The housewife prepares for Lent
Prayer
The organizing principle of prayer in the home is the little oratory or icon corner or prayer shrine.
Why? It has to do with the home as “domestic church” in St. Augustine’s phrase; offering you a sense that your prayer life is personal and connected to the universe, and thus that what you do in the sanctuary of the home isn’t random but has order and relates to tradition.
It’s the principle of allowing beauty to draw us to God, rather than relying on abstraction to do the heavy lifting: God didn’t send us an idea, He manifested Himself, true Man and true God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Maybe this Lent is time for a new beginning, in which you, the housewife who cares for her home and the spiritual lives of those she loves, arrange a place that radiates faith, facilitating the prayer that is so necessary a component of this season.
The mother and father simply identify (with older children?) a place in your home that seems like a good focal point: a corner, a place over the mantel, a shelf, a wall. In small spaces, the center of the table can work. Place there a crucifix and icons, statues, or paintings or prints that have meaning to your family: Our Lady, St. Michael, St. Joseph, the children’s patron saints.
You probably have a bunch of little things all over, and this is what I mean about “an organizing principle” — having a place to arrange everything provides you with what you needed all along, a home “little oratory” that connects you to the Church and her liturgical time. It’s the ultimate “inspiration board”!
I write about it at length here and here, and also in this book with
, The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide for Praying in the Home, in which we give all the particulars and answer all the questions.Lent is a good time to start, or start over, with this important feature of every Christian home.
My little oratory (put together over many years!):
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My book on how to live with the Liturgical Year: The Little Oratory
The School for Housewives brings you short, practical, and thoughtful messages to inspire you to make your home. If you’re new here, go to the homepage for the previous Lessons; the categories are arranged in the menu bar at the top.
For the longer version:
As with everything here at the SFH, the best thing is for you to take my ideas, coming from my experience of 45 years of marriage and raising seven children, and apply them to your situation with discernment, prudence, and confidence — and a sense of humor!