Choosing a First Communion Gift

Whether you choose a First Communion gift that is specific to the Sacrament of Communion or simply what you feel the child would like, every gift can be memorable and special. We want to choose a gift to help a child not only remember their special day but also to further their prayer life and draw them closer each day to Jesus. How can we help?

Every day we are asked by parents and grandparents and friends and neighbors, aunts and uncles and godparents, WHAT is a good present for First Communion?

We highly recommend that parents and grandparents give the more traditionally "personal" gifts, such as, a rosary, a prayer book, a bible or a crucifix. Godparents may want to go with a piece of jewelry such as a cross or a bracelet with a chalice (we offer great masculine bracelets). Aunts and uncles may like to give a rosary box or pouch or a communion frame. Friends and neighbors can choose from many, many books about First Communion or the Mass. We suggest if anyone chooses to give a book, whether specific or general, that they personalize the inside with the date and a message for the child's special day. Other choices, in general, include medals, figurines and books of saints, bookmarks, crosses with communion symbols or a special message, and music boxes.
First Communion Day is a very special time for our children and we are aware that you want to keep the momentum of that day going forever. Let us help you choose something special.

I Get Asked A Lot ...

"What medal is that?" "Where did you get it?" "Why do you wear it?" Many people I know wear medals they have received as gifts, from aunts or grandparents who "knew they would actually wear it", from places they have traveled, for protection and for devotional purposes. I personally own more medals than I could ever wear all at once. Medals that have been blessed by popes or in holy places. Medals that have been handed down from loved ones. Medals that I have purchased while traveling. Each and every one has significance to me. I have worn a St. Gerard medal for 29 years when it was given to me by one of our vendors after the loss of our first child and upon the birth of our oldest on earth. The only time I have taken it off for any length of time was when I put it over the head of a friend on her way to the hospital to give birth (she was a bit worried but all went well, of course). I also continually wear my Miraculous Medal that I received after my consecration to Mary and my scapular medal, because with promises like that, how can I not?! Last but not least, I wear a medal of St. John of God, patron of booksellers. I also often wear a shorter chained medal, usually something from a Marian Apparition; Fatima, Lourdes, or Guadalupe just because they are beautiful and they fill me with memories of being at a certain Grotto or apparition site.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that it's not as simple as putting a medal around our necks and POOF, protected or holy or instant sales or whatever. I know that these medals are simply reminders for us to pray to Our Lady and Our Lord and the patron Saints. They are reminders of promises to cling to faith and hope and love. They are reminders to visit and to listen. They are reminders of those who have come before us, the community of believers who have paved our way, who have planted seeds and who have prayed for the future of the Church on earth.

I get asked a lot, and so we ask you...what medals do you wear? Why?

The Advent Wreath

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 524; see Revelation 22:17; John 3:30

The Church year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. During this four-week season, we wait in great expectation to celebrate the birth of Jesus and look forward to his second coming. The Advent wreath is a popular sacramental that feeds our devotion to the Lord during this season.

As with many of the older customs of the Church, not much is known about the history of the Advent wreath. Most people agree that a wreath similar to what we use today originated in the sixteenth century in Germany, among the Lutherans. The tradition was brought to America with the German immigrants and became popular in the Catholic faith around the 1920s.

The Advent wreath is a symbol of the Light overcoming spiritual darkness. As the laurel wreath was symbolic of victory, so the wreath of evergreens represents the One who is to come and win over death. The circular shape represents the eternity he secures for us. Many people use holly in their wreaths to signify the crown of thorns, the red berries reminding us of the blood that Jesus shed for our salvation.

The three purple candles in the wreath symbolize preparation, penance, and sacrifice. We light the one pink candle on the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, meaning “rejoice.” The Entrance Antiphon for this day is “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4–5).

Some people include a white candle in the center of the wreath. This is the Christ candle, to be lit on Christmas Day. The purple and pink candles can be replaced with all white candles and can continue to be lit throughout the Christmas season . The gradual increase of light throughout the Advent season illuminates into Light for the World, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Advent wreath in the home calls up many different traditions. Whether we make one from a Styrofoam ring or buy one that matches our other Christmas decorations, the wreath is meant to bring us to prayer, to lead us to the Light, and to renew our desire for him in our daily lives. Families seem to develop their own ways of gathering together during this hectic time of year, to read and to pray and to light candles. This sacramental reminds us to slow down, to remember why we give one another gifts, to think about whom we are celebrating.

Another favorite family sacramental during the Advent season is the Advent calendar. Also originating in Germany, the cardboard calendars generally have a Christmas scene on the front, with twenty-five cut-out doors that can be opened, one each day from December 1 until Christmas Day. Each door reveals a scene or a Scripture verse or both that lead us through the season to the birth of Jesus.