Question brought about by the home Altar thread

[AmISearching]

As someone who is converting, there is one thing I do not understand - why would someone have a satute of Mary but not have one of Jesus? I don’t have any issue with having a satute of Mary, but it seems to me that if we’re going to keep our priorities in line that we should have one of Christ first… (and where do you find nice looking statutes and crucifixes and such anyway - there seems to be a lot of ugly looking ones online - I did see a very nice statute of Christ as the good Shepherd that I thought was very pretty - I seem to be drawn to single color statutes)

 

[Verbum_Caro]

Hi Angela,

It would be difficult to know why different people approach things in different ways as regards private devotions such as this. I am sure that some people don’t have a statute of Christ *or *Mary, and maybe have only a statue of say. . . St. Polycarp.

I don’t think that we can really see an attempt to formulate a hierarchy in someone’s use of devotional statues.

However, with that said, I would assume that anyone who had a statue of Mary would also at least have a crucifix, which of course has a statue of Christ. But, if they didn’t I guess my best guess would be that it is very similar to those who have a picture of their mom in their wallet, but no picture of their dad. That’s pretty common, isn’t it? I don’t think it means they love their mom more than their dad, does it?

What do you think?
God Bless you on your journey!
VC

 

[AmISearching]

That kind of makes sense (and the bit about the crucifix I was forgetting about since many descriptions of home altars weren’t mentioning crucifixes, lol)

I guess coming from Protestantism - I think I’ve done a remarkable job of dealing with my “issues” with Mary much quicker and easier than some former Protestants -but maybe this is just my last issue to deal with perhaps…

I would like to know though if anyone knows of any really good sources for Catholic items - maybe I just have strange taste - but there does seem to be a lot of ugly statues (or maybe they just don’t photograph well) - but then I’m probably just picky =)

 

[RosaLydia]

I agree that there is a lot of ugly statues out there! I’ve been wanting a Sacred Heart Statue for home and a large Crucifix for my entryway but I have yet to find the one. I think that maybe I can purchase it during a trip or during a special feast, so it has a nice memory attached to it. Right now we only have a small glass cross that a friend gave us instead.

In the meantime, our Church auctioned a beautiful LARGE statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and we won the auction. I always wanted to have a prayer garden in my back yard and thought that this would make a wonderful addition.

So if you come to my house, you will not find a big crucifix or statue of Jesus, only one of Mary, but this in no way reflects “Hierachy” or “Who I love the most”. There is no confusion, just lack of availability

 

[AmISearching]

LOL RosaLydia - knowing my luck after all I’ve said, the first thing I will find I absolutely love will be of mary too! hee hee Your post did make me giggle though - because here I am talking about how ugly some things are - and thats the reason you only have mary so far!

 

[puzzleannie]

AmISearching?:

As someone who is converting, there is one thing I do not understand - why would someone have a satute of Mary but not have one of Jesus? I don’t have any issue with having a satute of Mary, but it seems to me that if we’re going to keep our priorities in line that we should have one of Christ first…)

first, a nit-pick, if you have a prayer table or shrine at home with an image or statue of Our Lady, it is not an altar. The altar is only in Church, the table on which the sacrifice of the Mass takes place. There are no rules for a prayer corner or shrine at home, although every Catholic home should have a crucifix. Jesus is not annoyed, diminished or upset if we show honor to His mother. The sacred images in your home should be those that inspire you and lead you to prayer.

 

[AmISearching]

puzzleannie:

first, a nit-pick, if you have a prayer table or shrine at home with an image or statue of Our Lady, it is not an altar. The altar is only in Church, the table on which the sacrifice of the Mass takes place. There are no rules for a prayer corner or shrine at home, although every Catholic home should have a crucifix. Jesus is not annoyed, diminished or upset if we show honor to His mother. The sacred images in your home should be those that inspire you and lead you to prayer.

I understand the real difference - I was just using the term used in the TITLE of the thread before, and by a large number of the posters with in it…

I guess I just don’t pay that close attention to my words having come from Protestantism and our “altars” being completely different but I realize I ought to be a lot more careful