The Domestic Church

Thanks to a friend we have this beautiful example of the Domestic Church!

Laetare, Jerusalem!

On this Sunday without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we kept holy the Sabbath in our Domestic Church.

The Sacristan's Manual states that "flowers may adorn the altar" on Laetare Sunday. Today with a spirit of joy underscored by deep sorrow, I made two simple arrangements for our home prayer corner.

In our humble cottage of only 1,600 square feet, the living room mantel is our "prayer corner". Garden hebes, breath of heaven, and privet in milk glass vases seemed appropriate. Curious that the last flower arrangements I made were the most elaborate yet: with endless lilies, irises and tulips. Only two weeks later I am back to Amateur Pursuits. The frailty of human existence and the power of almighty God!

This passage from Psalm 89 jumped off the page: "In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry and wither (...) Return, O Lord, how long?"

Today my husband led our family in reading through the propers of the Mass from my 1962 Missal. We knelt and offered a Spiritual Communion together.

Our family prayer mantel consists of: a Crucifix, a small silver statue of Our Lady of Fatima carried home in my backpack after a three-month pilgrimage to Spain and Portugal some twenty years ago, the beeswax candles blessed by our good priest last Candlemas, several family heirlooms including the Agnus Dei and a French wooden statue of the Virgin and Child- of unknown origins.

After prayers, the children played in the sunshine while I ironed a surplice for the single acolyte permitted to serve the priest at the church, Simon of Cyrene.

Outside the walls of the church, the sun burned my face as I knelt on the green grass straining my ear to hear the bell marking the Consecration over the rooster crowing, the geese cackling and the bicycle squeaking. To be a sheep worshiping outside the fold or inside the Domestic Church? Both I think.

This evening my husband grilled a good piece of Sunday beef and my daughter and I made a Laetare apple pie with a golden rose.

Rejoice, Jerusalem!

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Introibo- with Flowers

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