Happy Feast of St. Benedict!
I have been pondering lately the idea that we, the Catholic Family, are the Domestic Church, and what I can do, as the heart of my home to build the domestic church that is our family. It is meditating on this that has led me to discover the whole new world (new to me anyway) of living the Liturgical year as a family.
Living the Liturgical year is not a habit of mine, aside from attending Mass on Sundays and whenever I can during the week. My daily meditations sometimes, but not often correspond with the liturgical year's readings. The intention to live in unison with the Mother Church is there, but distractions tend to arise and before I know it another season has gone by in which I did not celebrate it as I would have liked to. In the past couple years, we have made some successes that have been small yet significant to our family. The two most significant ones being:1) the formation of our own family "alter"- or place of central prayer throughout the day- a place to remind us of Christ's presence in our family; and 2) the practice of celebrating each child's Baptismal anniversary on which they get to wear a crown as princesses of God and we have a special dessert with a religious gift of some kind. I don't have any sons yet, so I have not had to come up with a male alternative to the jeweled crowns. That is for another day.
My desires, though, are to as a family more deeply experience the celebrations of the Holy Mother Church. And so, today I have set the following goals:
1) To set up our domestic Church at home, uncluttered (both physically and metaphorically speaking), and Christ-centered- a task in and of itself a major one!
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2) To discuss each Sunday's readings as a family at the breakfast table. I'd say we could do this on the way to Mass, but my loving husband has very consistently been designating that time for Family Rosary each Sunday.
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3) To celebrate the feast days of our family's patron saints (each child's patron saint, and any saint of particular personal significance to us...for example, we have a miscarried soul in Heaven named after Saints Franciso and Chiara of Assisi).
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4) To live the seasons of Advent and Lent more fully than in the past. This means going above and beyond the lighting of our Family Advent wreath with songs and prayers each night- a good practice, and a simple start for us, but each year we should be stretching ourselves farther.
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5) In light of this Year of the Priest, as declared by the Holy Father, to seek to obtain a plenary indulgence each 3rd Thursday of the month with confession, Mass, rosary, and discussing with my kids one saint that was a priest, the importance of the priesthood, pray for a specific priest each time, and make a special card for that priest with my children.
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6) To give special importance to the Feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrating them in our home with prayers, songs, crafts, and a procession to our backyard Mary Grotto.
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7) To live the Feast of Christ the King with special prayers, song, and a procession with our Head of Christ picture.
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8) To remember that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic (universal) and Apostolic, and so should our family be all four. It is important that I don't get so wrapped up in living just inside our family that I turn a blind eye to the Apostolic needs in the outside world. What sort of Domestic Church would be be if we did not model the Mother Church's Apostolic nature? I could write more about this, but I will save that for another time, but in short I will continue to strive for a deeper love and generosity in responding to needs outside my home, and involve the whole family, remembering that to be Apostolic is an important pillar of our Domestic Church.
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2) To discuss each Sunday's readings as a family at the breakfast table. I'd say we could do this on the way to Mass, but my loving husband has very consistently been designating that time for Family Rosary each Sunday.
~
3) To celebrate the feast days of our family's patron saints (each child's patron saint, and any saint of particular personal significance to us...for example, we have a miscarried soul in Heaven named after Saints Franciso and Chiara of Assisi).
~
4) To live the seasons of Advent and Lent more fully than in the past. This means going above and beyond the lighting of our Family Advent wreath with songs and prayers each night- a good practice, and a simple start for us, but each year we should be stretching ourselves farther.
~
5) In light of this Year of the Priest, as declared by the Holy Father, to seek to obtain a plenary indulgence each 3rd Thursday of the month with confession, Mass, rosary, and discussing with my kids one saint that was a priest, the importance of the priesthood, pray for a specific priest each time, and make a special card for that priest with my children.
~
6) To give special importance to the Feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrating them in our home with prayers, songs, crafts, and a procession to our backyard Mary Grotto.
~
7) To live the Feast of Christ the King with special prayers, song, and a procession with our Head of Christ picture.
~
8) To remember that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic (universal) and Apostolic, and so should our family be all four. It is important that I don't get so wrapped up in living just inside our family that I turn a blind eye to the Apostolic needs in the outside world. What sort of Domestic Church would be be if we did not model the Mother Church's Apostolic nature? I could write more about this, but I will save that for another time, but in short I will continue to strive for a deeper love and generosity in responding to needs outside my home, and involve the whole family, remembering that to be Apostolic is an important pillar of our Domestic Church.
These are simple stepping stones for me in trying each year to live the Liturgical year in our Domestic Church, but they are lofty at the same time. I'm trying to be realistic, but if I start too simply, where's the growth if I'm not being challenged? I hope to keep you in tuned and updated with how this progresses over the course of the year.
Today I came across a book: called Simplifying your Domestic Church. I am ordering it this week, and will report on its success, which depends mostly on me, in organizing, de-cluttering (in more ways than one), and perfecting my Domestic Church.
If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or insights on how to build the Domestic Church and/or on how to live the Liturgical year as a family, I welcome your comments!
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Good ideas! I meant to do something for the feast of St. Benedict today - whoops!
ReplyDeleteI've been finding blogs and websites that give ideas for different things to do to live out the liturgical year. I just have to remember to consult them more frequently and plan ahead!
I know what you mean, I am horrible at planning ahead. I decided to start with just a few dates, circled on my calendar, that we'll celebrate. Right now, with my kids still young, I don't want the saint prayers or discussions to turn into a battle. My 3 year old seems to have a talent for figuring out when something is important to me, or when I've put effort into something, and she refuses to participate. I have to remember to proceed with gentleness so as to not force it, lest she develop a negative association with our efforts to learn about the saints and celebrate the feasts. I need to find a way to make it fun...
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