Simple Liturgical Living (for busy mamas with littles)

Happy 2025!

Wow. Can you believe it? We made it. Good-bye 2024. Hello 2025.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy taking time to intentionally reflect on the year and think about what worked in 2024 and what didn’t work in 2024…

One of the key takeaways from reflecting over this past year is that living liturgically was tough. Partly because I’m a first-time SAHM mama and I have a toddler, and I work PT…but mostly because I tend to overthink things.

There are so many wonderful resources for living liturgically, but I find that a lot of the resources overwhelm me. There are beautiful ideas on recipes to make for the Feast of X, or celebrations to have on the Solemnity of X…and frankly, it’s all a bit too much for me in this season of life.

As much as I would love to have time — or the mental energy — to make a decadent Indian dinner on the Feast Day of Mother Teresa, I just don’t have the bandwidth for that right now. And you know what? That’s okay.

For mamas that have the energy — both physical and mental — to do it, kudos to you. Please share your tips. I’d love to learn from you.

But if you’re like me, a *sometimes* overstimulated/tired mama who tries her best to be present & intentional, then I think this post may be right up your alley…

Here’s a brief outline on how we’re going to be simple and practical in living liturgically in 2025:

1. A dry-erase calendar and a dry-erase board placed in an area I frequent the most, i.e. the kitchen.
2. On the dry-erase calendar, I will make note of what the Church dedicates each month to (For example: January – The Holy Name of Jesus). To learn more about the Church’s special devotions for each month, click here.
   • January: The Holy Name of Jesus
   • February: The Holy Family
   • March: St. Joseph
   • April: The Blessed Sacrament
   • May: The Blessed Virgin Mary
   • June: The Sacred Heart of Jesus
   • July: The Precious Blood
   • August: The Immaculate Heart of Mary
   • September: The Seven Sorrows of Mary
   • October: The Holy Rosary
   • November: The Holy Souls in Purgatory
   • December: The Immaculate Conception
3. On the dry-erase calendar, I will also make note of any feast days or solemnities we’re observing, in addition to baptismal anniversaries in our family.
4. On the dry-erase board, I’ll be making notes of what we’re doing to celebrate the feast day, solemnity, or baptismal anniversary. I’ll also include the Holy Father’s intention for the month.
   • FYI – Whatever we’re doing to celebrate needs to meet two criteria: simple and practical.

For the month of January, this is what my set-up looks like:

My husband and I take turns going to adoration on Thursday’s, so please ignore that piece. However, you can also use the dry-erase calendar to make note of when you/your husband are going to adoration, confession, etc.

As you can see, we’re not celebrating allllll the feasts this month. We’re celebrating the ones that have the most meaning to us as a family. The days that have an asterisk on the dry-erase calendar are the days we’re doing something special to celebrate.

Every family is different so keep that in mind when making your own board. For example, one family may have a devotion to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton so they may do something special on her feast day (January 4) to honor her.

Simple and practical is what I’m going for this year, which can be seen by what we’re doing to celebrate. No elaborate recipes, intricate crafts, or complex activities.

Perhaps as our little one gets older, I’ll include simple crafts (i.e. coloring pages) and a book to read together on what we’re celebrating, but for now this is it and that’s enough. 🙂

May your 2025 be filled with an abundance of love, joy, and most of all, peace.

God bless you!

Peace,

Connie