Holy Family Reflections

By Kim Roberts

I recently attended a Council of Catholic School Cooperative Clubs meeting at St. Clement of Rome in Metairie, and Father Andrew Rudmann, parochial vicar of the parish, addressed the group.

He captured my attention immediately with his first question, “How long do your children exist?” After a moment, everyone knew the answer, “Forever.”

Our children are made for heaven, and it is our job to get them there. We are responsible for our children’s earthly life as well as their eternal life. This is the goal of the family – get everyone to heaven.

Next question, “What am I doing in my own home to teach and prepare my family for eternal happiness?” We all have a lot that puts demands on our attention. Distractions are everywhere that pull us away from God.

We should make our goal to put our family first and look to the Holy Family for help.

The Holy Family is totally relatable; they were parents with the same problems and concerns of all parents. One example can be found in the Gospel of Luke where Mary and Joseph lost track of their 12-year-old son for three days and were frantically searching for him only to find him in the temple. His parents were devastated, didn’t understand, at the time, the importance of this moment and wanted to know where the heck he was. They wanted obedience from their son – like all parents.

The goal of our families should be:

• To do all we can to bring God into our daily lives

• Be faithful and go to Mass regularly

• Pray as a family and realize that you don’t have control of your life, have faith and let go so God can do his work.

All families are imperfect. We need to put our trust in God and let him lead us in the right direction.

Father Rudmann concluded with the importance of setting a good example in marriages for children to learn from. A child can look at their parent’s relationship and see a happy couple and have a sense of where they came from and feel the stability of their family.

I realized that I need to ask God to rekindle the spirit and gift of parenting. I need to be open to his message and have faith that he will provide me with the tools I need to set a good example and lead my children to heaven.