Recently I read this post on Living Liturgically as a family, and it got me reflecting on the things that our family does to live liturgically throughout the year in our little domestic Church. I think my favorite part of this article was the very first point she made: it takes YEARS to build up traditions and become familiar with the liturgical year. True. That. I remember being a young(er) mama with a toddler and a baby and feeling so.overwhelmed. at all the different things that we could be doing but weren't doing. But slowly over the years we have added this, tried that, quit doing something else because no one would cooperate, etc. etc. etc. And now, what may seem like a lot for someone from the outside looking in, is simply the rhythm that our family lives throughout the seasons of the Church year. Do we have it all figured out? Nope. We're still adding and molding and forming, and I am amazed how traditions evolve through the years as the kids get older. I may have gotten a little teary last year when there was really no reason to sing our little "Jesus is Coming" toddler-song around the Advent wreath. But I think that's the key to traditions, letting them evolve and take the shape they need to for your family wherever you're at, and realizing that traditions can change (or go away) over the years as children grow, and that's OK.
I also liked her point #2: living liturgically happens year round. I noticed this year, profoundly, that it didn't seem like we were doing much for Advent...and then I realized we were doing all our "regular things" but since the liturgical year has become such a natural part of our lives year round, Advent was more-or-less a bit of a change-up in the regular things we do daily instead of the "radical switching of gears" she mentioned.
The rest of her points are good too. Seriously, check out the article. But I'll stop now and get on to the point of this post, which was supposed to be family Morning Prayers.
One of my favorite liturgical-living traditions that our family has added recently (past 6-8 months or so) is using the Prayer found at the end of Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours (I use the one volume version, Christian Prayer) at the end of our family morning prayers. Our morning prayers typically consist of the Bless us, oh Lord prayer (since we pray them before breakfast), the traditional Morning Offering, stating the Holy Father's monthly intentions and also praying for a specific priest or seminarian from our diocese each day. We also add any family member/friend who may have a birthday or anniversary (or something else going on) that day. We pray a simple prayer that goes along with whatever the month's theme is (did you know that each month has a particular devotion in the Catholic Church? See here for more on that...) for instance, a Hail Mary in October or the Act of Contrition or Act of Love during Lent (this is also a great opportunity to help the kids memorize their rote prayers). Then I say the Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours (which takes all of 10 seconds) and we're done. I love adding this Prayer because it is such a simple way to focus on what is happening liturgically on that specific day, be it a Church season like Lent or Advent, or a feast day or memorial, such as the Transfiguration or the Feast of St. Luke. And full disclosure: my oldest still grumbles most days that I had the audacity to change our regular morning prayers by adding this (apparently excruciating) ten seconds of recited prayer. But I'm sticking with this one. ;-)
God is good...all the time. May he continue to bless us, everyone, as we live His love throughout the year.
