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Thrive! Journal - Edition 3
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Time for a Feast!
Celebrating the feast days of the Saints is a time-honored tradition for Catholics. Processions, special Masses, delicious foods, and parties are many of the ways Catholics have celebrated the Saints. However, in the US, our saint celebrations can sometimes turn into a Hallmark tradition rather than a celebration of the Church Triumphant. The Saints are a wonderful example of holiness for us, those who have won the race, and deserve our veneration. What then, can we do to properly honor the holy saints?
Some of the more well-known traditional feast day traditions include:
-Baking cookies and saffron buns for St. Lucy's Day
-Creating a Joseph table for St. Joseph's feast day
-Leaving shoes out for St. Nicholas Day
You can take some of these classic traditions to use in your life, or make your own! Living based around the Liturgical calendar can have great benefits in the life of you and your family. We often look for ways to incorporate our faith into our daily lives, the stories of the Saints have passion, adventure, and love that is worlds better than any fiction book.
There are many great resources out there from people who try to live liturgically in this way.
The first step would be to start small. Maybe start by finding the feast days of your confirmation saints, namesakes, or other saints that are special to you. You can start each month by looking at what feast days are coming up and picking who you want to celebrate. Then take action!
One of my roommates says the best way to celebrate a feast day is to bake a cake, eat it, pray, and be joyful. For me, sweets are almost always a part of my celebration, along with some form of written reminder of the Saint's spirituality. On the feast of St. John Paul II, I left a post-it note on my desk with the Pope's papal motto Totus Tuus, meaning "forever yours". The sticky note helped me to pray throughout the day and ask for St. John Paul II's intersession.
Some of the more well-known traditional feast day traditions include:
-Baking cookies and saffron buns for St. Lucy's Day
-Creating a Joseph table for St. Joseph's feast day
-Leaving shoes out for St. Nicholas Day
You can take some of these classic traditions to use in your life, or make your own! Living based around the Liturgical calendar can have great benefits in the life of you and your family. We often look for ways to incorporate our faith into our daily lives, the stories of the Saints have passion, adventure, and love that is worlds better than any fiction book.
There are many great resources out there from people who try to live liturgically in this way.
The first step would be to start small. Maybe start by finding the feast days of your confirmation saints, namesakes, or other saints that are special to you. You can start each month by looking at what feast days are coming up and picking who you want to celebrate. Then take action!
One of my roommates says the best way to celebrate a feast day is to bake a cake, eat it, pray, and be joyful. For me, sweets are almost always a part of my celebration, along with some form of written reminder of the Saint's spirituality. On the feast of St. John Paul II, I left a post-it note on my desk with the Pope's papal motto Totus Tuus, meaning "forever yours". The sticky note helped me to pray throughout the day and ask for St. John Paul II's intersession.
-Print out a picture of them and hang it in your house for the day (make sure it is somewhere you will see it throughout the day)
- Find a special prayer to them asking for their intersession in your life
-Plan ahead and pray a novena the 9 days before their feast day (Praymorenovenas.com)
-Cook a meal that is significant to the saint's life, or home country
(There's even a cookbook for that! Click here to check it out)
-Pray St. Francis' tag on October 4th! (The person who is "it" is a wolf, one person is "St. Francis" he can heal all the people who have been tagged by the wolf)
-For more fun ideas you can check out this blog by Lisa Kirk
- Find a special prayer to them asking for their intersession in your life
-Plan ahead and pray a novena the 9 days before their feast day (Praymorenovenas.com)
-Cook a meal that is significant to the saint's life, or home country
(There's even a cookbook for that! Click here to check it out)
-Pray St. Francis' tag on October 4th! (The person who is "it" is a wolf, one person is "St. Francis" he can heal all the people who have been tagged by the wolf)
-For more fun ideas you can check out this blog by Lisa Kirk
