St. Catherine was not of noble birth, she didn’t have any formal education, and hardly any qualifications. But despite these apparent deficits on her resume she was sought out as an advisor by many European leaders because of her holiness. She even “advised” those who didn’t necessarily want to be advised. Pope Gregory XI, who didn’t want to leave France to return the papacy to its rightful spot in Rome . . . we’re looking at you. She also brought the Italian government around to remove a false pope from Rome. Removing fake popes and coordinating international politics are no small matters! But, they’re the fruits that came from Catherine’s holy boldness when she refused to take any excuses back to God.

So what about airing OUR grievances?

If you’re ready to open a can of worms, ask your kids if they have any grievances to share about how YOUR home is run. Dinner is a great time for this!

This conversation with your kids is also a perfect time to talk about God-given authority and the duty of those in authority, how to respectfully interact with authority figures, and how to affect change in our communities (whether that’s just in our family or the larger community).

Why is this conversation important?

Throughout our lives, our children will continually encounter people in positions of authority, from us, their parents, to teachers in school, to our priests and religious, to those in civil offices. It’s important to know what this means and what, if anything, is owed to these people.

All authority on earth is given by God, we hear about this in the bible when Jesus is talking to Pontius Pilate in John 19:10-11. “‘Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above. . .’”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear about the purpose of authority: “Those who exercise authority would do so as a service. . . . The exercise of authority is measured morally in terms of it’s divine origin, its reasonable nature and its specific object. No one can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity of persons and the natural law.” (CCC 2235) And our response (or duty as the CCC calls it) to rightly ordered authority is to “regard those in authority as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts. . . [and] to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom.”

But what on earth do we do when we encounter someone who abuses their position of authority? Besiege the castle? Actually, no.

St. Augustine tells us “These practices, then, are eliminated, in my opinion, not with harshness, not with toughness, not in an imperious manner, but by teaching rather than commanding, by warning rather than threatening. . . . And if we use any threat, let it be done with sorrow, by threatening from the scriptures punishment in the future, not so that we ourselves are feared in our power, but so that God is feared in our words.” (Letter 22, Paragraph 5) a.k.a. airing your grievances!

The Catechism also says that “The citizen is obliged in conscience NOT to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel.” (CCC 2242)

Parents have a responsibility to use their authority for the “education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule.” (CCC 2223) Our children have the duty to “. . . obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Eph 6:1)

When Jesus institutes the priesthood he is very clear about the kind of authority that he has given to his priests. “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-27) And The Catechism sheds light on the laity’s duty to the authority of the Church hierarchy here: “Let all follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ follows his Father, and the college of presbyters as the apostles; respect the deacons as you do God’s law. Let no one do anything concerning the Church in separation from the bishop.” (CCC 896)

Wondering where the verse “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.” (Eph 5:22) fits into all of this? Read a bit more about that here.

The Church makes it unmistakable that authority should really be about serving those around us. Should we have expected anything else from Jesus who was constantly tipping things onto their heads? This being said as we move into the more practical application of “airing our grievances” below, some good things to think about and bring up as a family would be:

• How can our household run better so that our activities serve the family and allow us to be available to serve each other and our community?
• What are some concrete ways that I can serve my family better moving forward?
• What are some ways that our family can grow in serving each other?

Wondering about the practical ways to “Air your Grievances” as a family? Here’s a little how-to:

1. Plan it in advance! Give your family time to think and hopefully pray about the things that they’d like to talk about.

2. Make sure to have food. Talking about things that need to be changed around the house isn’t always an easy conversation, and it’s even harder if you’re hangry.

3. Take it seriously. No sarcasm or flippancy. But also, have fun! It’s important to be receptive, positive, and encouraging during your discussion.

4. Civility must reign. Conversational tones only, no berating or accusing or raising of voices. It’s a learning experience. And even if parents can’t make the requested changes, we can talk about the situation.

5. Parents get to air grievances too! But again, with respect and civility.

6. End with gratitude. It’s a good idea to finish up with some gratitude and share ways we are succeeding in our homes and with our families!

You can use this digital download as a preparation tool for the evening! Or grab one of these super cute St. Catherine of Siena notepads and pen sets to brainstorm on!

Are you needing to air some grievances outside of your family too? You can write to your town about the potholes that need to be fixed, to your state government, or to your representatives in the national government. You can also write to your bishop and to the pope!

Remember the same advice you gave your kids about having respectful conversations with those in positions of authority, and if you think that someone is doing a good job, then let them know that too!

The post Airing Our Grievances – A Very St. Catherine Way to Make a Difference appeared first on Catholic All Year.

FORMED provides the very best Catholic content to help parishes, families and individuals explore their faith anywhere. Supporting thousands of movies, children’s programs, ebooks, audio, parish programs and studies direct to your browser, mobile or connected device.

Many Catholic churches offer FORMED free to their parishioners, so call your parish office to see if you already have access. If not, you can subscribe for less than $10/month.

The first episode of Catholic All Year at Home is steaming now and it’s all about St. Nicholas Day.

You’ll get to see the kids and I make mulled wine and cider, speculaas cookies, and a Dutch fried meatball pub snack called bitterballen. Also, Bobby cries. #theonionsgothim I’ll share about some of the stories associated with these fun feast day foods, like why St. Nicholas is often pictured with three golden balls and without his mitre.

Most importantly you’ll get to see what actual feast day prep looks like in our kitchen. I hope you’ll be inspired to give it a try in your own home.

St. Nicholas’ Feast Day – December 6th

Complete recipes from this episode are available here:

Speculaas Cookies

Bitterballen

Hot Mulled Wine / Bisschopswijn

Hot Mulled Cider

If you like liturgical living recipes, check out the Catholic All Year Membership. CAY Members get exclusive access to the complete library of hundreds of recipes, organized by month and feast day, plus lots of other liturgical living resources.

We’ve got one more episode of Catholic All Year at Home in post-production right now, for Christmas Eve, so be on the lookout for that one.

If you like the show, please share it with your friends, family members, parish, school, and homeschool communities. We’ve got more episodes planned, but in order to get them greenlit, we need a lot of folks to watch these first two!

You can also find lots more Catholic All Year liturgical living video content on FORMED. Check that out here.

The post Catholic All Year at Home (on FORMED!) appeared first on Catholic All Year.

“Maybe we’ve got some extra downtime, and some time with all the kids at home, and we were going to eat dinner anyway, right?

I try to find saints’ days to attach to various activities we want to do each summer anyway, like hiking, camping, bonfires, and going to the beach, which makes me less likely to blow them off and just stay inside where the A/C is.”

In the spirit of that, I figured we could all benefit from an Ultimate Catholic Summer Challenge. Let’s get motivated, learn about the saints, have fun, be granted full or partial remission of the punishment of sin for ourselves or the soul of a deceased person*, and spend some time with loved ones with these 25 summer activities for Catholic families!

*read more about Catholic Indulgences here: Catholic Indulgences: what they are, when they are, and why you should care (as of the 1999 Manual of Indulgences revision of the Enchiridion of Indulgences)

Download the printable challenge sheet here.

THE RULES

Well, they’re more like suggestions, really, because it’s all up to you.

Print out a challenge sheet for the family or for individuals. Complete the tasks throughout the summer. X them off as you go. Challenge your friends and extended family to play along! If you’re on social media, join in on the fun together by following #catholicsummerchallenge

Complete the challenge by achieving all the activities by August 31, 2022 and enter to win a $100 gift card to the Catholic All Year Shop!

Details at the bottom of the post.

Many activities included in the challenge are associated with an indulgence. In some cases the conditions of the plenary indulgence require that the actions take place on a particular day.

See this post for all the details on conditions for gaining indulgences, but the most important thing to remember is that even if you can’t fulfill all the conditions of a plenary indulgence, it is still VERY WORTHWHILE to gain a partial indulgence.

Many of the activities are associated with a particular feast day. These are ideally done on that feast day, but when that’s not possible definitely feel free to do the activity early or late and check it off.

If certain tasks aren’t achievable (for instance no Corpus Christi Procession or beach nearby), substitute an alternate activity of your choosing.

ANYTIME CHALLENGES

1. Spend 30 minutes in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

This can be achieved before the exposed monstrance in an Adoration Chapel or before the tabernacle. A plenary indulgence is available according to the usual conditions. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 7)

2. Pray a Rosary with your family, religious community, friends, or in a church

ANY Rosary is always better than no Rosary at all, but the Church does recommend to us that we pray five decades without stopping, meditate upon the mysteries for the day, and pray with our family, religious community, friends, or in a Church. A plenary indulgence is available according to the usual conditions. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 17)

Want to level up? Check out this post: Making a Rosary with No Special Tools and Almost No Knots (because knots are hard) and our rosary kits here.

3. Go to Confession

Most indulgences require that a good confession be made within within several days (about 20) before or after the actions for the indulgence. One confession can apply to many indulgences. We set a really important example for our children when we take them to confession regularly. If my kids are seeing me sin, they should also see me going to confession!

P.S. Did you know I wrote a book about confession for kids?

FEAST DAY CHALLENGES IN JUNE

CORPUS CHRISTI June 19

4. Participate in a Eucharistic Procession

Participate in a Eucharistic Procession for the solemnity of Corpus Christi, either inside or outside a church. A plenary indulgence is available according to the usual conditions. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 7)

FEAST OF SS. JOHN FISHER AND THOMAS MORE June 22

5. Make S’mores

Sometimes a liturgical food pun is just too good to pass up. I give you: St. Thomas S’mores.

SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST June 24 (observed on June 23 in 2022)

6. Have a bonfire

Have a solemnity eve bonfire on the night before the feast day. Dive into the deep (slash crazy) end of liturgical living with this awesome ancient tradition.

7. Eat crickets & wild honey.

It’s in THE BIBLE. “His food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). It’s also pretty fun. Bonus points for also wearing party hats.

This chip-flavor cricket assortment is our family’s favorite. And don’t forget the honey.

Read more about the history of the liturgical living bonfire, and why St. John the Baptist gets an extra feast day for his BIRTHDAY in this post. Or watch the video here. (Spoiler alert, I get a bucket of water in the face.)

Note for 2022: because the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus falls on June 24 this year, the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist is observed on June 23.

SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS second Friday after Pentecost (June 24 in 2022)

8. Publicly recite the act of reparation.

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, publicly recite the act of reparation (Iesu dulcissime). See the prayer here. A plenary indulgence is available according to the usual conditions. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 3)

Note: Publicly means in a church, family, religious community, or group of friends.

FEAST OF ST. JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA June 26

9. Say the Morning Offering.

O my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I offer you all my prayers, works, joys,

and sufferings of this day,

for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart,

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout the world,

in reparation for my sins,

for the intentions of my relatives and friends,

and in particular for the intentions

of the Holy Father. Amen.

Get a free printable version here.

St. Josemaría Escrivá was a big advocate of having a “Plan of Life” to keep track of daily spiritual practices and goals. A really great way to start is by incorporating a Morning Offering prayer as the first thing you do upon waking. Today is a great day to give it a try!

Want some help keeping track of your goals? Try our Plan of Life Notepad.

Read more about encouraging a habit of prayer with kids: Our Catholic Morning Prayer Routine with Kids

SOLEMNITY OF SS. PETER AND PAUL June 29

10. Visit a basilica or cathedral.

Visit a basilica or cathedral on June 29, and there devoutly recite an Our Father and the Creed. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 33)

11. Use something blessed by a pope or bishop.

Use an article of devotion (a crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular, or medal) blessed by the pope or a bishop and make a Profession of Faith (Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed). A plenary indulgence is available according to the usual conditions. (Manual of Indulgences Grant 14)

Don’t have an item blessed by the pope? A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly use such articles of devotion properly blessed by either a priest or a deacon.

Note: CAY Liturgical Year Box subscribers received a medal blessed by Pope Francis, donated by our friends at Discount Catholic Products, for FREE in the June box! Get a Ss. Peter & Paul keychain for yourself with a FREE bonus blessed medal here.

12. Sleep in a tent like St. Paul and/or fish like St. Peter.

Also, arguing would be historically accurate.

FEAST DAY CHALLENGES IN JULY

FEAST OF SS. LOUIS & ZELIE MARTIN July 12

13. Make a string craft.

Do a craft with string to honor St. Zelie, who was a lace-maker. Try friendship bracelets, hair wraps, embroidery, crochet, knitting, finger knitting, knot-tying, bobbin lace, or sting art. (See our St. Zelie string art kit here.)

FEAST OF ST. KATERI TEKAKWITHA July 14

14. Make maple snow taffy.

Eighteenth-century Jesuit missionaries like Father Sébastien Rale and Father Joseph-François Lafitau described the making and use of maple syrup by the indigenous peoples with whom they lived. Making maple snow taffy is a simple way to enjoy maple syrup as Saint Kateri might have!  As you might have gathered from the name, this treat is usually enjoyed during the winter. We don’t have snow at our house, ever. So we might as well make this treat in the summer. All that’s required is to bring real 100% pure maple syrup to a boil (235º – 240ºF), then pour it over “snow” (we make our own in a blender). It cools to a sticky maple taffy that can be rolled up onto a stick. We like to use backyard sticks, as they seem more authentic, but if you prefer your treats to be 100% tree bark-free you might prefer a popsicle stick. P.S. Snowball fight!

Get our St. Kateri Maple Snow Taffy set here.

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL July 16

15. Get invested with the brown scapular.

Learn more about the brown scapular and how to dispose of unwanted sacramentals in this post. Or this video.

Get a free printable investiture certificate here. Get our DIY Brown Wool Scapular making kit to create two scapulars yourself!

FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE July 22

16. Play an egg tapping game.

Sure, it’s “off-season” for dyeing eggs, but this tradition is SO FUN! More about the egg tapping game here.

Read more here: How to Dye Your Easter Eggs the Way Mary Magdalene Would Have Except Her Eggs Dyed Miraculously Get our natural egg dye kit here. Get the Mary Magdalene set including onion skin for dyeing, egg cups, decorative tattoos, and an egg tapping champion button here.

FEAST OF ST. BRIDGET OF SWEDEN July 23

17. Eat lingonberries or Swedish fish candies.

You might also want to honor St. Bridget’s devotion to the seven sorrows of Mary by trying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows. Get a printable booklet here.

FEAST DAY CHALLENGES IN AUGUST

FEAST OF OUR LADY, QUEEN OF ANGELS August 2

18. Visit a church.

With a contrite heart, visit a church on August 2. For a plenary indulgence. Pretty amazing, no? It’s the Portiuncula Indulgence courtesy of St. Francis of Assisi. Read all about it here. Or watch all about it here.

FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION August 6

19. Take a hike!

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.

Matthew 17:1-2 NRSVCE

Jesus took his people on a hike. Let’s take our people on a hike.

FEAST OF ST. LAWRENCE August 10

20. Grill out.

The Catholic Church takes delightful ownership of our beloved martyrs in the cheerfully macabre assignment of patron saints. St. Lawrence was martyred by being cooked on a gridiron, and he was so tough he managed to crack jokes while it was happening. The stories say he quipped, “You better turn me over, I’m done on this side.”

So, of course, he’s the patron saint of cooks and comedians. So grill up something tasty, and maybe have a family joke night!

FEAST OF ST. CLARE August 11

21. Watch T.V.

Although she lived 800 years ago, St. Clare of Assisi was named the patroness of T.V. by Pope Pius XII in 1957. Why? Well, the story goes that one Christmas Eve, Clare was devastated about being bedridden, too sick to attend Mass. In answer to her prayers, she saw and heard the images and sounds of the Mass, as it happened, projected on the wall of her cell.

Looking for ideas for something to watch? Check out Family Movie Nights, Are They Even Possible? . . . Our Favorite Movies (Mostly) Appropriate for All Ages or The Problem With Every Movie From My Youth: and ten family movies that won’t teach your kids to swear like a sailor

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN (HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION) August 15

22. Get some herbs blessed.

The blessing of herbs is traditionally associated with the feast of the Assumption. Our Lady’s association with plants—especially herbs which have traditionally been used as natural healing remedies—came about in part “because of the Biblical images applied to her such as vine, lavender, cypress and lily, partly from seeing her in terms of a sweet smelling flower because of her virtue, and most of all because of Isaiah 11:1, and his reference to the ‘shoot springing from the side of Jesse’, which would bear the blessed fruit of Jesus.” Grab this booklet for a blessing that is appropriate for lay use in the home. But especially since it’s a holyday of obligation, it’s also appropriate to bring herbs or other produce along to Mass and ask for Father’s blessing.

QUEENSHIP OF MARY August 22

23. Have an at home Marian procession.

Simple, fun, and appropriate for any Marian feast day, a Marian procession is a lovely way to celebrate the Queenship of Mary! Read more about how we do it here. Watch how we do it here.

FEAST OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW August 24

24. Skin / peel something.

Ready for more fun with gruesome martyrdoms? Another chance is St. Bartholomew. Himself skinned alive before being martyred, he is the patron saint of tanners, leatherworkers, and bookbinders. (Remember Jack’s St. Bartholomew costume? Good times.)

Peel a clementine and call it a day. Peel some apples and make homemade applesauce or apple butter. Skin a rotisserie chicken and make a casserole for dinner. And/or try a leather craft like stamping.

FEAST OF ST. AUGUSTINE August 28

25. Visit a beach!

My favorite story from The Golden Legend old-time hagiography of St. Augustine (added by translator William Caxton in 1483) is known as “the boy by the sea.”

The story goes that one day, Augustine was walking along the beach in North Africa, pondering the mystery of the Holy Trinity and trying desperately to understand once and for all how there could be three persons in one God. He was distracted from his thoughts by the sight of a boy, who had dug a hole in the sand, and was running back and forth, from the ocean to the hole, dumping in bucketful after bucketful of water. Finally, Augustine’s curiosity got the best of him and he asked the boy, “What are you doing?” The boy replied, “I’m emptying the ocean into this hole.” The man, amused, said, “Why, you can’t empty the ocean into a hole!” The boy looked into his eyes and said, “Neither can you understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” And then the boy was gone.

Edited / adapted by me for inclusion in the Catholic All Year Compendium

Bonus points to grownups for having a beer in honor of St. Augustine’s patronage. It would be even COOLER in these blessing for beer cups on these St. Augustine quote coasters.

And that’s it! You’ve got eleven weeks to git ‘er done. I believe in you! Here’s your chance to establish a habit of liturgical living in the home and have fun doing it. Plus have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate and finally get yourself that liturgical living box subscription you’ve had your eye on, so we do the work for you!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

To enter, email us at helpdesk@catholicallyear.com with a photo of your completed sheet and/or photos of you completing various tasks. More photos = more entries. Submitted photos may be included in a wrap up blog post and/or video. Your email must include this sentence: I, (your name here), and/or my immediate family have completed all of the tasks of the Catholic All Year Ultimate Summer Liturgical Living Bucket Challenge to the best of our ability. Cheating is wrong and could negate all those great indulgences we worked so hard to gain, so I/we did not cheat.

One winner will be chosen by random number generator and notified via email on September 2, 2022.

There will be another drawing among participants on Instagram and Facebook. Check us out there to learn more.

The post The Ultimate Catholic Summer Challenge appeared first on Catholic All Year.

Hey all! Today we’re going to talk about belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist: how to understand it, how to teach it, and how to celebrate its feast day, Corpus Christi, which is observed on June 19th this year.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus is also known as Corpus Christi. It’s a solemnity, which means it’s of the highest ranking of the “levels” of feast day, which go, from most to least important: solemnity, feast, memorial, and optional memorial. 

Corpus Christi is a movable feast observed the week after Trinity Sunday, eight weeks after we observed Holy Thursday. Corpus Christi is a Thursday feast day, but currently its observance is moved to the following Sunday in the U.S. and most of the world. 

If you’re reading this post in 2027 or 2032, please note that Corpus Christi falls at the end of May for you. Otherwise look for it in June.

Okay . . . WHAT IS THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI?

There’s an important relationship between Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi. On Holy Thursday  we remember the Institution of the Eucharist by Jesus at the Last Supper.

But we also commemorate so many other events on that day and over the course of the Triduum, that, starting in the thirteenth century, the Church instituted the feast of Corpus Christi as a separate feast day, observed after Pentecost.  

Without being tied up in the sorrows of Christ’s passion and death, on the Feast of Corpus Christi we can better rejoice in the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist. Jesus is truly with us and truly present in every tabernacle in every Catholic church in the world. Christ has given to us his body to eat and his blood to drink. It’s humbling and . . . unsettling, right? Jesus’ followers thought the same thing.

In John 6:52-60, we read:

“The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 

For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.’ This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Caper′na-um.

Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’”  

Unfortunately, the saying hasn’t gotten any easier to accept over the last two thousand years. And now, belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is something that divides Catholics and Orthodox Christians from some Protestant denominations.

Catholics believe in the concept of transubstantiation. That is, that while the bread and wine continue to have all the appearances of bread and wine (color, shape, taste, calories, gluten etc.) at the consecration their substance is changed completely to actually BE Christ’s body and Christ’s blood.

We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1376: 

“The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: ‘Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation’” 

I love that many parishes have brought back the traditional practice of ringing bells at the moment of consecration. It allows kids and grownups alike to recognize that moment of a real no kidding miracle. My three year old gasps and whispers, “It just HAPPENED.”

WHAT TO DO FOR THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

The traditional thing to do for this feast day is a Eucharistic Procession. Pope St. John Paul II encouraged it in 2004, saying:

“This year let us also celebrate with particular devotion the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, with its traditional procession. Our faith in the God who took flesh in order to become our companion along the way needs to be everywhere proclaimed, especially in our streets and homes, as an expression of our grateful love and as an inexhaustible source of blessings.”

If your parish has one, lucky you! Because, unfortunately, this isn’t an observance that has an easy do-it-yourself version. At-home processions are great. We do a lot of them. But a Eucharistic Procession isn’t as fun without the Eucharist.

However, going to Mass, and staying afterwards to spend some time visiting Jesus in the tabernacle afterwards, is also pretty good. 

If your church has an adoration chapel, this would be a very good day to start—or continue—a family tradition of staying after Mass for a quick visit there, or before the tabernacle in the main church. We are fortunate enough to attend a church where our friends and our kids’ friends also attend, and we are all in a hurry to get out front and socialize. But there is NOTHING we can do for our kids to make the Real Presence more real to them than to teach them to interact with Jesus in the monstrance and in the tabernacle. To sit with him, to talk with him. We model this ourselves, and we make sure the kids spend a few moments with Jesus, before running out the door.

Another simple habit that acknowledges the divinity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is to make and say the sign of the cross whenever we walk or drive past a Catholic Church. Even if we don’t have time to stop, making the sign of the cross as we go past reminds us that Jesus is truly there. 

Some days, while out running errands or between pickups and drop offs, we ARE able to stop at church and make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Any—seriously ANY—amount of time is great. Even if we just pop in, genuflect (if the Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle), or kneel down on two knees (if the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance), tell Jesus we love him, and leave. 

The recommendation in the Manual of Indulgences is to spend half an hour. I have been known to divide that amount of time by how many little kids I have with me: so, me plus four kids equals six minutes of adoration. But that’s not officially authorized. A (much) better than nothing version with a sleeping baby in the car is to park outside the church or chapel, ideally facing a window, and do a quick visit from inside the car.

On days when we cannot get to Mass to receive communion we can make an Act of Spiritual Communion. This is a prayer that says, basically, that we WISH we could receive communion today, even if we can’t. 

I use one recommended by St. Josemaria Escriva, that’s short and sweet. He says: I wish, my Lord, to receive You with the purity, humility and devotion with which Your most holy Mother received You, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.

I have a great affinity for the more unusual, and often only tangentially-related, traditions associated with particular feast days all over the world. There’s a great one for Corpus Christi. 

Documented since 1440, the people of Barcelona have honored this feast day with what they call the “dancing egg” in lavishly decorated fountains all over the city. An eggshell is emptied, the holes covered back over with wax, and then it’s balanced on the upward jet of water from the fountain, where it merrily “dances”. 

The fountains are decorated with flowers and fruit. There’s not a great consensus on what exactly this has to do with the Eucharist, but, hey, I’m here for it. We don’t have a fountain at my house. But we’ve got a hose, and plenty of kids who would probably be willing to try to hold it straight, or maybe I’ll ask Fr. Gonzales if we can try it in the fountain in the courtyard at church. Creating a centerpiece for the dinner table of fresh flowers and fruit is another way to bring this tradition home.

WHAT TO PRAY FOR THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

We like to recite or sing the prayer traditionally associated with the feast of Corpus Christi on this day: Tantum Ergo. It’s the last two stanzas of the Pange Lingua, a eucharistic hymn composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. 

WHAT TO EAT FOR THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Because of the relation of this Feast to Holy Thursday, similar foods would be appropriate on this day. Our family tradition for Holy Thursday is to make a modified Last Supper meal of lamb, flat bread, and bitter herbs, plus, just for fun, a big rice crispy treat lamb cake. 

Another option is baking bread at home. I like to use feast days as an opportunity to introduce or practice various “life-skills”. Baking bread is one particularly close to my heart. I didn’t grow up in a home with a focus on cooking or baking, and when I got married at twenty-four, I had pretty much zero homemaking skills. 

I once asked a neighbor if I could borrow grated cheese because it didn’t occur to me that I could, myself, create grated cheese from a block of cheese. I was just used to grated cheese coming from a bag! 

So learning to bake bread myself felt like a real accomplishment. I don’t do it regularly, but I CAN do it, and I think it’s a great and meaningful family activity for this feast day. It, of course, won’t be the same as the Eucharist, but making it together and having it on the table opens the door to that conversation.

And those conversations are why we do this. So get out there and celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. 

If you want to learn more about celebrating feast days, check out my books The Catholic All Year Compendium, and The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion.

Catholic All Year Members have access to the print-and-go membership library with prayer, hymn, recipes, and decor for hundreds of feast days, and Catholic All Year Subscription Boxes will deliver liturgical living essentials to your doorstep every month. 

I hope you’ll give it a try! Catholic All Year is here to help.

PS: Father’s Day is 9 days away! Have you ordered your gift yet?!

The post The Feast of Corpus Christi & Fostering Belief in the Real Presence appeared first on Catholic All Year.

(A video of this process is coming soon!)

Many years ago, I got my kids rosary-making kits and . . . it didn’t go that well. The kit required them to tie knots between each bead and they just couldn’t manage to get the knots close to the beads. Eventually, *I* took over to try to fix the situation, and I didn’t do a much better job than they had done! We still have those rosaries in our rosary storage crock. They’re pretty bad. So . . . when coming up with a DIY rosary for the CAY Subscription Boxes, I wanted it to be the string style, so it wouldn’t require the tools and knowhow of creating wire links, but also not be dependent on knot-tying skills!

These rosaries can be made by adults and by kids with some adult help, and you don’t need special tools or to be magically able to get a lot of knots to land in particular places. I designed the rosary findings and cut them on my Glowforge. Kits containing all the parts you need are included in the Catholic All Year Fall Ordinary Time Subscription Box. Kits are also available individually. You can also adapt this style of rosary-making to use with your own beads and rosary findings!

Making a Five-Decade Rosary

Find the kit here:

Wooden Rosary Kit (Makes 1)

Wooden St. Thérèse Sacrifice Bead / Single-Decade Rosary Kit (Makes 1) – Not currently available

Wooden Rosary + Sacrifice Bead Kit (Makes One of Each) – Not currently available

SUPPLIES

• 59 beads (these can all be the same, or you can choose one type of bead for the 53 ave beads, and a different bead for the 6 pater beads). I used 10mm wooden beads with a 3mm hole.
• 12 spacer beads. I used gold-tone iron beads, 5mm with a 2mm hole.
• a crucifix
• two rosary centerpieces. (You can use just one, but there will be string showing across the back of it.)
• 4 feet string. I used 1.5mm waxed cotton thread. (Cut a longer piece if you are using larger beads.)
• scissors
• small needle-nose pliers (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Note: I use waxed cotton thread because it’s sturdier and makes threading beads easier. If the end gets frayed, just trim a bit off to get a new clean end. Resist the urge to moisten the end in your mouth, as this will make it floppy and make threading beads more difficult. There is enough extra thread to trim it many times. If a particular bead doesn’t want to go on the thread, use your scissors or pliers to scrape the hole out a bit, or just toss it and grab another.

Tip: Use a kitchen towel to keep the beads from rolling away.

1. Cut a four foot length of thread.

2. Fold the length of thread in half.

3. Insert the loop end through the hole of the crucifix from front to back and put the two cut ends through the loop.

4. Pull and wiggle to tighten the loop down on the crucifix. 

5. If necessary, trim the ends a bit so they are un-frayed and even. Insert both threads into beads in the following pattern: G (gold bead) – W (wood bead) – G – Wx3 – G – W – G.

6. Stack the two centerpieces together and insert both threads into the bottom hole, from front to back.

7. (Look out, here come some knots!) Pull the threads to tighten, then, holding a finger against the centerpiece and the top gold bead, loop the two threads around your finger and the strung beads. Insert the two thread ends into the loop created around your finger, pointing them up towards the centerpiece. Remove your finger and pull and wiggle to tighten, making sure the knot is seated between the centerpiece and the gold bead. Repeat, making another knot. Pull and wiggle to tighten.

8. Split the two threads and the two centerpiece pieces. Bring one thread up on each side of the knot, and sandwich them between the centerpieces, coming out the top.

9. Holding the centerpieces pinched together with Mary facing you, insert the left thread forward through the two left holes and pull. Do the same on the right side. Now both threads are coming out of the top centerpiece holes towards you.

10. Gently wiggle the two centerpieces back and forth to separate them a bit. Insert the left thread between the centerpiece pieces down through the top and out the left side. Do the same with the right thread on the right side. Now both threads are coming out the sides of the centerpiece. Insert the left thread through the left holes again, from back to front, leaving it a bit loose to make a loop. Then feed the thread up through the loop you just made, pulling the thread up between this loop and the other loop already in the hole. Repeat on the right side. Tighten by pulling and wiggling the long threads. Now there is an individual thread coming out of each corner of the centerpiece. 

11. Beginning on the left side, insert one thread into beads in the following pattern G – Wx10 – G – W – G – Wx10 – G – Wx5. Repeat on the right side.

12. Tie a single left-over-right knot in the two threads to bring the two sides together.

13. Insert the left side thread through three more beads to the right (these beads are already on the right side thread). Do the same on the right. You now have your two threads coming out of the rosary in opposite directions, with six double-threaded beads between them. 

14. While gently pulling the beads taught with the left thread held tight in your pinky and ring-finger, knot the right thread. Loop the right thread around your finger and insert the thread through the loop towards the right.

15. Pull the two thread ends in opposite directions to tighten the knot.

16. Repeat, making a second knot. Do the same with the left thread, making two knots and pulling the threads in opposite directions to tighten. 

17. Insert the left thread through two more beads to the left, then cut the tail off between the gold and wood beads. Do the same on the right.

18. Ask a priest to bless your rosary if possible, and get to praying!

Making a Single-Decade Rosary / St. Thérèse Sacrifice Beads

SUPPLIES

• 11 beads (these can all be the same, or you can choose one type of bead for the 10 ave beads, and a different bead for the pater beads). I used 10mm wooden beads with a 3mm hole.
• 2 spacer beads. I used gold-tone iron beads, 5mm with a 2mm hole.
• a crucifix
• a lobster claw clasp
• a jump ring
• a saint medallion. I used St. Thérèse.
• 3 feet string. I used 1.5mm waxed cotton thread.
• scissors
• small needle-nose pliers

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut a three foot length of thread.

2. Fold the length of thread in half. Insert the loop end through the hole of the St. Thérèse medallion from front to back and put the two cut ends through the loop.

3.Pull and wiggle to tighten the loop down on the medallion. 

4. If necessary, trim the ends a bit so they are un-frayed and even. Split the two threads apart. Insert the left thread through a wood bead horizontally from left to right. Then insert the right thread into the same bead from right to left. Pull the threads in opposite directions to tighten.

5. Repeat with nine more wood beads. Pull each one gently tight.

6. Adjust each bead individually to be horizontal, and adjust the threads to be gently tight. Trim the very ends of the two threads to be even.

7. Insert both threads together vertically into a gold bead, then a wood bead, then a gold bead.

8. Tug the bottom horizontal bead down a bit, to leave an opening a little less than one bead-width.

9. Insert both threads through the hole in the crucifix, front to back. Pull it up towards the gold bead. Hold your finger alongside the gold bead and top of the crucifix. Loop the threads around your finger and insert the tail of the threads up through the finger loop to make a knot. Pull and wiggle to tighten.

10. Tie a second knot in the same manner, pulling it as tight as possible.

11. Use pliers to pull it really tight, then trim the threads off close to the knot.

12. Use pliers to twist (rather than spread) the jump ring open.

13. Insert the clasp onto the jump ring, thread the open jump ring into the moon-shaped opening at the top of the medallion, and pinch the jump ring closed with the pliers. If your saint medal has only one hole, use it for both the string and the jump ring + hook.

14. Tidy up after yourself and you’ve got your first sacrifice to record!

You might also enjoy this blog post:

The Family Rosary: Why is it SO Hard?

And this video:

The post Making a Rosary with No Special Tools and Almost No Knots (because knots are hard) appeared first on Catholic All Year.

It’s my book launch day! The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion is officially available wherever books are sold, but, to be specific, you can get it from me here in a signature edition (also available paired with The Catholic All Year Compendium), or from the publisher, Ignatius Press, or from Amazon.

I am so thrilled to be able to have all these amazing prayers, scripture readings, and devotions all in one place!

Here are a few questions people have had . . .

How is this book different from The Catholic All Year Compendium?

My friend Karianna says this book is the expansion pack .

The Catholic All Year Compendium is an introduction to liturgical living in the home. It has the histories and backstories of over one hundred feast days and seasons throughout the year. It also contains suggestions for the prayers, devotions, and readings that our family uses in our observations of those feast days.

The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion contains the complete texts of all those prayers, devotions, and readings. All in one place! In approved translations and properly sourced and cited! So convenient.

So can you use one without the other? Absolutely. They complement each other very nicely, but neither requires the other.

The Prayer Companion also has an introduction that details what daily prayer looks like in our family, what we sweat and what we don’t, how we motivate kids to participate, and real-life examples of ways to handle challenging situations like a non-Catholic spouse.

How is this book different from the monthly prayer booklets?

The Prayer Companion is, basically, a new and improved compilation of the CAY monthly prayer booklets that were available as printables and paperback booklets last year. However, I made substantial edits and substitutions and changes to format and translations while creating this single-volume version. Everything included is now properly cited and licensed (and spelled).

Can I still get the monthly prayer booklets?

No, and yes. In order to avoid confusion, the monthly booklets are no longer available in paperback format on Amazon. There are enough differences between the booklets and The Prayer Companion that I think it would not be ideal to have family members trying to use both at the same time.

However, we are reformatting the pdf versions of the booklets each month to match the content of The Prayer Companion. This way the monthly booklets can be printed and used alongside The Prayer Companion in a family, group, or classroom. May and June are currently available. New months will become available on the 25th of the previous month.

They can be purchased individually, or you can get them as part of the monthly liturgical living printables that come with a Catholic All Year Membership. Membership resources include new calendars, saint summaries, recipes, and posters every month. They come as pdfs and are also available in a printed-and-shipped-to-you version. You also get free physical copies of new books (yes, including The Prayer Companion!) and a wall calendar in November.

Will this book work for people who follow the traditional calendar?

My old-time bloggy friend Rosie of A Blog for My Mom was one of the pre-readers for The Prayer Companion.

She says:

Look what’s here!! Kendra Tierney – Catholic All Year has worked incredibly hard on this amazing resource, which makes a perfect companion for her Catholic All Year Compendium, or can be used as a standalone volume as well. It is *so* convenient having all these prayers and devotions available in a standardized form in one location—it drives me nuts when we’re praying together as a family and then have to stop to look up a particular prayer on our phones… Problem solved!! *this follows the current liturgical calendar, but those who follow the traditional calendar will find it very useful as well, particularly with devotions to more recently canonized saints included

Do you have any other new books you’d like to mention?

I do! The Catholic All Year Weekly Meal Planner is here and ready to ship! It has a wipeable hardback cover, undated meal planning pages, and a detachable shopping list, plus a year’s worth of feast day meal suggestions in the back.

Get one for free with a CAY Membership (please commit to at least one month of membership per free book). Also available in a printable pdf version.

Do you know when Father’s Day is?

I, apparently, do not. All the versions of the CAY Wall Calendars show Father’s Day as June 13. Because I used my wall calendar to make the printable monthly clipart calendar for June, that’s wrong too. I’m pretty sure June 13 isn’t even a possible date for Father’s Day, but that didn’t stop me from trusting my own calendar right up until two days ago when a member emailed me to ask me what was going on. So . . . I don’t know what happened, but I now know that Father’s Day is June 20. I apologize for any confusion.

That does, however give you some extra time to order a copy of The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion for your favorite Dad. I’m not kidding! Really, this book was borne of my years of gathering various books and print outs of prayers to have available so that my husband could easily lead our family in prayer at the table, even though he works long hours out of the house and often gets home just as dinner is being served. This book is a great resource for busy dads who still want to be able to set an example of prayer and faith leadership in the home.

And perhaps some Catholic Beer Quote Coasters, too?

Thanks so much for all your support. I hope you find the book useful!

AMDG,

Kendra

The post My New Book(s)!, What Happened to the Booklets, and If I Know When Father’s Day Is appeared first on Catholic All Year.

Most of these practices developed naturally for us over the years. They are certainly not unique to our family, but they aren’t things *I* grew up doing . . . so often the kids are the ones to remind me about them! And while I don’t think I’ll give up grumbling about driving any time soon, I’ve come to really appreciate the car as a great place to pray together as a family. If we’re going to be trapped there every day, we can use that time for good!

Here are five simple practices that work for us for being more Catholic in the car.

1. Make the Sign of the Cross when Passing a Catholic Church

As Catholics, we believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church in the world. That means every time I drive past a Catholic Church . . . JESUS IS IN THERE! It’s a big deal! A simple yet powerful way to acknowledge that Truth is to pause the conversation, turn down the radio, and make the Sign of the Cross, focusing for a brief moment on Our Lord, as we drive past. In our family we also usually add a quick Act of Spiritual Communion prayer.

The kids are so used to it that they just naturally interrupt themselves mid-sentence to say the prayer, then roll right back into the conversation. If we have a couple minutes to spare, we’ll stop in front of the church to pray for a moment, or run inside to make a quick visit to the Blessed Sacrament. But even when it’s just that brief act of making the Sign of the Cross, I really cannot say enough for this beautiful way to witness the Truth of what we believe as Catholics to our children, our friends in the car with us, people waiting at the bus stop, etc. 

From the archives: Being Weird Catholics: Seven Ways We Help Our Family Believe in the Real Presence

2. Say the Eternal Rest Prayer when Passing a Cemetery

Another one that’s second nature to us these days is to say the Eternal Rest Prayer when passing a cemetery. 

Each year, in observance of the Holy Souls Indulgence in the first week of November, we make a point to drive past a cemetery each day, out of our way if necessary, to be able to pray for the dead on each of the eight days of the plenary indulgence. From that practice, developed our family habit of saying the Eternal Rest Prayer any time we pass a cemetery year-round (for which there is always a partial indulgence!).

This is another example of actions speaking loudly. As Catholics, we believe that prayers for the dead are important and efficacious. What better way to prove that we believe it, than to make a habit of actually doing it?!

3. Say the Memorare when Hearing an Emergency Siren

My little kids ask a lot of questions. They want to know about ambulances and police cars and fire trucks and where they’re going and why. I tell them that these first responders are off in a hurry to help someone. Having had more than our fair share of ambulance rides in the past few years, I think it’s a fair assumption to make that, wherever that siren is headed . . . the people involved could use our prayers.

Any prayer will do, but I especially like the Memorare for petitionary prayer. Ask Mom, she’ll help.

I think it’s been effective over the years as a way to teach and model empathy. It can be tempting to focus on curiosity, on “rubbernecking” to try to see what’s going on at an accident site, or if someone is pulled over. Or to be frustrated by traffic and delay. But it’s always better to focus myself on charity and prayer instead. 

4. Say the Rosary

I’ve talked about this one many times on the blog, starting here, and here’s the video version . . . 

But I’ll say it again: over many years for our family, the car has proven to be the most effective, most predictable, most consistent way to get to a family Rosary. It’s not always perfect, but that’s okay!

We say a family Rosary together, especially on longer car rides, but we’ll also do one on the way to and from Mass. We share intentions, we take turns leading, people get reminded to speak up and quit spacing out. Sometimes it’s frustrating. But it happens, and that’s the most important thing.

5. Pray by the Clock

Liturgical living gives rhythm and order to the year, with particular devotions and ways to focus our prayer assigned to different days and seasons. But liturgical living can also give rhythm and order to each day!

Having a “Plan of Life” in which we commit to particular prayers and devotions at particular times of day is a VERY effective way to consistently weave prayer throughout the day. Especially for folks with a regular driving schedule, deciding to set some of those regular devotions at times when you know you’ll be in the car can be a great way to make sure they happen. After all, cars these days have clocks, which are precise, reliable, and, um, stout-hearted?

I always plan to say a Morning Offering and a Guardian Angel Prayer first thing when I wake up, but I *also* plan to say them again with the school kids in the car in the morning (and again with the homeschooled kids when we start our school day). So . . . odds are REALLY good that it’s actually going to happen for me.

I also keep an eye on the car clock for other devotions like the noon Angelus (or, during the Easter season, the Regina Caeli) or a 3pm Divine Mercy chaplet. As noted above, I try to work in a Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, even if it’s sometimes from the car because I love you, Jesus, but I’m not waking up this baby. And a Rosary. And Spiritual Reading can happen via podcast. And getting myself to Mass or Confession happens in the car. So, the car is really a whole Plan of Life facilitation machine, when you really think about it, right?

Anyway, these practices have made a big difference for my personal life of faith, and have been a help to my family. I hope some of them will work for you, too, and we’ll all be liturgical driving in no time!

The post Being Catholic in the Car: five ways to pray and live liturgically while driving appeared first on Catholic All Year.

The Feast of St Joseph is coming up on March 19, and it’s a solemnity. You know what that means . . .

Even in Lent, when a solemnity falls on a Friday, we are not obligated to fast or abstain from meat or to observe our voluntary Lenten disciplines. Read more about that here

Solemnities are NOT for Being Solemn: What They Are & Why They Matter

This year we’re celebrating not only the Feast of Saint Joseph, but a whole YEAR of Saint Joseph. In his Apostolic Letter Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis noted that it is the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. He proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” through December 8, 2021.

Here’s how we’ll be celebrating the feast day

Pasta alla Tavola: The Most Fun You Can Have on St. Joseph’s Day

We’ll also be praying the Litany of St. Joseph!

Note: Now updated to include the seven new invocations added by Pope Francis and the Congregation for Divine Worship on May 1, 2021.

Mary Reed Newland was the author of many influential twentieth-century books on Catholic family life and liturgical living in the home, and a big inspiration to me on my liturgical living journey. The Saint Joseph Prayer at the top of this post was a favorite of the Newland family. It is formatted as an 11×8.5″ PDF below.

This Saint Joseph Prayer, the Litany of Saint Joseph, and many hundreds of other prayers and devotions are included in my forthcoming book, The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion!

We’re about halfway through Lent, and it’s time to start thinking about Holy Week.

Check out these posts for ideas and printables

Lent: The End Begins (Ideas and Printables for Holy Week and Easter)

Palm Sunday at Home and Every CAY Printable for Holy Week

Did you know you can sign up here for my free Liturgical Living Heads Up, a fortnightly email of upcoming feast days and celebrations? Well, you can!

And now . . . for the stuff.

A VERY few Liturgical Living Box Subscriptions have become available! These subscriptions will begin with the Triduum Box. 

See the contents here. Upon sign up, you will be charged $69.99 for the box and shipping. Triduum Boxes will ship between March 17-18. Unless you cancel your subscription, you’ll be charged for the Easter Box on March 24, and it will ship out ASAP.

You can find individual items from the Lent and Triduum Boxes (like Mary of Bethany Nard Perfume and Chrism Balm) available in the Box Shop.

Tenebrae Hearse Candelabras are now available in two styles and will ship out in time for Spy Wednesday.

They are available in limited quantities. See the Tenebrae Hearse Candelabra here and the Simple Tenebrae Candle Holder here. (Note: a Simple Tenebrae Candle Holder is included in the Triduum Subscription Box.)

The At Home Lucernarium listing has been updated for 2021, and three new 2021 candle designs (including one especially for the Year of Saint Joseph!) are available individually as PDFs, as professionally printed tissue paper sheets that will ship, and as completed pillar candles that will ship out! (Note: a Paschal Lamb Pillar Candle is included in the Easter Subscription Box.)

Finally, available now, and shipping out next week, are the Catholic All Year Recipe Keeper Binders. They work well with the Liturgical Year Weekly Meal Planner, the recipe cards included with subscription boxes, and the recipe packets included in the Benefactor, and Praying and Planning level Catholic All Year Memberships.

I wish you a very blessed rest of your Lent. I pray for you all, and I hope you’ll keep my family in your prayers as well. We’ve had some big family health issues this week and I’m grateful to know so many of you have kept us in your prayers for the past couple years.

God Bless,

Kendra

The post Free Printables for the Year of Saint Joseph and New Limited Edition Products for the Triduum appeared first on Catholic All Year.

So, here’s what I’ve got to tell you about . . .

The Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Weekly Meal Planner

I’ve been making attempts at creating a Catholic meal planner for years. Seriously. And they just never seemed quite right. Until now. I finally think THIS meal planner setup is one that’s going to be useful for many years to come.

It has undated weekly pages with the liturgical seasons, a place for notes, and a tear-away shopping list. In the back it has a list of all the feast days on the universal liturgical calendar along with a bit of information to inspire your meal planning, like a country or particular foods with which the saint is associated.

It’s available as a printable PDF now, or for preorder as a beautiful, sturdy, hardcover, wire-bound, 6.5 x 8.5 inch, lay-flat book including 54 weekly pages plus the calendar of feasting and fasting in the back.

Why preorder?

Because if we learned anything from the subscription box launch, it’s that I am not great at estimating interest in things. I hoped we’d sell 50, maybe 100 boxes. And I had to shut it down at 450 because we had NO PLAN for being able to fulfill that many orders. (We are now set for the first box and working on figuring out how to open more spots.) So, if you don’t mind ordering now and waiting a while to receive your order, I’ll hopefully be able to get the correct number of books printed. I really think you guys are going to love it. The moms at my parkday liked the prototype. And they’re vicious. (#thatwasajoke)

A hardcover copy of the planner is included in the Praying and Planning Level Membership and above. And if you sign up before March 2021 you’ll also get the PDF version AND a sweet liturgical year recipe binder. That cute engraved pencil on the right is part of the thank you pen and pencil set early sign up bonus for the Benefactor Level. (It says “I am a little pencil in the hand of God. -St. Teresa of Calcutta”)

New Wooden Devotional Sets are Coming

I’m in the midst of trying to set up a more practical solution for creating my wooden devotional sets than me cutting them on a laser cutter in my guest room twenty hours a day and having my kids peel the masking off while watching TV. Fun, yes. But not sustainable in the long term.

This is the Tabletop Stations of the Cross. Fourteen stations on two panels, with engraved images from an 1898 Roman Missal and fourteen 100% beeswax tea light candles.

This is a Tenebrae Hearse Candelabra. A bit more obscure, I know, but we started doing a short at-home version of the beautiful Tenebrae Holy Week liturgy last year and really loved it. Read more about it in this post. I think you’d love it too. It can be done with any fifteen candles, but you guys know my policy re: overdoing things. #imforit

The stations should be available for purchase next week, and the tenebrae set will be available in mid-March.

My hope is that by next year, I’ll be able to offer the Jesse Tree Sets and these new sets to everyone who would like one. But we aren’t there yet. Right now it’s just me and my new laser-sidekick Ashley. We are working hard, but I doubt we will be able to meet demand.

People with a Catholic All Year Membership will get early access to limited-edition product releases.

Catholic All Year Membership

Here’s a video I made yesterday wherein I explain the whats and whys of a Catholic All Year Membership, and Barbara makes funny faces and tries really REALLY hard to get her thumb into her nose.

Recipe Keeper Binder

I created this binder for myself to try to keep my liturgical year recipes organized as I work on a Catholic All Year cookbook.

Then I realized that it’s a great complement to a bunch of the products I’ve launched this week. You can keep the PDF meal planner in it if you got that in the Catholic Mom Bundle or as a membership bonus or on its own. You can keep the monthly recipe packets in there if you have a Praying and Planning Membership. You can store the 5×7 recipe cards that come in the Subscription Boxes in it with these add-on sleeves. And you can, like I did, cram all your internet liturgical year recipe print outs in there, helpfully sorted by liturgical season.

Get one here. It’s got my favorite liturgical calendar-themed quote on the cover.

The feasts! What precious memories these simple words bring to me. I loved them; and my sisters knew so well how to explain the mysteries hidden in each one. Those days of earth became days of Heaven. –St. Therese of Lisieux

And that’s what’s new around here this week. I hope it will be helpful!

One more thing to add:

Babies and Dreams

*I didn’t realize at the time how meaningful it would be to have done the launches THIS week. Emily, with whom I started the subscription boxes, pointed out on IG that this has really been a #babiesanddreams moment for us. A week ago, the behind the scenes tech stuff for the memberships and subscriptions was finished on Friday afternoon. Saturday was the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision, and the day of prayer, so we decided to wait until Sunday to launch everything.

The launch was a success beyond what we had hoped for, and beyond what we can really even handle. But that means we are hiring more help, which is such a cool thing to be able to do. I’ve got three women on this team helping me right now: Emily, Grace, and Ashley, and all three of them are pregnant! #theresacatholicjokeintheresomewhere We are pushing hard to get things set up now, before everyone takes some well-deserved time off, but other friends and family members are stepping in to help as needed, and it’s really just such a cool thing to be in a position where we can not only provide a product that people are very excited about, but also help provide for our families, and do it with our babies and because of our babies. So, thanks for making that possible for us.

The post I Learned some Stuff from this Product Launch Week: Books and Boxes and Binders and Babies and Dreams appeared first on Catholic All Year.

The “You Can Still Do This” Guide to All Things Holy Week

Here, let’s talk about the Seven Churches Visitation.

Under normal circumstances, following the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper, the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the tabernacle in the church, which is left open and empty. The Sacrament, in a temporary tabernacle or pyx, is placed on an Altar of Repose in a different location in the church or an adjacent chapel or other room for Adoration. It is traditional to recite the Tantum Ergo before the Altar of Repose.

From this practice arose the tradition to visit several churches to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in each church. It actually began with St. Philip Neri, who would organize his sixteenth century buddies on a walking tour of Rome to visit the city’s seven basilicas on the night of Holy Thursday!

There is a plenary indulgence available to the faithful for the recitation of the Tantum Ergo on Holy Thursday, before the altar of repose (Manual of Indulgences 7:2). Recently, an apostolic letter allows us to gain indulgences without fulfilling the usual conditions of confession and communion if we are prevented by the Coronavirus from doing so, provided we resolve to do so when possible. So this indulgence is available to us from home today, even if we don’t have access to Mass and confession.

Our Holy Thursday tradition has been (since our first try in 2013!) to do a modified Seven Churches Visitation during the day. Buuuuut . . . since all the churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are currently locked up tight under the COVID19 Coronavirus directives, what we usually do is not going to be possible this year.

Perhaps we’ll still get in the car and drive to seven churches, and stay outside. I think it would still be meaningful. But it also occurred to me that this might be a very good use for some of the virtual tours available for the world’s greatest Catholic churches. There are WAY more than seven available online, so if there’s one you’ve always wanted to see, hey, now’s your chance. But here are my suggestions.

1. St. Patrick’s Cathedral – New York City, NY

You can move the image around, and zoom in right here.

2. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart – Notre Dame, IN

See more 360 images here.

3. Basilica of St. Mary – Minneapolis, MN

Same as above for this 360 degree image.

4. Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Chartres – Chartres, France

5. La Sagrada Familia – Barcelona

6. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – Washington D.C.

7. The Sistine Chapel – Vatican City

Poignant isn’t it? Seeing all these beautiful sanctuaries empty, just as they probably are as you read this . . . but just as we trust that after the triduum comes the resurrection, we have to trust that after the quarantine will come full, bustling churches once again!

Have a beautiful Triduum and a very blessed Easter.

A FEW RESOURCES YOU MIGHT FIND HELPFUL FOR THE TRIDUUM

• Catholic All April Prayer Booklet featuring at home prayers, readings, and devotions for Holy Week and Eastertide
• Holy Week Meal and Activity Planner ($1)
• Stations of the Cross Booklet
• Stations of the Cross Coloring Pages for kids and adults
• At Home Veneration of the Cross Booklet ($1)
• Blessing of a Bonfire Booklet of Prayers, Blessings & Bible Readings {Digital Download}
• Holy Saturday at Home DIY Easter Candle and At Home Lucernarium & Exsultet for the Easter Vigil Booklet {Digital Download}
• Easter Sunday at Home Dry Mass Booklet {Digital Download} + FREE Printing & Shipping Available

If you have a recommendation for a virtual tour of a Catholic Church that I didn’t include, please put it in the comments!

The post Holy Thursday at Home: a Virtual Seven Churches Visitation appeared first on Catholic All Year.