The Domestic Church

Advent makes me remember the moment I stumbled onto blogs that captivated me.

It was four years ago. I was the Children’s Ministry Director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and a postulant for priesthood.

I needed something to do on a Wednesday night with a group of kids, so I did a Google search for “Advent crafts.” I expected to find instructions for classroom use. Instead, I discovered homeschooling Catholic mommy bloggers. I felt as if I had entered a different world.

The first website that popped up was Dawn’s: By Sun and Candlelight. She had instructions for the Advent candle craft I used with the kids that year. Her blog is a chronicle of the seasons of the Christian year in the life of her family. Clicking through Dawn’s links, I discovered Elizabeth Foss, and her list of what makes a “considered childhood”:

As much as I am able, every day, I will ensure that my child will…

• Live the Liturgy
• Experience loveliness
• Breathe deeply: Fresh air and exercise
• Serve others
• Listen to, contemplate, and exchange ideas.
• Develop expressive skills.
• Practice logical reasoning. Math.
• Receive focused attention and affection

That phrase “Live the Liturgy” captivated me, especially when it was followed with Elizabeth’s posts about observing the O Antiphons at home, and many other posts on living the liturgy as a family.

More clicking through links led me to Leila, who had some insightful things to say about “Order and Wonder”

The reality is that this time before Christmas has been given to us as a time of pondering, of silence, and, above all, of waiting. And these things — pondering, silence, expectation – are exactly the dispositions we need to instill wonder, not only in the hearts of our children, but in our own, which so often can be overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of life…

I read these blogs furtively for all the years that I moved through the ordination process in the Episcopal Church. I was furtive because I didn’t understand why I found them so captivating.

I wasn’t Roman Catholic; I wasn’t about to become Roman Catholic. I wasn’t homeschooling; I wasn’t about to start homeschooling. So why was I reading these blogs?

Finally I realized: I was reading them because they offered a vision of a whole life centered on God, and described a family life of Christian formation. They were based in the idea that each family, each home, is a domestic church. They taught children the beauty and meaning of Christian life, day by day.

I continue to fail at creating a domestic church. I say I continue to fail because I continue to try, and I never feel I succeed. (This feeling of not-quite-there-yet-maybe-soon? must be a mandatory side dish of motherhood.)

Advent gives me hope, though, because our family does better in Advent than any other time. This is the season of the year where we do have traditions, and rituals, and they do connect us with the stories and meaning of our faith.

Our Advent wreath… our nativity scene, with the children moving the main figures closer to the creche every day… our Advent and Christmas books between our library book boxes…

These things make me feel that I have made progress. When my family gathers for dinner and a child lights the Advent wreath and we all sing grace, a person could even think we knew what we were doing.

How do you pass on what is most meaningful to your children?

How does your home reflect your faith?