First off, I have to say how excited I am that anyone other than me wanted this calendar. I just can’t believe how many of you have purchased it and are looking forward to starting off the new Catholic year on December 3rd and observing the feasts and the fasts. And we’ll be doing it TOGETHER. Yay!

You guys have had some questions, and I’ve made a few revisions, so I want to explain all of it. And if you make it through this, I’ve got some other fun announcements (Not pregnant. I should probably say that up here. Not. Pregnant.) and opportunities that I’ve been working on for you!

But first, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about . . . on a bit of a whim, I created a liturgical year wall calendar.

It features the all the feasts and fasts of the Universal Calendar and then some, illustrated with images featuring the traditional Catholic monthly devotions. It’s an easy visual way to bring liturgical living into your home. You can keep track of the feasts and fasts and seasons of the Catholic year, and be reminded to focus your prayer on a different aspect of our faith each month.

Now, to address your questions.

1. What are the Ember Days, Rogation Days, and Vigil Fasts marked on the calendar?

I wrote a post on Ember Days last week, and just updated it to include information about Rogation Days and Vigil Fasts as well.

ROGATION AND EMBER DAYS AND VIGILS: IN CASE YOU WERE STARTING TO THINK YOU HAD THIS LITURGICAL LIVING THING DOWN

2. What is the Catholic All Year Compendium and where can I find it?

The Catholic All Year Compendium is the liturgical living in the home book that I’ve been working on, lo these many months. It’s got the stories behind the feast days, plus ideas for celebrating them that have made the liturgical year fun, educational, and inspirational in our home. I’ve marked with a little symbol all the feasts that I cover in the book, in case it becomes available before the liturgical year is over. However, it’s still in the editing process, and is being published by a respectable publisher (Ignatius Press) and these things take time. I don’t have a planned release date yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll let you all know.

In the mean time, there are lots of ideas for celebrating various feast days on the blog, and I post about many of them with quick back stories and celebration ideas on the Catholic All Year Facebook page.

3. What’s the deal with indulgences. Are those still a thing?

Yes. Yes, they are. They are a very cool thing. And I have a whole post on them, that will, hopefully, answer ALL your questions on them that should be up on Monday. So stay tuned for that.

I marked on the calendar the indulgences associated with particular feast days. I wanted to have a quick reference to see what they are, but there wasn’t an option to add an information page to the calendar. So, I made this printable. I plan to print it out and tape it upside down to the back cover of the calendar, so that anytime I see the little indulgence symbol on an upcoming feast day, I can just flip up the back cover and figure out what we’re supposed to do.

Free printable! Just click on the image to open it full-sized, then right click to save it to your computer.

These are the plenary indulgences associated with particular feast days, that are marked on the calendar:

• Visit a basilica, cathedral, parish church, or approved shrine on its titular feast day.
• Receive the Papal Urbi et Orbi blessing (usually given on Christmas and Easter) in person, on the radio, on TV, or online.
• Recite the Te Deum on December 31st in thanksgiving for the year.
• Recite the Veni Creator on January 1st as a prayer for the beginning of the year, and/or on Pentecost.
• Participate in special celebrations for days universally designated for particular intentions (like Day of Prayer for Peace on January 1st, or Day of Prayer for Vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter).
• Participate in the services of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: January 18-25.
• Recite the Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus before a crucifix, after communion, on a Friday during Lent.
• Recite the Tantum Ergo on Holy Thursday before the Altar of Repose.
• Adore the cross on Good Friday.
• Renew your baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil and/or on the anniversary of your baptism.
• Take part in special services held on Divine Mercy Sunday, or, before the Blessed Sacrament on that day, pray the usual prayers and “Merciful Jesus, I trust in you.”
• Participate in a Eucharistic Procession on Corpus Christi.
• Recite the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Feast of the Sacred Heart  in a church, religious community, or family.
• Use an article Blessed by the Holy Father or any bishop on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
• Visit a basilica or cathedral on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
• The Portiuncula Indulgence of St. Francis of Assisi: with a contrite heart, visit any church on August 2nd (or the first Sunday of August if the church isn’t open every day).
• Pray for the dead in a cemetery November 1-8 (applicable only to the souls in purgatory).
• Pray for the dead in a church on All Souls’ Day (applicable only to the souls in purgatory).
• Recite the Act of Dedication to Christ the King on the Feast of Christ the King in a church, religious community, or family.

4. Wait a minute, I’m looking at my calendar, and I don’t have all these indulgences marked. Or the rogation days. What gives?

That’s because I keep becoming aware of new feasts and fasts. I basically live in fear of the day when the book will go to print because I just KNOW that the very next day someone will send me a facebook message about some cool obscure custom or entire system of fasting days that I’ve never heard of. Because that’s what’s been happening to me like every other day recently. And every time it does, I scramble to revise the book draft and the calendar.

In the same manner, I was made aware that the document on indulgences that I was working from was out of date, so I made some changes to reflect the most recent indulgences available to us.

5. Isn’t Christmas a Holyday of Obligation?

Yes it is. I’m so sorry. On the first draft of the calendar, I somehow left off the symbol for Holyday of Obligation on Christmas in both 2017 and 2018. But it is in fact an obligation in both and all years. In 2017, we have a Sunday Mass obligation on the 24th, and a Christmas Mass obligation on the 25th so if you prefer the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass, you’ll have to go to two Masses that day to cover both your obligations (or go to the Sunday Vigil Mass on Saturday the 23rd, then the Christmas Vigil Mass on the 24th).

6. Why is such-and-such a feast day not listed on the calendar?

Two possible reasons.

First, it might not be a universal feast. I’ve included all the universal feast day, plus the proper calendar for the United States. Some feasts are on the proper calendar of other countries, but not in the U.S., and I haven’t included all of those, because I was working off of the USCCB liturgical calendar. I’ve included a handful of historical feasts that don’t occur on the universal calendar, because there are fun traditions associated with them that I discuss in the book. That you can’t read yet. Because it’s not out yet. Sorry.

Second, it might fall on a Sunday this year. Feasts that are not solemnities that fall on a Sunday in a given year (or during the Easter Octave) get “bumped” for that year and don’t appear on the calendar.

While you’ve got a pen out to make Christmas a Holyday of Obligation and add in indulgences and rogation days, I’d also suggest that you add birthdays, namedays, and baptism anniversaries for each member of the family onto the calendar. That’s what we do, in keeping with our Three Special Days tradition. If you google your child’s name saint’s feast day and it turns out that it falls on a Sunday this year, I’d go ahead and write it back in. The bumping of the saint’s day has to do with how the Mass is celebrated for the day, and isn’t an indication that we shouldn’t be remembering the saint (or the people named for that saint) on that day in our homes.

Okay, I think that’s all the calendar stuff. Again, thank you for liking it and wanting to do this with me. So fun!

Next issue is . . . Monthly Devotion Wallpapers!

24 monthly devotion images, formatted as high resolution 9:16 smart phone lock screen wallpapers, and paired with coordinating home screen images. If my phone is going to be the first thing I look at when I wake up and the last thing I look at before I go to sleep, it might as well direct my thoughts to God and the monthly devotions recommended to us by the Catholic Church!

They will fit almost all smartphones, not just iPhones, and the images are also high resolution enough to be cropped and printed as 5×7, 10×13, or 12×18 prints.

Speaking of Valentines . . . 

If you want to be prepared ridiculously far in advance for Valentine’s Day AND are a crazy Catholic person who wants people to know that on Valentine’s Day, I’ve got you covered.

There are three sets of Valentines in the Etsy shop.

Catholic Hearts

Love Like the Saints

Saint and Bible Quotes

 I’ve also got a couple Advent images, and a nativity coloring page.

O Come O Come Emmanuel Chalkboard {digital download}

8×10 Christmas Anticipation Prayer in purple {digital download} St. Andrew, Advent, Christmas Prayer and in red here

For God So Loved the World {digital download} John 3:16 Christmas Nativity printable and coloring page

The St. Joan of Arc Women’s Conference Update

The women’s conference that my friends Micaela and Karianna and I hosted last month was a big success. We had over 120 women come and hang out at my house for the day. There were great speakers and amazing food and wonderful camraderie. I am truly grateful to all of you who came, and I hope to see even more of you next year!

We had a few mugs with our logo on them that really turned out super cute. In fact, we sold out of them pretty early, and there were some gals who didn’t get to get one. So, I said I’d get them in the CafePress shop in case anyone wants to be mug buddies with George and I.

We’ll be heading off again on camping Thanksgiving

Because when I say we like to keep it crazy . . . I mean it. We’ve borrowed an RV and are heading to the Sequoias and a Gold Rush Town. I’m going to spatchcock a turkey and see if it will fit in the oven of the RV, otherwise it’s getting campfire cooked. I wish you all the happiest and coziest of Thanksgivings!

Last thing . . . the BIG announcement

I’m officially a regular guest on the Jennifer Fulwiler radio show! I’ll normally be appearing on the first Friday of the month, to give you a heads up about feast days on the horizon. But for December, I’ll be there on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

You can find the show on SiriusXM Channel 129, Monday – Friday, 2 – 4 PM Eastern. Excerpts from the show are available online here.

So, I think that’s all for today. My goal with this blog has never been to sell you stuff, so please feel free to ignore any or all of it. I just share it in case it would be helpful to you!