Bairbre Cahill
For the past number of years I have been producing a resource called Seeds of Faith, the aim of which is to help families explore and understand Faith, prayer, spirituality and liturgy a little bit more deeply. Seeds of Faith follows the Church’s three-year cycle so although I regularly update the material there is a lot that comes around again and remains useful. When I was preparing the June issue I was very struck by the introduction, which ran like this:
“Even as people of faith we often unconsciously divide the world into what we think of as holy and what we think of as ordinary…but it doesn’t really make sense to divide the world up as if some parts belong to God and some don’t. It means that we think of ourselves as having ‘God moments’ only in certain holy places or events…but for us as Christians that simply doesn’t make sense. All of life offers us glimpses of God and all of life offers us the challenge to respond as people of Faith…God is as present in our lives as the air we breathe. God is indeed, as it says in Acts 17:28 the one in whom we live and move and have our being. Faith, holiness and the experience of God are not add-ons to life – they are the very heart of what it means to be human. All of life is a God moment!”
Why did that strike me? I think because there has been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about cultural Catholicism, people who have some element of connection, will celebrate Baptisms, First Holy Communions and Confirmations, maybe even go to Mass fairly frequently and yet somehow manage to keep their Faith in a very separate compartment from the rest of life. Religion is worn like a Sunday coat and yet, I think many would be shocked to be described as cultural catholics.
I believe there is a profound challenge for us here as a Church. I do not think we can dismiss this as the result of secularism. I actually think that as a Church we have failed people terribly in helping them to connect Faith and life.
We have emphasised practice to such an extent that we have failed to recognise what happens when practice is only skin deep. We have not done enough to enable people to encounter God as a vibrant reality in their own lives. We have not helped people to take ownership of the experience of God in the everyday. Should we be surprised if for so many their religion does not inform their choices and values?
Maybe we cannot wait – and should not wait – on the institutional Church to transform itself. Realistically the business of connecting the dots begins in family life. It is up to us to help our children recognise that here, today, we have the opportunity to encounter the Holy Spirit present in our family life, in our friendships, in the blessings and the challenges we meet.
We can help them to recognise the touch of God’s hand in creation, the beauty around us, our responsibility to look after it. Perhaps family life is where the transformation need to begin and spread from there into our schools and parishes.
When we see all of life as a place of God’s presence and action how could we then exclude God’s influence on our decisions, values and commitments? Moreover it also means we are open to encountering blessings anywhere. I was involved last weekend with a family fun event for work. We had over 200 people playing games, chatting, delighting in bubbles, sprinkling glitter, sporting wonderfully painted faces, celebrating parenting and family life. I came away from that event buzzing with energy.
The openness and generosity of people shone through. For me it was a life-affirming encounter with goodness – an encounter with God’s presence. After the past few weeks, that is something I really needed.