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How to Party Like a Catholic (aka, Liturgical Living with Friends)

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Liturgical living is a fancy phrase that may sound super serious, but hopefully you're delighted to hear that it's super easy, and not just for parents with littles. Even as a young adult, you can start celebrating Church traditions, and your friends can too!


My first experience of liturgical living was my sophomore year of college. One of the senior girls sent an invite to all the women in our Campus Catholics group to come to her apartment on September 8th for a "Mary Party." September 8th is the Nativity of Mary, the day the Church celebrates her birthday, which I had never heard of. When I arrived at my friend's apartment, I was greeted by blue streamers, a birthday cake, and music blasting.

We proceeded to dance the night away, and when September rolled around the next year, all the women were so excited to have another Mary Party. It became one of my favorite CC traditions, and it all started because one girl decided that she wanted to throw Mary a birthday party in her apartment.



A saint who is very near and dear to my heart is St. Therese of Lisieux- she's my gal, my confirmation saint, my heavenly best friend. This past year, I decided that I wanted to celebrate her feast day, October 1st, in a special way. Since her nickname is "the Little Flower," I bought four bouquets of flowers and placed them all around the house. On the morning of her feast day, I woke up early, got dressed up, and made a big breakfast for all my roommates- pancakes, home fries, mimosas and all! The rest of my day was the same as any other, but it felt special. I walked around feeling brighter, full of joy and love for my favorite saint. That simple act of celebration in the morning transformed my day, and made me realize that celebrating feast days had the power to make any day feel extraordinary.


My encouragement is this: if you don't know where to start with liturgical living, find out the feast day of your confirmation saint (or any saint you have a particular devotion to) and treat that day like a birthday. Do something special, something out of the ordinary, and invite your friends to celebrate with you! As a Catholic, this gives us so many reasons to have parties- have you seen a liturgical calendar? There's a feast day practically every day of the week!


Even if most of your friends aren't Catholic, liturgical living can be more lowkey than a party; it's as simple as choosing to plan social events around the Church's calendar, and in doing so, becoming more aware of some of the amazing traditions we share. Want to make gingerbread cookies? Do it on St. Nicholas' feast day and make gingerbread St. Nicks! Want to get some friends together for a potluck dinner? Do it on St. Joseph's feast day, which is traditionally celebrated with a giant community table covered in food! Our faith is rich with traditions spanning hundreds of years and hundreds of different cultures, and celebrating these traditions makes life more exciting. I've never had a friend turn down free food and a night of fun, even if it means celebrating a saint they've never heard of, so don't be afraid to invite your friends to feast day festivities. It might just end up being your friend group's new favorite tradition!



Marissa Borah is the Assistant Youth Minister for middle and high school. She graduated with a degree in Rhetoric from Georgia College (go Bobcats!), where she was a star innertube water polo athlete. In her free time she enjoys swing dancing, eating ice cream, and watching Criminal Minds.

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