This is a follow up to my introduction last week.
I mentioned last week my journey towards making my home a truly Domestic Church started with a spot of trouble! I was in labor with my first child and in fact, had been in labor with him for well over 12 hours. One epidural later I was finally getting some relief from excruciating back pain when monitors started going off, nurses were running in and I was flipped onto my side rather roughly with an oxygen mask popped over my nose and mouth. My blood pressure had taken a big drop and my baby was in distress. In that instant I started doing what I had been taught to do from the time I was a very little girl- I prayed!
and I felt like such a hypocrite!!
You see, my prayer life during my early adult years had been sporadic at best. God had become to me like a nice old distant uncle. An uncle that I knew loved me and would like to hear about me from time to time, but it was definitely a very one-sided relationship, with me being the derelict one.
Yet here I was, in my hour of need, calling out to God to save me, to save my baby, to make it alright. And He did.
Yet God is not without a sense of humor. He gave me the realization and the desire to have an active and vital prayer life – at the same time he gave me a very colicky, needy, and active infant!! The irony was not lost on me. Before I had the time, and the quiet to have an active, deep, contemplative type of prayer life, and now I had the strong need and desire, but no time! Besides, any attempts at any deep prayer quickly turned into slumber for this post-op, first time mom!
A couple of resources helped me. Kimberly Hahn, author and wife of Professor Scott Hahn, had recorded a series of talks based on Proverbs 31. In it she mentioned her mother quite a bit and how her mom managed to fit small prayers in throughout the day! For example, when her mom was sewing an article of clothing, she would say a special prayer for the child or person who would receive that garment. If she was cooking, she would pray for those who would eat her food etc. That daily ongoing conversation with a lot of little prayers really made sense to me! I could certainly pray a little prayer while doing the laundry!
A while later I found this little book, Holiness for Housewives: And Other Working Women
Over the years I developed some other little tricks too. Carrying a rosary in a packet or as a bracelet can be helpful in getting part of a decade in, or even as a reminder to sit down to pray.
As the children grew older, it became easier to include a little time for bible reading and even tackling the Liturgy of the Hours!
But the most basic and important piece in having a Domestic Church for a family, is having a mom who is committed to having a relationship with the Lord for herself, so that she can guide her and help her husband and children in their walks. In my opinion, this is the key piece.
Here are some resources I found helpful.
Holiness for Housewives: And Other Working Women
A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul
Life-Giving Love : Embracing God’s Beautiful Design for Marriage
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work” (Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality)
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