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Bookswithtea
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The whole idea of this seems very foreign to me (we used to be conservative Evangelicals). I was just wondering how many of you have actually done this. If you have, where is it and how do you use it?
Thanks so much, everyone, for helping me with these kinds of questions! We spent so much time studying about Catholicism before we came into the Church (5years) but I didn't spend any time looking at what is different about a Catholic family.
~Books
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Mary G
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We have ours in the corner of the dining roomso you see it as you walk in the door from the kitchen. We cover the table with the liturgical color, have a statue of the Blessed Mother (that dh saved when the parochial school was chucking  all the "old style" statues in favor of bland, a-ethnic statues), our relics in their reliquaries, a couple of candles, an icon of Jesus that an Eastern Rite iconographer painted for JP, and a bowl of rosaries. Depending on the season, we would have our Advent Wreath on this altar and the Jesse Tree hanging right next to it. During lent, we have our alms box and prayer bowls. Easter, we put a paschal candle.
I think you get the idea. Our altar is actually a metal bookshelf that dh made a 1" plywood top for that he seducred tot he top of the shlef. On the shelfves we have all our religiion books for schooling, saints books, liturgical year celebration books, etc.
It's pretty cool!
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MaryG
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my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Bookswithtea
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Thanks for sharing, Mary. How do you use your altar? Oh, and do you have little ones in the house that are likely to pull up on the table cloth while learning to walk? 
What is a prayer bowl? You actually have relics?
Sigh...why is it that this year, for some reason, I feel more "new" to the faith than I did when we first came into the church? I don't even know where to begin...
~Books
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Mary G
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Bookswithtea wrote:
Thanks for sharing, Mary. How do you use your altar? Oh, and do you have little ones in the house that are likely to pull up on the table cloth while learning to walk?
What is a prayer bowl? You actually have relics?
Sigh...why is it that this year, for some reason, I feel more "new" to the faith than I did when we first came into the church? I don't even know where to begin...
~Books |
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Our altar is about 4 ft off the floor, and the tablecloths hang down about 2" over the edge so there isn't anyting for JP (alias, Bam-Bam) to pull on.
A prayer bowl is a bowl (duh!) where we put intentions to be paid for throughout Lent, either personal or for others; on Easter Sunday, we burn them after saying a final prayer.
Yes, we have a few 3rd-class relics (touched by something that was touched by the saint -- although there is probably a better definition). We have a 1st class Pius X relic (a bit of cloth with his blood) that we rec'd from a good friend before we left Raleigh. Also, if JP2 ever is beatified, we're all 2nd class relics because he blessed each of us (except Joe) at a special audience -- now THAT was a thrill!
Our altar is primarily used as a daily reminder of our faith. It's a very visible spot. We don't do enough of encouraging the children to pray in front of it -- but we'll work on that this Lent....
Does this help?
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Elizabeth
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We have three spaces set aside. 
This is in our family room. It's a table set aside for Mary. This week, Our Lady of Czestochowa is enshrined here. The flowers are usually simple bouquets, but we had a dinner party last night.
This is our atrium altar. The children set it and take it down.
This is our prayer corner.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MEBarrett
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How pretty Elizabeth, and what a wonderful inspiration. Thanks for sharing the photos.
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Mary Ellen
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JennGM
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Oh, fabulous! Elizabeth, did you get a digital camera recently? Birthday maybe? 
Your little spaces answered a problem I was trying to solve. I was trying to figure out how to put together all aspects in one place of a prayer corner, home altar and little shrine. Your pictures just gave me a "duh!" moment...have more than one spot!
Now for your Mass altar materials...are they from Our Father's House?
Mary G....since you received the fab digital camera, can we see pics of your space, too, please?
I love when I get an inside view of your homes! It makes things come alive and inspirations more concrete. I'm on another forum about pianos, and there is one thread where people shared pics of their piano and music rooms....it's enjoyable and lovely, but pics here are more: They are INSPIRING!
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Bookswithtea
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Thank you, Elizabeth! Its very helpful to me to get a sense of what this all looks like, practically. Do you actually use your prayer corner, or is it more of a visible reminder?
Mary, yes, your explanations helped a lot.  Now, here's another "duh" question. What do you use to burn your prayer requests? We did something with gifts for Jesus during Advent and I wanted to burn the papers they were written on, but we don't have a fire place in this house (that's what we did with them, previously). Is there a way to do this that is more symbolic?
Sheesh, I feel like such a weirdo, asking such simple questions...
~Books
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Elizabeth
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My altar materials and several of the prayer corner materials are from Our Father's House.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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stefoodie
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we've had different altars in different homes (we're moving again, to our 9th home). my favorites were in our previous home -- the altar was a ledge in the stairs landing between floors. in the house we're leaving the altar was a "shelf" that my hubby attached to the ceiling going down the stairs. we don't know yet where we'll put the next altar, maybe in the hallway leading to our bedrooms....
i wish i had my parents' altar though. they had 2 -- a mini one that held a sculpted image of the Sacred Heart -- in the hallway, and then there was a larger one where we kept all the statues and images. it was a recessed area in between their built-in closets in the master bedroom. growing up whenever we prayed the family rosary we'd do it in their bedroom while sitting on their bed or kneeling on the floor in front of the altar. lots of good memories there.
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Elizabeth
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| Thank you, Elizabeth! Its very helpful to me to get a sense of what this all looks like, practically. Do you actually use your prayer corner, or is it more of a visible reminder? |
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We use it--particularly the children. I find myself using the Marian table more. It's in the family room and I sit in a chair where I can see it and spend my quiet time in the morning.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Bookswithtea
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Elizabeth wrote:
We use it--particularly the children. I find myself using the Marian table more. It's in the family room and I sit in a chair where I can see it and spend my quiet time in the morning. |
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Did your children instinctively just use it, or is it something they learned from watching you and dad over the years? How would you encourage children to use a prayer corner?
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TracyQ
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Any ideas of making a family altar/prayer space in a very small home with no space for a table? I'm trying to figure it out. I guess in the living room will need to be the place, as we have very little room anywhere at all.
We'll just have to change our altar out and put different things on there. My mom already sewed the liturgical cloths for us some time ago.
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 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Genevieve
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TracyQ wrote:
Any ideas of making a family altar/prayer space in a very small home with no space for a table? I'm trying to figure it out. I guess in the living room will need to be the place, as we have very little room anywhere at all.
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I just set up my alter and it is very small. It's actually a three shelf bookcase with a large cork board above. The shelf holds some prayer books. I pin some religious photos on the cork board; Some are permanent while others rotate with the liturgical year. Since I have hard floors, I did place a rug in front of the bookcase should anyone prefers to kneel while praying. Otherwise the photos are easily viewed while sitting on the living couch. I did scatter some religious reminders thoroughout the house though. Since I have very little ones, I'm still thinking of where to place my liturgical cloths. Perhaps instead I will settle to make the background of the cork board the liturgical colours.
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JennGM
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Genevieve wrote:
| Any ideas of making a family altar/prayer Since I have very little ones, I'm still thinking of where to place my liturgical cloths. Perhaps instead I will settle to make the background of the cork board the liturgical colours. |
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This is what my mother did. The bulletin board was our focal point for the liturgical year, finding fabrics for the background to reflect the liturgical colors. Then our symbols, images of feasts or saints or biblical quotes or saint quotes were also posted appropriately.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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teachingmom
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Mary G. wrote:
| A prayer bowl is a bowl (duh!) where we put intentions to be paid for throughout Lent, either personal or for others; on Easter Sunday, we burn them after saying a final prayer. |
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Wow, you have to PAY for your intentions at your house, Mary?! 
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Mary G
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teachingmom wrote:
Mary G. wrote:
| A prayer bowl is a bowl (duh!) where we put intentions to be paid for throughout Lent, either personal or for others; on Easter Sunday, we burn them after saying a final prayer. |
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Wow, you have to PAY for your intentions at your house, Mary?! |
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Do you know how long this message was up there before you noticed that! I didn't even notice, but come to think of it.....maybe if we had them pay for their transgressions, we might make some money off of this....
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MaryG
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I am trying to re-juvenate our Home Altar -- when the kiddos were littler I was pretty good at changing the layout periodically to reflect the church year, but in recent months (years? Yikes!)it basically has just featured an open bible, blessed candles and images of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart of Mary which is fine, except we're getting to where we just don't notice it anymore and rarely approach it unless we need to use the bible for schoolwork or something like that. . .so. . .
at this point I'm going to endeavor to use the monthly dedications which were so popular in year's past and which catholicculture.org features so well --
January -- The Holy Name and the Childhood of Jesus
February -- The Holy Family
March -- St. Joseph
April -- The Blessed Sacrament
May -- Mary
June -- Sacred Heart of Jesus
July - The Precious Blood
August -- Immaculate Heart of Mary
September -- Seven Sorrows of Mary
October -- The Holy Rosary, also the Holy Angels
November -- Poor Souls in Purgatory
December -- The Immaculate Conception (this one will be more difficult as we've gotten used to having our creche on the family altar -- I'll have to think about this one some)
Wish me luck!
God Bless,
Melinda in SE Texas
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Mrs.K
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Tracy,in a very small home perhaps you could use a shelf on a wall. I remember Alice making miniature altar shelves with her girls. And dear Katherine has mentioned having different shelves for various saints/devotions. Perhaps she could post pictures or an explanation (hint, hint, hint  ).
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MrsKey
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Currently we use the mantle over our fireplace. We have a small crucifix, a triptych of the Holy family, a replica of the Pieta, three small votive candles, two 7-day candles with images of Our Lady on them, a small traveling icon blessed by our old priest and given as a gift before we moved and a bottle of Holy Water.
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Carole
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Do you have a home altar?
