The Church teaches that the family is a privileged community and the original cell of social life (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2204, 2207) where we should learn how to love God and one another. The family is our initiation “into life in society” (CCC 2207) including our relationship with the Lord. In our family, we learn how to pray and nourish a loving relationship with God. We learn that we need to be humble before Him, as humility is the foundation of prayer (CCC 2558). That is why Jesus tells us in Luke 18:17 that only those who receive the kingdom of God like a child shall enter it.
However, as we grow older and our lives become more complicated, humility can get lost along the way. We may forget to ask God for help, thinking that everything depends on us. Conversely, our prayers can become more complicated and involved, filled with many petitions. In our busyness, we can forget to quiet ourselves so we can hear God and then respond. How can we recover the humility that is so foundational to our prayer life with God?
A simple way to return to that foundational humility is to observe or experience prayer with our children. We can rediscover the power of a child’s simple prayer, filled with wonder, awe and thanksgiving. Children often surprise us with periodic moments of silence. In these times of recollection, we discover our child’s ability to be content in the moment, resting in thoughts about God or a religious picture or a sacramental like a crucifix. Our children can remind us of our own simpler and humble prayers of the past.
But how will a child learn to pray if we do not lead the way? Creating a habit of prayer in the family must begin with us as the parents. We are the first witnesses to prayer and nurturing a relationship with God, our Father. A simple place to start is those moments where we routinely gather with our children, at mealtime and bedtime. We model patience and gratitude by offering Grace before enjoying our meal. We teach gratitude and humility by thanking God for all our blessings of each day before going to sleep. By tracing a small cross on our child’s forehead, we are reminded of our baptism into God’s family before we say goodnight or goodbye. Setting aside quiet time can become a catalyst for recollection and prayer. When we make a point of showing our children how to nourish their relationship with God through prayer, that effort may one day return to bless us in our own prayer life by reminding us of the beautiful simplicity and humility of a child’s prayer.
Here is what the Church and Scripture have to say…
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 350 The Christian family is called the domestic church because the family manifests and lives out the communal and familial nature of the Church as the family of God. Each family member, in accord with their own role, exercises the baptismal priesthood and contributes toward making the family a community of grace and of prayer, a school of human and Christian virtue and the place where the faith is first proclaimed to children.
Deuteronomy 4:4-7a Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Matthew 19:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.