Faithful Living: A prayer room in your home

Our homes hold a lot of what is near and dear to us. For starters, our family. The home provides shelter for the people we love.

Aside from our belongings which we need in order to function in life, our home is a shelter for the things that define us, objects that hold special meanings. Be it a special painting, a family heirloom, or that memorable walkman from the 80s.
In a Catholic home, some of the objects that hold special meaning to us are holy images or religious articles that help us think of God and the communion of the saints and the angels. 

Some Catholic homes have home altars or prayer corners/rooms where the family can spend time of prayer, meditation, or teaching the Faith. This YouTube vlogger, A Catholic Mom's Life, features her prayer room as a place not only to pray but also to read and hang-out as a family apart from the living room or the kitchen. 

Tips for starting your home altar/prayer corner or room...

• It would be helpful to have the home altar or prayer corner/room situated in an area where there is some silence and privacy.
• Imagine one focal holy image. Ask yourself what image will move you to pray and have a conversation with God.
• You can choose to have only one large image or statue flanked with candles or have one large one and a few small images or statues that hold some significance for you.
• Think about your preferred posture when praying at home. Do you tend to sit on a comfortable chair, kneel, sit on the floor with pillows, or the combination... have this set up near or around the home altar/prayer corner or in your prayer room.
• Consider the lighting. A space for prayer would need to have soft or ambient lighting to make it cozy, soothing, and easy to slide your way to an intimate time with God.
• If you like to pray and meditate with soft sacred music playing in the background, perhaps have a device for playing music nearby.
• To keep the area neat and tidy and free of distractions, make sure that things are placed and organized in presentable storage boxes that do not need to be seen until needed. Keep the area clutter-free.
• Once you have all of these set up, figure out the routine or times of prayer in your home.

Having a home altar or prayer corner/room can help us consciously make room for God in our lives.

Consider this... Our homes should be a refuge, a place where everyone can come home to rest, to be nourished, and to be re-energized for the next day. Carve a place for prayer and let the peace of Christ dwell in your house. 

For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat." Isaiah 25:4