A few months ago, I was given a Tiny Saint for a gift. Tiny Saints is a relatively new business that sells small rubber keychains of different saints. They’re well made and the designs are very cute. I ordered a few more and put them on my keychain, one for each member of my family.

I love the tiny saint name, because it reminds me of my first job. My innocent, sweet little children are all tiny saints, and they need my help to navigate the world, and learn how to live out their faith. It’s a tall order, and one that I certainly feel inadequate to achieve.

I’ve spent much of this year thinking about how to better integrate the daily life of the Church into my family’s life. Inadequate as I may feel, the grace that I need to be successful is at the ready, and I have a great partner in Alison.
Faith is about more than just a few prayers before meals and bed, it’s a lens through which the whole day should be filtered. There are signs of our shared faith in our home, we do pray, and we make it to Mass every week. But I can do more. I can arrange our schedule so that we can make it to daily Mass once or twice per week. But, there needs to be more.

I don’t consider myself to be a very good teacher, but I need to teach my kids about their faith. So I picked up a copy of a children’s catechism for Alison and I to use. It’s structured like the Baltimore Catechism, and a few nights a week, we go through the questions. I’m amazed and inspired at how eager the kids are to learn. They’re engaged in a way that I don’t see very often, and while they may not always show it, they are picking up this knowledge.

Passing on the Catholic faith is one of the biggest challenges that any parent faces. Regardless of the challenge, we must have the courage to take it on and move beyond our own inadequacies. Our tiny saints deserve it.

Tags: Parenting