We Bow to Your Cross

Yesterday afternoon, my little girls and I began to prepare for the coming weeks honoring the Procession of the Holy Cross.  We began by polishing the wooden crucifix which is the central figure in our family icon corner.  The icon corner, which in our case is not really a corner at all, but a wall just to the left of out front door, has been a part of our family since before our family came to be.  It seems like I've always had one!  I remember when I was in high school taking a course in Russian history, (remember, this is during the 1980's) and we had to watch the movie "Nicholas and Alexandra".  In the movie, the Tsarina Alexandra went to a corner of the palace and began to pray before an icon which had a lamp burning before it, just as one would see in a church.   I thought to myself, " Wow!  She doesn't even have to leave her house!  How cool is that!"  As I have always had a tendency toward prayer, I had to have one too, and after a little research I learned that you didn't need to be a princess or live in Russia to have an icon corner in your home.  In fact, this has always been a well established tradition among our Carpatho-Rusyn ancestors!  I promptly gathered together all of my religious art and articles and displayed them on a corner table in my room.  From that time on, I have always had an icon corner.  When I moved on to school, and then to work out of town, a semblance of the corner came with me, and when we married and built our family home, a crucifix which came to us as a wedding gift became the focal point.  On either side are icons of Our Lord and Our Lady which we purchased from our friends and Carmelite family, the nuns at Holy Annunciation Monastery in Sugarloaf, ( we so love them, and it is a reminder for us to pray for them every day).  A shelf below the icons holds a frame in which we place a copy of the icon for the saint of the day or season, to keep us current liturgically and to teach the children about the calendar.  We put our rosaries, medals, etc. there too, along with offerings of flowers from our yard...or from the store!  When our old parish was replacing an old wooden confessional kneeler, the custodian was instructed to burn it.  As she found she couldn't bring herself to do it, and she knew I loved to pray, she offered it to me and it has found a place at our corner as well.  Our liturgical books and such are there.  We place our jar for spare change there and use the money to buy offerings for the poor during the holidays.  Of all the things I love best about this sacred space in our home, it is the fact that our upstairs balcony overlooks it, and when my children were small, they used to line up in their 'jammies,  kneeling at the railing so as to see the icons below, to say their prayers.  Hopefully, someday, they too will want such a place in their own homes to teach their children to say their prayers.  And so we pass on the traditions of our faith.  Each season gives us the opportunity as a family, to display a new icon on the shelf for contemplation, to change the colors of the cloths which decorate our corner, and adorn it with flowers, fruits or what have you, bringing the liturgical season to life.  For example, the children have made a wreath of felt flowers to adorn our cross for the feast!  

First, they made a frame, using chennille pipe-cleaners, to the dimensions of the cross, fashioning two "hooks" which will be used to attach it.  As each family's cross will be a different size, you can fashion the frame as you see fit.

Next, they cut leaf shapes from some green felt and we hot-glued these to the frame.  My girls are 11, and are experienced with a hot glue gun, so I wasn't too worried, but I WAS nearby.  Please use caution, or school glue if there's a shred of worry or doubt!  

Next, they cut strips of red felt and purple felt, and ran a line of glue down one side.  They rolled them up, to look like roses, and then hot-glued them to the wreath.

This can be as elaborate or as simple as you and your children like.  I'm a true fan of children's handmade crafts and I love to display them!  Here's how ours turned out: