These are two old ideas that are new to many people today, and surprisingly they are connected. Pope Benedict XVI told us that the driving force for the New Evangelization is the Domestic Church. Prayer in the home focussed on a place set aside for it and marked by sacred images goes back to Roman times; the method of seeking to evangelize the post-Christian West termed the New Evangelization. So while the problem is new - how do we convert people whose parents or grandparents were Christian and think they already know enough about the Faith to know they don't like it? - the answer is the same as it ever was. We must be supernaturally transformed, shining with the love of Christ so people want what we have! And it is prayer in the Domestic Church that plays a crucial part in that personal transformation.
Links and quotes:
“Therefore, it must be emphasized once more that the pastoral intervention of the Church in support of the family is a matter of urgency. Every effort should be made to strengthen and develop pastoral care for the family, which should be treated as a real matter of priority, in the certainty that future evangelization depends largely on the domestic Church.”
“The family is the first school of prayer where, from their infancy, children learn to perceive God thanks to the teaching and example of their parents. An authentically Christian education cannot neglect the experience of prayer. If we do not learn to pray in the family, it will be difficult to fill this gap later.”
Weekly address, the Vatican, Dec 2011
Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger: on the New Evangelization
Way of Beauty blog article: The New Evangelization and the Domestic Church - Pope Benedict XVI on the connection between the two
Pictures of Roman home altars and dining arrangements, followed by a modern icon corner:
