By Fr. George Kelly, The Catholic Family Handbook, 1950’s
Religious Practices in Your Home
In order to provide an environment where your child will grow to love God and the things of God, make your home a little sanctuary–a place where he will be constantly reminded of the Lord, and where family devotions will instill habits of deep and lasting Christian piety.
Saint John Chrysostom said that the home should be a “little church,” a miniature Kingdom of God in which the father strives to represent the qualities of Christ and the mother seeks to make herself like Blessed Mary.
In your home, try to give your children a deep and abiding sense of the goodness of God and an intimate relationship with Him and His Church.
In developing family religious rituals–those which establish patterns of devotion which will continue for the life of your family–try to inculcate moral principles, to develop a sense of family solidarity, and to create a deep and lasting love for the beautiful liturgy of the Church and the sacraments which Christ gave for our redemption.
In this way, the religious practices of your home will supplement those of the Church, not supplant them, and thus will help your child to achieve a many-sided development of his religious personality.
Every Catholic home should contain constant reminders of the fact that we were born to know, love and serve God in this world in order to be happy with Him in the next.
Such reminders might include a home shrine–a simple altar consisting of a table with votive candles beneath a crucifix is probably within the means of all.
In your living room and bedrooms, you should have at least one symbol of your faith–a statue of the Savior and the Blessed Mother, a crucifix, pictures which bring to mind events in the life of Our Lord.
In Catholic countries, it has long been the custom to place a holy water font in the front hall, so that all who enter or leave may bless themselves and ask God’s grace; such a custom might well be established in the United States.
Another custom, worthy of greater usage, is the establishing of a grotto–a shrine to Jesus or Mary in your yard or garden. By all such means, you and your children help to make your faith an intimate part of your daily lives.
Family Prayer
The importance of family prayer was taught by Our Lord himself. For he said: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, then am I in the midst of them.” What a pleasing sight must it be to God, therefore, to see the family unit which He ordained gathered together to worship Him.
The beautiful practice of family prayer has been formally endorsed by the bishops of the United States in a pastoral letter to all American Catholics.
As they have stated: “The presence of Jesus will surely be a source of blessing to the home where parents and children unite to offer up prayer in common. The spirit of piety which this custom develops will sanctify the bonds of family love and ward off the dangers which often bring sorrow and shame.”
As we learned in childhood, we should pray at least upon arising in the morning and retiring at night, and before and after meals. It is much more beneficial to all members of the family, and especially more inspirational to the children, when everyone habitually says such prayers together.
Because of different rising times, it may be difficult for all to pray at the same time in the morning. However, the saying of grace before and after meals should become a family habit. No food should be eaten until grace is said, and no one should leave the table until thanksgiving is offered after the meal.
Many families have developed the admirable habit of saying evening prayers immediately after dinner. Other families set aside a period just before the children’s bedtime. Regardless of the hour chosen, the reciting of prayers at a specified time each evening establishes habits which will last throughout the years and will give a sense of kinship in God to all in the family.
An especially worthwhile custom is the evening recitation of the Rosary. It was most earnestly advocated by Pope Pius IX, who in his last days said: “Let the Rosary, this simple, beautiful method of prayer, enriched with many indulgences, be habitually recited of an evening in every household. These are my last words to you; the memorial I leave behind me.”
Every member of the family will have a greater feeling of participation in the Rosary if the leader is rotated each evening or for each decade. One time Father may lead; next, Mother; next, the oldest child; and so on until everyone has had his turn. Then the cycle is repeated.
Before each decade, the father might briefly discuss the meaning of the specific mysteries in the lives of Jesus and Mary which the Rosary reminds us of. The children should be taught to meditate on these mysteries so that they do not say the prayers without thinking.
A custom of some homes consists of the nightly reading of the Bible. Prayers are said before and after the reading, and there is a discussion by the father or mother of the particular passages read. Another worthwhile custom is the reading of the Gospel and Epistle for the particular Mass of the day.
Family unity in prayer can also be achieved if the family attends Mass together. One of the most inspiring memories which many adults now hold is that of their father, mother, brothers and sisters lined up with them at the altar rail, receiving the flesh and blood of Our Lord as a family unit, and then returning home for a festive breakfast.
As Mary, beautiful and perfect, is the sublime model for every Catholic wife, so Joseph, “the just man,”‘ gentle, kind, and chaste, is a model for every Catholic husband. When God blesses your home with human life, the fruit of love, your family becomes like the Holy Family. In the family life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are exemplified the proper relations that should exist between husband and wife, parents and children. By practicing the domestic virtues of charity, obedience, and mutual help, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sanctified family life. -Lawrence G. Lovasik. The Catholic Family Handbook
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