Author: thehomelyhours

Building Family Culture: Vacations

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Thank you to Sandy McNamara for contributing to our series on Family Culture. Sandy is the wife of our priest, Fr. Wayne McNamara, the mother of four, and a grandmother of four. She is an art historian and an educator and a founder of Dominion Academy of Dayton.   It took root in my own childhood.  My dad is still a history “buff.”  At the age of 85, he’s still reliving the Russian Revolution through the books he’s immersed himself in.  This love of history took our family to places like Washington, D.C., Appomattox Court House, Colonial Williamsburg, and  the battlefields of Gettysburg.  It brought history alive for me. Thus, when we started having our own kids we made vacation destinations one of the top priorities of our family’s year and we structured our life to save for them. When we moved to Dayton in 1986, we bought an old farmhouse (in the city), built in 1875 – its inner city location made its purchase incredibly inexpensive.  We had a used VW “Rabbit” – purchased from …

Kitchen Blessing Printable

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Christ the King member and artist Michelle Abernathy created a lovely kitchen blessing for her home and is now sharing it as a free printable for personal use with the Homely Hours. Her to-do list contains the goal of making “prayerful beauty in small spaces.” Perhaps her Kitchen Blessing art may also add prayerful beauty to the small spaces in your home. The blessing is taken from Edward Hays’ Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home. You can follow Michelle and see more of her art on facebook and instagram.  “Blessed be this shrine of the kitchen. “Blessed be the herbs and spices, and the pots and pans used to prepare our meals.May the ill-seasonings of anger and bitterness never poison the meals prepared here.” May all our meals be sacraments* of the presence of God.” Click image above to print the Kitchen Blessing Printable from Michelle Abernathy Art. *We take the idea of “sacrament” here to refer to a vision of reality that sees all creation as an epiphany of the …

Trinity Sunday: A Few Traditions and Links

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The Collect for Trinity Sunday “Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.” On Trinity Sunday, it is a tradition to sing  “I Bind Unto Myself Today.” For more on this glorious hymn, you can read our post on “The Breastplate of St. Patrick.” Along these lines, here is also  a beautiful post on Celtic Christianity and Trinitarian Theology, specifically how it manifests itself in the Carmina Gadelica, a collection of Gaelic hymns and prayers: For the Gaelic writers, the Trinity is not an esoteric dogma to be recited and systematized but rather a living and lived reality, for God as Creator is near to us in creation, and all that he has made is a reflection …

“The Person of Love in the Life of God”

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We have compiled some quotations for pertaining to Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, from the Church Fathers and others. St. Iranaeus: “He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.” St. Ambrose of Milan: “So, then, the Holy Spirit is the River, and the abundant River, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great River which flows always and never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: “The stream of …

Simple Pentecost Traditions for the Home

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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:7-11 (ESV). As always, we would direct you to the extensive repository of information to be found at Full Homely Divinity. We thought we would also highlight a few ideas. Pentecost Litany Here is a printable of a Litany of the Holy Ghost, provided by our priest Fr. Wayne McNamara: Litany of Holy Ghost Barefoot on Pentecost: When researching this day, we learned that one Pentecost tradition is to go outside barefoot on Sunday morning and walk around in the dew. This originated from a verse in the …

Ascensiontide Novena

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A Novena is an act of devotion, consisting of nine successive days of prayer. The original novena is actually the nine days between Ascension and Pentecost. So, for that reason, we decided to share with you a printable for the Novena for the Gifts of the Spirit. Traditionally, you begin praying this Novena today (the Friday after Ascension Day) and continue until the Eve of Pentecost. Novena Printable This is a lovely rendition of the hymn to be sung before the prayers in the Novena, “Come, Holy Ghost” [Note that the hymn is in Long Meter (L.M.), so you do not have to sing this particular tune. Other familiar long meter tunes that could work with this hymn are the tunes for “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” (Abends), “What Star is This” (Puer Nobis),  and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (Hamburg).] Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire. Thou the anointing Spirit art, who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart. Thy blessed unction from above is comfort, life, and fire of …

“Darkness Flees at the Death of Death”

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For Death is about to learn the final lesson: That Life and Death are after all not peers. They are not of the same kind; they are not cut from the same mold; they are not two sides of the same coin. Death is of the mortal creation. Death reigns as King over the mortal world. But death, by definition has no place in immortality. Infinity, which can hold all things, has no room for finitude.

“Now All Things Have Been Filled with Light”

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Alleluia! Christ is risen! We have compiled some quotations from the church fathers, for your reflection and joy this Easter. St. John of Damascus: “Now all things have been filled with light, both heaven and earth and those beneath the earth; so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, by which it is established.” St. John Chrysostom: “O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” St. Augustine: “Our Life himself came down into this world and took away our death. He slew it with his own abounding life, and with thunder in his voice he called us from this world to return to him in heaven. From heaven he came down to us, entering first the Virgin’s …

Baking Bread for Maundy Thursday

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On Holy Wednesday, we gathered with our young children to prepare for the rest of Holy Week, through baking bread that would be used for our communion service on Maundy Thursday and hearing a Godly Play lesson. The children listened to the account of the Twelve gathering with Jesus in the Upper Room. Then, we went to the church kitchen to bake bread. We used the recipe from Bethany at a Spoon Full of Yum that we posted yesterday. We ended up with these artfully formed, practically unmouthed (oh, toddlers) rolls of dough! Here is our bread before some of the older children processed to present it to our priest during the offertory. It was special for them to be able to participate so integrally in our Maundy Thursday service! Disclaimer to those who partook: All little hands were washed in the making of this bread and the oven was at 500 degrees.  

Our Daily Bread

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Yesterday, on Holy Wednesday, the children of our church gathered to make bread that will be used for our Maundy Thursday Holy Communion service (A post on that tomorrow!). We used the following recipe from Bethany Thomso of the food blog, A Spoon Full of Yum.  Bethany is wife to The Farmer, mother of four little ones who she home schools in Tennessee, and a former dietician with a lifelong interest in nutrition. Thank you, Bethany, for your recipe and reflection! In prayer, we express our dependence upon the Lord, drawing sustenance from Him, and, just so, the very act of eating bread should remind us of how utterly dependent we are upon Christ, the Bread of Life.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray that the Father would “give us this day our daily bread” (ESV).  Hearkening back to Proverbs 30:8, we may pray: “…Feed me with the food that is needful” (ESV).   No matter our level of education or socioeconomic status, we will never rise above our basic need for food.  This should …