Domestic Churches

As we were driving to school this week, someone on the radio mentioned thinking about happy things. I paused and asked my daughters what makes them happy. My daughter immediately started listing all the things that make her happy.

I was getting my daughters ready for bed, and we sat down to read Guess How Much I Love You. Jesus loves us more than any size or distance we can possibly imagine.

My daughter succeeded in identifying letters and numbers when she tuned out distractions and focused. This is a good model for Lent.

It is good to recognize well established images of God from the Scripture when they are experienced in our homes.

I love my daughters! Even more than they could know. Jesus loves them even more than that!

My youngest daughter informed us that she wanted to meet one of her favorite YouTubers. She cried and insisted she wanted to meet her.

I had the opportunity to fly first class for the first time! However, things were not as great on the way home.

My daughters laughed and said you have to go to school to learn things. The youngest daughter said, “Yeah, you have to learn about Jesus!”

At Mass we heard the story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus. I remembered reflecting on this story after Grandpa died.

My family adopted my sister. This weekend love forged another bond as my sister got married.

I’m project planning at work. While preparing work breakdowns and effort estimates, I was struck by how we approach risks and uncertainty.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Actually it was not that long ago in a family room not that far away. We want our children to love these treasured stories as much as we do.

It was a quick, simple, unplanned, spontaneous conversation. Conversations like this should be common in our domestic churches.

Every evening my family gathers around our kitchen table for dinner together. I look to each of my children and ask, “What did you do today?”

Learning to understand my daughter’s voice has given me a little more insight into how to understand God’s voice.

My daughter unwittingly challenged me to find joy in simple things and Matt Maher’s Alive and Breathing reminded me to praise the Lord.

Follow the Way of Love elucidated the potential for love in the family to reveal the love of God and to engender faith within the family.

Businesses and schools shut down and our homes became our offices and classrooms. Parishes closed and our homes remain our churches.

It’s best to start introducing a game with the objective and the reward, and it’s good to remember the objective of the spiritual life.

My daughters love art! They like to draw, color, and paint so we were excited for a faith formation night at our church reflecting on art.