Just doesn't get any better than this ...

for helping live the liturgical year: Tan's 2011 Mary and the Saints wall calendar.  I REALLY like this calendar and am anxious to start 2011 so that I can post it in a central spot in our living room.

Published by Tan, this is not just a work of art calendar but also a great way to track (and celebrate) the liturgical year. The calendar (a nice sized 12x12) has a different Marian art picture for each month, with a 12x12 monthly calendar filled with saints' feasts (both Novus Ordo and Tridentine), liturgical year information and other information. This is not the type of calendar for use with tracking schedules -- this is a calendar to exhibit in a central spot in the home or classroom to remember whose feast day or how best to celebrate. I particularly like the image for December -- a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- one of our family's patronal images of the Blessed Mother with a quote of the message of Mary to St. Juan Diego.

The images are beautiful and would make lovely, framed pieces for my husband's classroom -- he does a collage of holy cards, and this would be a great addition to these collages. But he'll need to wait until next December to get his hand on these!

The final page of the calendar includes info on how to pray the rosary and Fatima prayers. This is just a wonderful calendar: printed on quality paper with large classic images of the Blessed Mother. The images also include a scriptural verse, hymn or prayer from the collect of the main feast for that month. I also appreciate that the publishers included more than one saint for each day, rather than limiting the choice to one saint. Each day, as appropriate is marked for fasting, feasting or ember days.

I highly recommend this Catholic calendar -- I can't wait to see next year's edition!

I wrote this review of 2011 Mary and the Saints Wall Calendar for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.  For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.

 

Feast Day: Christ the King Sunday!

Sunday, November 22nd, is the Feast of Christ the King.  This is the day Catholics and Christians round the world celebrate that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God and therefore King! 

I love this feast for a few reasons: 

1. this feast reminds me of Jesus' rightful place at the right-hand of the Father;  all the images of Christ as King are so beautiful, it's always hard for me to pick just one.  This icon will be our screen image till Advent starts on November 29th.
2. this feast ends the liturgical year with all the attendant promises of a new start.
3. this feast reminds me that Advent is coming and then the Birth of Jesus as a poor babe born in a cave, laid in a feeding trough, and here for one purpose only -- to save us! 

May you and yours enjoy a beautiful weekend, filled with love of Christ the King!

Feast Day: Our Lady of Mount Carmel

I’ve always loved the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, primarily because it’s also my mother’s birthday, and thus easy to remember! More importantly as I grew older in my faith, I realized the beauty of this feast day and how important it is for me to help my children “get it”...

To read more of my post, head on over to Phases of Womanhood . While you're there, roam around their website for a bit. Phases is a wonderful site dedicated to women of all ages and stages of life.