Celebrating the Liturgical Year...As a College Student
Hello everyone! Today, I would like to write a bit about how I celebrate the liturgical year as a college student who lives away from home. If you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE the Saints. And so it makes sense that I should also absolutely LOVE to celebrate not only their feast days, but all the feasts of the Church! Growing up, my Mom always made a point of celebrating certain feasts, like the Blessed Mother's birthday (we would always make the Blessed Mother cards and have a procession to a statue we had of her in our backyard, singing and laying our cards at her feet as well as have dessert that night), and our Baptismal days (for these she would make us muffins and we would get to blow out a candle after everyone sang "Happy Baptismal day to you"). However, it was not until I was a freshman or sophomore in high school that I really started to make a point of trying to celebrate the liturgical year after hearing my parish priest give a homily. (It had to be my sophomore year now that I think of it, because my priest at home came to our parish in 2015 - my sophomore year!) I do not really remember what his homily was about, but for some reason I want to say it had to do with the children of Fatima, specifically Lucia or Jacinta. I'm not really sure. But I do know that it was while he was giving that homily that it hit me that the Faith is meant to be lived out and that one way we could do this was by celebrating the Liturgical Year. Yes, this may not sound like much, but it was a big revelation to me. And so, I found Catholicculture.org and began the process of forcing my family to participate in little liturgical-year celebrations I planned! Haha!
When I came to college, I knew that this was not something I wanted to give up even amidst the busyness and craziness that is college. And while I have NOT been consistent at all about it (I didn't do what I had planned for the feast of Saints Blaise and Ansgar which was yesterday!), I know that I can either celebrate the next day, or wait for the next feast. The point is, that the liturgical year is something you can celebrate even now, if you're in college. You do not have to wait until you're married, you do not have to throw parties, or even buy anything. It can be just as simple as reading about the Saint's life and praying the Collect for the day. (Trust me, I do just that a lot!) And so, if you're wondering how to get started, I would like to share with you what I do, hoping that it might help!
I just recently started dot journaling, and so when I go to make my monthly spread, I look at the "Liturgical Calender" on Catholicculture.org in order to decide whose feasts days I will be celebrating, and also if there are any Holy Days of Obligation, or days of fasting and/or abstinence for the month. After choosing the feast days I'm going to celebrate (usually they are the feasts of Saints I already know and love, however, I may also choose a feast day of a Saint I don't know), I simply use a page in my dot journal to list the dates and whose feast it is, and also some simple, free things I can do. As an example, I will list what my February spread looks like:
Feb. 3rd: Saints Blaise and Ansgar - Read about their lives and pray "Prayer to Saint Blaise"* and for the conversion of Sweden.
Feb. 8th: Saint Josephine Bakhita - Watch "Bakhita" on Formed and pray the "Prayer in Honor of Saint Josephine Bakhita"* and for persecuted Christians, especially those in Africa.
Feb. 11th: Our Lady of Lourdes - Watch "Warriors to Lourdes" on Formed and pray for the sick.
Feb. 19th: Saint Conrad of Piacenze - Read about his life and pray for a namesake of his that I know.
Feb. 25th: Mardi Gras - Go to Confession and Mass at Saint Joe's.
Feb. 26th: Ash Wednesday - Fast and abstain and attend Mass.
While it is very simple, I know that these are things I could actually do in this season of my life. And while it's nothing big and while I still may not be able to do all these things (like have time to watch the films I mentioned), I'm not worried about it because God doesn't look at the seeming grandeur of our actions, but at the love with which we do them. Also, before I sign off (I have class very soon), before I had my dot journal I would just use a Word Doc and write what I was going to do and print it off, or just handwrite it using some notebook paper I had on hand (which is a lot because, as I said, I'm a college student). It was never anything fancy, but it worked and it helped me to keep celebrating the liturgical year. Even at college.
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
P.S. Another great way to celebrate the liturgical year that I found is simply eating a meal at the cafeteria! If I know the Saint whose feast I'm celebrating was Italian, I'll eat pasta; or if it is Halloween, I'll pray for there to be donuts in place of "soul cakes" for breakfast and enjoy one of those!
*All the prayers referenced are from Catholicculture.org.
When I came to college, I knew that this was not something I wanted to give up even amidst the busyness and craziness that is college. And while I have NOT been consistent at all about it (I didn't do what I had planned for the feast of Saints Blaise and Ansgar which was yesterday!), I know that I can either celebrate the next day, or wait for the next feast. The point is, that the liturgical year is something you can celebrate even now, if you're in college. You do not have to wait until you're married, you do not have to throw parties, or even buy anything. It can be just as simple as reading about the Saint's life and praying the Collect for the day. (Trust me, I do just that a lot!) And so, if you're wondering how to get started, I would like to share with you what I do, hoping that it might help!
I just recently started dot journaling, and so when I go to make my monthly spread, I look at the "Liturgical Calender" on Catholicculture.org in order to decide whose feasts days I will be celebrating, and also if there are any Holy Days of Obligation, or days of fasting and/or abstinence for the month. After choosing the feast days I'm going to celebrate (usually they are the feasts of Saints I already know and love, however, I may also choose a feast day of a Saint I don't know), I simply use a page in my dot journal to list the dates and whose feast it is, and also some simple, free things I can do. As an example, I will list what my February spread looks like:
Feb. 3rd: Saints Blaise and Ansgar - Read about their lives and pray "Prayer to Saint Blaise"* and for the conversion of Sweden.
Feb. 8th: Saint Josephine Bakhita - Watch "Bakhita" on Formed and pray the "Prayer in Honor of Saint Josephine Bakhita"* and for persecuted Christians, especially those in Africa.
Feb. 11th: Our Lady of Lourdes - Watch "Warriors to Lourdes" on Formed and pray for the sick.
Feb. 19th: Saint Conrad of Piacenze - Read about his life and pray for a namesake of his that I know.
Feb. 25th: Mardi Gras - Go to Confession and Mass at Saint Joe's.
Feb. 26th: Ash Wednesday - Fast and abstain and attend Mass.
While it is very simple, I know that these are things I could actually do in this season of my life. And while it's nothing big and while I still may not be able to do all these things (like have time to watch the films I mentioned), I'm not worried about it because God doesn't look at the seeming grandeur of our actions, but at the love with which we do them. Also, before I sign off (I have class very soon), before I had my dot journal I would just use a Word Doc and write what I was going to do and print it off, or just handwrite it using some notebook paper I had on hand (which is a lot because, as I said, I'm a college student). It was never anything fancy, but it worked and it helped me to keep celebrating the liturgical year. Even at college.
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
P.S. Another great way to celebrate the liturgical year that I found is simply eating a meal at the cafeteria! If I know the Saint whose feast I'm celebrating was Italian, I'll eat pasta; or if it is Halloween, I'll pray for there to be donuts in place of "soul cakes" for breakfast and enjoy one of those!
*All the prayers referenced are from Catholicculture.org.
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