SHARING OUR FAITH

As I was reading the Western New York Catholic for the month of February, I came across an article entitled “Children must see the faith lived at home,” pope tells parents.

At a Mass in the Sistine Chapel on January 13th, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis baptized 27 babies. In his words to the parents he reminds them that the first place that children learn and witness faith is at home. He says: “Yes, when they go to catechism class, they will study the faith well, they will learn catechesis. But before being studied, faith must be transmitted, and this is a job that is up you” (parents).

Pope Francis urged parents “to transmit the faith by example, by words, by teaching them to make the sign of the Cross. This is important.” He reminds parents of their duty as the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith: “The important thing is to transmit the faith with your life of faith: that they see the love of the spouses, that they see the peace of the house, that they see Jesus is there.” “Faith must always be transmitted ‘in dialect:’ the dialect of the family, the dialect of the house, in the atmosphere of the home.”

In this ceremony for infants, Pope Francis reminds all of us of our duty to be teachers of the faith no matter what state of life we find ourselves. The Church as a whole has the duty to form children in the ways of faith by example to them and encouragement for them.