Planting Seeds of Faith

While sitting at Mass one recent Sunday, I noticed a grandmother and grandfather enter the church with their three grandchildren, all under the age of about eight years. As they started to walk past the sanctuary, the grandparents stopped in front of the altar to genuflect. Two of the grandchildren had already walked by and were about to be seated, but one child stayed with the grandparents to imitate their actions. It appeared this may have been one of the few times the children were in church, and the young boy seemed very interested in this act of reverence as if he knew it was important and wanted to get it right.

I thought about my own grandchildren. Because they live more than twelve hours away, we have few opportunities to bring them to Mass. So, I feel fairly certain they would have acted in much the same way. Like so many other grandparents, my husband and I want to do whatever we can to pass on our faith and the traditions that are so important to us. Yet we feel powerless. We are saddened that our grandchildren may not come to know the beauty, comfort, joy, peace, and hope that can only be known by living a life of faith. We fear for their eternal souls, and we pray that God may call them by name amidst the noise of the secular world.

Throughout Mass, I pondered the mindset of those young parents who choose not to believe or attend religious services. Does belief in God seem irrational to them? Is it any more irrational than believing our planet Earth is suspended perfectly in an infinite universe, rotating at approximately 1,000 miles per hour as we stand with two feet firmly planted on the ground? Yet it is so. Do they trust what their five senses reveal, uncertain of the mysteries surrounding us that we cannot sense? Do they want their children to grow up believing only in the power of humanity, as we routinely watch the dangers of human power unfold? What do these young parents teach their children that will bring them hope when their lives spiral or death is imminent?

Do non-believing or non-practicing parents trust human beings to reveal the truth to their children? Have not these past years proven that we cannot place our trust in other humans without careful personal discernment? We have an inner moral compass that children must be taught to read and follow as others veer off course and try to pull them in their direction. Who will teach the children to be contemplative in this way? Do some parents trust only themselves to teach their children these concepts and values? Without such introspection in their own lives, how do those parents know that their assumptions are right? Who would the children follow if the parents were to die unexpectedly? Do they have such confidence in our world today that they are willing to dismiss the wisdom passed on by human beings for thousands of years? Are they instead content with allowing the propaganda perpetuated through technology to be their children’s guiding light? What community will support them in troubled times?

Why does it seem that more parents are excited to teach their children about Santa Claus, yet they do not have the same desire to read Bible stories to their children? How much more fulfilling would it be for the children to hear about their all-powerful, ever-present, loving Father in Heaven? Why are so many parents excited to tell about the Easter Bunny but don’t want to share the gospel stories of the Resurrection, words that will awaken their children’s imaginations to eternal life in Heaven with God, the angels, saints, and their loved ones? What good will come to the children and the world from the secular traditions they are taught, those rituals that focus on self-satisfaction and materialism? What good might come to them and the world if they receive the timeless messages of faith, hope, love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness?

We grandparents need not fear, only to pray and persevere. Saint Teresa of Avila reminds us: “The truth suffers, but it never dies.” We must do our part to continue to share the stories and traditions that we know will have an everlasting impact on our grandchildren and their children. Perhaps we can begin by having conversations with our children and really listen to their responses to some of the questions asked above. We need not preach the answers, only ask the questions and share our faith stories. Such conversations just might plant seeds of faith that will open their hearts, and that might be all it takes. Remember, it only takes faith “like a grain of mustard seed,” and all things will be possible (Matthew 17:20)! Let’s never grow weary of planting the tiny seeds.