Saturday, September 1, 2007
Home Altars
Home Altars are essential as the Faith of the family should be displayed in the home. The maxim "The family that prays together stays together" gives us a very good reason to dedicate a prominant place of worship in the home.
To decorate the houses with religious pictures is a custom as old as Christianity itself, for the true Christian has always considered his home as nothing less than a Temple of God, and the religious pictures as means to extend and preserve the spirit of Christianity in the home. In the living room the place of honour should be the crucifix.
"The home must be in accord with the Church, that all harmful influences be withheld from the souls of the children. Where there is true piety in the home, purity of morals reigns supreme. There is a crying need for a renewal of the Christian spirit in the home." St. John Vianney
Making a Home Altar
To decorate the houses with religious pictures is a custom as old as Christianity itself, for the true Christian has always considered his home as nothing less than a Temple of God, and the religious pictures as means to extend and preserve the spirit of Christianity in the home. In the living room the place of honour should be the crucifix.
"The home must be in accord with the Church, that all harmful influences be withheld from the souls of the children. Where there is true piety in the home, purity of morals reigns supreme. There is a crying need for a renewal of the Christian spirit in the home." St. John Vianney
Making a Home Altar
One need not spend a bomb on the home altar. Try looking at second hand shops, garage sales & antique shops for old tables, dressers or trunks- making sure there is somewhere to store extra things like matches, candles, et cetera.
It may also be handy to buy inexpensive but, good quality linens for private Holy Masses.
Here are some items you may want to include on your altar: prayer books, candles & holders, snuffers, flower vases, beautiful containers for rosaries & one for intentions, censer & incense, Holy water fonts, kneelers, Holy Bible & stand, crucifixes, icons, images or statues of our Lord & Lady.
"Of course, religious pictures themselves will not make a family good. Only when they are contemplated upon, are they a practical help to true Christian sentiment, and to a true Christian way of living in the family." St. John Vianney.
With the help of the Lord’s grace and your own creative ideas, you'll be able to build a beautiful home altar. Your home will become a church in miniture. God will add the extra grace.
Above is the makeshift altar in my bedroom; my home altar- which some of you have seen- has been dismantled until I get a new place (soon!). The icon in the background is an authentic Byzantine Icon. If you look closely, you'll be able to see that I've adorned our lady with a crown of twelve jewels and the eyes of the eagle (at the top) with two pearls.
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