Top 2 Book Choices for First Communion/ Confirmation Gifts
May is typically the time that many children make their First Communion, and older teens make their Confirmation. It’s that time when we are pondering what would be the most meaningful thing to give as gifts. I’d like to provide some guidance to make this process easier. There are two book suggestions that I’d like to make based on my experience with these materials and how they have impacted people I know.
Pray with Us: A Saint for Every Day by Belinda Terro Mooney
The first book I want to mention is Pray with Us: A Saint for Every Day. This books helps children and teens understand the Saints as people who like us are trying to follow God and understand how to be who He wants us to be in a world that is sometimes frightening and chaotic. It helps readers to see the Saints as real heroes and inspires them to pray with the Saints on their feast days when they are the most powerful in their intercession. It is suitable for children before First Communion and especially preparation for confirmation when they are trying to choose a patron saint.
Pray with Us features 365 Saints, Blesseds and Venerables (one for every day of the year) from countries around the world. The biographical section includes some little-known facts about the Saints, while the prayer section focuses on asking the Saints to pray with us as we pray to our Father in Heaven. For example, the entry from May 13th is for Blessed Imelda Lambertini, the Patron Saint of First Communicants. The biographical part describes her as an eleven-year-old child living in a Dominican convent who had a mystical experience of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. The prayer part asks Blessed Imelda to pray with us, and then begins, “Loving Father, grant us a fervent love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. May we always receive Him with profound reverence and Thanksgiving…” To purchase go to: www.amazon.com/dp/1639662103
Adventures with The Saints (series) by Maria Riley
These books are suitable for children ages 6-10 so perfect for First Communion Gifts. The four books focus on one saint each. They are Saint Joseph: the Foster-Father Saint, Saint Therese: The Sleeping Saint, Saint John Bosco: The Juggling Saint, and Saint Joan of Arc: The Soldier Saint. Time-traveling siblings meet a saint, learn a lesson, and come back to apply the lesson to their lives. To purchase go to: https://www.mariarileyauthor.com/books
