Our Little Oratory

Have you read The Little Oratory yet?  It is such a wonderful book that gives practical ways to live your Catholic faith in the home.  This would be a perfect book to pick up to read during Advent or a great gift idea!  It talks about creating a space or "a little oratory" in your home, that is a place to focus on prayer and have constant reminders of the faith.  They give practical ways to take the time to pray the Liturgy of the hours, Catholic prayers and the rosary during every day life.  The book explains traditions and ways to orient your home to focus on God, his goodness and beauty and really living the faith between Sundays. 

 

When we moved to our home in July I had just read this book and knew that I wanted to find a place in our home for our "Little Oratory".  First we sat down and talked about what we wanted in a Little Oratory in our home.  We wanted it to:

• Be Peaceful (which can be quite difficult with Little Kids)
• Promote prayer
• Have a place to sit or kneel
• Be in a central place in the home
• Be private enough to be able to have quiet time but be big enough to be able to involve the family

I kept going through this list in my head and finally came to the conclusion that I really wanted to create two "Little Oratories".  It was very important to me that we had something in a central and predominate place in our home, where we would all walk by on a regular basis and be reminded to stop by, take a break, and pray or reflect, but I was having a hard time finding a place on our main floor to fulfill all our goals.

I ended up adding this first space, which is literally in the center of our home.  It is right between the kitchen and the living room and it directly down the hallway from our front door.  In this "Little Oratory" space we have a lot of our family and kids faith filled activities and books.  This is the only place I have toys on the main floor of our home and they are almost all religious toys (plus the big basket of building blocks to the right).  Some of our favorites include: Let's Go To Church Playset, the Melissa and Doug Noah's Ark Shape Sorter and our Busy Bible.  When I am making a meal the kids will sit and play with these toys or read a book together and we all really enjoy the space.

                                                                                                                           

I really do love our space on our main floor, but I was still looking for something more intimate and purposeful.  That is when I started reading about creating a home altar.  We have a lovely sitting room right off our master bedroom and next to my husband's office.  We decided to turn this space into our more intimate "Little Oratory".  These are some of the things we added to help it fulfill our goals. 

 

Be Peaceful:  It is so nice to have this space off the master bedroom because it can be the first place we go in the morning and the last place we are at night before we go to bed.  We added candles and our portable speaker that also help make it very peaceful.

 

 

Promote Prayer:  Have you ever visited the blog Catholic All Year?  Kendra Tierney is one of my favorite bloggers and one thing that she has done is create these beautiful prayer printables.  We have 6 different prayers framed around the windows in the room and they are a beautiful and wonderful way for us to not only promote prayer but also learn new prayers as a family.  Also my grandmother gave me her old daily book of saints and one of her old Bible's which I keep in the room and treasure.

 

 

Have a place to sit or kneel:  We found this amazing old church pew from a church in Southern Nebraska that was built in 1884.  The pew was a wonderful new house warming gift from our in-laws, and I know it will be a treasured piece in our home for years to come. We also have this framed art hanging over the pew which says "The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

 

 

Be private enough to be able to have quiet time but be big enough to be able to involve the family: Being off the master bedroom it can definitely be a quiet space when we want it to be.  This is where I usually go to say the rosary or study the current book study I am doing, Mary: A Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother.  The kids also often join to say a decade of the rosary with me using the Toddler's Rosary Set from Veronika's Workshop.  They love to have a way to be interactive during the rosary.

Come check out other people's Little Oratory's here!