Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38)

We all want what is best for our children. It is no surprise, then, that many of us brought our children to the waters of Baptism shortly after they were born. We believe that living as followers of Jesus is the best thing that we can desire for our children. Yet the celebrations of our children’s baptisms are only the first steps on their lifelong journeys of following Jesus. As our children grow older, we guide their feet to the next steps. Somewhere along the way, Jesus turns to each of us, as he turned to his first disciples, and asks, “What are you looking for?” The fact that you are commited to using these resources suggests that you are looking for a way to walk with your family on the journey to a life of faith and holiness. It may come as a surprise to think of your family as holy. We tend to think that the word holy is reserved for saints, or for people who dedicate their lives to the Church as a priest or religious brother or sister. The Church teaches us, however, that every baptized Catholic is called to a life of holiness. Pope John Paul II taught us that “everyone in the Church, precisely because they are members, receive and thereby share in the common vocation to holiness.” (Christ’s Faithful People, 1988) Just what is holiness? The Bible teaches us that God alone is holy (1 Samuel 2:2).

Jesus revealed that we can share in God’s holiness by following the way of love. We can live a life of holiness when we love one another as he has loved us. One of the best places to practice this lesson of love is in the family. Since the earliest days of the Church, the family home has been considered a holy place where the first teachings of the faith, human virtues, a life of prayer, and Christian charity are learned. The Catholic Church reinforces the importance of the family by referring to the home as “the domestic church.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1666) As a Christian family, you not only belong to the Church, but your life together is an expression of what it means to be Church. Surely you have recognized holiness in the life of your family—in moments of awe, such as the first time you held your child in your arms, or moments of grace in the face of terrible loss.

God’s grace in our everyday experiences—the sorrows and the joys, the tender and the tragic, the mundane and the magnificent. As a parent or guardian, you are called upon to form a faith community of grace and prayer and a school for learning the Catholic way of life. The profound and the ordinary moments of daily life—mealtimes, workdays, vacations, expressions of love and intimacy, household chores, caring for a sick child or an elderly parent, and even conflicts over things like how to celebrate holidays, discipline children, or spend money— are the threads from which you can weave a pattern of holiness. It is the family, then, that prepares our children to take their rightful place within the larger Christian community, namely, the parish and the diocese, as followers of Jesus. The Church recognizes and honors the role of your family -- your domestic church, in your children’s faith growth. What does a family growing in faith look like? Families, like all members of the Church, are not perfect, but rather struggle every day to become more faithful followers of Jesus.

Here are some of the ways that your family can grow in faith and participate in the mission of the Church in daily living:
Growing in Forgiveness
Growing in Trust
Growing in Prayer
Growing in Respect
Growing in Service
Growing in Celebration
Growing in Ethusiasm
Growing in Vocation