A Helpful Guide to Transform your Domestic Church
This is the fourth post of a series entitled “Teaching the Catholic Faith at Home Series.”
Find the rest of the series here.
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When I walk into my home, I want to be reminded of Christ’s presence there. I want my family and all guests who enter to be reminded of His love and presence. This is what making the home a Domestic Church means to me.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has an entire section entitled “The Domestic Church” starting with section 1655. The CCC summarizes the Domestic Church in the following way:
“The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.”
How do I make my home a "domestic church?"
We can focus on the following areas from the Catechism to make our homes domestic churches:
- a community of grace and prayer
- a school of human virtues
- a place of Christian charity
A Community of Grace and Prayer
Making your home a community of grace and prayer could be accomplished in many ways. Grace flows from prayer, so we should arrange our home and schedule in a way to encourage prayer – especially group and family prayer.
Placing crucifixes, statues, and images of the Saints and Jesus in our home can remind us to stop and pray. Every time we pass a crucifix or image of Jesus we can bow and say something like “Jesus, I trust in you” or “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Saying Grace Before Meals, the Angelus, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the Divine Office are all great ways to add prayer seamlessly into your day. Holy Mother Church has already planned out these prayer times for us!
We can arrange a special place for prayer on our night stand or dresser – a home altar. We can put a home altar somewhere visible in the community spaces of our home. We can pray with our family at the prayer spaces, and invite guests to join us in prayer here.
We can have rosaries easily accessible for all families and guests to join in prayer. Here is a post with 7 tips for praying the Rosary with kids!
Invite the Saints into your home by celebrating special Feast Days with your family and friends!
A School of Human Virtues
I love the image of this. The home is a school where all who enter can be encouraged to grow in virtue – kids and parents! Think of the virtues you would like to instill in your children – obedience, self control, love, joy, peace, patience, temperance, prudence, and justice are a few. Then, think of concrete ways to work on them, and praise your children when you see them genuinely growing in a certain example.
For example, a toddler is showing self control when he waits to begin eating until prayers are said. An older child is growing in fortitude when she plays her piano piece over and over even though it is difficult. All children are growing in obedience when their parent asks them to pick up their clothes and they follow through.
Homeschooling allows me a very special opportunity for this. I can make sure that the focus of our schooling is to form the children in virtue above all else. I can make sure that their schoolwork glorifies God and the talents He gave them.
Keep an obedience tracker or chart and mark it with a sticker or a check mark when a child shows virtuous behavior. Maybe, when they earn a certain number of stickers, you can reward them with a special treat. Encourage and praise them for a job well done!
A Place of Christian Charity
And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes of charity being the greatest virtue. We should, first, focus on love of God in our domestic churches, and allows the love for others to flow from there. How can we love God more in our homes? How can we love our spouse and children more? As Christians, we are called to lay down our life for others, and there are so many opportunities for selfless service in the home: praying for our spouse and children, cooking nutritious meals, changing diapers, doing laundry, and keeping the home in order.
After caring for the needs of our family, we can extend our hospitality and charity outside of the home. We can volunteer at our parish and in our community. We can hold Bible studies or family prayer meet ups. We can cook a meal for a new mom or grieving friend. We can host a homeschool meet up. There are many opportunities to serve, and our home can be a hub of charity.
Action Step
Choose one of the areas above to work on in your home. Could you print out some holy images and place them on your fridge or in frames? Could you choose 1 virtue for your family to work on this week? Could you add a special prayer to your family’s routine? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow in each of these areas to form your domestic church.
A Book About Transforming Your Domestic Church
The Little Oratory by David Clayton, Deirdre Folley, and Leila Lawler
