Join my family as we prepare to celebrate Holy Thursday! WATCH NOW Holy Thursday is a day of contradictions. On the evening of Holy Thursday, Jesus' Passion began. But before that, he gathered with his friends to celebrate the Last Supper and at this meal, he...
Succeeding at Lent by Compromise and Cheating
Happy Fat Tuesday, y'all! Scroll to the bottom for a Mardi Gras party printable freebie. Note: Illustrations are from vintage crime novel covers Lent, you guys. Here it comes again. Late this year, but coming nonetheless. I've written about how my general approach to...
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...
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...
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Lent: Because Decorating Isn’t Just for Christmas
Liturgical Living heads up! Lent is quickly approaching. Ash Wednesday is February 26th this year, so we've only got a couple weeks to get our acts together here and figure out what we're going to do. I've written SO MUCH about Lent over the years, and I'll link to...
The Ultimate Liturgical Library Post: Saint Books for All Year Long
YOU ASKED FOR IT! This is probably my most requested not-yet-posted post ever. So here it is: Every single read aloud we use on saints' days all year long! (This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, I receive a small commission,...
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...
Taking Up Something for Lent
The Catholic All March booklets (physical booklets are available here), plus a bunch of new printables for Lent, are available now in the shop. More details below. 👇 Ash Wednesday is coming up in less than two weeks! (It's super late this year.) The actual...
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 Could Jesus Have TWO Daddies? Explaining the role of St. Joseph to young children.
Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And I just happen to have a mailbag question that is particularly well-suited to the day. Let's get to it, shall we? the question: Dear Kendra, Hi! First, I enjoy your blog very, very much. I am on my way into the Catholic...
Solemnities are NOT for Being Solemn: What They Are, Why They Matter, and New Free Printables for the Solemnity of St. Joseph
Tomorrow is the feast of St. Joseph, and it's a biggie. St. Joseph's Day on March 19th and the Annunciation coming up on March 25th are both solemnities. Note for 2017: Because March 19th falls on a Sunday this year, the celebration of St Joseph's Day is officially...
Irish Songs of Drinking and Rebellion for Kids (with free playlist and printables)
I grew up listening to showtunes and pop music. I am still pretty partial to both. But, ya know, ya get married and are introduced to whole new worlds you never even knew existed. Like Irish Folk music, for instance. I wasn't aware of any such thing until I met my...
Liturgical Living for Beginners: A St. Patrick’s Day Tea Party Play Date, with help from me and CCC
This is a sponsored post. See my disclosure policy. It's March! Spring is in sight (at least in California), we are mostly in the swing of Lent (however much that's possible, anyway), and around the Tierney gaff, it's time to get super excited for the upcoming feasts...
What I'm Doing for Lent, and Fat Tuesday and Ash WednesdayRevealed . . . and the winners!
I shared a bunch of these photos on Instagram and a couple on Facebook, but not all of them. So I figured I'd throw them up here as quick as I can, in case you didn't see them there. AND I want to announce the winners of the Lent giveaway in time for the winners to...
Feast Then Fast: Tips for Fat Tuesday, Resources for Lent, Free Printables, and a Little Contest
Lent is nigh, you guys. It is NIGH. Hope you're ready. If you're not, I might be able to help . . . with some recommendations, and some free printables, and a contest. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Because before Ash Wednesday, comes Fat Tuesday (aka...
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...
Kids Don’t Forget a Thing Like Waffles for Dinner
A big part of our family culture is celebrating the feasts of the liturgical year. And heaven help me if I try to mix things up any. Tierneys have waffles for dinner on the Annunciation. They started off as toaster waffles. Now they are usually homemade waffles. One...
Sundays in Lent: We Can’t ALL Be Right About This
Sundays in Lent seem to be a genuine source of confusion among Catholics. Both the "I don't cheat on Sundays" people and the "Sundays don't count" people believe that Church teaching is on their side. Or perhaps they just think there isn't a formal Church teaching on...
In Which I Get Rid of Our Toys
--- 1 --- Don't adjust your screens ladies and gentlemen (mostly ladies), you read that correctly. I am getting rid of our toys. WITH MY KIDS' BLESSING! Last year's big toy closet organization scheme helped. But the playroom is still a major source of heartache and...
A Cheerful Giver-Upper
As the light of Easter morning slowly begins to lighten the horizon of our Lenten journey (seriously you guys, can you believe I'm writing this stuff for you for FREE?), I thought I would address a concern that seems to plague good Catholics all year, but especially...
My Apostolate of Parties, and Photographic Evidence of the Hooley
Happy regular ol' day between two feasts! Today I want to share some photos from the Hooley and also share why we have parties (aside from the obvious reason of us being pretty cool). The husband and I got married, went on our honeymoon, and then immediately moved...
Pasta alla Tavola: The Most Fun You Can Have on St. Joseph’s Day
The Solemnity of St. Joseph is coming up soon (March 19th), so I thought I'd share how we celebrate this very welcome feast in the middle of Lent. When I was in high school, one of my best friends was from an Italian family. Mrs. Vitale is an uh-mazing cook (if...
Why We Believe in Leprechauns
It's a funny thing about leprechauns. If you don't believe in them, they seem to leave you quite alone. For twenty-four years I didn't bother with leprechauns, and they didn't bother with me. But then I married into a south-side Irish family, and I...
My Biggest Lent Fails and How I Learned Mortification Without Suffering (Almost)
I have already posted about our family's Lent undertakings. And what I'm doing this year. But not everything I have tried to do (or not do) for Lent has worked. Today, you get to hear about what I don't do during Lent, what I avoid not doing during Lent, things I...
Our Lent So Far, In Pictures
I don't see this jar as mostly empty,I see it as a tiny bit full Our clipart Lent calendar and our Lent RemindersOnly forty-three pictures to go Our school/dining tableWith purple cloth, potted succulent, and rocksAlso, in-progress mortification(Just look at that...
Lent Challenge 2013: Let’s Do This
Happy (?) Ash Wednesday everyone! Lent 2013 is upon us. Here's what I'm doing for Lent. Our family goal is to live a perfect Christian life for 40 days. We've never managed it yet, but maybe this is the year! We don't include Sundays or Feast...
Keeping Lent: A Guide to What We DO for Kids
This post is one in a series of Catholic Toddler Letters. Last week, Adam from Equipping Catholic Families asked Frankie, What kind of things does your family do during Lent, Frankie? Dear Adam, Thanks for introducing me to your Boppa. My Grandad is also awesome. He...