I was moved when I read recently about the relationship of St. John Paul II with his father, Karol Wojtyla Sr. It was said that
This image is so striking, so humbling. This young boy who would become a great man of God had a model of prayer and faith in his very own family from an early age. Think about it...the young Karol Wojtyla walked in on his father praying. He caught him praying...in the middle of the night! I imagine this event burned a memory into his brain, so that when he thought, 'what is prayer?' he thought of his father.
I have written recently that the most indicative factor in passing along the faith from one generation to the next is the father's church attendance. But changing generational models from unbelief to belief must go beyond a one-day-a-week affair--it must permeate the lives of those who model. Our children are always watching us. We can't live one way as fathers--whether it's being neglectful in prayer, reading the bible, grace before meals, looking at pornography on our phones, yelling, not treating our wives with love and respect--and expect to teach our children to do the opposite. WE have to be the models for the saints we wish for them to become. Kids can sniff out hypocrisy from a mile a way.
When I think about Karol Wojtyla Sr. at his bedside in the model of the night, I suspect he was not doing it for show, or expecting anyone to walk in and see him on his knees like that. But these are the kinds of images that get burned into children's minds that they remember years down the road. It is a memory worthy of being remembered.
As men and fathers, we are responsible for the spiritual trajectory of our households. We will be judged on it. What you do in secret will eventually come to light. Don't view anything on the computer you wouldn't want your kids to see. When you are embarrassed of the faith and don't defend it, that sends a message to your children. When you prioritize things other than God and His Holy Day on the Sabbath, whether it be sports or activities or vacations, kids take notice. They think to themselves, "this isn't really important, we don't have to do this" and their lives conform to such practice. We need to normalize faith in our lives, so that it is not some queer anomaly or pious activity reserved for an hour a week on Sundays.
Satan hates the family. He works to infiltrate and destroy it from within. So susceptible are we to having our families being attacked that we must constantly cling to Christ and his Mother to protect our families. And the best way to do this is through prayer...making sure our own personal foundation of prayer is strong, strengthening it with our spouse, and then bringing our children into it.
Please, Lord, protect my children. Help me to raise them up as men and women of the Living Lord as models of faith and charity. If your will is to take them from us, take them to Heaven. If your will is to take us from them, take us to Heaven. Help us as a family to be a light to the world, a city on a hill, and not let us fall into darkness or disfunction. Strengthen our marriage, and help us to love one another so we might show our children what love looks like. They are only young once, and we don't get second chances to make impressions.
"Prayer was a contant in their lives; the Captain prayed often during the day...the two read the Bible and prayed the rosary together. Sometimes the young boy would wake in the night and see his father kneeling in the dark, praying silently."
This image is so striking, so humbling. This young boy who would become a great man of God had a model of prayer and faith in his very own family from an early age. Think about it...the young Karol Wojtyla walked in on his father praying. He caught him praying...in the middle of the night! I imagine this event burned a memory into his brain, so that when he thought, 'what is prayer?' he thought of his father.
I have written recently that the most indicative factor in passing along the faith from one generation to the next is the father's church attendance. But changing generational models from unbelief to belief must go beyond a one-day-a-week affair--it must permeate the lives of those who model. Our children are always watching us. We can't live one way as fathers--whether it's being neglectful in prayer, reading the bible, grace before meals, looking at pornography on our phones, yelling, not treating our wives with love and respect--and expect to teach our children to do the opposite. WE have to be the models for the saints we wish for them to become. Kids can sniff out hypocrisy from a mile a way.
When I think about Karol Wojtyla Sr. at his bedside in the model of the night, I suspect he was not doing it for show, or expecting anyone to walk in and see him on his knees like that. But these are the kinds of images that get burned into children's minds that they remember years down the road. It is a memory worthy of being remembered.
As men and fathers, we are responsible for the spiritual trajectory of our households. We will be judged on it. What you do in secret will eventually come to light. Don't view anything on the computer you wouldn't want your kids to see. When you are embarrassed of the faith and don't defend it, that sends a message to your children. When you prioritize things other than God and His Holy Day on the Sabbath, whether it be sports or activities or vacations, kids take notice. They think to themselves, "this isn't really important, we don't have to do this" and their lives conform to such practice. We need to normalize faith in our lives, so that it is not some queer anomaly or pious activity reserved for an hour a week on Sundays.
Satan hates the family. He works to infiltrate and destroy it from within. So susceptible are we to having our families being attacked that we must constantly cling to Christ and his Mother to protect our families. And the best way to do this is through prayer...making sure our own personal foundation of prayer is strong, strengthening it with our spouse, and then bringing our children into it.
Please, Lord, protect my children. Help me to raise them up as men and women of the Living Lord as models of faith and charity. If your will is to take them from us, take them to Heaven. If your will is to take us from them, take us to Heaven. Help us as a family to be a light to the world, a city on a hill, and not let us fall into darkness or disfunction. Strengthen our marriage, and help us to love one another so we might show our children what love looks like. They are only young once, and we don't get second chances to make impressions.
"Very early in the morning, while is was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."
(Mk 2:35)