What is the Purpose of Liturgical Living?

Liturgical Living in the Catholic Church is the theme of dozens of blogs, Pinterest pages, and Instagram feeds. You will find an innumerable number of helpful hints and tips so that you can better live out the Liturgical Year within your home. But before you break out another craft from Pinterest or plan this week’s menu around an upcoming feast day, take a moment to consider the purpose behind your Liturgical Living.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1164) states:

From the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed fixed feasts…to commemorate the astonishing actions of the Savior God, to give Him thanks for them, to perpetuate their remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them…The liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ.

These four “goals” outline how the Church perceives the purpose of Liturgical Living–and your objectives in your domestic church:

1. To commemorate
2. To give thanks
3. To perpetuate remembrance
4. To teach children!

When we plan how our family will integrate the Liturgical Year of the Church into our home life, all our efforts should align with these goals.

Here are examples of questions you can ask yourself before beginning a liturgically themed endeavor:

Is what we are doing commemorative of a feast day?

Does this activity give thanks to God?

Will this help us continue to remember a specific event?

Can this activity teach our children how to better know God?

Armed with this knowledge about the importance and weight of Liturgical Living, you can better address your family’s unique needs and interests within your domestic church!

In a nutshell: these are means to raise our hearts and minds and imaginations to God again and again. And it is all bound up in reality, history, remembering things that really happened, things God did in a person’s life to show His glory and love.

Looking for Liturgical Living Inspiration?

At Holy Heroes, we provide a variety of ways that you can incorporate Liturgical Living into your family life–simply and easily (you don’t have to get craft supplies and clear a table off!).

With free programs like Advent Adventure and Lenten Adventure, your family will receive emails with videos, activity sheets, audio clips, coloring pages, and more to help prepare for Jesus’ coming on Christmas and Easter! The free Sunday Mass Prep program will provide weekly videos about the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel and a quiz to help kids pay attention during Mass!

Additional resources can be found throughout the year on our website HolyHeroes.com including:

• Calendars –we produce Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter fridge calendars (with big squares to fill in with appointments and reminders to keep us organized, and we can quickly see feast days in advance!)
• Stickers –gets the kids involved and excited about feast days and countdowns to feast days, opening up conversations and immersing them in a Catholic mindset
• Pamphlets and Prayer cards–like how to make a Holy Hour, the First Saturdays, have a fruitful Lent, and great prayers which saints wrote or found useful in their lives
• Paschal Candle Kits –fire interests boys, great centerpiece for Easter
• Lenten Activity Books –activities suitable for different ages to help them persevere through Lent, day-by-day, tied to the readings in Holy Mass
• Spiritual Journals –instead of a diary in which you talk to yourself, we provide prompts so you talk to God and other friends in Heaven about what occurred each day and plans for the next day
• and so much more!

Thank you for letting us Bring the Joy of the Faith to Your Family!