This post contains affiliate or associate links with several businesses (which means if you shop through the links, I earn a small commission). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Confession: My husband and I are talking and dreaming of moving into a bigger home.

So, when I was writing this post for Catholics Online – 15 Catholic Housewarming Gift Ideas for Every Style and Home – I might have been daydreaming about our future home a bit

Plus, I love that it’s the year of Saint Joseph – and by no accident, it’s a seller’s market in real estate!

I wanted to give you a glimpse of some home goods that I truly love! I strongly encourage you check out the complete list over at Catholics Online!

– 15 Catholic Housewarming Gift Ideas for Every Style and Home –

Catholic Decor for a Master Bedroom

I love this wall print for a Master Bedroom or even as an addition to a wedding gift or bridal shower gift!

Just Love Prints is another incredible shop for Catholic Wall Art!

I love this Grant that we grow old together print

Prints from the Holy Family to Scripture quotes, and of course, that famous Jesus hug are all great to give to the newlyweds who are setting up house and home are all available from Just Love Prints!

Small Things Great Love – Rosaries and other handmade goods by Allison.

This Purity Wall Rosary looks lovely for a Master Bedroom!

Allison also makes sweet wall Rosaries that are perfect for a little girl’s room or a nursery!

Ave Maria Throw Blanket

This Ave Maria Blanket would be great in a bedroom or for a family photo shoot!

This sweet & feminine design makes this throw blanket a perfect Mother’s Day or birthday gift for a special lady in your life! This soft silk touch throw blanket that’s ideal for lounging on the couch during chilly evenings.

Sacred Art

Visual Grace by Kate Capato

Our family was honored when our son was asked to model for Jesus last summer!

This painting, named Cena, is a museum quality print of a reflection of the the simple moments of the Holy Family. St Joseph teaches the Christ Child about the passover, foreshadowing what is to come as they sit around the table peacefully together.

Our son has an image of the Face of Jesus on display in his bedroom which is incredibly powerful.

Kate Capato is a Catholic contemporary sacred art painter and speaker rooted in the tradition of our faith. She creates oil paintings inspired by prayer and our powerful church teachings. Kate is greatly influenced by JP2’s Teachings on The Theology of the Body as well as the Renaissance masters due to her gifted time studying painting in Florence, Italy. She seeks to bring others deeper into a relationship with Christ and an awareness of who they are as men and women, through beauty.

As a missionary of Divine beauty, Kate travels around the world with her original art along with her husband Pawel, a professional musician with a master’s in music therapy, speaking about beauty and offering an intimate encounter with the Lord through the sacred arts.

Kate’s art has been featured around the globe and she is available to create new works for your churches, communities, and homes as well as to travel worldwide to you to share the faith in this powerful way.

Kate Capato is just one artist listed on my other website CatholicsOnline.net. It you are looking for more art work, check out catholicsonline.net/artisans.

I also found some great products for the Catholic kitchen, children’s bedrooms, entrance ways and more when I wrote the Housewarming Gift Idea post (check it out!!).

Here is one find that I loved so much I bought it for my sister!

Rakstar Designs –  Inspirational home goods, artwork, and jewelry designed to “Light the Darkness!”

Rakhi McCormick has two brand new mug designs that I love! I bought my sister the Lemon Mug with the quote from Saint Teresa of Avila stating:

” From silly devotions to sour faced Saints, save us O Lord!”

If you want to see more beautiful Catholic Home Goods, check out this post I wrote for Catholics Online!

15 Catholic Housewarming Gift Ideas for Every Style and Home

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Don’t forget to sign up for the Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat this Fall! More details here!

The post Catholic Home Goods that are Beautiful! appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

This post contains affiliate or associate links with several businesses (which means if you shop through the links, I earn a small commission). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how important it is to nurture our “domestic churches” right now.

I would love to say our home has a “prayer corner”, but presently it does not.

We have this desk in our dining room that Saint Therese’ and some other holy objects were sitting.

On Good Friday, I gave myself a small, achievable task:
Clean off that space and make it intentionally inspiring and holy.

So I dug out our framed Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary Images from the Sacred Heart Enthronement Network.

I got rid of the random things that were collected on the surface.

I placed the holy water bottles and a rosary on the desk and searched for our Bible.

And friends, let me tell you how cool our God is . . .

When it was done; my son sat down at the dining room table with his prayer journal and started writing/doodling in it.

I don’t think I have ever seen him take it out on his own.
I feel like it was a signal grace.
Every small step we take, God sees it.
We don’t have a kneeler. It’s not the biggest space. There’s no real privacy there.
BUT, God saw the love and He poured His grace out on our family.

Every little thing you do for God in love is absolutely magnificent in His eyes and heart.

HOW TO CREATE A PRAYER SPACE IN YOUR HOME

1. Start small!

Do not choose a task that feels overwhelming!

The fact that I felt like I needed a “prayer corner” delayed me for so long!!!

  I finally realized that it didn’t need to be that big – yet.

Pick something small today that will grow your family closer to Our Lord.
It could simply be:

• hanging a crucifix on a wall
• Framing a Prayer Print
• Putting up a Rosary hanger or investing in a kitchen Rosary
• placing a holy water font by the door
• Decorating more with holy decor (like this Wall Rosary)
• Hanging up a prayer intentions chalk board or white board and add magnets 

2. Think “outside the box” or outside the house even!

I started a Pinterest board so that my prayer space could maybe grow into a prayer corner and maybe one day a prayer room. As I started Pinning, I saw a few “Mary Garden” posts.

Then I realized, the space doesn’t have to be inside! It’s a great time of year to start planting a flower garden – why not a “Mary garden”?

So many flowers actually get their names from those who wanted to honor Our Blessed Mother.

Then I discovered a shop on Etsy that makes outdoor shrine pillars for garden prayer spaces (Wayside Shrines on Etsy).

Put a bench, a statue of Mary (or Jesus, or a favorite saint) in a flower garden. This could be such a gift of peace and prayerful reflection!

Ask your children for help!

You never know, they might have some great ideas!

Below is an excerpt from the Be Yourself Journal. This activity encourages the reader to consider room design in a whole different way.

3. Follow the hashtag #prayerspace and #domesticchurch on Instagram and start a prayer corner board on Pinterest

It can be fun to create a virtual vision board and add elements of faith to our homes.

You can follow my “prayer space board” on Pinterest!

Pinterest is a great place to search for inspirational ideas. Search “home altar”, “war room”, “prayer corner” and “prayer space” for ideas!

There are a ton of great, inspiring photos on Instagram as well! I strongly recommend following @zelieandco for lots of home prayer space ideas!

Many of these Catholic Artisans are listed on Catholics Online! Check them out and subscribe too!

More resources:

Wall Rosaries by No Heart Untouched

Check out my post So Your Domestic Church is a Fixer Upper: Here are 3 Tips on Holy Home Improvements

Like embroidery patterns? Check out Happy Nest Home Goods

The post How to Create a Prayer Space in Your Home appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

This post contains affiliate or associate links with several businesses (which means if you shop through the links, I earn a small commission). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

“I told my mom I really want a kneeler in my bedroom”.

I can’t imagine the look on my face when I heard that sentence come out of that cool as a cucumber 8th grade student. I don’t even know what I said.

Possibly . . . “Ummmm (tilt head) . . . . what?”

Definitely never a thought that had ever occurred to me in my life at that point in time.

This young woman was gorgeous. She had a radiant smile and peaceful yet extra friendly way about her – despite the fact she lived in a neighborhood with rival gangs and many people living below or at the poverty level.

She shared that although she had not told many people, she was seriously thinking of becoming a nun. She said, “praying just makes me so happy” and her infectious, beautiful smile confirmed that statement.

I wonder what she is doing today.

I can’t think of anyone I know that has a kneeler in their home. But I do think many of us grew up having at least one picture of Jesus on a wall, or a statue of Mary in our house.

I have never seen the movie War Room, but I love the idea of having a space dedicated to prayer.

Being exposed and inspired by many Catholic bloggers and influencers, I have come to see some beautiful prayer corners families create and maintain.

Now, with Masses being cancelled for an extended period of time, I can’t help to be reminded that our families are called to be a domestic church.

According the the Catholic Catechism:

” The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.”

The recent article, 10 guideposts for Christians in the time of the coronavirus pandemic confirms how important our families’ domestic churches are right now

“ In these days when our large public gatherings for prayer and catechesis are suspended, the domestic church is all the more clearly “ground zero” for our response. Now it falls squarely on families to make their homes places to hear the Word of God, and to offer him praise, especially in acts of spiritual communion and entrustment to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.“

We have a makeshift prayer corner. A desk with a picture of Saint Therese’ and an unframed picture of The Blessed Mother. We do have a crucifix over our door and we have rosaries hung up on a wine cork decoration (are you really surprised?).

So after inspection, I can conclude our Domestic Church is a bit of a fixer upper.

As the homemaker in this family, I have come to the conclusion that we need to renovate.

Creating a space that beckons us to kneel or at least take a deep breath and ask God for help makes sense. Especially now when as a family, we may be more “on top of one another” than normal.

I recently saw a fantastic suggestion on Instagram from Sara at ToJesusSincerely. When your losing your patience with the people in your household, take a retreat in front of the Crucifix. It can be as brief as 2 minutes!

What a great idea, right?

Since our home is called to be a domestic Church – let’s take this time now to renovate.

3 Tips on How to Renovate Your Domestic Church

First, identify what you already do that acknowledges and nourishes our faith in Jesus Christ in Our Lord.

Do you say grace before meals?

Encourage prayer before bedtime?

Have a picture on the wall or statue in your home that is a sign of your faith?

Think about your typical day, week, month etc. What do you do as a family or in your house in regards to prayer and faith? Write it down.

Walk through your house. Look at each room. Does anything in your living room signal life beyond this world?

Take stock in what makes your home say, “we believe in One God; we believe in the power of prayer; we believe in Eternal Life . . .”

Second, Make a plan.

What would you like to see in your home on the physical level?

A prayer corner? A prayer room? A dedicated prayer space? Perhaps you have been meaning to hang up a picture of Jesus, a holy water font or a Rosary hanger. Where is your Bible? Where should it be?

What do you wish you did more of at home – as an individual or as a family?

Pray more? When? How?

*Prayers for Busy Families*

Read more faith centered books.

*If you are reading out loud to your children, add some books about Angels, Saints, Prayer and Virtues. Read them a part of the Bible.

**Add a good faith book to your reading list. I recommend Led By Faith, Something Other Than God and 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat

Go to Mass and Confession more often?

Make Sunday more holy in terms of rest?

Have no idea, here are some resources to help you get started:

The Home Altar: Creating a Dedicated Prayer Space (a blog post by Kate Franz)

Sacred Heart Enthronement Kits

Prayer Space Sets

Remember it is much more than decorating!

Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday

Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family

Step 3: Start Today

You’ve been meaning to talk more about prayer or teach the children how to pray the Rosary – today is the day to do what you have thought about doing.

Hang a picture.

Dig out the Bible.

Choose the prayer space.

Order the inspiring pieces.

Share a memory about your faith.

Talk about a miracle.

Encourage other members of your household to do the same.

Have a tween daughter that loves decorating?

The Be Yourself Journal is great way to encourage her to help you renovate your domestic church!

How else can I help?

Would you like another post on this topic? Let me know in the comments?

Tell me if you would like a post about:

Building or Re-Building Your Domestic Church: A Checklist

The Best Resources for a Modern Prayer Corner

What to do on Sunday to Honor the Sabbath During Quarantine

Something else? Tell me in the comments!

The post So Your Domestic Church is a Fixer Upper? Here are 3 Tips on Making Holy Home Improvements appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.