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amyable
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I feel I need to infuse our lives more with the liturgy ...the liturgical year ... a sense of the daily presence of God.
I can find many ideas on what to do during Advent, Lent, particular holy days, etc.
But what about the average day that has nothing "special" attached to it? Like, say, Tuesday of the first week of Ordinary Time?  We just *can't* make it to daily Mass more than occasionally, for my sanity and the relationship with my children. My haiku that won the Faith and Family contest about needing confession after getting ready for Mass was truer than you know! 
What do you personally do to incorporate these things in your family? Could you include what ages you do these things with, also?
Thanks!
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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JodieLyn
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You could always do the readings from Mass at home. There's places online to find what those are so you don't even have to buy anything.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Betsy
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I have two suggestions that are great for structure and rhythm for ordinary days.
1. We follow the Church's recommendation for the Dedications of the Month and Days. For each month and day I have a set prayer that we pray.
2. I also have hours during the day that we stop for prayer. The one that we most regularly keep is 3pm to focus on the Passion of Christ and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
I find that by doing this my family has truly embraced the Churches most prized devotions and we truly "pray without ceasing"(or at least attempt too!!)
Betsy
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Elizabeth
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Amy,
I think what you're looking for is not so much infusing the rest of the calendar with feast days as it is praying with the Church every day. Is that right?
Are there hard stops that you could use to pray with the Universal church, like a morning offering and the Angelus and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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10 Bright Stars
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Amy,
I found a neat little brochure in the back of our church the other day that must have belonged to someone who donated it. Anyway, the little brochure/booklet is entitled "Dedicated Days: My Kingship is Not of This World". It was printed by the Leaflet Missal Company. There isn't a copyright date.
The front says: My schedule with Jesus this summer:
1. Daily prayer
2. Weekly Mass and Communion
3. Monthly Confession.
That sounds like a plan. Then inside, each day is dedicated to the following:
Sunday: dedicated to The Blessed Trinity
Prayers for this day are:
A Daily Offering prayer
Adoration prayer (Which is a Glory Be)
Act of Faith
Prayer to the Holy Trinity
Apostles Creed
A prayer to say "Before the Blessed Sacrament" since you will be at Mass today.
Evening Prayer of Praise
Monday: This day is dedicated to The Holy Spirit
various prayers to the Holy Spirit follow
Tuesday: This day is dedicated to the "Faithful Departed"
Daily Prayer for the Holy Souls
Prayer for Departed Loved Ones
Prayer for the Dying
Psalm 119
Prayer for the Dead
Prayer of Supplication
Pious Invocations
Prayer for a Holy Death
Prayer for a Happy Death
Wednesday is dedicated to St. Joseph
various prayers follow
Thursday is dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament
various prayers including
the Anima Christi
a Spiritual Communion prayer
an Act of Adoration prayer
the Divine Praises
etc.
Friday is dedicated to the "Passion of Our Lord"
various prayers follow for this day
Saturday is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary (of course)
Offering Prayer
Prayer for the Grace of Love
Act of Consecration Prayer
The Memorare
Mother of Compassion Prayer
So, you can see that the whole week has a special devotion for each day. I assume you could say all the prayers each day, or a few. But, even without this booklet, you could sort of make up your own dedication for each day, and then come up with prayers or activities based on that. For example, Saturdays could be devoted to the Blessed Mother as is the norm. Therefore, we always go to Confession that day, and do such and such. On Tuesdays, we remember our relatives who have passed away, and maybe there is a special little list with their names written on it and a special prayer for their souls that day. Wednesday is dedicated to St. Joseph, so maybe you make Daddy's homecoming extra special that day and say a special prayer to St. Joseph the worker on Wednesdays just for Daddy. You get the gist of what I mean. Each day has a special "intention" so to speak that helps focus the family daily to certain "missions" or devotions. They are clearly defined and can sort of make up the main focus of the day spiritually.
I don't know if this is what you meant since you said liturgy which I would take to mean the daily Mass readings and Church calendar, but I thought this was a neat idea.
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
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Isabelle and Sophia 8,
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William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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trish
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I know what you're feeling. Trying to just fit in a few things for the ordinary days but still being part of the Church so to speak. I struggle with this too.
Try adding a few short things to your day like Elizabeth said. We pray the Angelus right before Grace at Lunch, and Divine Mercy at 3pm. Those are just 2 little prayers we've added but it brings back the focus of our day to Our Faith. We add the more spectacular stuff (more planning) for the Feasts we celebrate. And everybody participates. 
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SuzanneG
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Meredith had a post on "everyday-prayer" a year or so ago.
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JennGM
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Amy,
The best way is to try to unite your domestic Church liturgically with Mother Church.
Make Sundays the center of your week. That's the key to the whole liturgical year. Look ahead to the Sunday's Gospel and theme of readings and put that as your focus in your week. Every Sunday is a little Easter, and the pivotal day of our week.
As was discussed in the latest liturgy of the Hours thread, the Church has encouraged laity to get involved in the Liturgy of the Hours, particularly Sunday Vespers (Evening Prayer). Since you have so many littles, just incorporating small parts of the Vespers would be good (Antiphon and Magnificat from Sunday Evening Prayer II).
And like Elizabeth said, perhaps Night Prayer?
Use the Collect (opening prayer) from Sunday's Mass throughout the week, perhaps at dinner.
And Betsy's idea, although it sounds "ordinary" is just perfect. Unite yourself to the daily Mass. Read the readings of the day, pray a spiritual communion since you physically can't be there. Getting to Mass is hard for me, too, but I start my day reading the Mass propers and readings to get the "theme" of the day.
HTH a bit.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Mary G
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Amy,
I've got a 9 (almost 10) boy, 8 (almost 9) girl, and 6 boy at home....
The way we incorporate the liturgical year is pretty serendipitously:
- liturgical calendar from LTP posted in dining room
- A Year of Saints by Giorgi
- Family Altar in appropriate liturgical colors
- occasional novenas (like for the sale of the house!)
So, when the whim hits us ... or it seems like a cool saint today ... or we just have time (and didn't go to daily Mass) ...
- we check the liturgical calendar (and then check http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calend ar/day.cfm for suggestions)
- we check who the saint is in Giorgi's book ... which has a saint for everyday so you don't have to worry about just another day; we then google and maybe make up a menu for the evening based on that
- start an appropriate novena and then discuss who, what and why
So, in other words, we let chance take it's course somewhat; don't plan anything specific for the "ordinary times" but just do it when the Spirit moves us. We don't do a whole lot of formal religion every year ... unless it's a sac prep year ... but do a lot of living lit reading (we especially like going thru the Marigold Hunt books) and celebrating the saints by searching for coloring pages, creating activities, linking ordinary to our history (thru American saints, venerables, blesseds), or searching for appropriate cooking/baking recipes based on country of origin.
Does that help?
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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amyable
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Thank you everyone! Your ideas are so helpful.
Elizabeth wrote:
I think what you're looking for is not so much infusing the rest of the calendar with feast days as it is praying with the Church every day. Is that right?
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I'm not sure! I think it's a little of both, but mostly the latter. My problem, I believe, is that it all seems so FORCED (to my family, and myself) when we try to ramp things up the way we have. The one thing my children did seem to like when we did it was doing the daily Mass readings when we first sat down to work.
I say an Angelus at noon (ummm, most days ) but have a hard time dragging the kids from all corners to join me. We've never done a family Rosary, we didn't grow up that way and honestly know no one IRL who does this (again with the "awkward" and "forced" feeling).
I guess I was hoping for something as natural and beautiful to us as the bird watching we do, or the artist studies or read alouds. (By natural I mean "not forced" as opposed to "in nature.") I can see ME doing many of the prayers suggested, but when it comes to my kids, they seem to have to be dragged kicking and screaming (or truly more like sulking and pouting) to anything that resembles extra effort, work, or isn't understandable. I wish that wasn't the case (oh do I wish!) but that's what I'm dealing with right now. I feel like we all need healing, more joy, peace - and I thought bringing God closer to us would be the way to do it.
Thanks again for all your ideas - I'm going to reread them, show dh, pray some more...
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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SuzanneG
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per the "forced" thing.....
nak....
...now that i have a couple of readers in the house, I request them to read a collect or a prayer for the day, or a antiphon, a bible story, etc. It seems less "forced" to me.....more participatory. Not just me praying, talking, encouraging.
And, i discovered something over advent.....that i keep meaning to post about.....we did the christmas novena as a family this year....the one from women for faith and family....and they all loved it! Each had a part to read !! And, they each had their own little brochure which was really important.
So, I'm going with this for now....creating a little "vespers" prayer sheet with 3 different parts (2 kids, 1 adult) to it....in the same format as Lit. of the Hours would be. That way they can learn the format, even if the content is easier.
I would imagine that's what the Patmos Vespers is for, but before I invest in a couple copeis, I wnat to see if it works.
(linky fairy will come back later )
does this even make sense? 
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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LeeAnn
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Suzanne, if you come to Little Flowers on Friday, I'll bring my new copy of Patmos' Vespers and Evening Prayer for you to peruse! 
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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amyable
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amyable wrote:
I guess I was hoping for something as natural and beautiful to us as the bird watching we do, or the artist studies or read alouds... I feel like we all need healing, more joy, peace - and I thought bringing God closer to us would be the way to do it.
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Let me rephrase myself - it's sounds this way as if I'm *using* God to get what I want. It's more that I think our relationships with God *should* be natural and beautiful and joyful, but for us right now it's not, and I want to get that back, because we "need healing, more joy, peace." Does that make more sense?
So I was hoping to find that in bringing the liturgical year cycles, and daily "Catholic living" into my home more - past the typical Advent, Lent, Saint's Day craft ideas.
Without it feeling forced and unnatural for this "grew up as a Sunday Catholic" family.
Thanks again for your ideas, you've given me a lot to think about.
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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KC in TX
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Amy, I'm glad you've asked this because we are in need of this as well. I'm going to have to come back to this and read it all carefully.
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Michaela ('01)
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JennGM
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There's a great online resource for preparing for Sunday, Open Wednesdays. ETA: Also at Catholic Mom
Dawn has a wonderful series of Tea and Crafts which she usually used to prepare for the upcoming Sunday and the special feasts of the week.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JodieLyn
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Amy, I think you'll find anything you are starting new will feel odd and forced at first. That is a natural part of adding in something new. But when you give it time and just do it anyway.. it'll become more natural.
I'm a convert and you can't imagine how awkward it feels at first to do simple things like the sign of the cross.. genuflecting.. etc. But the awkwardness goes away with continual use. And now I do those things with hardly an extra thought to them.
I would consider adding something in when you're already gathered together. And perhaps if there's something you want to do at a particular time just doing it anyway and letting the children join you or setting yourself up for success by adding a little treat at first.. have everyone come to the table for a cookie and drink and do your prayers together then.
When we pray the Rosary as a family dh and I are usually sitting in chairs.. I've got the baby and dh is showing the littles how to use the beads.. sometimes the littles just wander around.. but the older kids have chosen to kneel on their own. But I could spend a lot of time trying to set up it so that we can all be perfect (kneeling together in a circle or whatever the "perfect form" woudl be) and most likely never really get to it and/or have the kids hating the process. Or we can just get everyone in the same room and start and let them settle however and actually get it happening. And well, I tend to think that saying the prayers without strife is better than attempting the perfect form with a high chance of never getting to the actual prayers 
So you mentioned things you find natural to gather together for.. bird watching.. reading aloud..
How about.. saying a quick prayer thanking God for the beauty of the birds you're watching?
Say a prayer before starting your read aloud?
Say the Angelus before eating lunch.. the timing might be a bit off but you're pegging it to a natural gathering time and helping everyone get in the habit of it.
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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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Betsy
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amyable wrote:
| I can see ME doing many of the prayers suggested, but when it comes to my kids, they seem to have to be dragged kicking and screaming (or truly more like sulking and pouting) to anything that resembles extra effort, work, or isn't understandable. |
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I am right there with you!!!!
First, start small. Just add on thing until it becomes natural, and then (maybe) add something new.
Second...or really first...what I have done to cultivate this in my family is to decide what I think is improtant for us to be doing, set the times and do the prayers myself.
For instance, I mentioned the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm. I have never required my kids to do this with me. But, I set a timer for 3pm, when it goes off I try to stop what I am doing and go to our little prayer corner and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet MYSELF. I usually pray it out loud. Over time the kids have chosen to come in with me and pray it. Over the course of a year or so, they have come to reconize that 3pm is important and we should stop to pray then.
Do we do it every day? NO, and I don't beat my self up over that. I do it as often as I remember when we are home and if it's appropriate when we are out.
As for the Dedications of the Month and Days. I printed up little cards with the Month or Day, dedication and a picture. I have these setting out and the kids usually race to flip over the right day or month. We do these in conjunciton with our morning prayers and it really only takes a few minuites...so I don't get too much resistance.
I have also alowed myself to pair down some of the longer prayers to child friendly sizes without over burdening them, but helping them to really cultivate a devotion for them. For instance, we might only say one decade of the rosary--concentrating on praying it espically well and working on meditating on the mystry. OR, only doing ONE station of the cross per day.
I liken this to Charlotte Mason's approach of keeping lessons short but demanding the child's perfect attention.
I hope that this helps.....
Betsy
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Leonie
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amyable wrote:
I guess I was hoping for something as natural and beautiful to us as the bird watching we do, or the artist studies or read alouds. (By natural I mean "not forced" as opposed to "in nature.") ... |
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I understand. What has helped me, as a convert, is looking at myself and doing little things.
Myself? I aim to read my missal each day, preferably morning but not always so. I find that I tend to reflect on the readings all day, and this eventually permeates my day, my interactions with the kids, my thoughts, my conversation.
Daily Mass, when I can, either by myself or with the kids, helps, too,
I have a saints book with nice art on the computer table and each morning, I or someone else flicks to the saint for the day - it is as natural for us as sitting down to read email - and so we end up looking at the saint and the art.Thinking. Talking. Bringing our faith to the forefront.
I also change the centrepiece at the dining table to reflect the liturgical year. Sometimes I just put flowers and a statue or the missal or the Bible on the table. We work at that table, we eat, we talk, visitors come and and comment on the centrepiece . This kind of naturally draws our mind to the liturgy and to God.
Little things, I know, but have been helpful for us.
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marihalojen
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amyable wrote:
I guess I was hoping for something as natural and beautiful to us as the bird watching we do, or the artist studies or read alouds... I feel like we all need healing, more joy, peace - and I thought bringing God closer to us would be the way to do it.
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I had two thoughts...
First, to play off Leonie's centerpiece idea, what if you wrote one of your great haiku's but base it around the day on pretty paper, scroll fashion or calligraphy or whatever is lovely to you and tuck it into the flowers/advent wreath/crown of thorns on the table that day. You could do a series of 7 based on Kim's dedications and just rotate them or feature a special one on days that catch your attention maybe like Our Lady, Queen of Peace coming up soon or St. Agnes.
And the second idea would be a CD of pretty music playing at the same time everyday like Gentle Woman to wake all the kids up to or to sit down with a cup of tea in the afternoon with.
Neither of the ideas are overtly 'Get over here kids we're going to do this thing' but I was thinking more of establishing an atmosphere, I guess.
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The Mari Hal-O-Jen
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Living the liturgy on the "average" day
