Living Easter: 50 Days to Practice Resurrection Joy | A Catholic Easter Devotional for Adults | Full Color, Hardcover

by Laura Kelly Fanucci

Genres: Christian

160 pages, Hardcover

Published March 6, 2026

About the author

Laura Kelly Fanucci is is an author, speaker, and founder of MotheringSpirit.com - an ecumenical gathering place on spirituality and parenting. Laura's work has been featured on the Hallow and Ritual apps, and she writes frequently for publications including OSV News and Give Us This Day.

Laura has authored seven books, including Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting and Grieving Together: A Couple's Journey through Miscarriage. Her writing has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and On Being and in popular outlets including People Magazine and the Kelly Clarkson Show. She and her husband live in Minnesota with their children.

Reviews

[Natalie Herr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful companion through the Easter season. I loved the slow walk through all of the resurrection accounts over fifty days.

This is written by a Catholic author, but I found it to be appropriate and edifying as a Protestant. More should be written about living and practicing the resurrection!

[Amy Living Well Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of this new Eastertide devotional by Laura Kelly Fanucci. As a Protestant leaning deeply into more liturgical practices with my family, I am loving celebrating the richness of the church calendar, and I am delighted to learn more about the celebration of Eastertide. This devotional has very brief, rich entries for each of the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost Sunday. I have loved following Fanucci’s writing the last several years, and her work here does not disappoint. The daily entries are short but so substantive, and there is an essay at the end of each week for a deeper dive into that week’s subject matter. I loved reading this early copy and will read it again in community with other readers starting on Easter Sunday. I deeply love this idea of living Easter each day. Highly, highly recommend this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review, @avemariapress!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book so comforting, like a literal hug. It gave me a fresh perspective on the season of Easter and the women in the Gospel.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living Easter – 50 Days to Practice Resurrection Joy is a beautiful tool to help you in celebrating the fullness of the Easter season. I enjoyed the predictable rhythm of each day. It is broken into 7 weeks, and each week has a section of Scripture that highlights an aspect of Easter. Then, each day of the week has a reading and a reflection regarding some aspect of the resurrection narratives. The readings will correspond to the topic highlighted for the week, so the consistency and reinforcement is nice. Then, A prayer is offered in addition to a practical action that can be taken to help make the content more concrete in your day to day. These can be as simple as walk outside, take a deep breath, fold the laundry, listen to a song…Truly, manageable, simple acts to bring home the meaning of the message. I truly appreciated the essays at the end of each week. They are captivating, well researched, and inspirational without feeling like a heavy read. The color scheme of the rainbow is ascetically pleasing throughout the book and a nice touch to an already beautiful book.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

[Yvette Buller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished Living Easter - 50 Days to Practice Resurrection Joy: A Catholic Easter Devotional for Adults Full Color, Hardcover by Laura Kelly Fanucci on Pentecost Sunday—the perfect ending to a devotional designed to accompany readers through the fifty days of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. What a beautiful journey it was.

This book reminded me why I love reading. More importantly, it offered a practical and deeply relatable reflection on what it means to live the Easter story in everyday life. Fanucci does a remarkable job of weaving the realities of Christ's Resurrection into the joys, struggles, hopes, and losses that mark our human experience. She connects the promise of Easter to the many seasons of life in a way that feels both authentic and attainable.

As a mother who has lost a child, I was especially moved by many of her reflections. As someone who also accompanies grieving mothers, I found countless nuggets of wisdom that I know I will carry with me for years to come. While her voice and experiences are different from my own, I often felt as though I were reading something I might have written myself. By that, I mean she writes heart to heart. Page after page, her words seemed to speak directly to my own experiences, struggles, and hopes.

When I first began reading, I tried writing down passages I didn't want to forget. Before long, I realized I was practically copying the entire book. So I switched to underlining instead—only to discover that I was underlining nearly every sentence.

One of the aspects I appreciated most was the daily structure of Reflect, Pray, Act. It gently invited me not just to read the Easter story, but to enter into it. The reflections were thoughtful, the prayers heartfelt, and the action steps practical and engaging. Some encouraged healing, others invited service, gratitude, celebration, or simple acts of kindness, all while remaining beautifully connected to the Easter themes of new life, hope, and resurrection.

The daily readings are short enough to fit into even the busiest schedule, yet rich enough to leave a lasting impression. Although intended for the Easter season, I believe the wisdom in these pages is valuable throughout the year. In fact, I can easily see myself returning to this book again and again.

Living Easter is more than a devotional; it is an invitation to recognize the Risen Christ at work in our ordinary lives. By Pentecost Sunday, I wasn't simply finishing a book—I felt as though I had walked through Easter with a trusted companion.

[Susan D'Entremont · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, I wondered why we have book after book to read during the seasons of Lent and Advent, but few for Easter. Is it that we feel uncomfortable celebrating 50 days of joy when there is so much suffering in the world? In any case, this book helped me look at the season in a new light, and I will be returning to this book annually. I appreciated that the "act" sections of each day were actually things that you could do on that day - e.g. text a friend, put flowers on the table. Too many books like this make suggestions that are excellent things to do, but require some planning, not something you can read and do in the same day. The slow reading of the Easter-related passages helped me notice things I had never noticed before. The section about the fish breakfast on the beach will stay with me for a long time.

[Elizabeth Berget · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love about this devotional is that it’s practical. It’s short. It’s do-able. But within the brevity of each day’s reading, Laura manages to pack so much meaning. The way she writes about Scripture, God, and humanity so often helped me see the old stories in new ways. While it’s tempting to Pollyanna our way through Easter and focus on the lilies and the stone rolled away, Laura wrestles with the mystery of the brokenness of our reality here and now, making space for doubt right alongside all that hope. I'm so excited to have a guide to celebrate the Easter season in a way that matches the length of lent. This is a book I’ll return to perennially.

[Corrie Haffly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Living Easter marks the first time I have officially celebrated the Easter season in any capacity! Laura Kelly Fanucci’s colorful slim book was a welcome companion during these last fifty days of reflecting on the resurrection narratives found in Scripture. Fanucci offers fresh reflections, a brief prayer, and a friendly low-effort action in each day’s reading; at the end of the week, she shares a longer essay that is well worth reading. I’m already looking forward to using this devotional again next year!

[Cindy Costanza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura Kelly Fanucci inspired me to celebrate Easter through these 50 days beginning with Easter Sunday and ending with Pentecost. There are plenty of books to guide us through Advent and Lent, but this is the first one I found for celebrating these fifty days. She takes us through scripture readings with a summary, prayer and an action to take. Simple, yet inspiring. I smiled through all of the daily readings the weekly focus pages.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read an Easter devotional (I feel like traditional devotionals walk with you to a certain moment in the church calendar, like Christmas or Easter, but not during a whole season like the Easter season to Pentecost). I enjoyed the writing. I appreciated the minimal requirements and prompts allowing to just be present for a few minutes a day and definitely will reach for this every Easter season..

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful guide for the Easter Season— and one that could be used and reused year after year. Laura’s writing and theology are beautiful. The book was a lovely mix of theology, reflection, and action.

[Alexis]

Got too behind 😅 maybe next year!