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anniemm
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| Posted: Sept 28 2006 at 9:15pm | IP Logged
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Hi Ladies!
I am really interested in focusing our lives on where we are in the liturgical year - I told my husband about it and it sounds like such a beautiful idea. I love that life could be lived with the rythm of the Church. So my question is, how do I start? What materials and books are *essential* for you?? My girls are still very small, only 2 years old and 10 months, but I think that it's never too early.
Thank you so much for your input and your help! I am new to the boards (obviously) and have already gained so much from them.
Andrea
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 28 2006 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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I picked something that *I* wanted to do.. and didn't worry so much about doing everything the first year but building it up as we go.
For me it was Advent/Christmas that really drew my attention and how to get Advent in when everyone else was starting Christmas and to keep Christmas when everyone else was done by Dec. 26. Then we've worked on making Lent/Easter "different".. I haven't really managed much for other time frames.. but I also know it won't do me much good if I burn myself out and can't keep up on it anyway.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Karen E.
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| Posted: Sept 28 2006 at 10:15pm | IP Logged
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That's just what I was going to say, Jodie.
Start with one thing -- Advent would be a natural, since it's coming up soon ~~ and incorporate ways of living it. Your children are young, so you have lots of time to find what works for you (and of course, it can change over the years as they grow up.)
Some great websites to start with:
Catholic Culture
Women for Faith and Family
Domestic Church
CatholicMom.com
Also, sift through the archives of this list, and the Catholic Charlotte Mason Yahoo Group. In both places, you'll find everything from Advent and Lent ideas to small observations of obscure saints. 
The liturgical year is so full of richness ... you'll love sharing it with your children. Just don't try to do everything at once. 
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Sept 28 2006 at 11:02pm | IP Logged
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With your kids so young, I actually think you *should* do everything at once. The beautiful thing about the liturgucal year is that, like our Christian lives, it is a rhythm that repeats regularly but is always different. Each year as you celebrate and as your children grow you will add more, the Lord will teach you more, and you will celebrate more.
With such young children these are the things I would start with (these are all simple ideas, many are from the ladies around here):
All Saint's Day: Talk about their name saint, or other saint that is important to your family. My daughter was already very into princesses by two, and so we talked about St. Elizabeth of Hungary (who was a real princess and behaved unlike most earthly princesses, but very like the daughter of the Heavenly King). Just a short chat about a saint at breakfast, followed by a short "Thank you for St. ___ who teaches us about loving You and those around us."
All Soul's Day: If you have a loved one buried near by, you could visit their grave and take a rose for each of your children to lay at the grave.
Advent: Get simple advent calenders for your children to open each day. This is enough at this age. A weekly Advent wreath is also simple and easy to do with small children. Light the candles when you sit down to eat Sunday lunch and blow them out when you get up from lunch and you won't have to worry about the kids around candles. You will be with them the whole time.
Christmas season: Save some things that you would have tried to do before or on Christmas for the 12 days after. You could save back a few stocking stuffers, go see the lights, etc. Also move the wisemen throughout the 12 days and have them arrive at your Nativity scene on January 6th.
Valentine's Day: Talk about how we show love to each other. Notice when your two year old does something loving and make a big deal out of it on this day. Write it on a heart and call everyone's attention to it.
St. Patrick's Day: Talk about St. Patrick briefly over green milk, or green oatmeal, etc. Put on a green tablecloth.
Lent: Scripture Trees has a wonderful felt banner with little felt pieces that the kids put on every day and a short Gospel reading. Teach your two year old the "Our Father." (My kids were 2 when they learned it).
Holy Week: Palm Sunday-Let your kids take turns being Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey (dh is always the donkey, the rest of us wave palms and sing The King of Glory Comes)Holy Thursday-Wash your kids feet before bed, and tell them Christ did this for His disciples just before He was arrested. Good Friday-Serve Hot Cross Buns for breakfast and tell them that this is an important day for remembering and being sad. If you had a real Christmas tree at Christmas time, you could have saved a branch and made a cross out of it for today. Before afternoon nap time let your kids put a black or purple cloth over it. Leave it there until Easter morning. On Easter morning put daisies underneath it and let your kids take off the cloth to find them.
Easter season: We have started waiting to dye eggs and have our hunt until after Easter. Save some of the things you used to try to cram into Easter for after Easter Sunday.
Asension Thursday: Blow bubbles and talk about how Jesus rose into the sky.
Pentecost: Wear red, make a Pentecost cake and talk about Pentecost.
These are simple ideas. Celebrating the liturgical year makes our faith part of your everyday conversations. It is an attitude, a way of seeing life. It is not a list of things to do, we do things because we are thankful for the constancy and faithfulness of our dear Lord. As your family grows, your celebrations will grow in response to your need to say thank you to God, and in your need to express and teach your faith.
Michelle
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anniemm
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| Posted: Sept 28 2006 at 11:37pm | IP Logged
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Wow thank you all so much for the information so far... I look forward to hearing other's suggestions as well!!!
I *LOVED* all your suggestions, Michelle, especially about saving some of the typical Christmas and Easter activities for the days after. Something else that I thought of when you mentioned All Souls day is that one of my daughter's little play mates (the 2 year old of one of the other women in my FAMILIA group) passed away in June - it was horrible and tragic...I think it would be wonderful to remember her that day and take flowers. I would have never thought of that on my own. Thank you. :-)
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vmalott
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| Posted: Sept 29 2006 at 6:48am | IP Logged
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One of the easiest things to start with, IMO, is incorporating liturgical colors into your home. That might mean creating a prayer space (home altar) which would then be topped with the appropriate color cloth (easy to find as scrap fabric in the craft or fabric store). You can add a crucifix, statues, a bible, prayer book, rosaries, flowers, etc. to this space.
This would then serve as your space for the liturgical "theme" you're discovering with the children. For instance, in Advent, it could be where you place the wreath; Christmas, the Nativity scene; saints days (for family namedays), an icon or image of the saint. You get the idea. The change in color is visually stimulating for the little ones.
If you look for information on the forum for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, you will find some great ideas.
Valerie
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Karen E.
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| Posted: Sept 29 2006 at 7:54am | IP Logged
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Ooh, great point, Valerie.
One way I incorporate liturgical colors is through our daily prayer list. My morning prayer routine with the kids includes a daily offering, and then a list of intentions. The list of intentions changes with the liturgical season: on a green background for ordinary time, on purple for Advent, and so on. The daily offering is the same, but I have different copies of it (on different colors of construction paper) to post, depending on the liturgical season.
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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momwise
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| Posted: Sept 29 2006 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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These are all such great ideas. I don't think there is much to add. I agree that this a the perfect time of year to begin observing the Liturgical year; first All Saints and All Souls days and then Advent and Christmas.
When I first began to experience the true Christmas season it was like being freed from a huge burden (cramming Christmas into 1-2 days and then cleaning it all up!) to return to who we were really meant to be.
I would add that a very simple way to celebrate the feast days is to pray the Collect from the daily Mass, which you can find at Catholic Culture.org Many times we add a simple recipe from that site or A Continual Feast cookbook and go to Mass and that's it. We will add the saint's name and ask for intercession during the day whenever we pray and remember them one last time before we go to bed. Also, reading a story from a children's saint book is a good idea. This threadhas a lot of good website and book ideas. Jenn from this forum has a good list at Amazon.com.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Karen E.
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| Posted: Sept 29 2006 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
With your kids so young, I actually think you *should* do everything at once. The beautiful thing about the liturgucal year is that, like our Christian lives, it is a rhythm that repeats regularly but is always different. Each year as you celebrate and as your children grow you will add more, the Lord will teach you more, and you will celebrate more.
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I agree -- on second thought, my "pick one thing" advice was thinking more along the lines of, "Don't get burned out or frustrated in trying to do everything at once." That's easy to do.
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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CathinCoffeland
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I loved all the ideas...my dc are 5 and 2 now and we dived in when my first was a baby. It felt awkward at first since dh and i had no experiences to draw on but it is so natural now.
one thing that really helped me was getting a big liturgical calendar that looks like a wheel with the colors and saints days and all.
We get ours at Liturgical training publications but a local catholic bookstore should have something.
try this link to see what i mean.
http://www.ltp.org
(look for annual publications or calanders)
i could peek at was coming up in the week and make plans.
I would just add that at this age it is so much about the "stories" of the faith, tell the ones you know, read lots of kid versions of the bible/saint stories.
At this age you sort of "narrate" your life anyway just include your faith in your narrations ...
"look sweetie at the yellow flower, isnt it pretty? Its a marigold...its named after Jesus' mama Mary. Should we buy one for our garden?"
"WOW! the sunset is so lovely and purple and pink tonight...just like our advent candles on the table"
"I wonder if my gaurdian angel looks like that statue? What do you think your angel looks like"
etc...
I hope that made sense...I am way behind on sleep.
Most of all have fun with your littles...Maggie
(whose kiddos have a "dress up" for just about every saint/holyday now  )
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: How to start focus on liturgical year??
