Little Altars for St. Joseph

I mentioned yesterday about keeping some St. Joseph's Altar supplies in our March box and remembered that last year, some friends asked for more of an advanced reminder about this idea. If you don't know what a St. Joseph's Altar is you can find out about it over at Evann's site, The Virtual St. Joseph Altar.

A full scale St. Joseph's Altar has never been a tradition of ours and while I think the idea of celebrating this very powerful intercessor of the Church as a community is wonderful, our current community just doesn't do it.

So last year, we put together our own "little altar" with the idea that we would choose things that represented the traditional fare but that could be donated to the poor in St. Joseph's name after the Solemnity was over. The kids really had a blast going on a scavenger hunt of sorts through the store choosing those things that could be representative of the traditional foods but still meet the food pantry's requirement that everything be non-perishable.

Here is a look at what our table looked like last year to give you an idea:

 

We used Evann's 3D altar as our guide for foods to find but Catholic Cuisine also has some information on what kind of foods are considered traditional. 

Anyway, this is just to say that if you don't think a large altar with prepared foods is doable for your family, maybe this "little altar" idea will suit you better. Oh and Evann is hosting the 1st annual St. Joseph Altar Blog Fest so take a picture of your altar on the 19th, big or small, and link to it over at her place. I can't wait to see everyone's altars honoring this humble and gentle heavenly friend.