Eutrapelia

Catchy title, huh?  Know what it is?  Yeah, me neither - 'til last month's Little Flower's meeting.  This will probably come up on google search page one... there's not a lot about this virtue, eutrapelia (yoo trap el EE ah). 

And it is the first virtue for wreath III.  I happened to sign-up for it.  I signed up for it because I was really excited to learn more about this virtue and teach it to our lovely flowers  it was the only virtue not spoken for.  ::grin::

Pleasantness.  Moderate relaxation.  Good wit.  Aristole and St. Thomas Aquinas pinned these words to this virtue. 

So I'm just giving a quick run through of what I did with this virtue. 

* I explained the virtue first
* I introduced the flower - the dandelion. 
    - I pointed out that to grown-ups this flower is a weed.
    - but to children this weed is a flower.  Usually the first flower children bring to Mom.  And the                   'blowers' [as we call them] or 'puffballs'... children blow them with great joy!  This is eutrapelia!  Seeing       weeds for what they are.... flowers!
* I played a song by Marie Bellet - Mother, You are Worried
* We talked about ways or situations where we could be pleasant.
* I told them about how St. Therese had hard times with some of the sisters in her order but she was always so gentle, kind and .... pleasant to those who were a thorn.  She offered up these little sufferings. 
* Luke 10:38 [I believe, going on memory here ::wink::] tells the story of Martha and Mary.  I read it for the girls and then we spoke about its meaning. 

For the craft [done by our creative Craft Mom] the girls did a foam doorknob hanger.  One side had a child making her bed [Martha] and the other side had a child praying [Mary].

I hope this helps any mom out there stuck blessed with doing this virtue!

St. Therese, pray for us.