Our Liturgical Table

Prayer is one of the most important parts of our daily lives.  As 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 states, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  Before I even get out of bed in the morning my goal is to say a quick prayer.  If I am leisurely awaking it is often the Morning Offering, but if I am answering the call of little ones it is simply "Jesus, I give this day to you." 

We try to weave prayer throughout our day in our personal lives, our marriage and with our family.  We continue to add to and adjust our Family Prayer Schedule as time continues.  When our oldest son was preparing for his First Reconciliation this past fall he made a special little prayer book to help guide him through prayer as he is going to bed.  In our past home we had a special place to promote prayer, a Little Oratory.  It was a beautiful place to come together as a family, but as we were moving into our new home this spring we realized that we did not have the same little space in our new home so we wanted a new idea.

Because of the changes in our new home, but continuing the desire to have a place that promoted prayer we decided to create a Liturgical Table in our living room.  It is in a predominate place in our home that you pass by multiple times a day.  As our children are getting older they are enjoying setting this table with me as the liturgical calendar continues and feast days are celebrated.

Lent

This table included the Stations of the Cross from Jesse Tree Treasures, a print from Catholic All Year and our Mass Kit from Almond Rod Toys.  Along with these treasures we also decorated with purple candles and linens for the liturgical color representing preparation.

 

 

First Communion

 

For our son's First Communion which was also the weekend of Divine Mercy Sunday we decorated with Easter Lillies, an image of the Divine Mercy and the quote from St. Pope John Paul II "We are the Easter people and Halleluiah is our song."

 

May

During May we continued to celebrate Easter and also celebrated the month of Mary.  We had a beautiful Mary statue predominately in the middle of our table with a Rosary that we had brought with us when we visited St. Padre Pio's relics when they came to our state. We had two images stating "Fiat" meaning "Be it done to me according to thy word", and "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

 

June

 

During June we celebrate the end of Easter with Pentecost, the birthday of the Catholic Church when the Holy Spirit came to the apostles to guide them to bring the message of the Church to the world!  We also celebrate Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  As we prepare for Pentecost we included red candles and linen, a beautiful prayer of the Holy Spirit "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love." and also the book The Twelve Apostles.