By Brea Cannon
Liturgical Rhythm of Life
Summer is officially here! As a mom of three little ones, summer is a time of fun and adventures. This summer, my children are particularly excited about Vacation Bible School, family vacation, time with cousins and a new baby brother. It is so neat to enjoy the excitement right alongside the kids. Any parent or grandparent knows summer is meant to be fun, but there is also some work that needs to be done. With a break from school, kids tend to leave the book learning behind. For many of us, picking up a few summer bridge activities or even workbooks helps to keep the children’s minds engaged and active in the months between the school years.
Sometimes, the simple summer refresher is needed to keep sharp on the essentials. The same can be considered for our spiritual lives. As we venture through the summer months of Ordinary Time, we might need a refresher on what exactly it means to live liturgically or the spiritual growth that can occur when being intentional about living with the liturgy in mind.
At Mass, we are sent out to take the Gospel to all the ends of the earth. This might seem like a daunting mission at times, but the Church is there to assist along the journey. We are given strength from Jesus in the Eucharist, from the Holy Spirit, all the sacraments and the liturgical year. We are given what we need to go out and tell the Good News.
We are not just commissioned to go out and take Jesus in our hearts, we are told to take him with us in our words and actions. Jesus wants to be a part of our daily lives — within our homes and families and he give us the strength we need every day on our journey to the eternal liturgy in heaven.
The liturgical year is one of the weapons we have; it is made of cycles celebrating the lives of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother and the saints. Ordinary Time, Lent, Sacred Triduum, Easter, Advent, Christmas are the seasons within the liturgical calendar.
Within the liturgical seasons there are feast days, observances and dedications. These can vary by country and even by diocese. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) puts particular feast days on the calendar based on the current and past Church in America.
Each month throughout the year is given a certain dedication in the Church’s liturgy. It is in the liturgy that we can take our worship to the world as the rhythm of our lives. There are many ways to incorporate the dedications into daily life and prayer routines. Some ideas: discover the history of the dedication, pray with scripture or spiritual writing based on the dedication theme, celebrate the feast day or saint associated to the dedication, place an image depicting the dedication in your home or as the background on your cellphone or discover how the Church celebrates the dedication throughout the world.
We can also live the liturgy by celebrating the sacraments in our homes. Sacramental anniversaries are a great way to foster the personal connections with the liturgy in with our day-to-day lives. Make the sacramental anniversaries special, they do not have to be extravagant, just something to remember the importance of the sacraments and the grace we receive through them. In our home, we celebrate the sacraments a few different ways; trips out for ice cream, special dinners at home, blessing and prayers and most importantly grateful hearts for the gifts we are given in and through the grace of the sacraments.
All of these liturgical observances tie us back to the Mass and the commission we have been given to spread the Gospel. When paired together, the liturgy and the Mass, amazing and miraculous things are possible. The Church’s liturgical calendar is a treasure trove of culture, Church history, worship, and weapons for the daily battle. Let us make this summer a time to refresh and dive a little deeper into the liturgical calendar.