Over the past 15 years, I’ve witnessed the rise of “liturgical living” in Catholic circles. Websites, social media, books, home décor and subscription boxes abound to help families celebrate the church year at home — with party supplies and recipes for every feast day under the sun.
But liturgical living is for adults, too. The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes the centrality of the liturgical year for all who follow Christ: “The Church, ‘in the course of the year,…unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from his Incarnation and Nativity through his Ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord'” (CCC 1194).
More good news: there’s no need to buy or do anything elaborate to grow in your practice of liturgical living. Celebrating the church year can be as simple as changing your prayer habits in small ways or incorporating the liturgical seasons into daily life.
For example, start by noticing what you already do at home to mark the changing seasons in the church: Advent candles, Christmas or Easter decorations or special food for holidays. You might try adding one or two practices in the coming year to deepen your celebration of the liturgical seasons.
One easy idea is to change your prayer habits each month. Start your daily prayer with the Hail Mary in October, in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pray your own short litany of favorite saints each day in November or pray by name for loved ones who have died.
Another idea that appeals to young and old is bringing the outside inside. Nature’s seasons often echo the church year. To connect with God’s creation, gather a small beauty from the natural world to create a reminder to pray at your table or desk. Flowers, leaves, seeds, rocks, or shells — whatever is native to your area — can inspire us to thank God for nature’s cycles and liturgical seasons.
Celebrating sacred seasons doesn’t just mean decorating for high holidays. One small change — napkins, candles, flowers or artwork — can bring the current liturgical color into your home. For years, I’ve been using thrift store napkins (purple, white, green, red and pink) and prayer cards cut from religious catalogs to make a simple centerpiece on our kitchen table.
Liturgical living isn’t limited to home either, especially if you spend much of the day on the go. In November, you could say a short prayer whenever you pass a church or cemetery, in honor of our beloved dead. In December, pray “Come, Lord Jesus” whenever you see a Nativity scene.
When planning your calendar for work or home, check online to see what saints’ feast days are coming soon. You might start by marking memorials that connect with your name, nationality, parish or particular devotion. Beyond birthdays, remember family and friends in prayer on their baptism anniversary or wedding anniversary, too. (Not sure when your own baptismal anniversary falls? Contact the parish where you were baptized to check the records.)
Young adults, single people, engaged or married couples, empty nesters, widows and widowers — the liturgical year is a gift that belongs to all of us, not just kids making Sunday school crafts. Every Christian can access and grow from the joy that comes in celebrating the sacred seasons. Following the liturgical year is not one more thing “to do,” but a way to live. Clearly, the best way is to keep the liturgy at the center of your life — so when you prioritize Mass on Sunday, you’re already doing it!
But God is always beckoning us deeper into the life of faith. Contemplating the truths held in the liturgical year can help us to keep Christ’s dying and rising — the paschal mystery — at the heart of our faith. Try one new thing this season, a prayer or practice that can draw your faith into daily life: your own Ordinary Time.
Laura Kelly Fanucci is an author, speaker and founder of Mothering Spirit, an online gathering place on parenting and spirituality.