The family is the domestic church, a “little Church,” a microcosm of the Church.[1] When you look at the Christian family you see the Church, and when you see the Church you see the Christian family. God is love, and that love is imaged through the union of man and woman in the Sacrament of Marriage; furthermore, as a husband lays down his life for his bride, he images Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church.
Parents are the first heralds of the Gospel to their families.[2] God bestows on them the task of the education of their children, a responsibility for which parents are irreplaceable. Let us take a look at how parents can live out their vocation in light of the four dimensions of the Church’s life found in the Catechism, inspired by the Scripture: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42).
Families can embrace the first pillar, The Profession of Faith, by teaching their children the great story of God’s love in Scripture. This will help the children see their place in this great story by answering two important questions: “Who am I?” and “What am I called to do?” The answers: you are a child of God called to love God above all things and to love your neighbor as yourself. This can be done by weekly Scripture readings with short explanations from the Catechism as a family, especially passages from the Gospels, which highlight the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.