The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home

This book has lots of good ideas for families looking to increase devotion in their domestic church. So often those promoting living the liturgical year rely on arts and crafts. This isn't that type of book. Leila Lawler's practical wisdom encourages the read to live the faith in her home. The only downside, for me, was the art included. Because I know Lawler's family is from a western liturgical tradition, I was expecting art more in line with that tradition. I was disappointed that the art was all in the eastern style.

I want to clarify that I am not a Catholic, yet this book touched me so deeply. It gives such a profound vision for what family life & home life can mean in the Christian life. Other books I read just don't give such a comprehensive overview of why it matters how we honor God together as a family. I feel inadequate to take the steps laid out in the book, and I still have many questions of the authors, yet I came away inspired that doing one thing will lead to next thing, to the next. Well, the artwork in the back of the book gave me that perfect place to start. Probably other reviewers have mentioned this, but that artwork alone is worth the purchase price of the book! My daughter was so honored to be given the job of cutting out the pictures and putting them in frames. Now the kids are gung-ho about praying with the images, and I'm surprised by how much more beautiful our home feels, now that those are visible. I look forward to researching the links provided in the book and learning more. It encourages me so much that this book exists and that there are families all over who are living out this calling. This is huge.

This book inspired me even before I was married about how important it would be to set up a special prayer place. The icons in the back I found too lovely to remove from the book so instead used them as inspiration to curate beautiful pieces of art that would point to God, and serve as a window to heaven. I have turned to this book many times since initially reading it to gain inspiration. Such a great reminder that the space around us can be a help or a hindrance in turning our hearts to God. Cultivating the habits in this book will truly help us to pray always.

I discovered this book in 2015 when I was a young mom and trying to figure out how to make our faith more central to our daily lives. This book opened my eyes to a whole new (and more organic) way of ordering my home and my family life so that we could be more fully who God created us to be.

Lines like this made all of the difference in helping me understand how natural it is live liturgically: "When someone does something beautifully, we often use the word graceful to describe it. This is an appropriate word, for we cannot hope to fulfill our calling without God's grace." (pg 7)

I am so grateful for the loving and *graceful* way in which Leila reoriented my perspective and for the beautiful journey it started me on.

eel like a gift…worth the price of the book alone!). The content, though, is the real treasure here. David and Leila work together to offer something practical and deeply theological all at once, without ever overwhelming the reader. Long before reaching the end, it becomes obvious that this book will help transform the culture.

As converts of only five years, our family is still getting its feet wet with the finer points of Catholic tradition and the life of the domestic church. We've had a 'Little Oratory' in our home for years now, but this book offered new suggestions and ideas to bring this corner of our home to life. This is the beauty of the book…it meets the needs of so many. For some, this idea of a home altar or prayer corner may be entirely new, and the book will serve as the perfect guide to get started. For those with a bit of experience, the book draws us deeper into the faith and encourages us to keep working at it. The theological underpinnings presented exhort the reader in the Christian life, yet all the while covering the nitty gritty of which devotions and practices may bring new depth or liveliness to the family's life of prayer.

We learned so much! Between the encouragement the book offers and the actual "equipping" it does to move forward, our family is eager for this next stage of our journey to live the good life our Lord and the Church offers.

excellent book for any young catholic family trying to build the culture of catholic family life. fantastic value. very informative.