A couple of weeks ago, I reflected on the role of the family in the passing on of the faith to our children and how the Church is called to support this role. Pope St. John Paul II very early on, as one of his first Apostolic Exhortations “Familiaris Consortio” (On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World) wrote about how important the family was to God’s plan for salvation but also for the growth in goodness and holiness in the world.

I love my family deeply and am always filled with joy and gratitude in remembering how my parents helped to pass on our Catholic faith…imperfectly at times…and yes not always with joy…but in a manner where the love of God seemed to underly our actions. And while we did attend our catechism classes and go to Sunday Mass without fail we also were surrounded in the home and extended family with a culture and trust in God. I can remember how as a little boy I would watch Dad take a handful of soil and look at it, feel it and trust the seeds to be planted would be nourished by the rain and sun needed. It takes faith to be a farmer. It is something I am always amazed at and still find myself in awe of when speaking to friends and family who still farm.
St. John Paul II understood this aspect of faith and the great trust needed for the Church to take the soil of faith hand it on to the family to nurture, plant and grow thirty, sixty or a hundredfold. (Mt 13:8)
If the mission of the Church is to bear great fruit, to become the abundant harvest then, as St. John Paul II writes, “The Christian family is called upon to take part actively and responsibly in the mission of the Church in a way that is original and specific, by placing itself, in what it is and what it does as an “intimate community of life and love,” at the service of the Church and of society. (#50) The family must be a place where acts of charity, works of mercy and bonds of love are forged and strengthen through the daily blessing of a living faith founded on prayer infused in all moments of our family life.
Conforming our lives to Jesus’ witness to love we share in the mission of salvation of souls, “As a sharer in the life and mission of the Church, which listens to the word of God with reverence and proclaims it confidently, the Christian family fulfills its prophetic role by welcoming and announcing the word of God: it thus becomes more and more each day a believing and evangelizing community” (#51) Following this teaching, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that evangelization must first begin in the home before it will succeed elsewhere. It is a challenge of listening to the doubts and fears of each other, especially our children and most especially those who have fallen away from the practice of the faith. It is being open to life in the trust and blessing of God’s goodness where choosing to speak about God’s love and mercy becomes part of our everyday language, not as preaching but as living word.

“To the extent in which the Christian family accepts the Gospel and matures in faith, it becomes an evangelizing community. Let us listen again to Paul VI: “The family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates. … The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can themselves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them. And such a family becomes the evangelizer of many other families, and of the neighborhood of which it forms part (#52) Our homes as true domestic churches become havens of life and joy. During this time when many of us are more isolated and alone than is natural, radiating this love is more difficult and yet the rhythm of our lives surrounded by the liturgical gifts of our faith help us to understand God’s will of being workers in the vineyard.
St. John Paul II reminds us the virtue of Christian parenting isn’t something beyond our ability, it is simply and intentionally remembering to recognize Jesus in one another. “The ministry of evangelization carried out by Christian parents is original and irreplaceable. It assumes the characteristics typical of family life itself, which should be interwoven with love, simplicity, practicality and daily witness.” (#53) We are all called to witness daily and it begins with a simple “AMEN.”
God bless
Fr. Mark