The fifth day of christmas, December 29

The Feast of St. Thomas Becket 

activity

  • Make use of some of the resources on the tabs below (carols, reflections, scripture, literature, etc.)​​
  • Watch or read Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot.  Alternatively, read the play together. 
  • Watch A Man for All Seasons, a story about a different King Henry and a different Thomas, but with some fascinating parallels to the saint's story we consider today.
  • Get in touch with your inner Anglophile and do something British.  Never had plum pudding?  Now's the time to look up the recipe and try it.  If you haven't already, go online and watch the Queen's annual Christmas Day speech.  Locate some Christmas crackers or eat fish and chips. (This may not be as meaningful if you live in the UK.)
  • Group Activity: In honor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (about a story contest during a pilgrimage to Becket's shrine) spend time writing a one-page story on a piece of paper.  It can be based on a story you've heard elsewhere, but add your own touches to it.  Next, sit in a circle and write a short description of the life and/or appearance of the person to your right (about a paragraph).  Once you've all done this, read each others' stories out loud and then try to match the description of someone with the story they wrote.  Finally, vote on the best story and give the winner some food as a prize.  For an extra challenge, feel free to do all of the above in verse.
  • Spend time in prayer for leaders, both in the Church and throughout the world.​

GIFT GIVING

  •  Give one of the gifts you did not give on Christmas Day.
  • "Relic" gift: Give a gift to someone else that reminds them of you or of someone (especially someone who has passed on) that you both want to remember.
  • NO CASH OPTION: Make five golden rings to give to five of your friends (and then secretly forge a ruling ring to bend their will to yours).  Just kidding.  Find something outside that is blooming (or still green/colorful) and give it as a gift, along with written-out wishes for the coming year. (This may not be as meaningful if you live in the Southern Hemisphere.)