Holy Week while on quarantine: How to build your home altar

 With Luzon still under quarantine, celebrating Holy Week traditions will have to be done at home, the domestic church. Fr. Dennis Paez of Don Bosco compares it to "the time of the early church, when places of worship were the homes."

Today, as Catholics celebrate Palm Sunday and look to the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem, wouldn't it be fitting to build a home shrine or altar as a way of welcoming Christ into your home in time for Holy Week?

Paez says that the Greek Orthodox take their home altar seriously, calling it the beautiful corner. They have traditions which are certainly most valid for us, too.

First pick the most central spot in the house. “Kung saan kitang-kita siya,” he tells GMA News Online on a phone interview. According to Paez, in Greek Orthodox homes, guests first bows to the home shrine before greeting the owners.

There  are four main elements to a home altar:

1. A piece of cloth to cover the table
2. Your religious icons
3. Candles
4. Flowers or plants

“The cloth is a sign of respect. It signifies that ‘this space is holy’.” Paez says, adding white cloth is preferred, but any color is okay.

The candles signify burning devotion, while the flowers, love.

The most important religious icon to place is of course, that of Christ. “It can be the crucifix, the Sacred Heart, the Divine Mercy — picture form or statue does not matter,” Paez says.

He adds an image of the Blessed Mother comes next, after which you can add images of saints and other religious items like the holy water or the rosary that you may have at home.

According to Paez, when you’ve already set it up, it would be good that “the priest of the domestic church — the father of the family — would sprinkle the altar with holy water in the absence of the priest. “ Otherwise, the mother could do it.

After the blessing, the household prays an Our Father, Holy Mary, and the Glory Be. This constitutes the blessing of the church.

But Paez reminds that the most important factor in setting up an altar is that “we pray in front of it, not just set it up and then hindi mo na papansinin. Setting it up is enthroning God in your home. We have invited the Divinity to  become part of our household.”

He adds, “wag niyo dadaan-daan lang yung altar. There is now the presence of God there. So acknowledge it."

Paez suggests lighting a candle every time you pray or offering flowers or putting plants as an expression of faith.

"Be awed by this holy presence in your home!" he exclaims. — LA, GMA News