To the Heights: Creating a Domestic Church in Your Home

This is the second post in a row with a title that starts out "To the Heights," but it's not like I'm going to make that phrase a trademark of this blog.  I just thought that it absolutely fit last time, when talking about ordinary folks who keep their eyes trained upward, "verso l'alto," as St. Pier Giorgio Frassati put it, striving to reach the top, the pinnacle--which is of course eternal life in Heaven with God.  And I think it fits today, too, when I'm planning to talk about how the home is the family's domestic church, and everything that happens within its walls should point its members toward that same goal of becoming saints in Heaven.

They say that when you're in Rome, you should always remember to LOOK UP!  When I had the extraordinary privilege of taking three trips there (during the later years of my husband's career as an airline pilot, using the free stand-by tickets that were a perk of that job), I tried to always remember to do so.  And I was never, ever disappointed!  The Catholic churches over in bella Roma are just spilling over with so much glorious artwork (masterpiece-quality paintings, gold leaf embellishments, gorgeous statues, ornate metalwork, and intricately-carved woodwork, so much to see everywhere you look) that truly, every inch is a feast for the eyes and a proverbial glimpse of Heaven on earth.  But sometimes, the most beautiful artwork of all is on the ceilings. I have so many pictures of church ceilings taken while I was on those precious trips to the Eternal City.

So often, those breathtakingly beautiful painted church ceilings include areas that are deep blue and dotted with golden stars, like a splendid night sky framed in a skylight window.  It's funny, even long before I ever got to see those ceilings in Rome, I had a hankering to paint the dining room ceiling in our house in NH, where we lived for 26 years and raised our boys.  But I never had the guts.  (And also--Michelangelo I am NOT!)  It never happened, but the desire to have a painted ceiling in my own home was always in the back of my mind.

There's no reason one shouldn't have this sort of ceiling in one's own house, is there?  

Anyway, last May, all of my husband's siblings and many of their spouses met up in Savannah, GA, to celebrate the 60th birthday of one of the sisters.  While there, we attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.  Oh my...have you ever seen it?  If you have, I don't need to tell you that it's simply magnificent.

And the ornate ceiling includes that element I love so in a church ceiling: areas that look like a star-studded night sky.  As you raise your eyes heavenward, you feel so close to Heaven!

Something about the starry sky thing just speaks to me.  You?

For some reason, looking up while we were in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist got me thinking about how I'd always wanted to paint a ceiling like that.  As soon as we got back from that long weekend in Savannah, I looked at the dining room ceiling at our house here in VA and was like, Eureka!  It's a tray ceiling, and it had already been painted gray by the previous owners--so it hit me that one might hardly notice a change to blue. I realized that it was almost crying out to become my longed-for starry night sky!

Do you see what I mean?  That was how the room was painted when we bought the house back in 2017, and while I might not have chosen gray myself, I liked it enough to keep it as it was.  But now, in my mind's eye I could see the starry heavens up there in that framed middle section of the ceiling, and I couldn't wait to get started!

I actually found a shade of blue called "Midnight Shadow," and I thought it was perfect.  I almost went with a more vibrant shade of royal blue, but ultimately decided that I wanted the change from gray to blue to be a tad more subtle.  Once I had the paint, I couldn't wait to get started!!

I toyed with the idea of stenciling the gold stars, but realized that hand-painting them would probably be way too difficult (and probably messy and disastrous!).  So I went online, and on Amazon I found some affordable self-stick gold stars meant for use on walls. 

 

Attaching the stars to the ceiling was a piece of cake.  But deciding on a pattern took a little more time and brain power.  And math!  I didn't want to just throw them up there randomly, even though that's what the real sky might look like.  I needed there to be some order to it.  I ended up using a yardstick to measure things out, and I made little chalk dots so I'd know where to place the stars.

This was early-on in the operation.

Eventually, it looked like this.

Sorry for all the pictures--but none of them seem to do it justice.  It looks so much prettier in person...but you get the idea.

I am over the moon about this dining room ceiling.  I actually had a few pages of star stickers left over that I decided not to use, because I thought it looked "finished."  If I ever change my mind, I can always add more.  It's not exactly St. John the Baptist in Savannah...but this room is part of my very own domestic church (with stained glass in the chandelier, no less!  And a statue of Jesus in a niche in the corner!  And a Crucifix hanging over a picture of the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus!).  And I love it.

When my husband and I moved here eight years ago, we left behind a large and well-built Colonial house in NH, situated on over an acre of land near the end of a quiet, wooded, cul-de-sac street.  It was a property which we tended lovingly and improved patiently,  DIY project by DIY project, over the years--a home where we happily raised our five boys.  But then all of those boys grew up and moved away, and it just so happened that three of the five providentially moved to the same area of VA.  So we did, too.  Our VA house is a good bit smaller than our NH house (but certainly big enough for two empty-nesters!) and located in a cookie cutter neighborhood, with a postage stamp-sized yard that's a breeze to take care of.  Some might say that we've taken a step down, going from the NH house to this one; but the funny thing is, I just adore this sweet little house.  It couldn't be more perfect for the phase of life we're in.  Obviously, it wouldn't have been an ideal place to raise our sons.  But it's so perfect for the two of us: small enough to keep clean and tidy, very cozy and comfortable, with a giant master bedroom suite that has a ridiculously oversized bathroom (I feel spoiled rotten!) and an upstairs bedroom that serves as an office, something we never really had in our old house.  And even though it's not the biggest house in the world, it somehow manages to hold all of our loved ones relatively comfortably for holiday parties, and we have three different guest bedrooms (one in the basement and two upstairs) set up at all times for our visiting out-of-town sons and their kids.  (Or for the occasional grandchild sleepover!)

I hope that when our our boys come here, they feel God's presence because of the way we have honored Him and His Son and the Blessed Mother in our decor.  I hope that they feel our profound love for them and their wives and children, too, as they walk from room to room, noting that aside from religious artwork, the walls are mostly plastered with framed family photos and meaningful mementos of our long and happy life.  I hope this sweet little cozy cottage of a house feels like a domestic church to them.  I know it does to me.  And as much as I loved--LOVED--those years when all five of our boys lived under our roof, I am feeling exceptionally blessed to have lived long enough to be enjoying these empty-nesting years with my husband now.  You start out just the two of you...then, God willing, you add the children...then they grow up and leave...and you end up with just the two of you again.  And if you not only love but really like your spouse, there's nothing at all depressing about it!  In fact, it’s a joy--a different kind of joy than when your babies were little, but a joy nonetheless.  Yes, the members of the family you created will come to spend time with you--often, hopefully; but it is your marriage that is the rock upon which that family has been built.  Cherish and nurture it.  And keep looking up to the heights! (If it helps, paint your ceiling to look like the starry night sky!)  Because the point of it is to help each other get to Heaven.

God bless you, dear readers!  Thanks for stopping by.