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...
An Easy At Home Marian Procession
Happy August, month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! There are quite a few Marian feast days this month, including today's historic feast of Our Lady, Queen of Angels (August 2nd), the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary on August 15th (a holyday of obligation), and...
The Brown Scapular and Other Sacramentals: Using Them, Losing Them, Not Confusing Them
Hey guys! The Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Video for July is here! It's about the brown scapular and other sacramentals. What are they? Why are they? How do we use them? What do we do with them if they break or get worn out? All your burning questions . . ....
Bonfires, Blessings, and Building Community (also eating actual locusts) for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
The June Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Show is here! The feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist isn't until June 24th (the eve is June 23rd), but I wanted to give you plenty of time on this one, because I'm really hoping some of you are going to want to...
Is the Seal of Confession Worth Protecting?
The historic sanctity of the seal of confession is being reconsidered by courts around the world—in England, Ireland, Australia, Louisiana, and in my own state of California, among others—specifically in regards to the crime of child sexual abuse. It begs the question...
Changing the World One Casserole at a Time
I don’t want to fall into hyperbole, but the apostolate of bringing a meal really and honestly changed the way I see the world. It changed my heart when it happened to me, and practicing it for others is something that brings me great joy. While I was expecting my...
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...
Stations of the Cross Clickbait Title Alert: Are You Doing This One Important Thing Wrong?
There's an all new Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Video up, all about the Stations of the Cross! Scroll on down to check it out. And because I love you guys . . . you get a bonus video this time. I die. every. time. It's the cutest. If it looks like Mary Jane is...
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...
Celebrating Candlemas and St. Blaise in the Home
Coming up next weekend, we have two feast days that I love for the sheer weird-old-Catholic-ness of them: Candlemas and St. Blaise. Candlemas, which occurs 40 days after Christmas on February 2nd, celebrates the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. This was the day...
Five Ways We Incorporate Prayer into Our Liturgical Living
Happy New Year! I got this mailbag question and typed up the response a couple of weeks ago, emailed my reply to the questioner, and set the post to publish today. And then I got to thinking . . . and I ended up spending every spare moment I had since then creating...
Jesse Tree Dropout? Try the REAL Nine-Day Christmas Novena!
Why yes this IS a new blog-do . . . 💁♀️ What do you think? I really REALLY love this tradition. With my book out and the approximately 4672 radio and print interviews I have done in support of it, I am very often asked what is my favorite liturgical living in the...
Mary, Mother of the Church: a New Feast Day! (Plus Other May Feast Days and . . . My Book Cover!)
When I did my reader survey, the one thing you guys asked for above all other things was that I give you some advance warning for feast days. The problem with that is that my personal liturgical living style is mostly getting a reminder on my phone at 9am, realizing...
Ash Wednesday vs Valentine’s Day: the February 14th Catholic Conundrum
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Kendra, I was wondering if you were going to write a post about how Valentine’s Day is on Ash Wednesday & how you guys will address that at your house. My thought was to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day the day before like the vigil....
Five Ways My Phone is Helping Me Be a Better Catholic
Our phones, right? We use them for all the things, but also maybe feel like we shouldn't be? As much? Ever? I'm all for balance and temperance, but in our concern about the pitfalls of our phones, it's easy to lose sight of the GOOD that's to be had from those...
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 do Santa Without Lying to Your Kids
This is the time of year I start getting emails and Facebook messages from parents who are trying to decide how to handle the cultural traditions surrounding Christmas, and how to balance them with their Catholic faith. There is genuinely a lot of worry that they'll...
St. Margaret of Antioch Proves That What the Catholic Church Thinks About Women is That They Can Totally Kick Satan’s Butt
Happy Feast of St. Margaret of Antioch, virgin, martyr, dragon-slayer. And YOU thought St. George got to have all the dragon-related fun! Whenever anyone says the Catholic Church wants to subjugate women, I want to make them read The Golden Legend. Because,...
Should Catholics Attend Easter Egg Hunts on Holy Saturday?
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...
The Year of Mercy Family Challenge
It's the Year of Mercy! But hopefully you already knew that, as I've been meaning to write this post since, um, November. We've been making an effort to be mindful of the Year of Mercy in our home, and we came up with a Year of Mercy Family Challenge to go with it....
Sixteen Pairs of Catholic Saints Who Were Friends IRL
On the Feast of St. Brigid, on Monday, the kids and I got to talking about the saints. Of course we know that they're all friends NOW, in heaven. But we were kind of intrigued by the idea that St. Brigid and St. Patrick were actually friends IRL, as it were. Spouses,...
Why I Bother With the Rosary {October Giveaway Series}
October is the Month of the Rosary . . . Sometimes I imagine Saint Bernadette, eagerly and devoutly praying the rosary at the feet of Our Lady. She reverently hold the beads, she carefully recites the prayers, her heart and her mind full of Mary's love for her son...
How NOT to Receive the Eucharist While Holding a Baby, Illustrated . . .
When I had my first baby thirteen years ago, I knew a lot of things would change. I was warned that sleeping, and showering, and getting laundry done would all suddenly require ingenuity and advance planning, and back up. And that was true. But no one warned me about...
Seven Things I DON’T Do With a Newborn (anymore)
With baby Mary Jane closing in on the two-week anniversary of that time she was accidentally born in our bathtub, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some photos of her, and a few things I've learned NOT to do while parenting my newborns. 1. Change Her Diaper...
Choosing Godparents & Supporting Godchildren: How We Do It
Mary Jane was baptized last Sunday, and since a few of you asked in the comments of Facebook and Instagram photos, I'll use this photo dump to answer your godparent/godchildren related questions. How Do We Choose Godparents for Our Children? We choose practicing...
Four Reasons I’m NOT Boycotting the Forty Companies on that List
Planned Parenthood is yucky. I hate that they exist. I hate that they use lies and doublespeak to prey upon the most vulnerable among us (the women AND their babies). I was not one tiny bit surprised by the latest Planned Parenthood scandal. Sad, yes. But not...
Living the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in the Home. . . with Frankie
It's easy to sometimes feel like motherhood isn't compatible with true Christian works of mercy. After all, not many of us are able to manage the kind of charitable activities that our sisters called to single life or religious vocations might be able to do. I have...
Pentecost is Coming: Celebration Ideas and Free Printables
Before Pentecost can happen, of course, we have to have the Ascension. The kids and I will be observing Ascension Thursday by flying from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to meet up with the husband who is there for business all this week. It seems somehow fitting to be...
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...