"Family, become what you are."
John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio
As a busy mom, I often feel that my plate is already too full and the thought of adding just one more thing is beyond daunting! Yet the Church throughout history has called the home a “domestic church” and emphasized that parents are the primary educators of their children. So what does that mean in the home?
In these pages, I hope to share ideas and practices that busy families can easily incorporate in order to more fully live life in the domestic church.
"The Holy Family is an icon of the domestic Church,
which is called to pray together."
~ Pope Benedict XVI General audience 12/28/2011
Do you have a specific space set aside for prayer in your home? It could be as small as a part of a bookshelf or as elaborate as a whole table – the top of the piano or the window bench in the kitchen. Our prayer space is covered with a piece of cloth to signify the liturgical time period and generally holds the bible, a vase for flowers the children bring in from outside, a statue and a candle. Right now, we also have a prayer book for the Year of Faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the YouCat unless it’s migrated to someone’s room. Since it’s November and we celebrated All Saints and All Souls, I’ve added a book of saints and photos of family members who are no longer with us.
This space helps draw our family into the ebbs and flows of the Church Year.
A few November ideas:
This space helps draw our family into the ebbs and flows of the Church Year.
A few November ideas:
- Create a "thankful" tree:Cut leaf shapes out of red, green, yellow and orange construction paper.
- Have each family member write down something they are thankful for on one or more leaves.
- Hang the leaves on branches you've placed in a vase or create a painted tree on a large piece of paper you can hang on the wall. Either of these would be appropriate for the Jesse tree during Advent.
- Offer thanks to the Lord for His many blessings in our lives.
- Visit a cemetery and pray for those who died.
- Remember that ordinary time is a time for celebrating the mystery of Christ in all its fullness, as we gather together with friends and family, much as Christ would have done during His earthly life.
- Bake a King cake for the Feast of Christ the King (November 25.) I use a yellow Bundt cake recipe and decorate it with Jolly Rancher "jewels" and candy stars.
Here is a lovely post by Willa about the Feast of Christ the King - a compilation of her words, quotes from Chesterton as well as two posts, and the readings for the day.
"Besides the times of year that have their own distinctive character, there remain in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honoured in its fullness,"
~ Beate
"Besides the times of year that have their own distinctive character, there remain in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honoured in its fullness,"
~ Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year # 43
