Cultivating a Faith-filled Home

Cult, Culture, and Cultivation

The English words Cult, Culture, and Cultivate come from the same Latin base. Cultus has connected meanings of worship/devotion, training/education (usually of a certain age or era), and agricultural preparation.

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Galatians 6:7

Reaping and Sowing

A sermon I once heard gave four facts about reaping and sowing:

• You reap WHAT you sow.
• You reap only IF you sow – God’s requires our cooperation in his heavenly plan.
• You reap MORE than you sow – in God’s miraculous bounty one seed can bring forth much fruit and “a hundredfold” more seeds.
• You reap AFTER you sow – patience (and further work to protect your crop) is usually required.

The LORD God took the man and settled him in the garden to cultivate and care for it.

Genesis 2:15

Cultivating our Garden

As parents and grandparents we are responsible for cultivating and caring for the garden to which we have been entrusted: tilling, sowing, protecting, and pruning so that our garden might be fruitful and, in its turn, our “fruit” might learn to one day cultivate and care for their own gardens.

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

Matthew 13:3-9

Rocks and Thorns Encroach

Sadly, a dominant culture of rocky ground, thorns, and serpents preaching contrary messages await our children just outside the front door. If we aren’t being intentional they can easily enter our homes and whisper in our children’s ears through technology and social media – in the privacy of their own rooms.

“In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith,” our homes should be “islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world…. Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1655-1657 (excerpts)

Islands of Refuge

Our homes need to be islands of refuge in an often hostile world – “good soil” as free from rocks, thorns, and serpents as we can make them that, while not perfect, provide an alternate worldview to our children that true happiness can only be found by living as their Creator intended.

Change Your Culture

Our job is to form a cult of devotion to that Creator, a culture of training and educating in the faith, and thus cultivate the soil for a fruitful harvest. Here are five of many ways to turn those ideas into action:

• Eat together. Dinner at the very least. Converse with one another about sacred and every day things. No electronics.
• Pray together. Before and after meals, before bed, when you get in the car. Nothing fancy required. Say a “Hail Mary.” Pray the rosary on longer car trips. Read a short devotional or bible story at bedtime. Let the children see you pray as well.
• Go to Mass! Heaven and earth meet in the liturgy and sacraments. If you make it a priority it is much more likely your children will also when they grow up.
• Sacred Icons and statuary. Place a crucifix in every sleeping room and have other godly reminders scattered throughout the house. If possible, have a sacred space (altarcito/prayer corner) dedicated to prayer.
• Electronics Boundaries. internet software like Net Nanny, Safe Eyes, and Qustodio limit what can be accessed and when. Allow internet surfing in public family areas only, not behind closed bedroom doors. Consider having periodic “no electronics” fasts, playing family board games in their place.

Is your home an island of refuge or just another typical waypoint in an unbelieving world? Are you preparing the soil and protecting the garden? What are you sowing? May it bring forth good fruit a hundredfold!