How to Create Catholic Rituals at Home
Parents Can Nurture their Children's Faith Through Family Traditions
Mar 17, 2009
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." (2221)
God Himself asks parents to be good models of faith for their children. It isn’t enough to just plant the seeds of faith, parents are required to tend the fragile shoot of faith and nurture it until it is a strong oak of a thing, with deep and sturdy roots, ready to weather any of life's storms.
Creating Catholic family traditions is an integral part of nurturing a child’s faith.
How Can Parents Create Catholic Rituals at Home?
Growing faith is a formidable task, but it can be accomplished with an array of smaller rituals.
Families can celebrate Sunday mass together every week. They can pray traditional Catholic prayers together such as the Rosary, the Angelus or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Parents can bring children to Faith Formation classes at their local parish, and they can talk about their lesson on the drive home.
Parents can also find a few minutes every week to share their thoughts on faith. Time spent in the car between activities and appointments is also a great time for sharing, as the kids are a captive audience!
Ideas for Creating Religious Rituals
Parents can try an array of methods to integrate Catholic rituals into everyday life.
- In the car - Listen to traditional Catholic hymns, Gregorian chants, or modern Christian rock music; together say a brief prayer for the people in a passing ambulance or for the souls at a roadside cemetery.
- At mealtime - Take turns saying or singing grace, discuss this week’s homily, or have one family member ask a “big question” about faith and all family members can take turns sharing their thoughts on the topic.
- On special days - Attend mass on Holy Days of Obligation, pick a saint and celebrate their feast day by learning something about them and creating a mini-feast in their honor, observe the tradition of abstinence by having “fish Fridays.”
- Everyday - Learn and pray the morning offering, pray a memorized prayer while brushing teeth, sing a traditional Catholic hymn while combing hair, when leaving the house say goodbye to picture of Jesus or Mary and ask for them to bless the family today.
Faith is the one gift that parents can give their kids that comes with a divine 100% satisfaction guarantee.
By initiating little rituals of faith done at home or on the road parents can help their children build faith foundations that last a lifetime.
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