Prayer of St. Francis - Verse 4

“Where there is doubt, faith;” 

This week we focus on the 4th verse of the St. Francis Prayer, where we continue our efforts of being an instrument in the hands of God. I recently went through a webinar, to learn and to complete continuing education requirements for my therapy license. The webinar was focused on working with Generation Z and Alpha clients and understanding their worldview. One of the common themes I kept hearing in the presentation, was a comparison of these generation’s value systems with that of a conservative value system. The main difference I saw, outside of dealing with different forms of technologies and societal progressions, was the difference of morals that were being formed from worldly (void of faith) norms and morals built off of faith and religion.

Now, without getting bogged down in a debate about this, I just want to say, it made me really think about the end of the book of Deuteronomy (31:9-29), where Moses warned the Israelites to teach their children about God and His law and warned them about the danger of allowing their children to be corrupted by the culture of the inhabitants of the land they were entering. Then, at the end of the book of Judges (21:25), we can also see the end result of this trajectory which we can see playing out even today: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

Today, due to the breakdown of the family, faith is being forgotten or rejected by numerous children, and they are often left to figure out their beliefs from the internet and world around them. With this lack of moral direction, has come a considerable increase in youth depression, low self-esteem, risky sexual behaviors, lack of security, and suicide. Without proper guidance, kids are left to fend for themselves. Parents should be the primary educators and protectors of their children. But with the breakdown of marriages today, comes a strain on people’s ability to fill this role fully and sometimes, not at all.

We are commissioned to, through our marital vocation, to bring up our children according to the faith. When couples have a lack of understanding about faith, they are called to learn together and inspire each other in growing in this area of their lives. We are also called to pray together and seek help from God together. Then we are called to educate our children in the faith AS we live it and model it each day in our homes. 

ACTION STEP: This week, pray for grace from God, as a couple, to help you both in building a culture in your home that lives out your faith through words and actions.