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| My early-childhood parish, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Peru, Indiana. Image from https://cassmiamicatholic.org/. |
During this time of the Eucharistic Revival in the US, I have for a while been considering the role of my parents in my faith in the Holy Eucharist. It was they who gave me this faith, both complementing each other in ways they were not even aware of. My mother taught me the Baltimore Catechism (BaltCat), especially before I received my First Holy Communion. It was she who fed my intellect in understanding, to the extent possible, the Mystery of the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
I have read some comments online where people call the BaltCat “anemic”, whatever that means. Even this article on the Catholic Culture website seemed to denigrate what it called “rote catechesis”, which I take to mean the BaltCat's methods of memorizing questions and answers. One friend of mine commented succinctly, “There isn’t anything wrong with [the Baltimore Catechism]. In fact, we depended on it heavily during my seminary experience, and I found it extremely useful to have information so readily available in my memory to call upon when needed.” I find that to be truly the case. I had other various texts to study for CCD and Religious Education at various parishes (like the Faith and Life Series from Ignatius Press), while at home we used the BaltCat. It seems to me that the other various texts I was exposed to in my religious education were aimed at the heart, while the BaltCat is excellent for the intellect. We should never sacrifice the intellectual side of our Faith in order to reach the heart, nor should we ignore the heart to form only the intellect.
In my early childhood, both the heart and the intellect were formed by my parents. My mother, as I said before, formed my intellect with the use of the BaltCat. My father, however, reached my heart through one particular experience. I was about five years old when the following account took place. My father had just received Holy Communion during Mass. As soon as we returned to the pew, I asked him when I could receive Communion. He told me that I would have to be older, but then asked me if I wanted to smell Jesus. I said Yes, so he breathed in my face. Since he had received Holy Communion under both Species, what I smelled was the scent of wine. But my father had told me it was Jesus, and so I knew that it was not just wine. In that moment, in that pew just after my father received Holy Communion, he bequeathed to my heart the precious gift of faith in the True Presence. I did not yet know terms like “the True Presence” or “the Consecration of the Mass” or “Transubstantiation” or anything like that – all that would come later through my mother – but I did know without a doubt that it was Jesus that my father received. I also remember that on that particular occasion, my father did not get angry with me for interrupting his prayer with Jesus, he just loved me and answered my questions patiently. From that point on, I have never doubted that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist.
I share this story because I don’t think parents really understand the power they have in the lives of their children. I never stepped foot into a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) until I was twenty-five years old, so I know that the TLM is not the only way to receive that faith. Sure, the TLM is more reverent, and it is more obvious that Jesus is there on the altar. Yet the true power parents have in forming their children’s hearts and minds is without measure, even in the current Novus Ordo Mass (NOM). One thing I can say that impresses me as I look back upon my childhood is that my father was always there with us in the pews (at times there were exceptions because my father was in the military, but those exceptions were rare). Some fathers have told me that they leave religion to their wives, but my father was not like that; rather, he lived the Faith the best he knew how, and that provided a great foundation for me. As an example, one Lent, my parents prayed the fifteen prayers of Saint Bridget every day. Every Good Friday, the three-o’clock hour was to be maintained in the most solemn silence (and they came up with creative ways to keep us five small children well occupied to make that happen). So not only the True Presence at Mass, but also the seasons of the Liturgical Year came alive for me.
As parents, we have an awesome power in the lives of our children. We must wield that power to instill in our children a love for Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist – not just in their intellects, but also in their hearts. One of the ways my wife brings alive the True Presence for our children is by having them tell Jesus something at the Elevations. At the Elevation of the Host, the children say, "I love You, Jesus!" At the Elevation of the Chalice, the children say, "Thank You, Jesus!" It is a small but important gesture, planting the seeds of faith. At Holy Mass just recently, my four-year-old son jumped up onto the kneeler of the Communion rail and said out loud and full of enthusiasm, "Hi, Jesus!" I instinctively pulled him back because I did not know what he was doing and did not want him to grab at the ciborium or the Communion paten; meanwhile, the Deacon let out a small grin as he proceeded to give me Holy Communion.
The Liturgy is not something that should be lived only at church, but also in our homes! As parents, we need not be perfect to wield the influence we hold in the lives of our children, and we need not do anything complicated or elaborate – something small to mark the turns of the Liturgical Seasons will suffice. And I highly recommend the use of the BaltCat, together with something for the heart. More than anything, we must never forget that we must also teach them from the heart. We must be patient with them, and even if we cannot do something that they want (like my father could not let me receive Holy Communion because I was not yet of age), nevertheless, we need to provide something for them to fill that gap and help their understanding. Like my father for me, it is imperative that we be patient even if our children interrupt our prayer, for our anger will only push them away. However we respond to them, we must always remember that we are the face of God for them: if we treat them angrily, they will see God as an angry God; but if we treat them with appropriate respect (a respect founded on the truth that they too are children of God through Baptism) and seek to understand them, they will see God as a loving Father. I am not saying that we respect them to the point of spoiling them, but that we need not use harshness or discipline in every situation. There are more than plenty situations in which it is proper to discipline them for their instruction and for their temporal and eternal good, but there are also appropriate times to be patient and let the grace of God work through us as parents, as it worked through my father for me.
