Lent: Domestic Church 2017

Hello all!

I'm writing to you from my back porch, with the dog sleeping in his bed, a purple candle burning, and a cold drink. It's a gorgeous day in Austin, Texas. We are in the second week of Lent and I wanted to share what our domestic church looks like, to inspire and pay homage to those who have inspired me. Warning: this post is extremely picture-heavy and I love it.

For more information on what a domestic church is, please visit these great articles. While I will one day write a blog about our domestic church, today is not that day and it really is a lovely idea for families of all kinds:From the USCCBFrom OSV

Our Home Shrine During Lent

Now I hope this does not fall under pride, but I like to think we have a lovely little home shrine and great presence of religious artwork and items considering we are a young newlywed and newly-Catholic couple. It serves not as a point of boastfulness or rubbing in others faces, but as a reminder to us of who we ultimately serve and a place to focus for prayer. During the liturgical seasons, we switch it up accordingly. Without further ado, here we go!

A picture of our home shrine as it currently stands. The base fabric is always blue, for Our Lady, but we change out the top fabric based on season. Here we see a lovely shade of repentance violet. The shrine is on a old shelf we got for free from my parents and placed beside the door to the porch and under a lovely window that faces another building. We have a huge stack of books on, beside, and below, so I'm looking into changing it out for a cube bookshelf so we can store supplies we're not using and the tons of books.

These guys are regulars in our shrine. Homemade diptychs I gave to the Mister once with some of his favorite icons, made with picture frames from our local thrift shop, and two smaller icons I believe I got in England at a Russian Orthodox Cathedral. No worries, they are also recognized as saints in Rome.

These two also live in our shrine full-time. Well, above on either side. On the left we have our Act of Consecration to Jesus through Mary, begun on our wedding day and signed on February 2nd, 2017. On the right we have the Act of Contrition which I find especially appropriate to pray during Lent.

We love candles. Here we have six that I picked up from Hobby Lobby, nestled in beds of black sand for an "ashes and sackcloth" theme. These represent the six Sundays of Lent and the associated liturgical color. Three violet, one rose, one more violet, one red for Palm Sunday. I like the image stemming from ancient times that candles represent prayers going to heaven.

Made from burlap I got at Hobby Lobby, it is the "sackcloth" in "ashes and sackcloth." Bet you won't see that trending on HGTV. It says "repent" flanked by two crosses. This is the first time I've hung a banner and I love it. It ties the shrine together visually. I'll continue to hang banners like this that match the season in material and word... now taking suggestions for Ordinary Time's word.

This is a close-up of the bottom half. We have votive candles representing the Stations of the Cross... see this awesome blog post for more details.

This is another regular in our shrine, with some seasonal changes. We always have the little house (got it from Goodwill and repainted) with fake candles that have prayer intentions written on them, a small image of Our Lady, Pop Francis, St. Theresa the Little Flower, and a Holy Spirit image I received at confirmation. We also have the only palm cross we can find, a rosary holder we received as a wedding present, and an image of La Pieta that is front and center this Lent. 

On top is a BREATH-TAKING crucifix, a tiny angel I received for confirmation, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Note: the Mister made all of these rosaries! I am so lucky. He did not make the prayer rope, however. That was a Christmas gift from me.

This is our lovely mantle, over a fireplace we have never used (yet). I won't go into detail on the different icons and prayer cards featured above, as we've just collected them based on who speaks to us and what we've gotten free. We also have a basket on our home shrine with extras for people to take.

On the left side of our mantle. Typically I'll have fresh or silk flowers out, but being inspired by "ashes and sackcloth" the mason jar is filled with black sand ("ashes") instead. There was a single beeswax candle burning as a prayer for communion with our Orthodox brethren, but that was quite a few hours ago.

In the center of our mantle. We're working on getting a better St. Joseph, but we also have a rustic sign, my first crucifix ever (before I "came out" to my family as Catholic), and one of my favorite images of Our Lady.

And finally, on the right side we have a friendly sign from our wedding and a purple candle. The candles change based on the season. We got this one pretty cheap from our local Catholic goods store.

That looks like just about everything! We also have some icons, crucifixes, crosses, and holy water fonts scattered about, but those won't change... yet. Look for another post about Holy Week 2017. If I did not mention a store we purchased something at, it was probably our local Catholic goods store, Hobby Lobby, or a gift shop at a parish. I will try to find specifics if you would like.

Do you decorate your house for Lent? In general? I am always looking for ideas from other domestic churches out there!

Blessings,

Maria

For information regarding what we're doing this Lent for fasting/prayer/almsgiving, see this post.

Lent: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving 2017 Edition

Hello all!

We are now in Week Two of the season of Lent, a preparatory penitential season starting on Ash Wednesday and continuing until Holy Week.

For Catholics and many other Christians, Lent is marked with forty days of fasting from something, two days of complete fasting, and abstaining from flesh meat on Fridays. Many folks, us included, will also add a form of prayer and almsgiving in addition to giving up a habit or material item. The Mister and I, being newlyweds and best friends with pretty similar vices, have decided to give up/add/give out the same things. I want to speak to them today and share some of the benefits, as well as thoughts for the future.

FASTING: from fast food and delivery*
*There have been occasions where eating out could not be avoided. For example, during our trip to Dallas we had to eat out a couple of times, and recently for a good friend's birthday dinner. On those days, we make a donation to a charity or church in the area as an alternative form of penance.

benefits: of course health-wise and financially this has been great, but Lent is not a diet plan (as a sister once said.) what this was about from the start was resisting the temptation to be lazy and gluttonous. i discovered through this past year that i rely on food for comfort after a long day when i need to connect with my friends, husband, and our awesome God instead. it's been a challenge and some days it's harder than others, but it's a great exercise in denying my selfish desires and choosing health.

PRAYER: adding prayer when possible to our everyday lives

benefit: knowing i need to find a way to add prayer each day means that i'm challenging myself to allow God to come in in more situations, as well as making me aware of the need to sacrifice time or personal pleasures for my spiritual health. i'm still working on this one, personally.

ALMSGIVING: our diocese has these cool "Ashes to Easter" collection boxes every year, so we grabbed one and have been putting change and extra cash inside

benefit: good place for change to go as well as reminds me to spend less and give more. we also, in connection to fasting above, try to donate when possible of our time or resources when we're going out or having to break our fast. tomorrow is st. patrick's day and our diocese has a dispensation allowing abstience to be replaced tomorrow only... so we're making corned beef and we TORE through our closet looking for clothing to donate. there's a huge box of great stuff going to st. vincent de paul tomorrow!

What about y'all? If you "celebrate" Lent, do you do so with prayer, fasting, almsgiving, or a combination of the above? I'd love to hear your ideas! I want to continue this tradition in Advent as well, given that it is also considered a season of penance and it is so easy to overindulge around the holidays.

Blessings,
Maria