Hi, My name is Christine and… I’ve never done this before.
I’ve never grown a life inside of me. I’ve never spent evenings on my hands and knees trying to assemble a crib, a dresser, a stroller, etc. I’ve never had quite so many sleepless nights. I’ve never raised a child in this society, this ever-changing world that we live in (but are not of). My daughter is still safely cradled in my womb, growing every day, alerting me of her presence with her little somersaults. But one day, in four short months, she’ll be here. On the outside. And when that happens, my husband and I have the task and honor of bringing her up in the Catholic faith that’s so important to us, while also bringing her up in a world that is less and less reflective of that faith every day. And I’ll be honest: Sometimes that worries me. Who she becomes as a person, as a Catholic, falls on us. Last weekend at Mass, our priest gave a homily on the declining number of “millenials” in church today. He told us of a conversation he had with a woman in that age group (which I also fall under) who explained to him that people just don’t want to follow the rules. And she’s not wrong. Many of my friends and acquaintances who grew up Catholic and are no longer practicing have left the Church because it just isn’t convenient for them. It doesn’t let them live the way that they want to live. They don’t want to follow the rules. But as my husband pointed out to me after Mass, the priest needs to take a wider look at the situation. In a lot of cases, the reason for these people’s lack of regard for the “rules” is the fact that they were never taught the value of them by their parents. And after thinking about it for a while, I realized that he’s not necessarily wrong. I thought of all of the people I knew who left the faith. With the exception of just one of them, they don’t have devout parents. They put their kids in CCD years ago as some kind of obligation, but never attended Mass with them, and to this day still don’t go to Mass. It wasn’t a part of their daily lives; it wasn’t a part of their home. On the flip side, I thought of all the people my age who are practicing Catholics. These are people whose parents I still see in the pews. People whose parents I know to value their faith as more than just a cultural thing. (Note: I do know that this isn’t everyone’s experience. There are, of course, devout parents with children who have left the faith. And devout children with parents who don’t share their faith. I’m only speaking of the people I know personally in my life.) Right as the priest mentioned this topic in his homily, I felt the baby kick. I smiled and internally said to her, “You heard that? You’re going to follow the rules.” But it’s on me to make sure she finds the value in them. That she understands why we believe what we do while the rest of the world tells us we’re wrong. So thank you for being here, for joining me on this journey, for hopefully sticking around as I navigate my way through trying to figure all this out. If you’re an experienced mother, I welcome your shared experiences, your advice, your stories, and I hope that one day I’ll have my own to return back to you. If you’re a new mom or mom-to-be like me, let’s do this together. With the Holy Spirit leading us, we’ve got this.
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AuthorCatholic. Wife. New Mama. Trying to figure all of this out one step at a time. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
-Proverbs 127:3-5 Archives
December 2019
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