My children participating in that experience at the Zoo is much the same as the way that parents teach their children to practice their faith…
The other day my family and I decided to visit the Zoo.
We have always loved the Zoo. When my children were little, we would spend hours pushing strollers around the Zoo, asking the children to look at animals that we pointed out and lifting the children up to see the sleeping animals at the back of their enclosures. Now that they are older, my children take the Zoo Maps and direct us around the facility to see the animals that they wished to see and watch the presentations that they wished to watch.
When we visited the other day, my children decided which of the shows they wished to watch. And what was interesting about those shows was that there was a wealth of information about the animals in each of the enclosures…
And while I was watching those shows with those animals, it occurred to me that my children participating in that experience at the Zoo is much the same as the way that parents teach their children to practice their faith…
You see, when my children were babies, I took them to Mass with me and I prayed with them. At first our prayers were little tiny prayers said at night. Prayers that took us a few minutes at most – about the length of time I could hold their attention. We prayed in songs and rhymes and in a way that helped my children to see that the praying was fun.
When my children were babies and toddlers, I often thought that it would be more holy to NOT attend Mass with them, rather than to take them with me. I spent most of the Mass arguing with them in whispers and talking them into sitting down and being quiet. Once, one of my children threw such a big tantrum outside the church that one of the parishioners came outside to close the doors of the church as he was disrupting the entire congregation.
And yet, every single time I told my mother that I was going to stop taking those children to Mass with me, she would say, just keep going. It is good to take your children to Mass…
And now – after all these years – my children pay attention during Mass and can join me in praying all sorts of complex prayers. And this is sort of like the Zoo. At first I pushed them around and held them up to see the animals, and now I follow where they go and they listen to the shows of their own accord.
And it occurs to me today, to pray for all the parents, who are just like me. Because they must know that it is important to take their children to Mass each week – whether it is easy or not… Because if nobody had told me that all those years ago, I would not have been able to follow my children around for the shows at all now… And it occurs to me that such a thing would have been a terrible waste.
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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