Living Liturgically

Ways to Cultivate the Faith At Home

We all love holidays like Christmas and Fourth of July; we also enjoy national days such as National Donut Day and National Fly a Kite Day. We, as Catholics, are blessed to have a year brimming with holy days and feasts days that we have the opportunity to celebrate with special meals or activities. This is not an exhaustive list; see below for some suggestions for celebrating Paschaltide! 

"The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1666).

June 1: Mary, Mother of the Church

June 5: St. Boniface

  • Read about St. Boniface and the Christmas Tree

  • Eat a traditional German meal, like bratwurst or roast beef stew 

June 7: Most Holy Trinity

  • Make a “three” themed food, like bean chili or three cheese pasta 

  • Pray the Athanasian Creed

  • Learn about the Arian heresy and how St. Athanasius combatted it 

  • Read St. Augustine’s On the Trinity 

  • Enjoy Neapolitan ice cream

June 11: St. Barnabas

  • Read accounts of St. Barnabas and St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles

  • Read the daily Gospel with your family; St. Barnabas preached the Gospel to thousands

  • Ask his intercession for peace for the world; St. Barnabas is the patron saint of peacemakers

June 13: St. Anthony of Padua

June 14: Corpus Christi

  • Receive the Eucharist!

  • Read JPII’s encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, on the Eucharist (link)

  • Do a True Presence in the Eucharist craft with the kids 

  • Visit the chapel and spend time with the Eucharistic Lord (or livestream adoration)

  • Sing or listen to the Tantum Ergo 

June 19: Sacred Heart

June 20: Immaculate Heart

June 24: Nativity of St. John the Baptist

  • Sing or listen to “Ut queant laxis”

  • Read the account of the Visitation in Scripture

  • Read the foreshadowing of John in Isaiah 40 

  • Light a fire (or candle) to signify John the Baptist as the light who prepared the way for Christ (John 5:35)

  • Eat strawberries

  • Renew your baptismal promises 

  • Eat locusts and wild honey (grasshopper pie is a viable substitute)

June 29: Sts. Peter and Paul

  • St. Peter:

    • Have fish (or Goldfish crackers!) with dinner 

    • Make St. Peter’s Chex Mix 

    • Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father 

    • Read accounts of St. Peter in Scripture 

  • St. Paul:

    • Go to daily Mass and celebrate our patron!

    • Read any of the Pauline Epistles or the Acts of the Apostles 

    • Eat an Italian (Roman) meal

July 3: St. Thomas

  • Pray for an increase in faith 

  • Read John 20:19-30

July 11: St. Benedict

  • Read the Rule of St Benedict 

  • Pray for the Benedictine order

  • Wear a Benedictine medal 

  • Memorize a Psalm

July 14: St. Kateri Tekakwitha

  • Spend time outside

  • Clean litter from a public place 

  • Limit resource consumption (electricity, water, etc) for the day

  • Make Three Sisters Stew 

July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel

  • Pray the Rosary

  • Learn more about the scapular

  • Pray for the Carmelite order

  • Read about the Carmelites

  • Read something written by a Carmelite, like St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul or St. Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle 

  • Bake some caramel brownies

July 22: Mary Magdalene

  • Read about Mary Magdalene in Scripture (John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12)

  • Pray for those who are grieving a loss

  • Make or wear perfume (see John 12:3)

  • Make Madeleines (or buy some from the store!)

July 25: St. James

  • Take a virtual tour of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain (the church that ends the Camino de Santiago)

  • St. James is the patron saint of Spain, so cook a Spanish dish like paella or gazpacho

  • Learn a prayer in Spanish 

July 26: Sts. Joachim and Anne

  • Pray for or visit grandparents 

  • Pray the Rosary for the domestic Church 

July 29: St. Martha

  • Clean your home!

  • Spend a few minutes in silent prayer with the Lord

  • Read Luke 10:38-42 and John 11

  • Cook something homemade – she’s the patron saint of cooks and homemakers!

  • Cook something to share with a friend or neighbor

July 31: St. Ignatius of Loyola 

 

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