Why does a Family need a Heaven Door? VID 2

VID 2 –"Installing Heaven Door" –  Tandem BLOG Article

When someone is important we spend much of our energy, time, and resources for and with that person. We share daily conversations, concerns, a budget, responsibilities, vacations, celebrations such as anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, and much more.

When something is important to a family, we even dedicate a special place or room to it.  A widescreen TV takes a significant amount of space on a main wall for a family who regularly watch football, other team sports or movies. Televised games are important to them.  A game room, sometimes big enough to hold a ping-pong or pool table, is set aside because this is important.  We have study rooms, computer corners, laundry rooms, and work benches with the appropriate number of electrical outlets and tools needed for each room. There are workout rooms for those with office jobs, to keep fit or burn off stress.  Not only bathrooms, but also jacuzzi baths are options when relaxation is needed.  A place to store toys is necessary and important when there are toddlers.  A baby’s room with all accessories: crib, bassinette, delicate curtains, hanging toys, decorations, appropriately painted walls and ceilings express that an infant is important and needful of extra special attention.

Separate rooms for siblings allow each the freedom to proclaim their uniqueness and identity.  Practical, yet not absolutely necessary, garages for cars multipurpose as storage rooms for landscaping equipment, because lawn and gardens are important. Specially constructed sheds also protect outdoor maintenance needs.  Family rooms for gatherings, decks for parties, perhaps a traditional dining room, or larger kitchen with an extendable table for family dinners.  All rooms and their “tools” have their particular purpose, according to the priorities, and needs of a given family.

Where is the place or room for our faith?  If belief in God is important, then there is or ought to be a place dedicated to it.  One may say that faith is expressed in how we treat each other. Of course, however personal relationships are nurtured and strengthened by using or dedicating something concrete to express them. As with  sports, gaming, gardens are important we wear accessories (uniforms, team colored clothes and caps) dedicate rooms to them.

According to Catholic (Incarnational) practice, As with God’s Words, concepts and ideas tend to take on flesh.  Religious rules or values for family living also need a place, they need practices, celebrations, and daily reminders.  The Heaven Door as permanent, prominent, and approachable is just such a reminder. It is dedicated to proclaim, “God lives among us. God is important to us. God is at least as important as playing, eating, partying, watching sports, studying, laundry, etc.”

There may be another issue. Some may experience an initial or even strong resistance to displaying personal beliefs in public.  A person may think that some guests may feel uncomfortable or not welcome in the presence of the symbols and signs of your faith. 

This is often the case in public, when the courtesy of cultural diversity does not always extend to religious symbols as during the Christmas or Easter Season.  At those times, symbols of religious belief are replaced with marketing decorations: turkeys, harvest wreaths, and cornucopia horns; reindeer, trees, or rabbits, etc.  I encourage you to not follow suit and melt-down your family’s holydays. They are a source of ultimate joy, endless hope, and experiencing God’s love, going beyond an actual season and leading us to our everlasting Baptismal destiny: Heaven. 

It is very easy, even in our own Church (as discussed in last Saturday’s Intro tandem BLOG Article), to brush faith symbols aside as un-necessary, uninlightened.  As parents, however, try to remember the overt Catholic symbols of your Grandparents and Great-Grandparents, and/or of your faith-heritage of your first parish or home. Symbols subconsciously form personal identity, continuity with the past, and group belonging. Today’s teens live in a religious vacuum of symbols, are creating their own. Some of them are actually self-destructive.

If necessary, surf images of ancient Catholic architecture: frescoes, paintings, stained glass, mosaics, and sculptures. Among them you will find historic Catholic symbols: Jesus’ Crucifix, the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity, Madonna and Child, the Holy Family, Gospel events, the life-testimony and martyrdom of the Apostles and Saints: men and women of the past centuries and even up unto this very year.

These symbols, as well as athletic jerseys, heirloom albums, souvenirs of trips, knick-knacks, I-phone apps, or varied personal collections of…, are important to us. A prominent place for a sacred images, such as the Heaven Door, and its readily accessible spiritual tools, expresses the eternal, that which lasts forever, which you can’t lose or break, and can’t be stolen.  Moreover, this dedicated place inspires life, expresses, and celebrates your life-giving relationship with God (dimensions discussed in upcoming videos).

Next Saturday: “Some Doors have Windows.”

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