Living the liturgical year in your home is a beautiful way to center your family life around Christ. But what if we went a step further? What if we didn’t just live the liturgical year—but truly loved it?
That’s the invitation Michaelann Martin extends: to embrace the rhythms of the Church not as another task to manage but as a way of drawing our families—ourselves—into a deeper love of God. In this blog, she shares insights on how the liturgical year can be lived with joy, intentionality, and openness to grace.
These takeaways will encourage and inspire you to live liturgically, starting right where you are.
Start from a Place of Love
It’s easy to get caught up in doing—especially when it comes to living our faith. We think: What can I plan? What traditions should we incorporate? What should I teach my kids this Advent or Lent?
Those are good questions, but Michaelann reminds us that before anything else, we must start from a place of receiving. Before we serve, before we plan, before we do—we are loved.
It helps to remember–everything we do flows from first being loved. If you’re doing something just out of obligation or pressure, it’s worth asking: “Is this coming from love? Or is it coming from something else?”
Living liturgically doesn’t mean cramming in every tradition. It means letting God animate your family life with love.
Learn to Receive
It’s harder to receive than to give.
Giving keeps us in control—we feel productive, capable, and needed. But receiving places us in vulnerability. It asks us to be humble, still, and open. And yet, it’s exactly this posture of the heart that prepares us to receive Jesus—especially in prayer and at Mass.
It’s not about what we do but about creating a space of receptivity. That’s where grace enters.
Cultivate Wonder with Your Children
Living liturgically is not just about special feast days. It’s about recognizing the presence of God in the ordinary and allowing our children to be captivated by it.
Have you ever just stood beneath an apple tree with your kids and thought, how cool is God? Or looked at a newborn and remembered, this baby is from God.
For children, everything is new. Their sense of wonder is still tender and unfiltered. As parents, we can foster this awe—through nature, through stories of the saints, through small traditions that point back to Christ.
Whether it’s picking apples, lighting a candle for a feast day, or kneeling beside your child in prayer, these moments matter. They become the soil where love for Christ takes root.
Start Small and Stay Grounded
You don’t need a full calendar of liturgical activities to live liturgically. You need a heart that is open and a willingness to return to that love—again and again.
Stay grounded in what really matters: letting Christ be at the center of your home.
So whether you’re starting with a simple family prayer, celebrating a feast day with a favorite meal, or pausing to reflect on the beauty around you—know that you’re living liturgically, and that’s more than enough.
Additional Resources
Want to read more by Michaelann Martin and how to lead your Catholic family? Check out her list of published works and start reading!
Looking to bring the rhythm of the liturgical year into your home?
Start by looking to the saints! Celebrating the saints—especially on their feast days—is a meaningful and fun way to weave faith into everyday family life.
Here’s a round-up of FOCUS blog posts to help you dive deeper into the lives of the saints:
- 25 Patron Saints of Really Random Things: Meet the heavenly patrons of everything from coffee to clowns—proof that there really is a saint for everything.
- How Do You Become a Saint? Canonization 101: Ever wonder how someone officially becomes a saint? Here’s a simple breakdown of the Church’s canonization process.
- What Is a Catholic Saint?: A quick guide to what makes someone a saint—and why the Church celebrates them.
- St. Josephine Bakhita: 5 Lessons from a Life of Faith: Discover the powerful story of St. Josephine Bakhita and what her life teaches us about forgiveness and hope.
- Your Favorite Saint’s Favorite Saints: Even the saints had heroes. Take a look at which holy men and women inspired the saints you already love.
- Meet the Church’s Newest Catholic Saints: Learn about the latest men and women declared saints and how their lives reflect the Gospel today.
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