Home Chapel Update 2025

 

In a large part to Fr. Deacon Robert Klesko's article in the National Catholic Register on our chapel, we thought it was time to do an update on the state of our home chapel.  For some background, here are some past posts as we started this crazy project:

Beginning of the Chapel - 2018

Paschal Candle - 2018

Stations of the Cross - 2019

In which I draw Arches - 2019

First Batch of Stenciling - 2019

Infant of Prague - 2019

Family Altar - 2020

Chapel Tour - 2020

I think it is also worth sharing how we spent Easter 2020.  I don't know that anything was new, but it was so meaningful to feel connected to the larger Church while worshiping in quarantine. 

Journey East

Hannah and I have been aware of Eastern Catholicism for most of our lives.  Long before Hannah and I started dating in 2005, she had already taken a class on Byzantine Spirituality at Benedictine College. Icons have always been a part of prayer corners in every home we have had together, and every classroom I taught in.  While the story is too long for this post, somewhere between conversations with two Ruthenian Deacons, Fr. Dcn. Robert Klesko and Fr. Dcn. John Harden in 2018 and Christmas Eve of 2023 we made the switch from being Roman Catholic while embracing some of the practices of the East, to being Melkite Catholics, embracing some of the practices of the West.  Our chapel reflects that.

While we still use many of the Chalice Veils that we had made years ago, for festive days we use the Byzantine style Aer (Ἀήρ) to cover the chalice from our wedding.

The spot where I set my books while praying the Divine Office has gone from 1 edition of the Four Volume Set of Liturgy of the Hours to 1 Horologion, 12 Menaia, 4 Octoechos, 6 volumes of the Triodion, 3 volumes of the Pentacostarion, 1 Psalter, 2 Euchologia, and 1 outdated Liturgikon.  Hannah bought me a bookshelf to hold them all.

In so many ways, the driving force behind what goes into the chapel is how the kids feel comfortable praying.  For them, lighting a candle when they get to church is what gets them into the mode for prayer.  The design behind our sand candelabrum was "safe and stable"... now if we can start calling it something other than "the sand pit"!

Our Lady, More Spacious than the Heavens

The Icons

Menaion Icons  - One for each month with images of each Saint commemorated on their Feast Day.

April

We moved all the kids' Patron Saint icons lower, and near the benches, so that the littles can kiss them whenever they want.

Angels and Bodiless Powers

This is a better picture of the two kissing icons we put on the baby gate.  As seen in the very first picture above... the baby gate is there to keep some control of the space, but the adjoining living room is where the toddlers spend most of their day, so they run up and kiss Jesus and Mary.

Paintjob

The biggest change is the new paint job.  I spent almost five years debating with myself about the color scheme.  Hannah was patient and told me that whatever I decided would be beautiful.  It was definitely a family afare with all hands on deck.

While it turned out gorgeous, I never want to do a stencil in a corner ever again!

Finally

In the end, whatever space you choose to pray in, the more you use it, the more you make it your own, the more beautiful it will be!

I still think the icon corner in the Girls' room is one of the most beautiful prayer corners I have seen... they did it themselves, and it is a reflection of their prayer life.

Resources

Seraphim Shop: I no longer buy icons from anyone else.  Period.  Jessica has the best prices and is willing to find anything you need.  Most of the gold-gilded icons in the pictures above came from her.

Farrow & Ball: While their paint is expensive, and I tend to take their color shades and get them made in Benjamin Moore paint, I think sticking to a limited palette is really helpful.  All their paint fits on one color card, they are all complementary, and they are all well saturated.  Main walls are "Cook's Blue", Lower Wood Panelling is "Beverly" Green, and the red is "Incanadine".

Royal Design Studio Stencils: With few exceptions, these are the pattern stencils I use, and I like their ancient gold stencil paint.

Twin Extraordinary Form Baptism - Roman Rite

(Godmothers Alzbeta Volk and Kathleen Lewis, two of my three favorite sisters)

Let me preface this by saying that the twins were baptized in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite prior to Pope Francis releasing "Traditionis Custodes".  It was beautiful, and I am grateful.  I have to say, when they are in trouble, they may get called in their Latinized names! Ludovicus Venceslaus and Maria Azelia Theresia.

I take full responsibility for the long hiatus we took from this blog.  Between life, babies, and more babies we were busy and distracted.  Sometime around the last blog post, we found out that not only was Hannah pregnant but that she was pregnant with twins.  There was shock, joy, panic, elation, fear, exhaustion on repeat on a daily basis.  Zelie and Louis, named after Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, were born prematurely after Hannah contracted the Nora virus at 33 weeks.  Zelie came out first with an emergency cesarian after Louis flipped to a transverse breech position higher in the womb.  Zelie and Louis spent 28 and 33 days respectively in the NICU with some of the best nurses we have had the pleasure of meeting.

NOTE: Unlike most of these posts, We did not take the pictures.  The really good ones were either taken, or at least edited, by my sister Alzbeta Volk, a professional photographer.  At various times, our oldest daughter Lucy, Hannah's mother Susan, or my Brother-in-Law James also manned the cameras.  Thank-You!

This is not the first time we had one of our children baptized using the Extraordinary Form.  I am not going to say it is the only way or best way, etc, but I do like it.  The only important part, of course, is the words "I baptize you in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit".  Holy Mother Church does so much to set them down the correct path, in whatever form of Baptism is used (East, West, Ordinary, Extraordinary): being blessed, exorcised, anointed; they are truly claimed for Christ.  In addition to seeing to the spiritual needs of the baptized, I also find it helpful to the those attending in joyful witness.  We have six kids, and every moment can be a teaching moment.

Preparation

While your parish will certainly provide all the necessities for the sacraments, we have always been keen on adding our own personal touches, where appropriate.  

This time my sister, Katie, sent me some beeswax from her hives to add to the white beeswax I was using for their baptismal candles.  I used this candle mold.  You can get similar other places, and I thought about going with a longer straight-sided candle, but these have a gentle elegance to them that I enjoy.  I then carved a cross, alpha, and omega into the candles to mimic what we do for Paschal Candles.  The gold leaf that was gilded into them was blessed when our Pastor blessed our house for the Epiphany along with our stock of frankincense and myrrh.

I first saw this style of Sacramental Records in the archives at the Diocese of Little Rock and am glad they are being reproduced by Catholic Stationary.

Prior to the actual baptism, our pastor blessed the candles.

Hannah's mother made a gown for each of her children when they started having children.  We, then, threw her a curveball by needing another one!  In this picture, they are hanging right by the front door where we have candles.  The candles are not for when the power goes out, but for those occasions when the Eucharist is brought to our house for sick (as we got to use when Hannah came home from the hospital and was unable to go anywhere else.)  On that occasion, I met the priest at their car door with the bigger candle and Tony met us at the house door with the small candle as we processed to our little chapel.  It reminds me how the sacraments are all connected, the graciousness of our families, and the kindness of our Parish

Interrogation of Godparents

First Exorcism

Blessing and Imposition of Salt

Admission into the Church

Baptism

N., Ego te baptizo in Nomine  Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti 

Anointing with Chrism

The Baptismal Candle

Lucy, our eldest, really wanted to take this picture of our Pastor, Fr. Jerabek, and our good friend, Godfather of Louis, Robert Klesko.  Robert is in diaconate formation for the Ruthenian Catholics, and Lucy loved the "East meets West" vibe of this one.  

Hannah and I are so blessed to expand our family!  Special Thanks to the Godparents of the twins, my sisters Katie and Alzbeta, Hannah's brother J. Frank, and our friend Robert who worked so hard to be in attendance, and to Fr. Jerabek, Rector of The Cathedral of St. Paul, for providing the sacraments.

Standing up to the Heat

Seeds are Ready to be Sown

Soooo..... My Dad has lots of gardens.  He has several beds at his house, He has a few annex beds at my oldest sisters house, I think he even has a few plants at My second-oldest sister's Purgatory Ranch.  Now, my second side yard has been tilled, spaded, then tilled again... and tilled a third and fourth time for good measure.

When we bought the house, the previous owners had planted a few tomatoes and had two overgrown Gooseberry bushes.

Sister #2 and Her Husband took the Gooseberries to their land-- there is not enough sugar in the world to entice me to eat as much as those are going to produce.  They came out last night, and helped pull the bushes, and start the spading.  My Little Brother... not the youngest though...  also came.

This morning it rained... it was overcast... it was cold... Dad and I worked.  I made a few more passes with the tiller, and spaded what was left.  Dad spaded and spread his mix of fertilizer, compost, potting soil, etc...

We finished around noon, after working a good part of the morning.  Tomorrow, or Monday, Dad is going to plant onions.  Shortly, we will add tomatoes and peppers.  We have a lot of rabbits, so I think marigolds and poppies will be a requirement.  We will see what happens... Here we go... Feet first into spring...