• coloring them, cutting them out, and adding them to the drawing
• cutting them out, putting them on construction paper, tracing them, cutting them out, and gluing/pasting them to the drawing
• ignoring them completely and drawing your own sacred heart.

We'll be using this craft for our Catholic moms' group today. I cut and traced the heart and circle, but because we have so many little children, I figured they could just draw a cross rather than handle a small cross. (You can also just use stickers of hearts and crosses from your local dollar store.)

Enjoy!
xo