Davis says:

Well, in the interest in giving your post another home altar to discuss, I’m sending a photo of my “Lady Shrine” which in fact is merely sitting on a chest of drawers in my office – doesn’t really qualify as a prayer corner or whatever, but here it is. She’s 16th c and French.

She’s very beautiful. I would expect nothing less. Thanks, Davis.

Pax et bonum.

Christian prayer is always a response to a presence already felt. The awareness of a desire to pray again is already prayer. As the desert fathers so often said, “If you want to pray, you are already praying.”

Edward J. Farrell

More and more we will need to deal with the implications of traditional religious life in the modern (post-modern!) world.

This is perhaps the time to inaugurate a look at  New Monasticism. Stay tuned.

Pax et bonum.

Melody says:

The “altar” is an antique wash stand, the picture is a print by Bougereau.

The pocket shrine is probably the smallest one you’re going to get, it’s only 2.2″ x 1.5″. It’s just something I made from an Altoids tin.

I LOVE the pocket shrine. What a fantastic idea. I’m inspired to try that now. Thanks, Melody.

Pax et bonum.

Conservative Catholic pundit Matthew Archbold reported today about a cannibal restaurant. So far, so good (as far as cannibal restaurants go). But then he made a leap of which even Evil Knievel would have been envious.

This is assuredly an online p.r. stunt for something or other but it got me thinking, “Why not cannibalism?” Seriously. Many of the same arguments made in the defense of things like abortion, the legalization of drugs, and homosexual marriage could be used to legalize cannibalism.

Source

For real? Did I really just read that? 

What a way to elevate the conversation.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Pax et bonum.

I urge you to still every motion that is not rooted in the kingdom. Become quiet, hushed, motionless until you are finally centered. Strip away all excess baggage and nonessential trappings until you have come into the stark reality of the kingdom of God. Let go of all distractions until you are driven into the Core.

- Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity

Gawyn says:

This is an overview shot of both my general altar and my altar dedicated to Hera.

This is my main altar. It includes candles and other items such as stones, shells, pine cones, waters of the world, and various other items that honor each of the sacred elements – earth, air, fire, and water. There is also a statue of the ancient Goddess. It is a generic statue (found at Willedorf, Germany), that for me represents the ancient and holy mother. It is replicated in the censor right in front, which holds the incense used to honor the Goddess and in ritual.

The waters of the world contains samples of water from around the world including the Nile river, the Amazon river, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Danube, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and many, many others. The water is collected and shared at various gatherings.

The plaques on the wall on either side of the picture in the center are representations of the ancient and sacred elements.

The picture in the center with the Pentacle and the candle was a gift from a dear friend and is representative of many things, but one of the things it represents is life. The flame on that candle also reminds us that life is precious and that each flame is unique. It reminds us that all life is sacred.

This is the part of my altar area that is directly dedicated to my matron Goddess Hera. Hera, though much maligned in the mythos presented by the Greeks and as the Roman Juno, is an ancient Goddess. Her presence in Greece long pre-dates Zeus and the attempt to “marry” her via the rape scenario is one that played out repeatedly as the Goddess religions were subsumed with other religions. One of Hera’s divine animals is the Peacock, hence the peacock feather and the candle.

Nicely done! Thanks, Gawyn.

Keep sending in those photos!

(I might also remind one and all about the Comment Policies we implicitly agree to when we post comments.)

Pax et bonum.

If you think that the country is in the Middle East, you’re wrong.

It’s Poland.

If you think that Muslims were insulted, think again.

The case is being pushed by Roman Catholics.

I’ll sit back and wait for the outcry from those Christians who rail against tyrannical Islam.

Still waiting.

But let’s get to it.

John says:

Mother of God of the Sign (based on Isaiah 7:14), 3 barred Cross, head of Christ, Nativity of our Lord (this one is hand painted by a wonderful woman in Charleroi, PA), the Three Holy Hierarchs (Bishops), Beheading of St John the Forerunner/Baptist, Extreme Humility, full figure of St. John the Forerunner/Baptist, Protection of the Mother of God, St. Anna and the Theotokos, Flight into Egypt (of the Holy Family with St. James), St. Elizabeth the New Martyr of Russia, St. Peter the Apostle, Epitaphios/Plashchanitsa (burial shroud of Christ icon used on Holy Friday and Holy Saturday in the tomb set up in the center of churches for veneration).

On the table is another 3 barred Cross, pictures of my kids, and a picture of a dear priest friend of mine who died just over a year after he was ordained. I also use the table to hold my books, holy water, incense, etc. during prayer.

Very nice. Thanks, John!

Pax et bonum.

If we are to live lives that enable us to hear more clearly who we really are, then we will have to learn to move to a rhythm that is superior to the ones we have fashioned for ourselves, or the ones a consumer society has foisted upon us. We will have to discover the rhythms of daily prayer and life that can be found in the steps of the Ancient Dance of the Ancient of Days: the liturgy, the Eucharist, the calendar and the mass, the prayers of confession and intercession and recollection and contemplation, the habits of reading and retreat and working with our hands, the practices of hospitality and forgiveness and being with the poor.

Our lives must be shaped by the same rhythms that shaped the ancients, those who have gone before us. Only then will we be able to take up our places and join in the general Dance.

Benson, Robert. Living Prayer. pp. 15-16

• The liturgy
• The Eucharist
• The Calendar… the liturgical cycle
• Prayer of confession
• Prayer of intercession
• Prayer of contemplation
• Reading
• Retreat
• Working with our hands
• Hospitality
• Forgiveness
• Being with the poor

Most of us have some of these down, but how many of us could check off everything on the list? I couldn’t. I guess that’s why we have tomorrow: to begin to dance the Ancient Dance once more.

Pax et bonum.