My dear friends,
Do you pray with your children? Do you say grace before meals? Do you say a quick prayer when you get up in the morning, and another before you go to sleep at night? How often do you read the Bible as a family? Do you even sit down to eat as a family on a regular basis?
I know that life is hectic, and parents and children often spend their days rushing from one activity to another, often going their separate ways.
Where does God fit in?
We are quick to complain about the absence of God from the media, the immorality depicted in television shows, and the violence in video games and music lyrics. It is true that we live in a decidedly secular society.
But it is not enough to blame others. Is God present in your homes? Is prayer a part of your daily lives? As I have noted before, we live in an age not so much of unbelief as of indifference. Few people really question the existence of God, but a great majority live as if he didn't exist. Their faith — if it can be called that — is completely irrelevant to the way they conduct their lives.
Christ taught us differently. He taught us that God is Father to the human family, a loving father who is, in a sense, "keeping the house" until we return. That is our destiny. It is the purpose for which we were created: to love, honor and return to him.
That is why Pope John Paul II, in preparation for the great Jubilee 2000, made 1999 the year of the Father. We all need to be reminded every day of our lives that we are God's children. As God is the head of the whole human family, he also must be the head of each of our individual families.
So I have come up with some ways through which families could keep their lives firmly centered on God. They are simple things, really, prayerful habits that seem to have disappeared from modern life, but which I believe have a profound impact on our personal faith lives and those of our children.
The suggestions included:
— Saying morning and evening prayers. Why not make that part of your daily routine? Perhaps you could say a simple prayer each morning while driving the children to school, or yourself to work, or even while shaving. Make prayer a part of your bedtime ritual. It doesn't have to take long, just a moment to acknowledge the presence of God in your daily life.
— Praying before and after meals. What a beautiful thing to stop and have everybody at the table remember that this food, which ultimately represents life, comes from God, and to thank him for it.
— Reading the Bible daily. Just five minutes a day — at bedtime, in the morning, at mealtime — is a way of acknowledging and nurturing our relationship with the Father, who feeds us not only physically through the bread we eat, but spiritually through his word.
— Having a catechism in every home. Many of us have encyclopedias, or speedy access to the Internet. Why not have the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well, an easily readable, and indispensable, reference book, so that when a doubt or question arises about our faith we can find the answer, rather than remain ignorant?
— Consecrating our homes to God. Many people ask a priest to come and bless their house when they first move in, but every family can say a prayer of consecration once a year, as a reminder that God is the ultimate head of that household. Perhaps the re-consecration could take place on the feast of the Holy Family, the Sunday after Christmas. A good millennium project for parishes might be to distribute cards imprinted with a prayer of consecration for people's homes, or with morning and evening prayers that individuals can say daily.
All of these are ways of keeping God present in our lives, of making sure our relationship with him is not an afterthought but an ever-present bond, such as the love that binds a Father to his children.
