Home  Parenting
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Who Wrote the Book on Parenting? |
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Who Wrote the Book on Parenting?
Have you ever had one of those crazy days as a parent, when everything you tried to do with your children just flopped? You know, that day when you threw your head into your hands and wondered if you were ever really meant to be a parent? If you've ever wondered who wrote the book on parenting, then look no further than the Catholic Catechism.
Article 1666 of the Catechism of The Catholic Church tells us that: “The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.” Does that sound like your home? Probably not. Most of us are a long way from the ideal in terms of how we reflect our Catholic faith, both inside and outside of our homes. If the above description of the ideal Catholic home is far from your reality, don’t despair. We're all in the same boat. There are many pressures on our family life today and no home is perfect. If you’re not there yet, don’t worry. You’re not alone. We're all trying to raise a holy Catholic family in a time of cultural madness. It's certainly not an easy task.
Proclamation of the faith, you say? Hey, isn’t that the priest’s job? Well yes, it is, but actually the church says that it's also ours. The Church feels that you and I need to talk to our family about our (gulp) Catholic faith. I know, I know, we Catholics never talk about our faith in public. After all, to do so would be…well…un-Catholic! Besides, what would we say; where would we begin?"
The US Catholic Bishops have a suggestion. They say that all Catholics have stories of faith that we can share, and it is really important that we do everything we can to share them. In their March, 1990 document, "Go and Make Disciples" the USCCB say: “We all have-and are-stories of faith... we have an essential role in sharing that faith through our daily lives as believers.” So, an important first step in making our home a place where our children receive "the first proclamation of the faith," is to gather our own stories of faith that we can share with our children. Now, you may think that you don’t have any stories of faith, but you are wrong. As the Bishops say, we all have stories of faith and we all are stories of faith. To believe that we don't have any such stories is to fall victim to a very Catholic attitude that only the Saints themselves were holy enough to have had any faith experiences worth repeating.
This goes contrary to the reality that God is willing to work through all of us and to speak to any of us, at any time. The problem is not that God won’t speak to us; it’s that we just don’t know how to listen to His voice. Our lives are far too busy and noisy to hear God when He addresses us. Contrary to popular perception, God does not speak in a loud voice but in a small, quiet voice. Usually, God does not address us in actual words. More often, it is in a thought, in a dream, or through another person. As Sacred Scripture tells us in Job 33:14 "For God does speak - now one way, now another - though man may not perceive it." Whether we realize it or not, God is always there, waiting for us to connect with Him.
We all have stories of faith; we often just don't realize it. We have all felt the hand of God in our lives, at one time or another. Perhaps it was at Mass after a certain beautiful hymn was played, or maybe God touched you in another way at another time. Maybe He interceded in your life to prevent you from doing something that would have been harmful for you, or possibly He dropped a wonderful blessing into your life that you are still benefitting from. Or he might have sent you advice for a problem that you were struggling with, through a stranger. If you take time to reflect and pray on it, you'll soon see that God has touched your life in many different and wonderful ways.
So do your children a favor; take the time to gather your unique and personal stories of faith, so you can share them. Try to spend some quiet time with God, to reflect on your life and pray. Ask God to show you where He has touched your life. You'll be surprised at what can happen when you do this. As the Spirit of our Living God answers you prayer, He will bring to mind long-forgotten stories of faith that have occurred in your life from the time you were a child. These are precious encounters with God that you can share, not only with your children but also with other family members and friends. Your story of faith could be just the one that inspires a family member or friend to turn to God in their time of need. You could perform no greater act of love for those you care about, then to help them find God in a time of great personal crises. Your reward will be eternal.
Step two in making your home a place where your faith is proclaimed is to reevaluate the current state of your own faith. Hopefully you'll agree that our own actions as parents are important, given that we are the key role models for our children. If our actions around the house say to our children,“do what I say, not what I do,” then we will have a credibility problem with our children as we try to witness to them about our Catholic faith. Our children are smart enough to see through any discrepancies between our words and our actions, so it's important to consider what we project to our children in terms of our own faith.
If you think about it, we can' really raise our children to be strong in the Catholic faith, if we ourselves are unsure about the strength of our own faith. How can we give our children something that we don't really have? Why would our children be eager to learn about a faith that we are not really that excited about, ourselves? If we're really honest with ourselves, as we examine of the state of our own Catholic faith we will more than likely uncover an area or two that could use some brushing up on. That’s okay. You're not alone.
In a 2002 Internet survey of 59,000 lay Catholics who were asked what they wanted to see more of in the parish, the top 4 responses were related to learning more about our Catholic faith. As Catholics, we want better adult faith formation programs, we want more support on how to pass on our faith on to our children, we want to know more about Catholic teaching and we want to know more about how to read the bible.
If you also hunger to know more about your Catholic faith, then this is the web site for you. We're here to give you the support you need to grow in your Catholic faith, as an individual and as a family. Our goal is to show you practical and measurable steps that you can take to move your yourself and your family forward on your journey of Catholic faith. God will bless your desire to know more about your Catholic faith.
As you grow in your understanding of the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great, universal Catholic Church that He established on earth, you cannot help but get excited about it. Before you know it, your enthusiasm for your faith will spill over to your children and then to your children’s children, for generations to come. Your faithfulness will establish a great legacy of faith for all future members of your family tree. And when you meet Jesus face to face and look down from heaven at the many family and friends that you have affected with your faith, the Lord cannot help but put His hand on you shoulder and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
May the peace of Christ reign in your life forever! |
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