Talk given at Real Learning Conference,
August 11, 2007, Manassas, Virginia

My name is Jennifer Miller. My husband Dave and I have been married for seven years. We have an almost four-year-old son, Gregory, and another little miracle due in December. This is Dawn Hanigan. Today we’re speaking on living the Liturgical Year at Home. The main focus of my talk will be on what this means and why we do it, and Dawn will be sharing some how-tos of organization and implementation of ideas. I want to thank the ladies of the 4Real for asking me to speak. I am very humbled to be asked, because my son isn’t officially school age, but I’ve been warmly welcomed both in the online community and those I’ve met in real life. The 4Real Learning forum is a blessing in helping us live our faith. All the ladies have so much inspiration to share, and share it so generously. And I would like to thank my husband Dave publicly for being so patient and encouraging to me especially during these past few weeks of stress.

The liturgy and the liturgical year have been a favourite subject of mine ever since I was a teenager. I am the oldest of seven children, with 15 years between my youngest brother and me. When my mother was overwhelmed with raising a houseful of children, dealing with the sleeplessness of colicky babies, and homeschooling, she unofficially designated me as “master of ceremonies”. I stepped in to help, and with my mom continued to build our family traditions and liturgical life.

I began reading some of mom’s books on liturgical year by authors such as Florence Berger, Maria Von Trapp, Mary Reed Newland and Helen McLoughlin, and that reading kindled my personal, life-long rabbit trail or unit study on the liturgy and living the liturgical year.

For many years I’ve had plans to write a book, to somehow bring together all these various ideas from out-of-print sources and incorporate new ideas. That book idea was channelled into an online form at Catholic Culture’s liturgical year section. I jokingly referred to the project as “my baby” until I actually got pregnant with my son, Gregory, and he was born around the same time the Catholic Culture project went live. After his birth my focus became putting into action in my own home all that I had read. Like you all, my family will be a work in progress until the day we die, and I pray to learn and love more every day.

Because so many people have asked me where I learned these things and what books I recommend, Dawn and I have provided for you a long list of resources. Besides specific books on living the liturgical year in the home, I’ve shared some of my favourite titles and authors from my personal rabbit trail. It was good after seeing the HOW to live the liturgical year, to find out the purpose or WHY we do it. From my own experience, I can see two things that are paramount for parents if we hope to share the Faith with our children: (1) Continual growth in the faith and (2) a Strong prayer life.

One place my study naturally led was the writings of popes and other Church documents on the liturgy and the family, which then led me to writers of the Liturgical Movement, begun under the urgings of Dom Gueranger in 1840. Many of you might recognize Gueranger as the author of the series entitled The Liturgical Year, which was read daily by St. Therese Liseux’s family. The Liturgical Movement was an effort to revitalize Catholicism and encourage ALL members of the Mystical Body to realize the daily life of Christ through the Liturgy. St. Pope Pius X in 1903 gave official approval to the Liturgical Movement with his Motu Proprio on Sacred Music, and in 1947 Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Mediator Dei (On the Sacred Liturgy) set up an analysis and understanding of the Sacred Liturgy, and corrected some errors in the Liturgical Movement stemming from Modernism.

Many writings to this day remain sound information and inspiration on the liturgy. Some of the key authors are Pius Parsch, Joseph Jungmann, Romano Guardini, Louis Bouyer, Virgil Michel, and my personal favourite, Martin Hellriegel. Pope Benedict’s writings on the liturgy and his encyclicals on the “reform of the reform” will be the next “unit study” in my continuing rabbit trail.

In contemplating the Liturgical Year, you have to go to the root, the heart of it all, and that is the Liturgy, which is compromised of the Mass, the sacraments and the Divine Office. From the Constitution on the Liturgy we read that “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows.” (SC, 10)

(Illustration of tree, my apologies) Monsignor Hellriegel explained that “The liturgy is the life of the church. It is the majestic tree watered by the Blood of Christ whose roots are the Holy Sacrifice, whose stem are the sacraments, whose three branches are, the one to the right, the sacramentals, the one to the left, the divine office, and, the one in the center, the liturgical year. On this good tree we must grow as good fruits, fruits of Christ, ‘for the building up the Body of Christ, the Son of God…(Eph.4:13).

The Church has organized the liturgy into a cycle or never ending circle – popularly called the liturgical year – which annually relives the life and redemptive work of Christ. From an individual’s point of view the cycle shouldn’t be just a repeating one dimensional circle, like a merry-go-round, but rather in an upward spiral, connecting heaven and earth, with each liturgical year bringing us closer to God.

The focal point of the Liturgical Year is the Paschal Mystery, or the redemptive work of Christ, including the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. Adolf Adam explains:

The paschal mystery, then, is the heart and center of the entire liturgy and thus of the Church year, which is shaped by the celebration of the mysteries of redemption. The paschal mystery is the wellspring whose waters flow through the liturgical year; it is the point on which the entire year turns. In the final analysis even the feasts and memorials of the saints are a great song of praise to the Pasch or Passover of the Lord. (Adam, p. 23)

The focus on the Paschal Mystery is commemorated every Sunday. The Liturgical Year grew up around this weekly commemoration. We can say it’s a little Easter, but it’s not only recalling the resurrected Christ, but within each Sunday is a little Triduum. Vatican II reiterates “The Lord’s Day is the original feast day…a day of joy and of freedom from work…Sunday…is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year.” (SC, no. 106). Maria Von Trapp’s chapter entitled “A Land Without a Sunday” and John Paul II’s encyclical Dies Domini are some examples of further reading on keeping Sunday holy. I know Dawn will also be sharing some practical advice in this area.

Within the Church year are two cycles. The more important cycle is the Temporal cycle (from the Latin tempus: time or season). At the same time along with the temporal cycle, the Sanctoral cycle (from the Latin sanctus which means saint)progresses. If you want to know more read The General Norms of the Liturgical Calendar, a short and easy document that explains how the Temporal and Sanctoral cycles complement one another, and an explanation of the hierarchy of feast days in our calendar.

If you’re still with me, this does all this fit together. So now comes the question: 1) What is our main lesson for our children? We want them to love the liturgy through the liturgical year. 2) Why do we want our children to live the liturgical year? We want to give a foundation in the spiritual life, so that our children can personally grow in faith and become saints. As Monsignor Hellriegel emphasized “there is no surer and more secure path to a fuller life in Christ and the Church than the way of the Church’s year.”

He also explains:

The Christian family is a living cell in the Mystical Body of Christ. Or, still better, it is the `Body of Christ in miniature.’ The Christian father is head of this body, as Christ is Head of the Church. The Christian mother is body of this head, as the Church is the Body of Christ. Their baptized children are the members of this body, as Christians are the members of Christ’s Mystical Body.”

3) How can we help our children live the liturgical year? The Church gives us the answer in Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, the constitution on the Church: 11: “In what might be regarded as the domestic Church, the parents, by word and example, are the first heralds of the faith in regard to their children.”

Each family is different, but I like to stress that less is more. While there are so many ideas, never feel like you have to do them all. Speaking from my own experience, I don’t know if I’ll ever function at 100% energy level. You can’t do it all. It’s better to keep activities honed down to a doable minimum, focusing on the most important lesson. Give room for God to supply the rest. The Trapp family was always DOING, but almost all the children fell away from the Faith. Could have been all the “forced” busyness? It’s been said over and over, but it applies here that children learn by our example, not just by our words.

For some families, doing too much might be counterproductive. What’s important that all the actions point back to the liturgy, and help the child grow in their knowledge and LOVE of their faith. We are helping them develop their own personal spiritual life and relationship with Christ. We must work hard to not let our practices become hollow traditions. Many European countries today still hold fast to the Catholic traditions and customs of the past, but as a whole they have ceased to practice their faith. An excellent document that suggests devotions that point back to the Liturgy Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

Since my son is almost four, my focus right now is for younger children’s needs. But I also grew up living the Liturgical Year. My mother kept it simple. We did some Advent, Lenten and Easter traditions and we always did an All Saints’ Day celebration, but much of the focus was on family prayer life and daily Mass when we could. Most of the traditions have remained with us, and I’ve adapted some of her “methods” in my own home. A simple example is a “permanent” Advent wreath, with artificial evergreen. I know every Advent things get very hectic, and if I were to make a new wreath each year it wouldn’t get done.

St. Nicholas is a memorable highlight of the year. We continue my mother’s tradition of making the Dutch spice cookies, speculaas, and then find them in our shoes the next morning. If we can, my sisters and their families all come together for the cookie-cutting and share this time with the extended family. That tradition and the Easter egg decorating and egg hunt are two of the favourite traditions of my husband and brothers-in-law.

I’m not as great a planner like Dawn is. I have a liturgical calendar that I circle the days I want to celebrate in the coming year: I love to use Michel’s Catholic Woman’s Daily Planner for this purpose. Solemnities are a priority, then the different feasts that have special significance to our family. I also remember birthdays, namedays, anniversaries of weddings and deaths. The primary way I want to celebrate these days is by attending Mass together, but even that’s not always possible in my life right now. So if I can’t attend Mass physically, I try to incorporate the readings of the day, the Collect (opening prayers) of the Mass, and make spiritual communions. I like the monthly I that includes meditations for each day, but I also own the Daily Roman Missal, which helps me plan in advance the readings and feast days. I then talk about the feast or saint with my son. Sometimes it’s just a simple, “Do you know what feast day it is? Today is the feast of St. Clare of Assisi, who was the first Franciscan nun, and she was a good friend of St. Francis of Assisi.” And in our night prayers we finish with our personal litany of the saints, usually sung in simple chant, which my son loves to sing. “St. Clare, pray for us.” (sing) I love hearing his crystal clear bell-like voice invoke the saints. As your children get older, they will learn about the lives of the saints on their own. Don’t forget that reading the lives of the saints is a simple, but very powerful tool.

Cay Gibson’s Catholic Mosaic, which is available from the Hillside table, was really a perfect fit in my “keep it simple” mantra. Reading is a daily occurrence in our house. My husband Dave and I have shared our love of literature with our son. It was a logical step to have picture books to bring home the message of the feast days of the Church. I love the thoughtful discussions that the books bring about. Not all are lofty, but it’s all small connections. For example, my son was thinking of names for the baby, and after I explained we want to use saints’ names, the book The Holy Twins came to mind and he suggested “Scholastica”! And recently after reading about the loss of John Paul II’s parents in Karol of Poland he asked when was I going to die and go to heaven? And when would he also die? It wasn’t asked in fear, but in eagerness – hurry up and go to heaven, Mommy!

After the Mass, the rosary is such an important family prayer. We’re not always successful, but my husband and I try to pray it as a family. (flip chart) I use a flip chart that has color illustrations of the mysteries of the rosary, so that our son can turn the pages for each mystery. (This chart does double duty, because on the other side I have the Stations of the Cross.)

(point out calendar) I like to incorporate the Liturgical Calendar Wheel, so we can visualize the Liturgical Year in its never-ending cycle, and see the changes of the liturgical colors of each season. Again, my aim is to point back to the liturgy. What I’m teaching in the domestic church is to help my son participate more fully in the Mass. This is the main reason why the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd really attracted me—everything is Mass-centered. While I don’t incorporate every atrium lesson in my home, I really like presenting the miniature articles of the Mass, the colors of the season, reviewing the elements of the Mass at a child’s level. You can find some atrium supplies and albums from Our Father’s House table and reading materials at Gloria Deo’s table.

I recently read that Monsignor Hellriegel kept a key principle in his teaching : “Nothing can go into the mind except through the senses.” How true that is! I was considering how so many ways of living the liturgical year incorporate all the senses: taste, touch, sight, auditory, and smell. And doing this echoes the Mass – think of a Mass that has the organ and singing, incense, rich colors of the vestments, the exterior of the altar, and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ on our tongue. So in my miniature Church, I want to activate the senses. These externals can be the “manipulatives of the spiritual life” all pointing back to the liturgy. How about incorporating the liturgical colors? This can be cloths or napkins or candles on the dinner table, and also the family prayer corner or altar. The use of art and symbols is another area. Simple holycards or masterpiece works of saints and the life of Christ of the feast can be displayed as a centrepiece, echoing the stained glass windows and decorations of the Church.

Sacred Music should play such a large role. You might have noticed my mother as cantor and me as organist for today’s Mass. This was another key way where I learned more about the liturgy and the rhythm of the Liturgical Year. For years I was an organist, either helping my mother with her job as choir director, or assisting at a parish or school for their Masses. Reading the church documents and various popes’ writings on sacred music, planning the music according to the feasts and seasons really helped me enter into the liturgy more deeply. I’m not suggesting that all your children must learn to play instruments and assist at Church, but incorporating some of the chants and seasonal hymns in the home will enhance their experience of the Liturgical Year. Our current Holy Father is quite a musician himself, and has focused a great deal before and during this pontificate on liturgy and sacred music. I suggest reading some of his works.

There are numerous cds to play as background music, such as the Seton Choir cd, and Marian hymns from Daughters of St. Paul. Collections of hymns like the Adoremus Hymnal and Cantate et Iubilate Deo have a wonderful variety of hymns and chant to learn to sing as a family. The Church keeps stressing the importance of Gregorian Chant, and learning at home can be key to our enhancing our participation in liturgical celebrations. I highly recommend Master Chant Class available from Abbey of Regina Laudis.  It has both book and cd, and was taught by the master Dr. Theodore Marier. All levels of learning chant can benefit from this little class. There is also the Ward Method, both the revised (by Dr. Marier) and the originals (which are available for free downloads).

Cooking is one of my favourite ways to utilize many senses. My kitchen is the heart of the home. Here my family gathers for daily meals. Since we are both physical and spiritual beings, I can provide both physical and spiritual nourishment. Within one meal I can engage all the senses and have lessons in geography, culture, history, art, catechesis, language, research and culinary preparation.

My mother’s and my favourite Liturgical Year cookbook is one of the first ones in America that I’ve found, Cooking for Christ by Florence Berger, published in 1949. Her introduction is so meaty and is a great reminder for me.

To some it may seem sacrilegious to connect cookery and Christ, but that is exactly what this book means to do. If I am to carry Christ home with me from the altar, I am afraid He will have to come to the kitchen because much of my time is spent there. I shall welcome Him on Easter and He shall eat new lamb with us. I shall give homage to Him on Epiphany and shall cook a royal feast for Him and my family. I shall mourn with Him on Holy Thursday and we shall taste the bitter herbs of the Passover and break unleavened bread. Then the cooking which we do will add special significance to the Church Year and Christ will sanctify our daily bread. That is what is meant by the liturgical year in the kitchen….

“Now perhaps mothers and daughters can lead their families back to Christ-centered living and cooking. Foods can be symbols which lead the mind to spiritual thinking. After Christ had preached to the multitude, He fed them. If our family is to hear the gospel, I shall first feed them on symbols and then on more substantial meat. The one will help the digestion of the other…..

I don’t try all of Mrs. Berger’s recipes. I’m not the adventurous type, and although they are historically and culturally accurate, they don’t please my modern palate. Evelyn Vitz’s A Continual Feast is a great collection of traditional and practical recipes to use for the Liturgical Year. There are numerous liturgical cookbooks, both in and out of print. It’s also enjoyable to find recipes from different cultures, some that are directly tied to the feast day, or just those from the regional area a saint lived.

I’ve included a list of Categories For Liturgical Seasons And Feasts in your folder. This is a personal guideline of possible elements I would like to incorporate in my celebration of an upcoming feast. For example, this week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption. For prayer, we’ll attend Mass because it’s a holy-day of obligation, and pray the rosary together. For extra reading we will read Tomie DePaola’s book on Mary. Since I don’t have time for much preparation, in the Food category we’ll have a special treat, like ice cream, for dessert, or go out to eat together. Immaculate Mary will be one hymn we’ll use, and play the Daughters of St. Paul Marian cds, and for Decorations I will set the table with a blue tablecloth, with a picture of the Assumption on display. The only category I’m lacking is a specific activity, which most of the time is the extra “busyness”. If I have time I’ll have a coloring page.

I want to set up a binder like Kristine’s, with a work page for each day, including each category to list ideas. Show Kristine’s binder.

A little more about the list of resources we’ve included in your folders. We live in an exciting time where there are many resources on our liturgy and the liturgical year available, and many wonderful treasures being reprinted. I am not saying that you need to read all these books. I enjoy reading them, getting different perspectives. No two books are alike. I’ve starred my favourites, the one I refer to over and over again.

So the two things that are paramount for parents if we hope to share the Faith with our children: (1) Continual growth in the faith and (2) a Strong prayer life.

The main lesson for our children is for them to live the liturgical year to give a foundation in the spiritual life, that they can personally grow in faith and become saints.

Make sure it all points back to the Liturgy. Keep it simple, incorporate different elements that can engaged all the senses, such as reading books, cooking, and music. Do our best, and God will fill in the rest.

We do all this so that our families may grow in holiness in union with the Church.

Now Dawn will share her organization and what her family does to live the Liturgy at home.

Living the Liturgical Year at Home, Talk by J. Miller .pdf file of talk

Suggested Resourced from Liturgical Year talk, includes suggestions for the rosary flip chart.

Categories for Liturgical Seasons or Feast Days, final handout from speech.