Mailbag time! The Question: Hi, Kendra! Thanks so much for your blog. I was hoping you could offer some advice on a question regarding living out the liturgical year with young kids. Our parish Easter egg hunt is scheduled for Holy Saturday morning and I don't know...
How We Do the Triduum: Good Friday, Holy Saturday
Yesterday I wrote about what we do for Holy Thursday. (I had intended to write about what we do for the whole Triduum, but, as usual, it got a little long, so here's the second installment.)Good Friday is meant to be a solemn and somber day. But little...
A Holy Thursday Last Supper Feast
Jesus walks into a restaurant and says to the maitre'd, "Table for twenty-six please." The maitre'd does a quick head count, and says, "I see there are only thirteen of you here. Please let me know when the rest of your party arrives, sir, and I’ll be happy to seat...
The “You Can Still Do This” Guide to All Things Holy Week
Also available as a YouTube video here! Well, you've done it. You AND your children have, somehow, against all odds, survived through to these last few days of Lent. Though for a while there, it looked like you might succumb to an acute lack of coffee / Netflix /...
Holy Thursday at Home: a Virtual Seven Churches Visitation
The triduum is upon us! Let's talk Holy Thursday. No, wait, for a Holy Thursday overview, see this post The “You Can Still Do This” Guide to All Things Holy Week Here, let's talk about the Seven Churches Visitation. Under normal circumstances, following the Holy...
The Holy Cross: A Guide to Exalting and Sorrowing in September
September is traditionally a more somber month, liturgical calendar-wise. The month is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. On September 14 and 15 we observe the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The fall Ember Days are...
Lent: The End Begins (Ideas and Printables for Holy Week and Easter)
Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, traditionally known as Passion Sunday. This is the day on which images and statues are often veiled in churches. We like to do this in our home as well. (I used think we were supposed to do this for all of Lent, but have recently...
The Holy Spirit is My Felix Felicis: 7 Quick Takes XX
--- 1 --- The effects of Felix Felicis, as described by Harry Potter Wiki, are thus: Felix Felicis possibly works by providing the drinker with the bestpossible scenario. This usually registers in the drinker's mind in theform of an unusual urge to take a certain...
How We Do the Triduum: Holy Thursday
As the end of Lent comes in to sight, I like to focus on one of my favorite things about this time of year: saying the word Triduum. Seriously, how great is that word? It's right up there with trousers, gubernatorial, and ladle. ...
2023 Easter Gift Guide
Easter is approaching! And we didn't want you to be caught unawares. We know that there's almost nothing worse than Holy Saturday coming and not having anything to stuff Easter Baskets with. Don't ask us how we know ;)But in all seriousness, as we prepare for the...
Happy Feast of St Joseph, Get Ready to Cry
It's a solemnity and a Meat Friday, I hope you're celebrating today! I posted last week with some celebration ideas and free printables for the feast of St. Joseph. But I had to pop back in today to share one of my ALL-TIME favorite poems. We read it for St. Joseph's...
Happy Easter! And a Tierney Family Update . . .
The thing about Easter is that it came anyway. Alleluia! Our In-Progress At Home Painted Chapel, aka how I spent my summer vacation I can't tell you how much joy it has given me to share liturgical living traditions with you guys during this time. Virtual community is...
The Triduum at Home: a Tenebrae Service
Happy Spy Wednesday! Today we'll be hiding thirty quarters. Here's why: https://youtu.be/2alx0jkg1Jw See the April Booklet for the collects and readings for Spy Wednesday and each day of the Triduum. We've done the quarters thing for many years now, and love it. New...
Homemade Easter Candles or the Coronavirus Wins
Easter candles, you guys. EASTER CANDLES. We must have them. And really, my family can't imagine missing out completely on the stirringly beautiful beginning of the Easter Vigil Mass, with the fire and the candles and the Exsultet. The whole Easter Vigil is great of...
The Catholic All Year at Home, Amazon-Free, Catholic Gift Guide for a Very Unusual Easter
Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation! 👼📣 For what we'll be doing to celebrate, see this post. tl:dr 🧇🙏 This Easter bunny seems to capture the general zeitgeist, no? Strange times these are, my friends! It's been a very Lenty Lent don't...
A Spy Wednesday Activity We Love and Good Friday Activities We Avoid
Spy Wednesday "Spy" Wednesday 🕵️♂️ is the name traditionally given to the Wednesday of Holy Week. This is the day Judas betrayed Jesus, telling the high priest when Jesus would be in a place where he could be more conveniently arrested, in exchange for thirty pieces...
Lent vs Advent: Penance or Preparation, Counting Down or Counting Up
Mailbag Question! Q: I've heard people talk about Advent and Lent both being seasons of penance during the liturgical year. Can you help me understand how to explain the differences in the seasons to my family, and how to observe them in the home? A: Ooh, good...
Rogation and Ember Days and Vigils: in case you were starting to think you had this liturgical living thing down
I've been Catholic for forty-one years, actually making an effort for seventeen, a liturgical living devotee for eleven, and blogging about it for five. And . . . I just found out about Ember Days. As I was researching feast days for the Catholic All Year...
How to Celebrate Your Nameday When Your Name Isn’t a Saint’s Name (yet)
Between nearly twenty weeks of all-day morning sickness and my failed going to bed early for Lent experiment, I ended up with quite a backlog of mailbag questions. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing them . . . I received this one after linking to my post about...
Our Triduum in Photos
It's still Easter today! Happy Easter! Let's jump in the ol' T.A.R.D.I.S. and take a look back at the Triduum, just for posterity's sake, shall we? And let's, um, go backwards. 'Cause, why not? In case you missed it in all the hubbub yesterday, here are all the Easter...
Celebrating Birthdays That Fall During Lent?
I'm once again striding boldly into the dangerous, churning waters of Lenten "breaks." This time to answer a mailbag question . . . Question: Hi Kendra! My youngest is celebrating his first birthday next month and I'm wondering how to celebrate a birthday in Lent. I...
Lent Cometh: perhaps everything you’ll ever need to know to have the best Lent ever
Okay, folks. Now that Candlemas is over and all things Christmas are officially behind us, it's time to quit being in denial that Lent is coming. Fast. It is for me, anyway. Two weeks from today is Fat Tuesday. Then, it's on. A pretty significant percentage of my...
An Easter Present for All of You but Mostly Bonnie and a Triduum / Easter Recap
Happy Easter everyone! He is Risen. . . Are you guys getting tired of that yet? Sorry. I just found out about it this year. It's possible I'm getting carried away. Also, I've eaten a LOT of candy. They're always saying how easy it is to take candy from a baby. But...
How to Talk to Little Kids About the Crucifixion
How much of Jesus' suffering and death to share with little ones is a question many parents struggle with. It can be overwhelming to feel like you have to introduce so many facts and concepts and characters all at once, especially if your kids are perhaps more...
Last Minute Somewhat Free Easter Baskets
Before you rush out the door to the dollar store to put together an Easter Basket, here are a few ideas for lovely and edifying Easter gifts that you can make happen in a hurry. And sometimes for nearly free! Printables Shining Light Saint Printables! Just a word of...
An Open Letter to the Internet About My Being Wrong
UPDATE: I'm now back on board with my original post, thanks to some advice from Scott P. Richert of the About.com Catholic page and your comments. Whew. But I'm leaving this up because it happened, and because the photoshopping is pretty profound. Dear...
Baby Steps to Living the Liturgical Year as a Family
My Catholic faith journey has been all about baby steps. God never knocked me off my bicycle, blinded me, and gave me a talking to. It's been slow and steady the whole way. And making the feasts and fasts part of our family's day-to-day life has been no different.For...
We Had Easter, It Was Cute
Alleluia and Happy Easter! We had a triumphantly adorable Easter, so I thought I'd try one of these what I wore link-ups to share. And hey, today there are THREE! Thanks to Camp Patton, The Practicing Catholic, and Fine Linen and Purple for hosting. First, the what...
Free Printables for the Year of Saint Joseph and New Limited Edition Products for the Triduum
A few Liturgical Living Box Subscriptions are now available, as well as limited edition Tenebrae Hearse Candelabras in two styles, new Easter/Paschal Candles, and other items from the Lent and Triduum Boxes. More info at the bottom! The Feast of St Joseph is coming up...
It’s Never Too Late to Start: A Lenten Book List
Get this as free printable here!Download Well, here we are on Monday of the first week of Lent. Happy feast of the Chair of St. Peter! (See how our family celebrates the day here.) If Ash Wednesday crept up on you this year, not to worry . . . it's never too late to...