How to make your home a domestic church

Author: Kresta in the Afternoon Published on: December 21, 2016 Published in: Church

home-church

The Reverend Canon Giles Fraser, columnist over at the Guardian, has an interesting article in which he compares Judaism with western Christianity, and avers that the former brings religion into the home more than the latter. Reading it, you might ask yourself the same question I did, namely, how does Catholicism bring religion into the home, and how can it do this the more, as opposed merely to practice it in Church?

Let me attempt an answer.

First of all, it is clear from the Holy Scriptures, that the Catholic faith is something that happens in a domestic setting. While going to Church is obviously essential, you can and indeed must also encounter God at home.

The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin by the Archangel Gabriel, the foremost encounter between God and humanity, takes place in her house, as St Luke makes clear in Luke 1:28, stating that the angel goes into her home.

St Matthew also places the Epiphany in a domestic setting, telling us that the Magi encounter the Christ child “on entering the house” (Matthew 2:11). So, God is to be found at home; but of course, this being the Bible, there is a second level of meaning.