Living The Faith

In celebrating Valentine’s Day as we did this past week, our thoughts inevitably turn to love – the love that we have for our spouse, for our children and for our family. As I think about the day and what it means to me as a Catholic husband and father, I also find myself reflecting on my love for God and for our faith. In fact, one of my most important responsibilities as a parent is to introduce my children to the power of that love and to educate them on the truth and beauty that is our faith.

On the surface, we fit the basic image that most people would have of a large Catholic family. We attend weekly Mass, we send our kids to Catholic school and we have a crucifix in every room in our house. Each of these actions displays the love and devotion that we have for our faith and creates a foundation for our children to build upon in their journey to know and love God.

Taking our children to Mass allows them to see the importance of gathering as a community to worship and pray. It allows them to hear the word of God and celebrate Jesus’ love for us through the sacrament of the Eucharist. Their attendance in Catholic school confirms our commitment to supplementing their faith education, remember as parents we are the first teachers of the faith to our children, and allows them to grow and learn in a caring and Christ centered environment. Having a crucifix in every room in our house serves as a constant reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Seeing His image and feeling His presence allows our children to be comforted and to know that He is always with them.

These are wonderful gifts that we provide for our children and are an important part of their faith education but we are called to do so much more in our vocation as parents. We also need to be actively living the faith by making it the center of our family life. We can do this through conversations with our kids, by talking to them about the faith, asking what they are learning in religion class and then having meaningful discussions. We can reflect on God’s love and help them to see how it is present in their lives. We can also pray with them, which is probably the most important and powerful thing we can do to help them to know and love God. In our family, as part of our nightly routine, we say our prayers giving thanks and praising God. We then go around the room and talk about the one thing we are most thankful for from our day. These practices draw us closer to God by allowing us to end each day, no matter how good or bad, with thanks and an attitude of appreciation for His love for all of the blessings in our lives.

If we are not taking steps to live the faith every day, we are doing a disservice to our family. How many times in our lives have we learned something but not put it to daily use. What happens in these cases is that we lose the significance and often, we even forget the basics. Do we want our children to have this same experience with their faith?

Being Catholic can seem difficult sometimes with the diminishing importance of God in our culture and the scandals that have plagued the Church in recent years. However, being Catholic is not just a box to be checked on a form when asked about our religion. It is who we are, the very essence of our being, as disciples of Christ.  Jesus is the foundation of our faith and He has called us to follow Him and live by His example of peace and love. We strive to follow Jesus’ teachings to love God, to love others and to practice forgiveness, mercy and compassion. In addition to teaching these fundamentals to our children, we must also follow it up by our actions – the attitude in which we approach each day, how we interact with them and with others and how we handle certain situations, especially adversity.

Recently my daughter had a religion assignment to write a paragraph about the person who has most influenced her faith.  I felt honored and blessed that she picked me as the subject of the assignment. In the paragraph, she talked about how I take her to Mass and talk to her and her siblings about the faith.  In addition to reaffirming these basics that I mentioned earlier, she discussed actions that she observes but is not actively involved in that also have an impact on her life. Things such as the classes I attend to study the Catechism, my weekly time in Adoration and my passion for sharing my love of our faith through this blog. In noticing these things, she is able to see my own personal love for God and my desire to  grow closer to Him. When teaching our children, no matter what the subject matter, it is important to remember that we must be genuine, mean what we say and basically, practice what we preach. Our message will ring hollow for them if we are not backing up our words with our actions.

If we take time away from the distractions of daily life and find a quiet place to think and reflect, how can we not be in awe of the depth of God’s love for us. How can we not be humbled and overcome with pure joy in realizing the true meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice. How can we not be thankful for the power of the Holy Spirit and how it is actively working in our lives. Ultimately, how can we not realize the true beauty and gift that is our Catholic faith. These are the truths that I know and that I want my kids to realize and appreciate. Every day I have the opportunity to help shape their attitude towards the faith, help them to know and love God and to be prepared to receive Jesus in their hearts and minds.  This is a great responsibility that we have as Catholic parents and through our actions and with God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can help them along the path to living the faith in their own lives.