Faith in the Family

I remember when I was small, I asked my Daddy why I had a belly button. He replied that it happened when God was checking if the babies were ready for delivery to families. “God went along the line of babies” said my Daddy, “poking each one gently in the tummy and saying, ‘You’re done and you’re done’!”

It was some years before I realised there was more to it than that! In reality, my belly button was a sign of the connection between my mother and me. Through the umbilical cord my mother’s body had supplied nutrients, blood and oxygen to my little developing body. I found myself thinking of that again recently at Mass.

I was standing beside our youngest, on the day I was to take him off to university. I was praying for him, prayers of strength and courage, wisdom and understanding, knowledge and right judgement as he headed off into the vibrant, exciting and somewhat daunting world of university life. An image came to my mind of the umbilical cord, but this time it was spiritual rather than physical and rather than nutrients and oxygen-rich blood it was the gifts of the Holy Spirit that my being was sending to his.

It struck me that with our four now off out in the world, working or studying, that spiritual umbilical cord is so vital. It is important that we pray for our children – and that our children know we pray for them. Our family WhatsApp group which enables us to message the whole family with a single text is busier than ever. It functions as a wonderful way to keep us up to date with what is happening in the life of each one of us. It is also a forum in which some odd questions are asked, advice is requested and many different and frequently conflicting opinions are offered.

In a way it is a technological image of that spiritual umbilical cord, giving form to the way that we nurture and look after each other even from a distance. And that sense of connection is not just important within families but also within communities and indeed within humanity. It is easy for faith to become a private thing and to lose that community dimension. I am always struck by how much it means to people when I say I am keeping them in my prayers if I know there is something challenging going on for them. I’ve also noticed recently how many people sign off their phone calls with ‘God bless’ and this within my day to day working environment. Perhaps for some it is simply a reflex but it delights me to think that a lot of the people I encounter genuinely do want God to bless me.

On another topic entirely, I found myself very cross listening to the radio the other day. A woman was being interviewed about her collection of images of Mary. When asked was she a Catholic herself she replied, that no she was brought up a Catholic but didn’t believe anything the Church taught. That isn’t what made me cross. It was when she went on to talk about, “if you are one of those people who still believe, who haven’t questioned anything ….”. That is when I got cross! How dare she presume that just because you or I consider ourselves Catholic we are some sort of brainless wonder, blindly following along and never facing a challenge or asking a question? There is a perception that people of faith just haven’t thought about it enough to know better. I know plenty of people, strong in faith who will still say, “There are days when I don’t know what I believe”. Questioning, struggling, wrestling with faith – they are all good. Let’s not be afraid to be seen as people of faith with all our struggles!